jhb171achill

He did say 600 - but £ or €?

No, horsetan, that's grey....

Ah! I spoke too soon. Bus transfers advertised on IE website between Ennis and Galway, well as on part of the Sligo line.

Looking at the 6 o'clock news tonight I'm surprised that (despite track upgrades in recent years) there's nothing about the Limerick - Ennis line being flooded.... so it's ok?

No problem to a Manorhamilton-trained man like yourself, David!

Years and years ago, I tried repainting some mainland European 009 stuff into CIE livery for an imaginary 1950s CIE layout. It really didn't even begin to look right.

....and the RPSI May tour would feature, let's see.... an LNWR "Coal Tank" (ex Howth branch) on the Ballina line, with an LNER 4.6.0 on the main tour....hauling old Great Wsetern and LMS carriages.... Ok, I'll stop this nonsense now...

A very obvious "might-have-been"; when the Ulster Railway was narrowed, and the Dublin & Drogheda widened, what if the British government had said "we're going 4ft 8 1/2, so Ireland must also"? The Ulster's 6 ft 2 was going to go anyway, so everything here bar the odd narrow gauge line would have ended up the same standard European gauge. Cue an Ireland like a giant Isle of Wight with all manner of second hand British pre-grouping stock all over the place. Stanier tanks and Black 5's all over the NCC.... Inchicore never building anything but maintaining into the sixties fascinating but motley collection of old GWR, LNWR and NER locomotives.. So what would have we had instead of blue 4.4.0s on the main line? What would we have today on the main line system (probably lots of Mk 3's, for starters!)

You could look at a broader issue, taking Tralee into it; the issue of volunteers-with-an-actual-interest running anything at all, versus local authorities. One works, the other doesn't! Anyway, looking forward to future Fry trains....

Join the 009 Society. While its scale 2ft gauge, they deal with British or Irish outline. Backwoods miniatures do kits of Tralee & dingle, Donegal and Manx stuff.

Going back to that picture of the railcar with what the book caption called a "vintage trailer". That is actually one of four 1898-built GSWR dining cars; either nos. 412 or 413, or 343 or 344. At the end of the train is a GSWR 6-wheeled passenger brake van of late 1870s to mid 1880s vintage.

Very interesting, Maitland - is it possible to work out if it actually looks 5ft 3 gauge?

In early days, junctionmad, you'd get them anywhere. I have a single reollection of seeing several somewhere in the middle of a train which, as I recall, had 34 four-wheeled was jobs and a brake van.... Hauled by "one o'them new B class"...... (141 - yes, single, not pair!)

Roof details varied. A couple of cars, maybe no more than 2 or 3, had "wasp" stripes above cantrail level just at the front. Most green. While in pre-1955 dark green, roofs were often grey - possibly all were when new. But by the time the lighter green came in, roofs were always black like on carriages roofs and ends.

I suppose when you think of it, grey is much more practical for cement wagons than the later orange or cream!

Could I ask, as someone who is not hugely knowledgeable about buses, is it possible to buy a model of the exact type of bus used on the No. 10 route in the 1960-1980 period?

Well, I'd be happy with blue 4.4.0s on the Enterprise...

Is this good news for enthusiasts? 80 and 450 sets on the Larne line! And I quote..... NI Railways has 17 staffed stations and 5 staffed halts throughout the network; all lines offer a combination of express services and trains that stop at each halt and station, with up to 6 and 7 trains operating per hour at peak times on key commuter lines. Class 3000 (C3K) CAF trains operate mainly on the Bangor, Portadown and Londonderry Lines. Class 80 and 450 trains are used on the Larne Line and Portrush branch line. 20 new state-of-the-art trains are due to arrive and go into service between 2011 and 2013, replacing 13 older models and operating alongside the existing fleet of 23 C3K trains. All our trains and facilities are accessible to wheelchair users. Services operate Monday to Saturday with a reduced frequency service on Sundays. Timetables are available free of charge from main NI Railways stations.

Some nicknames only appear in preservation or after closure, e.g. the "western rail corrior".... When in traffic I don't ever remember hearing 70 and 80 class railcars referred to as "thumpers"... To go back to topic, I must look up drawings of whatever clerestory stuff the GSWR had which might have worked in railcar sets.

Well done, iarnród! The colour one is interesting, though it shows them a bit darker than they were - original photo a little under exposed.

They were all grey until about 1969 / 1970-ish. There is a nice pic of them in grey in Jimmy O'Dea's stuff,reference ODEA 43/11. I'm not sure how to copy / paste that image here.... maybe someone else can? The picture is captioned "Cement hoppers passing kildare" and it's dated 14th January 1967.

That's quite a mixture, Tony!

And the RPSI has a laminate brake coach numbered 1916........!!

I remember those buckets going over the main road near Drogheda... in the 1960s there was no such thing as health and safety, and as far as I recall they didn't have any sort of safety net to catch potential falling material as it passed over the road. An interesting project for a layout! Quarry scene with moving buckets...

Their engines looked better in shiny black!