jhb171achill

Would the tender off an LMS 4.4.0 be any use? If so, there are bound to be ones in somebody's scrap box!

That book shown is my own, from my grandfather who worked in Inchicore Works from 1900 to 1946. There is a bigger one, produced by the IRRS's Herbie Richards and others in the 1970s, of photocopies of all that and more. It's long, long out of print but you can view it in the IRRS.

That scene looks SOO realistic. Pretty much everything in real life is weathered. A loco straight out of the paint shop will pick up at least a little dusting on its first ever run. Station buildings and road vehicles - especially lorries, cranes, fork-lifts and farm or construction machinery actually look like toys on layouts if they are pristine. My own next attempt at a layout will have everything weathered. CIE did indeed keep things very much cleaner than on other railways in the "black'n'tan" era, but always some weathering, however light.

There is a GSWR carriage diagram book which shows drawings - though not all to scale, and all simplified, of almost every GSWR carriage ever built, plus horse boxes.

In between the light grey and the middle one, which is almost black. Recent photos of 186 in good daylight will show it up best.

I am unaware of what the difference of opinion related to, and I am sorry to hear it occurred. I would add my voice to others in saying that I, personally, would miss your input and excellent posts.

A fascinating subject matter for a layout. Think LLSR 4.8.0s hauling corridor trains like the Ballymena & Larne, and Clogher Valley / C & L style stations! Or, more likely, as on the original Welsh Highland / North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway, a straddling rambling rural line struggling to fill the thrice-weekly passenger train of two dilapidated unheated carriages, pushing their way through the weeds between deserted stations! In terms of Irish station design, there are so many differences with British ones, that few of these will make convincing Irish ones. The hassle of conversion and kit bashing will almost certainly be more that the task of just building one from scratch. It's easier to build a building from scratch than a locomotive!

The old companies were themselves amalgamations of earlier smaller ones. Therefore, no company had a standard "house style". However, certain styles were associated with companies, such as the gothic styles on the INWR and the yellow-brick of the GNR. West Cork and the WRC were made up of many, many small companies with but a few stations each, but the corrugated sheet sides, and low platform awnings werecommon in West Cork. The GSWR had stone buildings, often with great ornamentation, while the DSER used a lot of red brick, but with their very distinctive round-roofed signal cabins accessed off footbridges. The SLNCR started off with nice stone single-storey buildings but ran out of money, so later buildings were tin sheet.

I have it sussed. I now take photos when I'm standing on my head and post them when I'm the right way up; or vice versa.

An extremely worthwhile periodical to read is Alan O'Rourke's twice-yearly "New Irish Lines", recent issues of which have contained a very great array of 4mm drawings of GSR / CIE steam locos.

I'm afraid I don't know RAL number but the pic of the C above shows it well.

For a C, A, B101, G601 (NOT G611!), or carriages painted after 1955/6, yes. The darker shade with more elaborate lining was before that and didn't apply to locos mentioned above. One A, I think A46, got a coat of the darker shade as a one off for a short time in the early 60s, and the B113 pair and the D's had a older "steam-like" dark green livery when new.

Mine did that the other day...... I posted something twice......! The shade shown is black in the pic, though the light can play tricks! Would you have another pic? Excellent work so far....

Looks amazing, Eoin! None of these were black, though, all grey!

I will take one. Preferred early CIE period.

Brilliant, Colin, well done! Glad the society sorted you out.

You're saying that there are barriers to reopening Foynes, or not? I would not be one bit surprised if IE did something was fine to prevent any reopening!

The RPSI sold its last copy of the NCC one on this year's May Tour!

Excellent pic. Top of wagon-load list: cattle!

They talk about the "complexity" of the (signalling) arrangements at Limerick. Ye gods!!!!! Are these bulletin writers more on the level of clockwork train sets? Jhb171senior, jhb171pre-senior, Bob Clements, Drew Donaldson, Kevin Murray, Harold Houston and their ilk would spin in their graves.

Beautiful work!

That's it! Sorry, I omitted to mention the title....

The epic tome of Michael McMahons's and Jeremy Clements is the thing to have. The RPSI still has one copy left. This is the absolutely definitive dictionary for GSR / CIE steam. It's bulky, but worth every cent. Having been through it many times in detail, all I would say is that it's a pity there's no index, and that the rather excellent cover and rear pictures, plus a note in the text, telling us that grey locos had black smokeboxes, and (somewhat bizarrely) black numberplates with red letters, is incorrect. Tiny criticisms, but otherwise an absolute "must-have". Drew Donaldson, Bob Clements and Jack O'Neill produced a slimmer volume in the 1970s based on their personal, and encyclopaediacally correct, experiences of such locos as were surviving in use into the 1950s and 60s. Also a fascinating read. It's long, long out of print, but I think the RPSI has a copy it's second hand stuff.

One of the many things once carried, now forgotten. An article on exactly what the railways carried, and from where to where, would be interesting, as goods traffic is very much neglected in model circles.

For many years after the end of steam, headlamps were carried as per old rule books to identify trains more than light their way; increasingly unnecessary, it was simply a throwback to older working practices. In the transition period, as long as there was one steam engine left, everything would have them.