jhb171achill

They were called cattle docks, more commonly in England. England is a strange place. They have MPDs, like we did, but they are loco sheds, not railcars on the Larne line. They also have loco depots, which are also loco sheds. They have DMUs instead of railcars. MPDs and DMUs are both railcars. They aren't aware of this. They have signal boxes instead of signal cabins. Everything is narrow gauge. They call carriages TSOs, GHSs, BSKs, JHBs (well, maybe not that;) KSX, NHG, HTR, GGT... or whatever; instead of "open thirds", "corridor seconds", "Mk 1 standards" and "dining cars".... and the innards of what they call a snack car is to us, a dining car (or maybe it's vice versa...)! But, diversity adds interest to our rainy world, doesn't it...

They did initially. There were pens on each one. (A cattle platform was known in "railway" days as a "cattle bank". It had railings along the edge with openings in them, and wagons were aligned accordingly when loading / unloading from each pen. Cattle were driven into the pens from road side, or unloaded from cattle lorries at the gates of them.

And mid picture P29, railings still in place. Latterly, these railings were of old rail, but before that they were wooden, sometimes of old sleepers. Page 18 overgrown, left.

You'll also often see modern remains with a platform apparently way higher than normal platform height; this was more recent, for beet lorries to back up so they could tip beet into open wagons. Top pic P84 Rails through the West; Tubbercurry (distance, left) Top P71 Kiltimagh (left) P38, bottom, Craughwell Pages 34 and 36, top in each case; Ardrahan. On P34 you can just see the raised bit for lorries at the bottom of the pic. I won't copy and post, as they'd be upside down!

Yes. This was common practice especially in the west. Remains of some cattle banks are still to be seen nowadays here and there, usually buried under piles of spent ballast, weeds and old track panels thrown aside.

Only in Co. Clare, Minister. Everyone knows there are none anywhere else.... It has been suggested that there's one in Dublin, living up in the Aras.... naturally, I didn't say that.

Tis true, Junctionmad; totally true. It said so in the Evening Herald, so it must be.

When I'm dealing with tourists, I explain Irish cattle them, as we pass them in fields. The brown ones are for beef and dairying. The cream ones are for Bailey's Liqueur. The black and white ones are for Guinness. Can anyone prove me wrong?

It is indeed pricey - but, as others have said, better a pricey model which needs detail improvement - than none at all!

".........Also, there has been a lot of debate on which green is which for CIE. The reality is that no one knows for sure at this remove........." Thankfully, there are definitive examples available. The darker green - actual stuff - is on two of the coats of arms in "Headhunters" railway museum in Enniskillen; the DUTC one and the actual "Flying Snail" itself - the latter, of course, being an original also shows the correct shade for the "eau-de-nil" and the gold lining of same. On a larger scale, No. 800 in Cultra is painted using actual CIE paint in Inchicore - Cultra didn't paint it, they simply (incorrectly) added the "G S" letters. The lighter green used after 1955 has been seen accurately portrayed in recent years on the RPSI's Dublin "Heritage" set, and on the TPO and G611 at Downpatrick. However, in the case of all of these vehicles, care should be exercised; all are badly faded now from when they were painted, and thus my not be taken any longer as good examples. But they certainly show accurately enough what this colour was like when very badly faded and weathered. Another thing I notice on that layout, and which is surprisingly rarely modelled - the cattle bank - an absolutely essential part of I am sure 95% of Irish railway stations. Yet again, very well done!

thanks, gentlemen; I must try that!

I've seen that pic, and others like it. That was an absolutely fascinating time in Irish railway history, when there were 1880s six wheelers hauled by brand new C class locos with brand new tin vans at the end, or 1870s steam engines hauling brand new laminate coaches! I have seen a pic of a train in Killarney made up of: Green A hauling Green laminate Silver tin van Black'n'tan 1902/3 GSWR open third Green tin van As I've mentioned before, similar to the one Mayner mentioned, a local train li Lisburn consisting of - UTA green AEC car UTA "sectorised" blue and cream K15 GNR coach NIR maroon and grey AEC car.... Today - CAFs and ICRs. From Midleton to Derry. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gotta be UTA because it has no flying snail, unless they're in the sky....

Some of those look black'n'tan, but the tan isn't quite orange enough, and they have no CIE logos on their sides.....

That's something I've heard before and I suppose it relates to accuracy in general of stuff at the lineside. For example, there can't be a single vehicle ever ran with shiny tyres, but I've yet to see one with weathered or muddy tyres on a vehicle on a layout! I remember reading an article somewhere years ago where things like the correct form of gutters, corrugated iron roofs, street lights and things like that were discussed. Doesn't sound like something that too many of us would have high on our agendas, but it's surprising what a difference it makes if anyone takes the time (which we don't all have!) to do it....

Now that's what a railway SHOULD look like! Ye can keep your railcars! Good to see accurate rendition of both the earlier dark green and the later lighter green, especially the darker on the A; only a very few got this treatment, the vast bulk of them being the lighter green like B101. (I believe A46 was the first dark green A, and there were only 2 or 3 others in dark green; maybe they found old paint, because when any "A"'s were repainted from initial silver, the dark green livery was by now only used on buses - anything green on the railway was the lighter colour). Also, a very typical feature of the period which I don't think I've seen on a model before is the older wooden coach in the pre-1955 dark green with full light green lining, along with newer carriages in the post-1955 mid green with simplified light green lining. It's easy to see how "odd", and "foreign" the new 121s seemed in that setting. cattle trucks everywhere - absolutely standard in those days, and almost obligatory for a late 50s / early 60s CIE layout - as are "C" class locos. Excellent work.

You mentioned you had a narrow gauge project - presumably that was the Gresley P2! ;-) Shield WELL deserved!

Clapped out, badly faded, peeling carriages - just sublime! Excellent work as always. Cultra here we come, I hope!

I'll go for the bottom one as I'm currently standing on me 'ead.....

I do remember them well,Dive.....

UTA or GNR livery, tyeres lining involved! No hiding away with all all over grey for a GNR 4.4.0! :-)

Down with this sort of thing!

Pity....

Is the lever frame still in Lisburn cabin?

On 1st April, all completed coaches are going to the DCDR for storage, pending the November 2018 reintroduction of the "Enterprise".....