jhb171achill

Many thanks, Garfield! A pint is overdue anyway....pm me?

That is ghastly - the sort of thing you'd expect in a Dickensian novel. Lucky more didn't die.

I'm finally getting round to putting together a long-planned Austrian-based 009 layout. All of the locos are ordinary 2-rail with traditional controller. The live frog wiring issue is bad enough for an oul wan like me to figure out - but - can anyone tell me is there a better control system for older-type models, some at least with little or no room to add DCC stuff? What's the best "traditional" type of controller available these days?

We read in the papers recently that IE are pitching for a lot more money "or lines might close". The wage claims we have (1) will use money up. Brexit (2) and Trump (3) will do no economic favours for Ireland. (1: I state this as practicality, not a cue for political discussion. 2: I state this in the wake of the certainty of more difficult exporting by Irish exporters to the UK, not a cue for political discussion, and 3: again, not a cue, but the reality that a lot of the American firms employing thousands of well paid people in Ireland will come under pressure to ship out.) So, where will any money come from to fund our railways, and will the same amount as previously necessary be available? If not, what gives?

Got ya! Excellent comparison. I made a G out of cardboard in my teens - I gave it away eventually. It wasn't anything like as good as any scratch built one I've seen, as I had no plans to work off and only poor photos of a couple I saw in Inchicore. I misread your post, thinking the 601 was a kit of some sort.

Those look absolutely fantastic - top drawer stuff. An excellent looking layout.

The G617 is a lovely little job. It might be worth checking if the roof profile of the g601 is correct - from the photos it looks a little flat? Its front grille is a bit small too.

What sort of inane rubbish is going to be thrown at us next? "Due to movement of the train, all customers are requested to leave the train before departure". When will some supreme court decide enough is enough!! "Customers are advised that some train stations may contain platforms. Please stay clear of all platforms in case you fall off" "Customers are requested not to eat their tickets, as they may contain traces of nuts" - i.e. the half-wits who make careers out of finding ways to (a) be stupid, (b) invent ever more ridiculous rules, purporting to be the all-encompassing dictatorial H & S stuff, and © be offended.

She was in dreadful order - just patched up with sellotape and UHU glue....

All three 800s were to be scrapped. The intervention of a UTA civil engineer with some connections to it would have had a hand in having the scrapping delayed. Said individual also knew Bob Beggs, the curator of the Witham Street Belfast Transport Museum. The rest is history.......!!!

Senior was involved in track repair surveys in the Wellington Cutting near Dundalk some time around 1950. A PW gang refused to work there (despite good money on offer) because of the haunted horseman there. This had been seen - through GNR history - by PW and milesmen, as well as drivers and fireman. A man on a horse would ride silently through the rock cutting. On at least one occasion, a driver slammed on the brakes as he thought there was a real horse there. On approaching the observer, the horseman and horse would just disappear. Nobody knows who he was / is, or when he was first seen. I wonder if any modern drivers have ever reported seeing him?

And overweight rats skulking in the shadows of models of Waterford & Wellington Bridge!

Double deck turnip wagon! Excellent!! Major part of recent years' scene. (And not even invented in the days of Woodstock!) ;-)

Quote Originally Posted by jhb171achill View Post .... a railway is a social service too. In order to determine REAL demand, Iarnrod Eireann must first provide a good service, at realistic speeds, for a period of several years at least. Yes, but the holders of the purses things would have to subsidize it, whereas they'd acquire income in so many ways from forcing train travelers onto the roads Quite right, Dive; same as many times before. That's what the Stormont Government did to the UTA.

Damn! Tis me age.

As others have correctly stated, the "livery" was better described as "NO livery", due to the absence of any paint! Bogies, wheels, couplings, gangways and roofs were also unpainted, though photographs often APPEAR to show a darker or grey roof, but this is due entirely to exhaust fumes, as on covered vans. The whole idea was to save money through not having to buy paint (!) but it looked shabby and dirty after only a very short time, and the green came back quite soon. Having said that, "silver" vehicles were to be seen into the 1960s, with a few painted directly from that to black'n'tan without seeing the intermediate green. No "flying snails" were affixed to unpainted stock, nor anything at all bar the class number on the door, and the running number. These were usually in RED, not green. I have heard it suggested that some might have been lettered in green, but have yet to see any evidence of this. It's well known that some memories can play tricks about accurate colour - ask any policeman who has ever had to ask witnesses the colour of a getaway car!

USS "Enterprise"?

400 and 500 classes weren't all green - some were always grey. There is an old ColourRail image of one in green, 409 I think, in very dirty and shabby condition.

Yes..... the GNR being virtually all steam and wooden carriages right up to its demise in 1958 always draws my interest.....

Exactly. Just like in the late fifties, early seventies, etc etc......

The Nenagh branch, and Junction - Waterford, should have a five year plan tested with a train every hour and a half, widely advertised and at discounted fares, giving connections to get people to limerick, Waterford and Dublin and back at reasonable times, especially for students and commuters. After give years, if it hasn't worked, then shut them. Ennis to Athenry will never come close to being economically viable, but a railway is a social service too. If enough people use it, a case can be made for funding it. If they don't, it can't, and it has to close, or at least be mothballed. And if mothballed, adjacent farmers told that if they destroy or move the boundaries, or build over it, their structures will be removed without notice, and they'll be billed for the demolition work! In order to determine REAL demand, Ironroad Eireann must first provide a good service, at realistic speeds, for a period of several years at least.

Over dramatic terminology; judging by the 17:50 Tralee - Mallow - Dublin yesterday, with the vestibules packed with people standing, there's no lack of usage.......though I suppose it has to be accepted that this doesn't necessarily represent any sort of financial surplus. The report is designed to get Shane Ross to cough up. Incidentally, buses now often have notices about how many seats there are for passengers. Also, how many "standees". This is the latest incarnation of makey-uppy words invented by half-literate idiots, or garbled transatlantic linguistic inventions. There is no such thing as a "standee". Any word ending like this indicates the party to which something is being done, not the party doing it. Thus, a person standing is a stander, not a standee. If the word standee DID exist, it would indicate someone who is being STOOD ON!!!

Senior had fascinating stories of travelling by narrow gauge to Bessbrook, Burtonport, Schull and Castlegregory....

Excellent!!!

Hopefully there's Guinness. And a well done fillet steak with pepper sauce.....