jhb171achill

Superb job indeed. It's not Irish, though, or from 1845; it looks to be a standard font used by the Great Western Railway in England. I've seen many descriptions of tickets for sale on ebay, or railway signs etc in auctions, which are erroneous, either due to lack of knowledge on the part of the seller, or a fraudulent desire to make it appear more "historic" or "quaint". Also, disgracefully, modern replicas passed off as original. The above looks very much original, by the way!

I still occasionally meet people who insist that all CIE steam engines were black*; others who see black and say it's grey, and others who see grey and thinks it's black. As can be seen above, there's probably no colour that seems to vary as much when it's photographed in different light! This means that photographs are very misleading in some cases, and in others anyone who personally remembers the colour concerned will be able to see that whatever is in a particular photo IS right, based on memory. And some people have better memories for colour than other! I'll add my tuppence-worth to the idea that I would love to see an 071 in black'n'tan, or even lined flying-snail-adorned CIE green! (Why not? A lot of people about would remember it from buses at least!).......... (*Many were after the mid 1950s, but the majority weren't!)

It closed in 1960, rather than 1966, so as suggested elsewhere, no GMs, baby or otherwise, ever ran on it. C class diesels and steam engines only.

SUPERB!!!!!!!

That came from yours truly!!!

Entirely up to you, Anthony! Anything I’ve ever done has a fictitious name but which seems to sound right. My current effort is named after a small rural village of which I have fond childhood memories, but no railway ever went near it in reality!

That’s actually true...... the main draw for the Emerald people is indeed the accommodation. (I’ve been on them all).

Very much so!

Always available on the DCDR!

Me too! 131!

When I visited Gort first (on a service train) about 1975/6, it still had the old enamel GSR station sign on one platform.

Yes - me too with Dugort Harbour - it’s many many moons since I kit bashed or made anything!

Excellent stuff!

Best of luck with it, Noel - it will be a masterpiece!

In addition to "bewaring of trains", one must beware of fakes these days, especially the standard GSWR square gate notice against trespassing, for which many fake variations seem to be available.

8ft 6 in width? Built to British, rather than Irish, loading gauge? Unlike their six-wheelers, or indeed - as far as I'm aware - a solitary railway vehicle built new for Irish use prior to the Mk 2s for the Enterprise in 1970! (I said "to my knowledge").....!

That's a real beauty. I like the loco shed used as a bus garage - old railway buildings were often used like this, especially in the north in UTA days when they abolished all internal goods trains in 1965.The weeds along the track are a good touch, even on newish-looking track, as there's always something growing there which shouldn't be! The contrast of a modern toilet block and a 19th century station is very realistic too.

No CIE loco ever had either a yellow stripe or a logo like that.

In this instance, the diner is of GSWR parentage. The exact stock would have varied from train to train but the only photos I’ve ever seen of these specials show standard CIE laminate stock like this. I can’t recall offhand if a Craven was ever included in the consist.

In truth, these distinctive coaches are no equivalent to GNR (I) stock.....

The green / red one looks very well! However that would be a paint scheme in private ownership, I would think. Back to GSWR times, black with white writing. CIE too (and obviously the GSR) used this too, but CIE started reversing the colours in the late 1960s.

We’re off to Enniskillen.

Red lead is indeed what they used as a base to prevent rust.

That’s it for now! I have only just got a 1948 CIE WTT, which makes interesting reading. When I get round to it, I’ll post some stuff.

Branch lines in 1972