jhb171achill

Great to meet so many IRM-ers and others yesterday!

Correct. Cravens were never run with AEC cars at all, push-pull or otherwise, apart from some rare early outings on the Cork line, where I think 2 or 3 were temporarily wired for AEC working. They never ran with BUT cars at all.

Very many thanks, Noel, greatly appreciated.

Anyone got any experience of those Shapeways N gauge Irish loco and coach bodies?

Tony, given the size of your shed, N gauge would open up many more possibilities. For Omagh, you'll be probably limited to repainted British vans and wooden open wagons. If someone might 3D print a CIE "H" van or two, they would suit. There are some British wagon types that can approximate the GNR / UTA prototypes, given a decent repainted. There are several 0.6.0 locos (from memory, I think at least one LNER type) which could do as UG or D class goods locos. A stanier LMS (not BR) 2.6.4T might approximate as a "Jeep". That leaves AEC railcars....maybe a one-off scratchbuild project. Steam could haul old wooden bodied British coaches of LMS origin, masquerading as ex-NCC stock in UTA livery. Way more opportunities.

I mîght add, for historical accuracy, that the only liveries ever seen on a C on push-pull duties would have been the "dipped tan" shown above on this truly excellent layout, and the "Supertrain" version - which actually would have been on the majority of them. The push pulls were just coming in around the same time as this livery.

The single loco with the yellow buffer beam, C203, was even more of a livery oddity than you'd think - on next repaint, it went back to red! It was not just a one-off, but short lived too. So, for a C, you've got: Silver (1955-63; ALWAYS very heavily weathered!!) Green with mid-waist lighter green line (approx 1959-1964) Green without mid-waist line (approx 1959-64) All black (with white front flashes about cab windows) (1962-68) Above with yellow panels (Approx 1964 - 70) Above with yellow panels and yellow buffer beams, as long as it's C203 (around 1963/4) Black'n'tan with full tan lower (1963+ / short lived, only on a few engines) Black'n'tan with dipped tan lower (after re-engining; thus suitable for 1970s, not 60s) (1972-7 approx) Supertrain (1972-86) No C class locos ever received the first IE "Tippex" livery, as the last were withdrawn about a year before it was introduced. It should be noted, as will be seen from dates shown, that within the 1962-72 period, a number of variations of the black'n'tan (or black!) livery were concurrent. This was also the case with the A, B101, D, E and G classes; some having black liveries and some with tan as well. The dates shown above reflect the periods within which the liveries quotes would have been seen, in some cases on a loco which hadn't seen a paintbrush in a while (a bit like dome of the very scruffy 071s in black and silver in recent times!). The reason that some locos had tan and others didn't was meant to be a bit like the distinction between lined green and all-grey on steam engines. Lined green was for passenger locos and Dublin Suburban locos, with grey for everything else. The all-black was initially supposed to be for goods and shunting diesels, with mixed traffic and passenger locos being black'n'tan. Shunters for Heuston Passenger would gain tan too, hence many D and E types bearing this (though latterly - certainly from about 1974 - the E's were all black without exception). Bizzarely, some of the G class had tan as they operated passenger trains on the Loughrea line! That was the theory, but in practice it was mix'n'match...

Excellent, David! My late aunt used to work as kitchen manager in a convent in Dublin. The Sister Superior, a tiny little English woman, Sister veronica, was a real character with a zany sense of humour. My aunt used to take her and Sister Frances, who was a little more conservative, out occasionally for a summer picnic. They were out one time, probably above Rathfarnham when it was semi-rural, and a man flashed them. Both the nuns burst into hysterical laughter, pointing at his flashing equipment. He retreated, deep red* in the face..... (* probably accurate GSR pre-1933 maroon....)

It'll be the Full Moon Party - with a difference!

Everybody "moon" at Thurles! Driver included! :-)

It wouldn't - even CIE didn't "RTR" it!

It's the Ho Chi Min al-Jong Panadol factory! Copyright! Copyright!

Hmmm... looking at this; I might go.

The "freight hub" or whatever they called it, at Listowel, never materialised at all. However, a long wheelbase four wheeled "sundries van" with retractable sides and roof was built as an experiment at Inchicore. I've seen photos of it.

The "no shunt railway" concept dates back to the Rail Modernisation project, conceived in - I think - 1973, and thus probably reported about then. Unfortunately, its main achievement was the entire closure, on the one day (3.11.75) of the entire Burma Road, Loughrea and Ardee branches, and the North Kerry between Listowel (which wouldn't last much longer) and Ballingrane.....

In terms of accurate operation, that makes both very limited indeed, and possibly of greater interest to a collector rather than layout operator. There are other examples - De Dietrichs only for Dublin - Belfast line (albeit over a way longer period), and the light green Belmond 201 being another short lived loco livery. NIR briefly ran a Mk 2 still in BR livery in the 1990s, and some CIE locos acquired the IE "set of points" logo before they got a full repaint in tippex stripes. In one of my books there's a pic showing a loco in filthy Supertrain livery, complete with CIE roundel on the FRONT. On the SIDE there's a "set of points"! I understand that this was extremely short lived as the loco was fully repainted in IE Tippex shortly afterwards.

1509, yes, not 1507. I stand corrected!

.....in a black'n'white photo! And this common obsession with entirely incorrect Hornby-compatible black chassis! I'm going to get my smelling salts.

I saw one in a goods train parked in Limerick station once....

Red paint!!!!!!! Aaarrrrrgggghhhhh my eyes hurt.....

Not a corrugated one - unless it's arrived very recently indeed. There are, between Downpatrick & Whitehead, a couple of wooden ones of NCC origin.

18th is a Wednesday.... fine for me. Anyone else? Garfield - maybe stick up a post under "events" if anyone's interested?

I had thought of getting a couple to the DCDR at one time, but money for transport was tight!

No Cravens were ever kitchen or bar cars until the RPSI converted two standards. Belatedly, CIE put small food serverys in 1508 / 9. That was all. 1508 saw somewhat more use and the RPSI now has it. 1509 was scrapped.

Ok, Ryan's, 18th? Will check diary.