jhb171achill

From any info I have, it's as good as certain that the train is not so much double headed; it is more a case of rescuing a breakdown. As Mayner says, B101s were well suited to this line and indeed were generally more closely associated with the southern end of the CIE system.

So they couldn't even get an exhibition hall without a leaky roof! Terrible - I'm going to write to the papers......... :-)

Initial feedback from my three best Inchicore historical contacts indicate what I thought: Cravens absolutely did NOT run with AEC cars, I am told. I will update this information as and when I get more feedback. Some confusion might arise in that Cravens DID appear among mixed consists of loco hauled suburban trains in the 1980s on the Connolly routes, when they were indiscriminately mixed up with other carriages. As John says, spare parts were the demise of AEC cars on both NIR and CIE.

The grey and yellow for 121s appeared with their delivery in 1961/2 and the last example repainted black'n'tan was, I think, very early 1967. The unpainted "silver" (in reality worn and filthy greyish) was still to be seen on the occasional tin van as late as 1963/4. Black'n'tan started appearing on a widespread basis from early 1963. The late green livery appeared in 1955 (with the Park Royals) and green carriages could still be seen 1965/66. The very last GNR coach to lose its GNR brown livery was brake 3rd no. 114 (now at Whitehead) which was only repainted into black'n'tan in 1967, having skipped the green era entirely. Coaches in GNR brown were still to be seen on the UTA at least as late as 1964. GNR navy & cream could still be seen on the UTA in 1963, and on CIE about the same time. Beware: the GNR livery is NOT what's on the RPSI Cravens - GNR blue in carriages was darker, almost navy. The RPSI's livery is its own. If we draw out a chart of the above, to illustrate overlaps, quite some variety is possible. With both steam and diesel, and loads of varied goods traffic, and most stations still handling most traffics, we probably have the single most interesting and varied period in recent railway history.

News to me, Eoin; hence my comment I'm "nearly" sure. I will investigate this as it is of critical importance to anybody striving for accuracy!

I'm pretty sure Cravens were never used in railcar sets. Centre or trailer cars were Park Royals or various varieties of laminate, not Cravens. In the 1950s some old ex-GSWR wooden-bodied bogies were used as centre cars. Occasionally, even older stock was used as being towed behind them - even (I've seen photographic evidence!) a 1890-something vintage MGWR six-wheeler being towed by an AEC set on the Harcourt St line as late as 1957. It is possible that some Bredins were used in railcar sets too, though I'm unaware of any personally.

Aaarrrrrgggghhhhhhh It's only NOW that I'm seeing the photos of Bantry at Sleaford, and some of the locos etc there. Fantastic stuff and as others have said, an absolute gem in the making. Great stuff - keep it coming!!

Exactly, that was indeed the plan. In another attempt at modernisation / standardisation, five 820 class were planned - tank versions of the 800s, and huge brutes at that. Jhb171Seniorx2 did the design which I think I gave to Nephew some time ago; must enquire. They were 4.6.2 tank engines with a quite considerable coal and water capacity. Needless to say, financial constraints didn't allow them off the drawing board. They would have made a fine sight, though. 850 never went anywhere near West Cork, unfortunately.

Tony / Colin Check the RPSI's sales section. I am nearly sure there was a copy of it among the second hand books on the May tour. It's an essential book for Irish railcars giving details of the huge array of types to be seen in the 1950s and 60s. The AEC cars have been approximately replicated by Silverfox, giving a relatively inexpensive representation, through a re-liveried British Rail Craven 2-car DMU. (Britain had DMUs, we had "railcars"!) However, as others have oft remarked, a proper CIE / UTA / NIR / GNR kit or (better still) RTR would be a superb thing to have. Somebody, somewhere does a kit - I've seen built up examples on this website. I imagine it's not for the faint-hearted to make, and once power units etc have been included probably not cheap. However, we get what we pay for and if within budget, quality is well worth paying for....

There's a kit which I've seen posted here....doesn't look easy to make up, though. Some of our other folks here can enlighten us.....

The Silver Fox AECs all seem to have light grey roofs. Correct for GNR (though their blue is more RPSI Craven than GNR which was MUCh darker), but CIE should be black (whether green or black'n'tan liveries), and UTA very dark grey.

Had the UTA wanted to, they could have sent an early MED down there, indeed, they could have modernised the whole line with them. The GNR did, of course, send AEC sets into Newcastle. AEC sets were the mainstay of West Cork trains in the fifties and until closure. What type of centre car will be used with this? An old wooden bogie in tow, or a laminate or Park Royal as a centre car would be suitable.

Wowwww!!!!

Depends on the era, company and in the case of the GSWR, the line. CIE tended to use larger buffers - initially on anything allocated to the Valentina line, then AEC railcars, then many other things.

Interesting! Should make for interesting viewing. What about an equivalent here along the Wild Atlantic Way?

What's that O gauge chassis for? Outstanding craftsmanship.

She was plain grey from build date until about 1951, when she was repainted green for her last 4 years or so. The grey livery depicted on both front and rear covers of the book is incorrect in two significant ways. While the shade shown is more or less correct, the smokebox and chimney are shown black; no GSR engine was ever like that, and no CIE one either; all was grey. There's always an exception to every rule; a single Cork-based J15 was repainted in its normal grey as late as about 1960/1, but with a black smokebox. This was both unique and very short lived - the loco in question was withdrawn 18-24 months later. The other incorrect detail, despite an assertion as to its validity in the text also, was the numberplates, shown as black with red letters. Numberplates were also always grey, usually with numerals picked out in pale yellow, though sometimes just painted over and occasionally bare whitemetal as on 186 currently.

Much of what DID go the way of the Public Records Office in the north was lost, jumbled up, or discarded in the 1970s. I have been researching aspects of the Lagan Canal in recent years and have encountered the same. Even some sorting and indexing of volumes of randomly jumbled up stuff, carried out by volunteers in the seventies, was subsequently lost.

The last GNR wagons in traffic were their 1954-vintage equivalents of the (slightly later) CIE "H" vans. These were very similar overall but had corrugated metal ends. I noticed 77N, by now with standard CIE cast numberplate and all-brown livery, at Templemore in 1975.

The CIE one is an absolute essential for ANY 1960-75 layout.... would be a great addition.

Now that we've found a use for Wagon Wheel or Wonderwall CD cases, what can we do with the CDs? (Anything to stop them playing......!)

Ah! Way later. Interesting thing, though - any possibility of posting the pic?

...apart from cattle wagons!

Nelson - have a look at the real thing at Downpatrick. They have one, and the RPSI has two in Dublin.

Absolutely top class job, complete with prototypical tatty roof! Not easy to get a convincing look with that. Well done!