jhb171achill

There was a sizeable community of old carriages at Giles' Quay, outside Dundalk until very recent years. Some are still in the area. There was even a former GNR railmotor among them. That was by far the largest group of grounded railway vehicles I ever came across. As far as I remember and as one might expect, they were all ex GNR.

That's got me interested, Spudfan. The regular passenger service to Youghal ended in 1963, so it must have been extremely short lived - maybe only a season or two. Or possibly, and especially if the coaches weren't on the statio n site, they were privately owned rather than CIE owned. All sorts of absolute gems of old coaches were in fields all over the country. They had a one or two in Tramore station for a short time. I knew someone who holidayed in an old GSWR beauty (privately owned) in a field by the sea outside Dublin, and an old MGWR coach which was used for this purpose - again privately owned - near Wexford. Interesting stuff.

Mostly laminates in later days, always including a dining car. Possibly the odd Park Royal or old Bredin. I never saw a Craven in one, as suggested by others - however, the odd one may have made an appearance. In earlier "CIE green" days, as mentioned already, old wooden carriages usually ex-GSWR were used. There were specially converted "radio studio coaches" with numbers prefixed "RS". Obviously, a radio studio had to be in each train. Long after the demise of the radio train, at least one RS appeared in the consist of one of the Connolly - Dundalk local sets, as they were so chronically short of stock. (They had SOME seats!). I took a pic of a dining car, shutters down, in one of those sets too - same reason.

Very sorry to hear that, irishtrains2730. Hope things sort themselves out for you.

Excellent weathering on the fence too! :-)

[quote name=Mayner;36409 In steam days large ex MGWR Cs Class 4-4-0 on main line passenger' date=' possibly Ks or 650 Class 2-4-0 on the Mails, 650 or Achill Bogies on the branch. .[/quote] The "D16"s sometimes worked Achill - Westport, but on other services Achill - Athlone. After the Achill line closed, a D16 was based for a while on the Ballina line, so that's when one would have been there. I have a good collection of WTTs so if there's any specific year you'd like, I can post that up. Most of mine are pre-1980.

I wonder which station was it at, Spudfan - was it youghal itself?

I've seen pictures of British ones in use, Mayner, but the nearest I can think of to the Irish ones is in the book on the Waterford & Tramore Railway by Fayle & Newham; you can see one in the distance in the photo of Tramore in letter days. It seems reasonable to assume that they weren't that popular here - they weren't in use for long!

That is as truly outstanding as anything ever seen here. Very well done, sir. Hats off, everyone!

I dealt with a gentleman while involved with DCDR and RPSI finances over the years who considered funding a replica cattle wagon if pans could be found, plus paying for one or two other goods wagons to be fully refurbished (no black ironwork jobs!!). The proposal never got off the ground, though I told him I'd be happy to facilitate it, and would try to find a small budget from the society concerned to assist. For personal reasons relating to this gentleman, the proposal will not go ahead.

Much as I have zero personal interest in either that railbus or anything post 1960s, you are of course quite right, Dhu Varren. So here's my horrible confession! It was in the early days of my tenure of DCDR finances that RB3 arrived there! Cattle trucks were within my lifetime seen as the most boring routine stuff, of zero interest to anyone. This is indeed why none were preserved. I regret that, so do you; RB3 has it's followers......

Totally right, bufferstop, a serious void in the story. Filled by a railbus!!! Wahhhhhhhh!!!!

Ah! So it's not off the Enterprise.... (USS or Belfast varieties)....

Yes. There's a GNR one and a CIE one at Whitehead, and an NCC one at Downpatrick. The GNR, NCC and above GSWR ones are the only survivors from their respective companies. The CIE one at Whitehead is joined by the one outside Cork (Halfway?) and the amended one still in IE ownership at Limerick; I believe these - amazingly given their recent numbers - to be the last standard CIE ones. There may still be a derelict one at Inchicore. Not a one from the DSER, BCDR, SLNCR, or even more surprisingly, the MGWR. And not a SINGLE cattle wagon from ANY railway! Despite the fact that as recently as 1955, cattle wagons probably made up 30 - 35% of the entire wagon fleet.

It looks like something for removing winkles from locomotive exhaust pipes, spying on people who are standing upside down, or squirting coloured dye in inappropriate places, with intent to cause alarm. The "no-parking" sign refers to 071s. As we can see there are none in the picture. (Should I go home now?) ;-)

Another upside-downey for you. Last surviving wooden brake van on CIE, still in use into the 70s, complete with flying snail to the end and 1960s era grey, this is the van which survived into preserved times thanks to one of our community here, who had it held at Tuam (and Attymon, before that), until vandals burned it. It's now still with us, thankfully, at Dunsandle. It's a GSWR product and if memory serves me right, dates from about 1910.

First, Westport shed from a less usual angle. And yes, I was the photographer, and I had no hard hat or shoes or day glow jacket....... I'm alive! Hey! Life is good. The other is not noted by me. Memory suggests either Westport, Claremorris or Sligo. Probably Westport. TTC might be able to confirm? I add these in the hope that they'll be of help to modellers of that era. Yes, I know they're probably going to be upside down....

The almost-preserved last survivor of that rare species, a WLWR bogie coach. Few though they were, they were a very elegant design indeed, none more so than their Director's Saloon, which of course became GSWR / GSR / CIE 935. The usual sub-normal scum of vandals put paid to her. From the list above, consecutively numbered 934 was a camping coach. This was an entirely different design, however, being a standard type of 1st / 2nd compartment composite. I surveyed 935 while I was heavily RPSI-involved, with a view to having it brought to Whitehead. But it was in way worse order than even this picture suggests, and it was burned soon after by aforementioned citizens.

"Holiday Coach"

But the road doesn't go under the roof?

Ahhh perfect! Saved me, as well as others, a phone call.... :-)

What on earth is the reason that trains can't actually enter Tralee station any more? Is it because of the death toll of thousands that H & S men imagined had happened between the 1850s and today......? Or does an ICR have no brakes?

Ye just never know, Glenderg...! ;-)

Well presented....