jhb171achill

That would have been amazing, Mike! I've a few other shots of the day, but they're really not that great, unfortunately!

A six wheeler with a clerestorey roof would be an exceptionally rare beast indeed. I know of one GSWR design - an all-first in this case. There were very few others. All that I am aware of were GSWR. Clerestorey carriages (incidentally often mispronounced; it should sound like "clear story") were quite uncommon in Ireland in general. Most railway companies had none. The GNR and GSWR had a few, but the Midland, BNCR, BCDR, and DSER (I'm nearly sure) didn't have any. I must look up in the Catacombs to see if the W & L / WLWR did. Could it be that the Rosslare one is half of a bogie vehicle? When bogie carriages were sold off as hen houses, farm sheds or holiday homes, they were often cut in half to make transport easier. The restored BCDR coach 148 arrived at the railway in two halves! And I remember seeing the remains of one of the SLNCR bogies near Manorhamilton, and another out in the sticks (now long gone) which were halves of two of the bogies. Even if this Rosslare vehicle is half a bogie, it still makes for a rare bird. Photos would aid identification.

There were quite a few little lines like that all over the country. Some were of a very short or temporary nature, or both.

There are several coach bodies as mentioned above, Harry, and in various places all over the country. Almost all are now in extremely ropey condition.

can you take pictures and post, Harry? Roof details, ends, interiors, door handles, window frames will all help to identify.

I am currently researching the identity of three old carriage bodies on private land. They are clearly ex-GSWR by design, my estimate being 1879-90 period. Judging by the windows one is an all first, another looks as if it was a composite, and the third likewise though interior clues suggest a substantial internal reorganisation while in traffic, which would be highly unusual if proven to be the case. I have carried out a detailed inspection of them and have been unable to identify them exactly, but my efforts continue. I'm presuming the Dundalk ones are the ones at Giles' Quay; there used to be many more there, and I am told that at the site I am looking at, there used to also be a former tram body. There's a GNR covered van body in a field above the dual carriageway passing Banbridge, Co. Down, as many here will know. Compilation of a complete list would be very difficult now, if not impossible, because Ireland is bigger than one thinks when country and farm lanes are included! Almost all ex-railway vehicles are likely to be on private land too. I am aware of several very interesting vehicles which have bitten the dust in recent years. Those left nowadays, one has to remember, haven't seen railway service typically in 50-70 years, and may be structurally unsound at this stage. Many have been substantially altered or disguised by sheeting or panelling, often to an extent that makes identification of the vehicle type, let alone identity, almost impossible. Any list is therefore going to be incomplete - however - it's an excellent idea from the point of view of interest to gather as much information as possible. In some cases, owners may be all too happy for someone to dismantle one on their land for spare parts for the RPSI or (more likely) the DCDR. In other cases, photographs or measurements could be of great use to historians, enthusiasts, modellers and preservationists.

Interesting!

That is a really nice little layout. The scenery is top class.

A46 was the only "A", and apart from the B113 and "D" class, the only diesel locomotive ever to carry the older darker green - a strange throwback for a year or two between its silver and black paint-coats.

That's a post office road trailer of many, many moons ago. A railway there would have been a very temporary construction thing, probably like a rough Bord na Mona siding. Probably pushalong trolleys on it. I'm unaware of any locomotive and I'd be fairly sure there was wasn't one.

I'll have a look, Harry. I think Senior had a couple of pics, though if I remember correctly they're blurred and over-exposed and may not show it anyway.

Could well be, Jawfin - I didn't know that (or it had never occurred to me), but given the dates these went into traffic, very possible indeed.

The GSWR repainted all J15s grey around 1915/18, and they stayed that way though GSR days and CIE until scrapped. None were ever black or green, unless you count pre-1915 black with red lining. 184 was given a strange browny green colour towards the end of its life for an Inchicore open day. I suspect it was not expected to run again, but it did a brief spell of duty like that until withdrawal. It was fully lined out in black and white like that. 90 was painted lined apple green for exhibition after it was withdrawn but never ran like that. It was grey from 1915 to about 1956/7, but was repainted for its last two years in traffic. Better colour photos show it looking black for its final spell in use, and it was probably repainted in Cork rather than Inchicore, so strict adherence to normal policy could be avoided - as it was with variations of livery details on some carriages painted there in green days. Neither of these schemes were ever used by the GSWR. They were "makey-uppy" but often assumed to be GSWR. And now to Dundara: an excellent layout full of character. I look forward to seeing more.

The NIR ones all had the headlights, I think.

It was. Then it was repainted black with a yellow snail and a yellow line along the running board. Then 461 was painted black with a yellow snail! All looked very well, it has to be said, but were historically inaccurate in all respects.

But will it be weathered and RTR?

I notice among it a pic of several coach ends at Whitehead..... in case anyone's indexing, the badly faded wooden coach between the CIE and RPSI Mk 2s is an NCC bogie full parcel brake, used as a stores van there.

Absolutely correct, Minister. To add, in fact, to the drabness was the fact that they actually changed little at first anyway, as the grey had already been used by the GSWR for some eight years, and the dark "lake" maroon - which weathered to almost black in some cases - added to dirty black wagons on the GSWR, and very dark grey on the DSER and MGWR - must have looked VERY gloomy. The attractive lined maroon of WLWR locos was long gone by 1925; such locos were either in faded GSWR black or more likely all grey already since the GSWR takeover of that concern two decades earlier. So the new GSR picked the company with the dullest livery of the lot - the GSWR - and slapped that all over everything else! The narrow gauge lines - most of whose locos were varying shades of lined green - the DSER with its handsome lined black, and the MGWR with its even more attractive lined emerald green.....

All very valid points indeed, Mayner. The GSR was indeed very adept at penny counting; jhb171's senior and senior/senior both would have told us that. Regarding the CDR, it went bust in the 1920s and it was the financial input of the GNR (locos / rolling stock) and NCC (track / infrastructure) which kept it afloat. The LLSR, by comparison, withered. In reality, it is an absolute miracle that much of the network in remote Donegal was ever built at all, and an even bigger one that the LLSR lasted until recently, even as a bus company operating ICRs - sorry, buses. (Or is it the other way round?). Connemara is similar to Donegal. Imagine if that region had had 200 miles of 3ft gauge lines serving places like Roundstone, Rossaveal or Cong, instead of a single Clifden branch which closed in 1935? The Congested Districts Board and Balfour Acts saw that all of the above were built. In reality, the chances of ANY of those lines being economically viable as standalone businesses (as railways were then) was nil. Thankfully, they WERE built, and we enthusiasts got to enjoy them - if old enough - or enjoy the pictures if not.

That's quite possible indeed, Dive - I hadn't thought of that. However, also, they did tend to get very dirty! The green livery - like all single-colour liveries - tended to look dull if worn or weathered. After almost twenty years of all-encompassing green or grey, the new black'n'tan livery looked very bright, modern and dynamic when new.

That's the one I was on back from Caaark tonight.....

Aaaarrrrrghhh! I'm on an ICR right now.....

WOW!!!!!! You've surpassed yourself (again), Leslie!

Yes, folks, it is indeed on the DCDR. The coach was just ex-service and had just arrived there.

Exactly, Dhu Varren, that's what I had in mind.