jhb171achill

Tony / Colin Check the RPSI's sales section. I am nearly sure there was a copy of it among the second hand books on the May tour. It's an essential book for Irish railcars giving details of the huge array of types to be seen in the 1950s and 60s. The AEC cars have been approximately replicated by Silverfox, giving a relatively inexpensive representation, through a re-liveried British Rail Craven 2-car DMU. (Britain had DMUs, we had "railcars"!) However, as others have oft remarked, a proper CIE / UTA / NIR / GNR kit or (better still) RTR would be a superb thing to have. Somebody, somewhere does a kit - I've seen built up examples on this website. I imagine it's not for the faint-hearted to make, and once power units etc have been included probably not cheap. However, we get what we pay for and if within budget, quality is well worth paying for....

There's a kit which I've seen posted here....doesn't look easy to make up, though. Some of our other folks here can enlighten us.....

The Silver Fox AECs all seem to have light grey roofs. Correct for GNR (though their blue is more RPSI Craven than GNR which was MUCh darker), but CIE should be black (whether green or black'n'tan liveries), and UTA very dark grey.

Had the UTA wanted to, they could have sent an early MED down there, indeed, they could have modernised the whole line with them. The GNR did, of course, send AEC sets into Newcastle. AEC sets were the mainstay of West Cork trains in the fifties and until closure. What type of centre car will be used with this? An old wooden bogie in tow, or a laminate or Park Royal as a centre car would be suitable.

Wowwww!!!!

Depends on the era, company and in the case of the GSWR, the line. CIE tended to use larger buffers - initially on anything allocated to the Valentina line, then AEC railcars, then many other things.

Interesting! Should make for interesting viewing. What about an equivalent here along the Wild Atlantic Way?

What's that O gauge chassis for? Outstanding craftsmanship.

She was plain grey from build date until about 1951, when she was repainted green for her last 4 years or so. The grey livery depicted on both front and rear covers of the book is incorrect in two significant ways. While the shade shown is more or less correct, the smokebox and chimney are shown black; no GSR engine was ever like that, and no CIE one either; all was grey. There's always an exception to every rule; a single Cork-based J15 was repainted in its normal grey as late as about 1960/1, but with a black smokebox. This was both unique and very short lived - the loco in question was withdrawn 18-24 months later. The other incorrect detail, despite an assertion as to its validity in the text also, was the numberplates, shown as black with red letters. Numberplates were also always grey, usually with numerals picked out in pale yellow, though sometimes just painted over and occasionally bare whitemetal as on 186 currently.

Much of what DID go the way of the Public Records Office in the north was lost, jumbled up, or discarded in the 1970s. I have been researching aspects of the Lagan Canal in recent years and have encountered the same. Even some sorting and indexing of volumes of randomly jumbled up stuff, carried out by volunteers in the seventies, was subsequently lost.

The last GNR wagons in traffic were their 1954-vintage equivalents of the (slightly later) CIE "H" vans. These were very similar overall but had corrugated metal ends. I noticed 77N, by now with standard CIE cast numberplate and all-brown livery, at Templemore in 1975.

The CIE one is an absolute essential for ANY 1960-75 layout.... would be a great addition.

Now that we've found a use for Wagon Wheel or Wonderwall CD cases, what can we do with the CDs? (Anything to stop them playing......!)

Ah! Way later. Interesting thing, though - any possibility of posting the pic?

...apart from cattle wagons!

Nelson - have a look at the real thing at Downpatrick. They have one, and the RPSI has two in Dublin.

Absolutely top class job, complete with prototypical tatty roof! Not easy to get a convincing look with that. Well done!

My dad's probably travelling with it, if it's within 1953-7 period!

Very good thinking!

Be wary, though, about anything that this "organisation" might have to say about others in the entire preservation world, and even more wary of the endless and bizarre plans outlined on the website. I notice, incidentally, that the website has been revamped. This is doubtless due to the removal of some potentially libellious content in recent times!

I'm a member myself, Tony, but rarely get the chance to delve; at least a few others here are reasonably regular attenders - though best to try to visit yourself some time if possible?

It's a lovely little layout, full of atmosphere and technically excellent too.

Typical opportunist rural politicians' drivel, like the Sligo - Letterkenny - Derry fast freight line devised by some amadán up there years ago. They'd be better off campaigning for better rural health and post office services.

Is there any sort of online presence to see what stuff they do?

Appears to be very little Irish stuff at that exhibition!