jhb171achill

Ideal location for Provincial Leslie Wagons, and the new U and UG locos, cheque book permitting! Had CIE taken over the GNR, we might have seen the ubiquitous GSWR J15 as far afield as Bundoran, Antrim and Derry!

Brilliant stuff, Glover. No doubt an RPSI May Tour will make it to Pettigo with 171 some day! :-)

Fantastic looking layout. I'm noticing more and more these days the attention to detail in those layouts which have a strong scenic element. Doubtless this is due to an ever greater variety of ever more realistic modelling materials, plus, of course, the essential element of the layout owner's artistic talents and modelling skills. This is one of them!

They come up for auction now and again. Keep an eye on the Sheffield Railway Auction, and the Gloucester one. About once a year, Whytes in Dublin do an "ephemera" auction, with anything from old coins or clothes to railway stuff.

Coffee stirrers - sheer genius! Excellent stuff.

Another oft-ignored but essential feature of so many lines, especially in the south and west.

Stunning - as always. This was surely the best golden age for prototypes for a model layout. The "black'n'tan" era....

TOP CLASS! A once absolutely routine sight at the vast majority of stations, yet largely ignored in the model world!

Absolutely superb layout.

VERY much so!

Exactly!! Hence the variation.

I've seen those cattle truck kits in the flesh and they are fantastic!

If the pic is from 1958, the loco will have a light yellow painted number on the candies. The plate will b long gone. The loco is probably so dirty that in a photo of that quality, the number (and / or light green "snail" on tender) will be invisible.

The "PW Lorry" referred to earlier was nothing more than a push-along hand-cart 4-wheeled flat trolley. They had them at various locations, according to staff involved.

The UTA one is quite rare, as they (a) didn't build that much, and (b) didn't put plates on everything. Even more so, "rebuild" plates were rare enough, and even more so in a place which wasn't a "works" - like Ballymena. I wouldn't be surprised if that is almost, or literally, a one-off.

It'll come as good new to modellers to know that even in steam days, "Enterprise" formations could vary. It was only with the introduction of the NIR Mk. 2 stock in 1970 and the "Supertrains" in 1972 that the one-type-of-coach fixed formation idea which is 100% the case these days, ever came in. Prior to that, passengaer train make up was based on one thing and one thing only - whatever was available, and most suitable. Unlike the severely retrograde situation today, where no two types of vehicles can even be coupled together, ALL railway vehicles had the same couplings, and no electrics were involved involving complicated and non-compatible jumper cables from vehicle to vehicle. thus, ANY vehicles could be coupled. I have seen a photo of an AEC railcar set about to leave Harcourt Street for Bray, with a 1890s MGWR six-wheeler towed at the back. Centre cars for AEC railcars sets, even, could be ex-GNR, ex-GSWR and ex-NCC former steam stock, with minor modifications for gangways etc. Right into the mid 1980s when the last wooden stock disappeared, a train make up on Dundalk to Bray, for example, might be BR Van, laminate type 1, Craven, Park Royal, laminate type 2, laminate dining car with shutters closed, Craven, Laminate brake standard genny. I have a photo somewhere of a Ballina-Limerick train about 1972 or so which has a 121 hauling a "Tin Van" followed by a laminate and a Park Royal. I can remember being at Port Laoise about 1974-ish photographing the stub of the Mountmellick line down in the yard. The H & S police didn't exist, and at extreme threat to my life I wandered about a deserted yard freely, sans steel-capped boots, PTS or day glo knickers. The 1030 Heuston - Cork was heard arriving in the station, so I ran to gain a suitable place to take a photo as it left. It was 141 hauled, and behind it were some 10 bogie vehicles, with no more than two of the one type, a laminate brake at one end and a tin van at the other. In a mixed formation (which was absolutely the norm), there were examples of two or three types of laminates, a Craven or two, a wooden-framed dining car, and a Park Royal or two. Go back ten years earlier and you have old wooden coaches too - almost all, if I remember correctly, which survived into the black'n'tan era being of GSWR origin. Bredins were still about too - the last time I saw or travelled in one myself (with a leaky roof!) was about 1975 or 6. So mix away. Conversely, a passenger train pre-1970 with a pristine rake of a single type of coach is actually not authentic at all 99% of the time! (If not 100!) Regarding GOODS trains, it's 101.1% of the time!

Nelson, I still see your crossed out 15 16 17 and 18, and I never cease to be gobsmacked by the absolutely top class standard of your work. Those locomotives may be fictitious technically, but they truly are an absolute work of art. In terms of BCDR livery, if you visit Headhunters Railway Museum in Enniskillen, you will see actual Queen's Quay paint as the background of the BCDR crest on the wall. The livery on 148 at Downpatrick us also as authentic as it gets, as is the lettering and lining. I was recently asked if the lining on the RPSI Whitehead set is authentic for the UTA. The answer is no, and that was deliberate, as the aim was to make the carriages look "UTA-ish" without being actual UTA, as that body never owned any of them. If you look at the unrestored end of the Golfer's Saloon at Downpatrick, you will see faint traces of actual UTA lining, one straw (not yellow) line edged in red. Incidentally, only loco hauled stock was lined - not railcars which were plain green. The shade of green on the RPSI set, the UTA crest in Enniskillen, and several preserved buses is correct.

I think these things were mounted on ordinary flat wagons, rather than being a specific type of wagon.

The grey is perfect, Glover - do is the weathering, the layout, the setting, the atmosphere. One of my favourite railways on here.

I'm out and about without my glasses so I can't see the number of planks, but apart from the sides looking a bit high it looks ok. A repaint would do the trick unless you're very particular. Slightly darker grey chassis, wheels & buffers included, with GNR lettering or flying snail. And lots of weathering, especially brake dust on the chassis!

Not sure. The shorter crossing to Britain might have had something to do with it. I've never picked up on any detail which would clarify the answer.....

Yes! Make it happen again! I didn't realise that - I just said I'd like to see such a photo off the top'o'me'ead...... and I've GOT THAT BOOK! Away to look now; over and out.

I was aware of 141 and A class locos making it into Omagh - wasn't aware of (presumably CIE) AECs. Obviously, routine services were largely AEC anyway by the 1960s, but these were simply ex-GNR AECs repainted in UTA green. One might therefore expect an GNR set which had gone to CIE to make a return visit in its new livery, but 2635 would have been a CIE car. An interesting photo would show one of the UTAs ex-GNR AEC sets crossing a CIE AEC set at, say, Dungannon! Off the top of your head, can you remember where you saw the photo of 2635?

I have lately tried to post images of things (naturally, upside down!) but I have been unable to upload them for the same reason - "too large to upload". I'm puzzled - I've been able to do this before. Anyone got any ideas? Sorry; off post........

The bulk of it to Belfast, by far, Leslie, especially in latter days. I am not sure when the large GNR cattle yards at Maysfields were built, but if they were comparatively late, then it's possible more went out via Derry (or Dublin) before that. I'm not sure where the cattle traffic generated in narrow gauge country went; probably out of Derry until the Victoria Road - Strabane section closed. Certainly the GSWR was carrying cattle for Belfast across the Burma Road for many years.