jhb171achill

What's the provenance of the "Ticket Office" one, Nelson? Is it NIR?

I have to say, Glover, I think your models are absolutely top notch and really capture the atmosphere of the prototype better than most I've seen. The variety of them, the attention detail and above all weathering - look at any old photo of the era you are recreating and goods stock was always in a very down-at-heel state cosmetically. A rake of pristine clean wagons in those times, in all fairness, is about as accurate as 800 hauling De Dietrichs!

I have to say, as a regular traveller in ICR sets, I don't find the seats too bad. They're more comfortable than a Mk 4 seat, but so is a plank. My issue with ICRs is the excessive heat, and unventilated smelly toilets. I was on a 29 recently but was only going to Ashtown so it was ok! I find the NIR railcar seats quite good. But, noisy as they were, in terms of passenger comfort, the seats on the old AEC sets were better than any other railcar.

1960s would have had all grey wagons, so that suits. Brown post 1969/70 or so.

The darker grey, Glover, is actually absolutely correct for GNR or pre-1956 (or so) CIE, as well as NCC. BCDR vans were if anything, very marginally darker still. The lighter grey that most of us remember on "H" vans was introduced about 1961 or so, and extended to "palvans" and some wooden opens. This lighter shade was much the same as - if not exactly the same as - that applied to new 121s. Your whole collection looks just right. If I may, in a very constructive sense, though, suggest grey roofs, not white, While often painted the same grey as the wagon (and later brown ones the same brown as the wagon), it rapidly weathered darker with smoke and filth. Incidentally, the shade applied to steam locos was just marginally darker than on that van immediately above, rather than the oft-seen "shade just under black".

The ICR - the most photographed train in Ireland! ;-) And the warmest inside......!

I love the grey 121! Lovely selection of locos and stock.

Ideal location for Provincial Leslie Wagons, and the new U and UG locos, cheque book permitting! Had CIE taken over the GNR, we might have seen the ubiquitous GSWR J15 as far afield as Bundoran, Antrim and Derry!

Brilliant stuff, Glover. No doubt an RPSI May Tour will make it to Pettigo with 171 some day! :-)

Fantastic looking layout. I'm noticing more and more these days the attention to detail in those layouts which have a strong scenic element. Doubtless this is due to an ever greater variety of ever more realistic modelling materials, plus, of course, the essential element of the layout owner's artistic talents and modelling skills. This is one of them!

They come up for auction now and again. Keep an eye on the Sheffield Railway Auction, and the Gloucester one. About once a year, Whytes in Dublin do an "ephemera" auction, with anything from old coins or clothes to railway stuff.

Coffee stirrers - sheer genius! Excellent stuff.

Another oft-ignored but essential feature of so many lines, especially in the south and west.

Stunning - as always. This was surely the best golden age for prototypes for a model layout. The "black'n'tan" era....

TOP CLASS! A once absolutely routine sight at the vast majority of stations, yet largely ignored in the model world!

Absolutely superb layout.

VERY much so!

Exactly!! Hence the variation.

I've seen those cattle truck kits in the flesh and they are fantastic!

If the pic is from 1958, the loco will have a light yellow painted number on the candies. The plate will b long gone. The loco is probably so dirty that in a photo of that quality, the number (and / or light green "snail" on tender) will be invisible.

The "PW Lorry" referred to earlier was nothing more than a push-along hand-cart 4-wheeled flat trolley. They had them at various locations, according to staff involved.

The UTA one is quite rare, as they (a) didn't build that much, and (b) didn't put plates on everything. Even more so, "rebuild" plates were rare enough, and even more so in a place which wasn't a "works" - like Ballymena. I wouldn't be surprised if that is almost, or literally, a one-off.

It'll come as good new to modellers to know that even in steam days, "Enterprise" formations could vary. It was only with the introduction of the NIR Mk. 2 stock in 1970 and the "Supertrains" in 1972 that the one-type-of-coach fixed formation idea which is 100% the case these days, ever came in. Prior to that, passengaer train make up was based on one thing and one thing only - whatever was available, and most suitable. Unlike the severely retrograde situation today, where no two types of vehicles can even be coupled together, ALL railway vehicles had the same couplings, and no electrics were involved involving complicated and non-compatible jumper cables from vehicle to vehicle. thus, ANY vehicles could be coupled. I have seen a photo of an AEC railcar set about to leave Harcourt Street for Bray, with a 1890s MGWR six-wheeler towed at the back. Centre cars for AEC railcars sets, even, could be ex-GNR, ex-GSWR and ex-NCC former steam stock, with minor modifications for gangways etc. Right into the mid 1980s when the last wooden stock disappeared, a train make up on Dundalk to Bray, for example, might be BR Van, laminate type 1, Craven, Park Royal, laminate type 2, laminate dining car with shutters closed, Craven, Laminate brake standard genny. I have a photo somewhere of a Ballina-Limerick train about 1972 or so which has a 121 hauling a "Tin Van" followed by a laminate and a Park Royal. I can remember being at Port Laoise about 1974-ish photographing the stub of the Mountmellick line down in the yard. The H & S police didn't exist, and at extreme threat to my life I wandered about a deserted yard freely, sans steel-capped boots, PTS or day glo knickers. The 1030 Heuston - Cork was heard arriving in the station, so I ran to gain a suitable place to take a photo as it left. It was 141 hauled, and behind it were some 10 bogie vehicles, with no more than two of the one type, a laminate brake at one end and a tin van at the other. In a mixed formation (which was absolutely the norm), there were examples of two or three types of laminates, a Craven or two, a wooden-framed dining car, and a Park Royal or two. Go back ten years earlier and you have old wooden coaches too - almost all, if I remember correctly, which survived into the black'n'tan era being of GSWR origin. Bredins were still about too - the last time I saw or travelled in one myself (with a leaky roof!) was about 1975 or 6. So mix away. Conversely, a passenger train pre-1970 with a pristine rake of a single type of coach is actually not authentic at all 99% of the time! (If not 100!) Regarding GOODS trains, it's 101.1% of the time!

Nelson, I still see your crossed out 15 16 17 and 18, and I never cease to be gobsmacked by the absolutely top class standard of your work. Those locomotives may be fictitious technically, but they truly are an absolute work of art. In terms of BCDR livery, if you visit Headhunters Railway Museum in Enniskillen, you will see actual Queen's Quay paint as the background of the BCDR crest on the wall. The livery on 148 at Downpatrick us also as authentic as it gets, as is the lettering and lining. I was recently asked if the lining on the RPSI Whitehead set is authentic for the UTA. The answer is no, and that was deliberate, as the aim was to make the carriages look "UTA-ish" without being actual UTA, as that body never owned any of them. If you look at the unrestored end of the Golfer's Saloon at Downpatrick, you will see faint traces of actual UTA lining, one straw (not yellow) line edged in red. Incidentally, only loco hauled stock was lined - not railcars which were plain green. The shade of green on the RPSI set, the UTA crest in Enniskillen, and several preserved buses is correct.

I think these things were mounted on ordinary flat wagons, rather than being a specific type of wagon.