jhb171achill

Very many thanks, gents. It's for a small shed, the superstructure of which is already made out of heavy cardboard. I'd be looking for something that can be cut into the right dimensions and glued onto the sides of it. The roof will be easy enough - card or plastic sheet painted and with tissue over it to look like a felt roof. I'm thinking of doing the station building the same way, a bit like West Cork or Valentia.

Anyone know where I'd get decent quality, realistic 00 scale model corrugated sheeting? I'm sure I saw something online once but can't find it. I'm trying to make buildings similar to what you'd find on the Valentia line, or many locations in West Cork. Any kits I find look far too toy-like, and for good measure cost a kings ransom to post from England. I'll make my own, but I need something that looks like scale sized sheeting!

I was on an RPSI steam train in 1970 which stopped on the runway for a photo opportunity. A military plane was nearby on the same runway, parked. It was in use then, and when necessary, trains were called upon to stop. I understand that particular runway is no longer used.

There's a "Supertrain" livery 141 class on eBay for Stg£93....

Yes, it would. The strong probability is that is indeed a narrow gauge one.

I have B188 in original 1960s black'n'tan. Would anyone be interested in swopping it for a 141 in the same original livery?

Looking at those proportions it may well be narrow gauge. On a sleeper for 3ft gauge track, the actual sleeper length would be about 4 ft 6 or possibly 5ft. If it's any longer than 5ft, it'll be a 5ft 3 sleeper, which could be from anywhere, I suppose.

It should be indeed, Peter, and on a layout it does make all the difference. Look at a typical lineside photo and you'll see. Typically, there's at least the width of a carriage between immediate trackside and perimeter wall / hedge / fence. Great project - looking forward to seeing it develop.

Hoping to meet a few of our people tomorrow!

Livery note; in the last five years or so, many wagons go into traffic with black bogie frames as seen above, and multi-coloured bits within. Prior to that, always brown. Four wheelers always brown, or grey when bodies were. Exceptions: ammonia wagons - dark green bogies. Curtain cement 4-wheelers - blue wheels / axleguards etc same as sides.

I drank the rest.

The green on the far right would be ok for the post-55 green, but with a dash of yellow. Right shade, but a little too "bluish".

The rescue loco wasn't DCC fitted, and its weathering didn't look realistic.

Surely they could have got buses for the passengers?

Only one or two had the full height band after re-engining. I think it was the first two, or two out of the first three. All the others for the lower tan band until being "supertrained" during the 1970s. You could still get the odd black'n'tan one almost up to 1980. The last I saw in that livery was a 141 leaving Westport which I think was 1978 or 79. A bit like now - there's still an occasional black and silver 071 - yet the grey has been in for several years now.

That is indeed "black'n'tan". It's got a white line below the black roof. What may be confusing is the full-height orange/tan band round the lower sides. It was more usual for the smaller, lower, dipped orange/tan along the side. Other versions during the 1960s had locos in all-black, no orange at all, with white line, or same with a yellow patch on the front. "Supertrain" was all over orange, roof included, with broad black band round middle. That was introduced in 1972 and with nothing more than a new logo and new white lines, changed into the "tippex" livery in 1987.

Very useful! The standard "green" above is close enough to post-1955 diesel loco and coach green.

Aaarrrrgggh I was in it many a time and never took one pic inside! In my time anyway, it was very run down indeed internally - from the mid 1960s they never looked after it properly. Being the subject of a bomb didn't help either. I may know of a source - will make enquiries and if anything comes from it I'll advise.

Looks too thin for a sleeper...... could they be C & L fence posts or sections of a signal post? jhb171 senior had perimeter fencing made of 5' 3" gauge sleepers cut in half longitudinally - could be that too....?

Nice loco, and certainly with conversion possibilities.

Hi Noel The stripes are all much too yellow. Check my avatar thingy on the left, as that's an actual CIE transfer. In terms of post-1955 loco / coach green, the right hand colour above is closest but not exact.

Does anyone know why they need two? And - what is it about NIR that they consistently can't seem to keep just three of a class in reliable use, when IE have for forty years kept 18 of the same class with well above average levels of reliability? It was the same with the few C class that NIR had in the 1980s, some of which rarely turned a wheel at all; and the trio of Hunslets, though these were nowhere as good a locomotive as anything GM. For NIR to have double headed superpower on a ballast train of three or four trucks, is like IE putting an 071 or two 141s on the two-coach Ballina branch train. For both out of just a trio to fail, is like Mayo putting in two own goals in the All-Ireland final.... Oh, wait......

There would be some fun trying that on an outdoor garden railway!

And the winner of the prize for the most hideous locomotive livery of all time, in all world history goes to...........

I like the idea of different liveries on different sides - was considering myself. The GNR out a small "c" in front of numbers of coaches, with a small "n" afterwards. Therefore, a GNR coach numbered 145 would be c145N. I suspect it was meant to be a "G" but due to the design of the font they ended up like a "c". Ex GNR wagons had an N added only, thus wagon 94 became 94N. Locos weren't renumbered at all - most would shortly be scrapped. While ex GNR coaches were repainted in the post-1955 lighter CIE green (none were ever the darker shade, as that went out in the mid 50s before the GNR wound up), and ex GNR wagons got CIE "snails" on them (GNR and CIE grey were about the same), no ex GNR steam loco was ever given the grey paint treatment. The very very few repainted at all were outshopped in whatever GNR livery they had already had, either plain or lined black or lined blue - but without "G N" markings or GNR crest. Numbers were applied using standard GNR types of shaded letter transfers, not CIE style lettering. We know that the UTA lined black actually suited GNR locos well; how would unlined battleship grey and a flying snail have looked on 85? .....oh and yes.... straw, edged in red, for UTA lining as you say. Any photo apparently showing otherwise hasn't got accurate colour rendition. Numerals straw too. I think the RPSI Whitehead livery may have confused the issue for some modellers. It was intended to look similar to, but not Ben exactly, UTA livery. The RPSI uses a single red and a single yellow waist line, with yellow numerals shaded red, but it's a different livery, the Society's own. Yours truly had a hand in designing it, so blame me if it has led anyone to think the UTA used yellow!