jhb171achill

I have a notion that it started life as a K15 open 3rd. I'd have to check. A further dim flicker in the back of what passes as a mind suggests that it had another incarnation in between, or possibly afterwards. Rebuilding of coaches, often one-offs, from one thing to another was common in old days. All that was required was a decent joiner in the works. The iconic MGWR dining car, for example, ended up as an ordinary coach, having had three separate lives, including substantially re-arranged window spacings and - I think - different bogies. Even in the 1950s and 60s, six wheelers were being altered as all-van, and the unique Park Royal driving car for AEC railcars on the Tramore line, as well as the unique laminate conversion passenger brake for the Loughrea line (with storage heaters) are well known.

Absolutely top class work.

That Lime St thing is amazing! Anything Irish?

A fantastic layout in all respects.

Tony, this is fascinating information. People who knew this working environment intimately, and still have the recall to describe it accurately and in detail like that are getting fewer and further between. Did you tip Selwyn off about this man? I'm sure you've done this, but I would say generally, that if any of us know people who remember the old days on the railway, when they carried all sorts of goods (and "passengers" instead of "customers"!), we should get out there and record them. Such work practices ceased entirely on all lines in the mid 1970s; that's forty years ago. In Omagh, they were by then gone by a further ten years.

Wow! Now THAT brings back memories!!!

Thank you, Rich.... I suppose when I've lived through much of "history", I might as well regurgitate it! Seriously, though, I know that every layout is its creator's world, and we all have different emphases. Some like just running round a circle, and why not; but for those who DO crave accuracy, it is important, I feel, for information to be available for them to achieve it. There's many a model which in one way or another isn't at all accurate, or is decorated in a way assumed to be near enough, but in fact so wide of the mark that to those who remember them very familiarly, they are very odd looking indeed. If the modeller knows, but is happy enough or even prefers it his way, fair enough, but if he wants accuracy there will be some sort of info, somewhere, which people will see. Many of my posts are inspired by what I have seen myself, as my own more vivid personal memories go back to the early 1960s. Others are inspired by seeing a highly accurate layout where it is very obvious that the owner has gone to extraordinary lengths to achieve absolute accuracy, but there may be one glaring - but commonly repeated - inaccuracy. Yellow snails on tenders spring to mind. You know what I mean! Anyway, it keeps me off the streets and out of bars.....

You do indeed get the odd one, Broithe..... mostly, though, straight.

That is SO SERIOUSLY GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the subject of platforms, in my early model days with an oval of Triang track, an 0.4.0 outline, two trucks and a guard's van, I noticed something in my first Triang Hornby catalogue. It was that most, or at least many, model platforms seem to have tapered ends. I'm not sure why - maybe for flexibility given layout curves in general. They regularly crop up on layouts. It is worth pointing out that both here and in Britain, such things were the exception rather than the rule, even when converging tracks were just off the end of the platform. That at the Loop Platform in Downpatrick (the original BCDR one) is one of the few examples I can think of. Generally, platforms are better having ends the same width as the rest of it.....

Really realistic weathering - looks great!

I'd want beer as well.

Brilliant little "man shed"; wine bottles an'all!

No - never on cattle trucks. Originally they were open roofed until Board of Trade regulations made railway companies cover them some time after 1900. (Didn't stop the T & D using open ones until the end, though!). The vehicles with the "part-tarpaulin" roofs divided roughly into thirds, with the middle section open, were otherwise normal goods vans. Officially "Convertible Vans", they were more normally known as "soft tops" because while they could be used as cattle vans with the tops open, they were more normally used for general goods with the open sections covered by tarpaulins, which were held down by ropes going over the sides and secured either side of the central van doors. Virtually all Irish railways had them, both standard and narrow gauge. None survive. The last ones in traffic on the 5ft 3 were probably mid to late 50s, as once the "H" vans started to be built en masse, they disappeared, just as the energetic prodiction line of Park Royals and laminates sent the passenger six wheelers to the scrap man in pretty short order. I think that the West Clare and C & L may have had them almost until closure. I believe that "soft tops" were a uniquely Irish idea.

What's the loco type on the upper photo - is it an SD40?

Where was that and when?

Interesting looking yoke...... With a bit of imagination, a drop-on tender body, running boards and a much amended cab could make it look vaguely Irish....

Now that we have fertiliser wagons, bubbles and above all "H" vans, the CIE cattle truck is one of the last major omissions! I believe Leslie is bringing one out tomorrow..........................................................................!!!!!

Often, the very ends of platforms were gravelled, and later tarmacked. This can still be seen at Cobh. Maybe a bit of cardboard with lightish grey grit as gravel? And weather this plus the tiled surface to match?

At the risk of causing indigestion among the purists, if properly cleaned up it could pass a generic type for many origins. If it's to be GSR, just a slight shade lighter grey, if BCDR their dark lined green. The DSER (and later GSR / CIE) did have locos which weren't at all unlike that. Depends on how particular you are about accuracy.

MikeO, it depended entirely on the internal layout of the coach. Some were side-corridor, some "open" (centre aisle), and some, such as GSWR 1097 at Downpatrick, a combination of both. Add to that the fact that some vehicles had guards compartments, luggage compartments or one thing or another either at one end of the coach or in the middle. Some companies used "torpedo" style vents, others used the "flatter" ones - this depended on the in-house carriage design of the company, or the firm they bought the carriage from. Naturally, by mid-CIE-days, this meant a hotch-potch of different types! Is there any particular type of vehicle you are interested in?

.....on the Union Pacific? Sorry!!! Couldn't resist it...........!

FB rail was spiked directly to sleepers for a long time, and I remember seeing it on the Loughrea branch and on many, many sidings since then. The thing in your illustration is known as a "soleplate" rather than a chair and was widely used too.

Me too. There was so much variety then compared to today. The railways catered for so much more than containers and "customers" in identikit tin tubes.....

Excellent stuff - love the 20T brake van too!