jhb171achill

Well, none of them ever WERE black, to be fair; might as well paint it in Dart livery! If black, however, better to use a matt black, rather than a shiny one.....

Any thoughts on a suitable British RTR which might be altered to resemble one of these?

They certainly thinned out, Leslie, especially after the C class entered traffic in 1956/7/8, but a few remained on main line stopping trains, plus there were only a few years of steam left anyway. With growing interest - partly fuelled by your excellent wagons - in the “dark green” era, steam is necessary for most passenger workings. By the time A, C & B101 class diesels were hauling passenger trains, the coaching stock was rapidly becoming the lighter shade of green; a point to be borne in mind by the good folks wanting green six-wheelers to put behind IRM “A”s!

I think that whole IRN site is as ancient history now as 2.2.2 Burys on the Cork Mail! As the 141s were breathing their last almost twenty years ago, only one or two posters were still using it…

My thoughts exactly. A 4.4.0 of GSWR design would be a good and versatile bet.

Absolutely superb stuff. For any modeller of BnM lines, this is a treasure trove.

There would be much to be said for having a type of new train standard with the Dart bi-modals. Just have different seating configurations (EXTREMELY different) inside them, but retain the bodyshell and under-floor-gubbins and control systems. Sooner or later they'll electrify Greystones - Belfast - Bangor, I would think, so new Enterprises would end up being mechanically compatible with everything else between Greystonesw, Kildare, Maynooth and Bangor. And here's a completely revolutionary idea; make EVERYTHING from now on with the same couplers, so that no train anywhere will ever be stranded because it's incompatible with others. Bet the Victorians wish they'd dreamed THAT one up. Oh, wait...............

Superb stuff!

Your comments are much appreciated, Newtoncork. The British models are currently in storage in the same building, pending funding for new cabinets for them. I was looking at several of them only this afternoon - two (different types) of Llandudno trams, a Liverpool tram and a Birkenhead one! Excellent stuff. His LNWR stuff is absolutely superb. If funding cannot be had soon enough, or if space remains an issue, we're looking at having a one-off exhuibition of his British stuff at some stage. We'll see! Here's a taster, though, a bit closer to home; his excellent model of West Clare no. 5, currently (real thing) at Moyasta Junction preserved. You mention the original layout. This was in storage for years, and the bulk of it has now been repatriated to inchicore Works, where it was built. It is the intention of Irish Rail to display the major parts of it at some stage. Some of the CASTLE (as opposed to Fry-made) models have now gone to Headhunters in Enniskillen and others to the DCDR at Downpatrick. These are on permanent loan and are intended for public display at those places. The Enniskillen material is mostly GNR and CDRJC stuff, while the items sent to Downpatrick relate to the 1980s NIR Mk 2 "Enterprise" set, and some representative CIE fitted 4-wheelers of 1970s / 80s design. Only today, I took delivery of some paperwork kindly sent to me by Headhunters Museum in Enniskillen, which relates to his his correspondence with the GNR at Dundalk, when he was looking for outline drawings of locomotives. One of many things that in future it is hoped to display too.

Sean Cain would be the expert on these operations, but he wrote here and there about the demise of one of these two systems (Attymon) a few years ago. I'm pretty certain that Clonkeen has gone too. The demise of the bord na mona lines, such an iconic (and HUGE) part of Irish narrow gauge railway history, is happening in its final throes now, largely unnoticed by the enthusiast community. Evidently, it will be as good as gone within a few months from now.

Re-gauging stuff like that would be a fiddly and time-consuming job, hardly worth it - and the stock would look pretty weird. If you WERE to re-gauge stuff, make it 12mm track, not N / 009, as the latter would be too unstable for such a wide and high model in comparison to the track; thus a high centre of gravity. Better to start from scratch and build a 009 or N gauge layout, and sell the 00 gauge stuff (I know, you've just bought it!). I had a huge collection of 009 for years - it's amazing what crops up from time to time on fleabay.

I'm just thinking that in that form, it's fine for a landscape publication, but this one will be same sort of format as the Wexford & Tipperary ones.........

In these PC days, we're not allowed to say "leprechauns" any more. We have to say "custodians of pots of gold". Besides, they've mostly moved to Abohill and Glenfarne.

Think I'll crop it, or possibly do it like the covers of the "Rails Through....." series - with a top and bottom photo. The other would have to be either steam, or a G!

That's a leprechaun container. There was a colony of them near Belcoo.

Update; off to the publisher now. just the captions for the illustrations to do (a tiresome task, if truth be told!). Possible cover picture:

Thanks, GSR! Please PM me with details.

I think I may already know the answer to this one, but just in case; I have a number of brass coach kits, unmade. Mostly SSM stuff. My eyesight is simply not up to putting these together, let alone detailed lining on them. I am not getting any younger. Like most of us here, I'm aware of a number of folks who will make these up for a suitable cost - but all that I have asked are either too busy to take on any more, or no longer taking on commissions. I had been in touch with someone in England too, who seems no longer available either. I am also aware that for those who can take on such commissions, the lead-in times run into years and years..... as these folks have other lives to lead too, no doubt! So, my question is - does anyone know a builder of these types of kits who might be in a position to complete about half a dozen carriages for me, in a realistic timescale?

Only seeing this now. The only diesels which regularly needed turntables were, of course, the 121s. A 45 foot table is more than adequate for these, plus the majority of Irish steam locos. Many rural stations had turntables of standard 40 foot or 45 foot diameter. In my current meandering researches on Loughrea and Kenmare, I note that tables of this sort of dimension were the norm in Loughrea, Attymon, Headford Junction, Kenmare - and, for that matter, many other places like them. If you plan to make one I will also be interested.

True!

Only €45,000. Buyer collects. €5,876.12 in brexit charges added.

Nope!

Dark green 1945-55, with some examples remaining longer. Light green 1955-62. Black’n’tan 1962 onwards. Most six-wheelers in traffic by 1960 were repainted light green. ALL passenger-carrying six wheelers were withdrawn by 1963, so none got B’n’T. However, a few six-wheeled full vans (3 or at most 4) survived into the late 60s, gaining BnT. This is why only the van is offered in this livery.

And there was me offering €25,000 for it because a man told me it was a genuine ancient Egyptian Ming dynasty Victorian Snail-Splicer, almost 4,000 years old.

It would have had a departmental number ending in “A”. I’ve a note of it somewhere, it’s in the form of something like 543A.