jhb171achill

Any chance of posting the picture?

And finally, for today, here are two pictures, neither of great quality, though I have the negatives which will certainly yield better. Quiz Question: explain both pictures. The apparent mist or glare is not that - it's smoke. The first prize for a correct answer is a free ride in a 450 class. Second prize is two free rides in one, and third prize is an annual ticket for one. Booby prize is a gift of a full three car set.

Early 1940s. Anyone fancy a doing up the Derry Central today, and maybe the tram to the Giant's Causeway? The Derry Central train is composed entirely of old Belfast & Northern Counties Rly coaching stock, as shown by the tell-take design feature of straight sides. Some of these managed to see UTA service into the 1960s.

Next, it's still 1940. This time, jhb171senior decides that a free pass from Amiens Street to Burtonport and back is an appropriate way to while away some time. He photographed the one coach on the train, but didn't set foot in it, of course. A teeth-and-bone-shaking footplate ride was better, at a breakneck 20 miles per hour: one of the big tanks to Letterkenny from Derry, and a footplate run on the last operational 4.8.0 tender engine from there to the Wilds of Burtonport. Oh, to turn back the clock....

Way back now, to 1940. First up, jhb171senior/senior's photo of original Dublin & Kingstown Railway track stored at Inchicore. This immensely historically important artefact was donated, at Senior's behest, to the fledgling Witham Street museum in Belfast, and should now be at Cultra. Anyone know if it is? Or if - God forbid - it's got lost in storage there or no one knows what it is?

We'll keep our guilty secret quiet, Warbonnet, or they'll start emailing us pictures of NIR CAFs. Shhhh....

Exactly, StevieB, that's what I was referring to in the first sentence. It wasn't "tippex livery" as such; this is generally taken to mean "supertrain" with white lines above and below the black. "Supertrain" was never applied to any non-air-conditioned coaching stock. What your picture shows is normal old black'n'tan (pre-supertrain, dating from 1962) with the simple addition of a single white line at waist level. The old black'n'tan livery already had a (thicker) white line above window level. I believe that up to 3 or 4 Park Royals received this, only in the last couple of years, and only to be seen on their very last duty on Limerick - Rosslare. There could even have been as few as two of them. One of these, incidentally, is No. 1944, preserved in the DCDR and currently undergoing restoration. I believe it will be outshopped in late 1950s green.

Very true indeed, Warbonnet!!! I'll retreat quietly back into the 17th century where I belong! When steam was steam, and trains were trains.... and there were still carriages about which the Stone Age settlers had left behind....

It's just about into the IE era all right, but Park Royals never received either "supertrain" OR the later "tippex" liveries - all remained Black and Tan until the end. The last 3 or 4 which survived into the early 1990s (on Waterford - Rosslare duty) got a single tippex line below the Windows, but that was it. The locomotive simply hadn't been repainted yet. Engines in CIE "supertrain" livery were commonplace well into the early 90s. The railway was cash-strapped at the time (quelle surprise) so rebranding was slow. In fact the introduction of the "tippex" white lines was just to avoid a proper re-livery exercise, as the basic orange and black colours remained exactly the see and in exactly the same place. The BR vans were initially all left in B'n'T as well, but into the 90s most ended up with a singke tippex line below waist level. For fans of supertrain era liveries, you can maintain accuracy and still get away with operating them on a layout up to mid 90s, albeit mixed in with tippex-era stuff.

One hears talk of it, and I think there is a trial crop in Co Cork somewhere. But IE scrapped wagons, sidings and everything rail related as quick as they possibly could to avoid involvement in the future!

This was before NIR added 8000 to their numbers!

New one to me too. Thanks for highlighting it, airfixfan.

Cravens for me! All of the others are like pressure cookers - ALWAYS far too hot inside (I'm told that this is to please the free travel elderly brigade!) and you can't open the windows! A 2600 appears now to be the only train in Ireland with opening windows!

Brings it all back, Mayner. Yes, it was and is like the other branches you mention - a truly beautiful area. And of course, ttc of this community is so lucky to live there. The track was woeful in those days, which made for a lively ride. This enhanced the experience on rickety jointed track, another similarity with Achill and Clifden in their later years! Achill and Clifden now, had they survived, would be the preserve of a single two-car 2800 each, I suppose. Maybe it's just as well they closed!

Looking fantastic, Daryl - very neat work!

Tis a fine collection of pencils there, sir! :-)

They could be quite lively in the cab all right! I had a spin in the cab of one between Belfast and Dundalk one time, and going up over the Bessbrook viaduct was memorable. Even one cab run on the Larne line was similar... Modellers will note that above, 68 has no cabside logo, whereas 94 has...

Rumours of Mk 4 stock being used on the GNR have abounded as long as they have been about, and seemed to reach fever pitch while the DD sets were being refurbished. To date, obviously nothing has come of it, and under all current plans there is no likelihood of it happening whatsoever, any time in the near future. Having said that, future changes of policy might alter things...!

Funny how we all see things! The original NIR livery looked attractive when brand new, but like the UTA one, being dark, it got to look very drab very quickly. This livery was brighter, though the red and cream "suburban" looked garish, like so many modern liveries. In terms of design, I have to say I thought the Hunslets looked fine! But in the all-time-ugly stakes, I'd place centre stage the 70, 80 and 450 class railcars, as opposed to their liveries... And as for the ghastly IE 29000s.... but others think all of the above look great! I have to say - I've "got used to" the outward appearance of the 2600, 2700 and 2800 class... the current silver and dark green suits them too. The older lime and navy livery, liked by some, was always considered odious by me.....no matter what it was on. I'm no fan either of any livery the 201s have ever had, nor the locos themselves! And, though it might beggar belief, there are those amongst our community who would not give a wheezing, rusty, work-stained J15 0.6.0 a second glance, even at the head of a cattle special.....

Your genius knows no limits, GSR! :-) In 1956, heavy rain as bad as we had in December last, plus a slight rise in the level of Lough Erne due to the construction of the Ballyshannon hydro-electric power station, led to this happening on the Lough shore near Castlecaldwell, Co Fermanagh. Jhb171senior was called out to examine, stroke his chin, murmur, and fix. Eighteen months later, the Stormont government decided to close this, and every other ex-GNR railway within half a day's drive of it. I'm glad THIS one turned out the right way up, or anyone reading this would be drowned by water emptied out of Lough Erne....

I don't know of the manuscript, airfixfan, but if I found out I'd finish it myself! The wagons you mentioned that were renovated for the Courtaulds traffic are the very ones that all the above photos are of. Some were GNR, but the majority were NCC, and carried builders plates (visible on the photo above) showing building dates "NCC 1922" or 1924. It is out of these that the dozen or more survivors for ballast with NIR came. I never knew that the "C" prefix was put on the Courtaulds wagons - I suppose it makes sense now! I had always assumed that it was an NIR suffix for departmental use, like CIE's "A". It certainly fulfilled that purpose in LATER days, as subsequently acquired ballast wagons carried it! By that stage, it HAD become a departmental tag. Several guard's vans were kept on by NIR for ballast use. There were two GNR vans, one of which is the RPSI's "Ivan". The other was an identical vehicle which was in woeful order at Downpatrick and was donated by DCDR to the RPSI's "youths" to provide spares for "Ivan". There was also at least one NCC van retained, now on the DCDR, and possibly another as well. Ex-GNR vans travelled on the Bangor line and ex-NCC areas of UTA / NIR after the break up of the GNR, but while they did appear beyond Amiens Street on CIE, it wasn't much or often. CIE were, of course, churning out many of their own more modern goods brakes at the time, so most of what CIE inherited was broken up quite soon.

Any idea where and when it was taken, airfixfan? That's one of the very few books I don't have!

They had 1:1 gradients on the Cavan & Leitrim.... Well, I did all right with the beet pictures I posted! I'll try and fish out some more pics later. Doing a tidy of part of the Catacombs today.... Anyone out there fancy restoring some extremely ancient (but almost all NON railway) glass plate negatives? In some cases I don't know if there's any point, as they are of long forgotten - and thus long unidentifiable - great-great-great aunts etc.....

Absolutely, Weshty; I'm having a Victor Meldrew afternoon!

The'y migh't, indee'd, Ol'd Blarne'y !