jhb171achill

If it had a chimney it would match 186 and 461. Sorry....!

Really good. Was considering a thing like this myself based on 1960s CIE. Time will tell.

No, GSR, they were on passenger duty from the word go. One of their earliest main line forays was in fact on the (pre-DD!) "Enterprise". At the bottom of page 24 of "Rails through the West", 122 can be seen heading B124 - both cabs forward - about 1973. Both have handrails. 122 is in "supertrain", while B124 is black'n'tan. The train of just 2 laminates and a "hot water bottle" are on the Ennis - Limerick service. While double heading of ridiculously light loads was common in later days, as "pairs" tended to remain paired (!), in those days that never happened at all unless the load warranted it. In this case, B124 has failed and 122 is towing it dead.

We're all a broad church, aren't we! I bet there are EVEN people here who don't like GSWR 0.6.0s.....

Let's face it - the DD and Mk 4 sets themselves are no oil paintings..... you could paint them any colour.....

To go back to the thread topic, it was mom on practice in the past for steam engines to pre-heat coaches. UTA / NIR loco-hauled stock from the late sixties on tended to lie aside for long periods, and my memories of them included tired of vandalised upholstery in some, and another occasion a slashed seat cushion with the old horsehair coming out, but above all very musty. No amount of heating can remove mustiness for old, damp, cold cushions. But if near the engine they were toasty warm.

Incidentally, a livery point on 121s. With no multiple fittings before the grey livery disappeared, a grey and yellow one would never have been seen paired with anything, unless it broke down and was being rescued!

Indeed, josefstadt. I have a pic of jhb171 Seniors, showing a scene in Lisburn station about 1970. A three car (ex GNR) railcar is on an all-stops GVS to Portadown evening ommuter run. One car is UTA green, another the sectional UTA light blue and cream, and the third in brand new NIR maroon and grey, all gleaming and clean! I saw many a pair of 121 / 141 / 181 in the 70s, as I'm sure you did, with one loco in black'n'tan and the other in supertrain.

Latterly, nose-to-nose pairing, either with another 121 or a 141 / 181, was universal. While it was also very much the norm going back to the early 70s, exceptions did occur, though very rarely. On a single occasion about 1976 or so, I saw a pair on a passenger train with both cabs forward. It's a bit like their earlier nose-first single running. It happened, but very exceptionally rarely. The Dundalk Barrack St. branch was one location where it happened the odd time if a 121 was on the North Wall - Dundalk goods and went down there with a wagon or two. In a similar fashion, 80 class railcars were never mixed in traffic with Castle class 450s. They had different connections. However, on one occasion after a bomb scare somewhere, I saw an 80 in use as a passenger train just after the line reopened, hauling a Castle which was tagged onto the train but closed off with no passengers in it. Thus a 6-car NIR train: 3 X 80 car, and 3 X Castle class. No, Maedb never went tender first - even once!

Livery mixes were almost the norm 1955-65. I'm not sure any of the trio of Pullmans were still in traffic in the late 50s. If so, you'd never have got more than one in a train. They ended up being scrapped in Naas, I think.

So, in black'n'tan livery, most of that time was spent without handrails. Thus, a black'n'tan one with handrails is very specific 1971-3. If the production model has them, and the modeller wanted 1965-ish to 1971, just remove them.

Is this one narrow gauge?

Wow. To classify something as less attractive than a Mk 4 DVT makes it really ugly! ;-)

In those times, train sets of any type - goods, main line or suburban passenger - were never the (boring!) permanently fixe sets of an identical type of vehicle seen since the 1980s. Extra carriages could be tacked onto various trains for various reasons, or taken off them.

Point for modellers - prior to the advent of the "supertrains" in 1972 - in other words during the great and black'n'tan eras - 121s generally ran singly, but cab first. This is why so many turntables outlived the steam era. They were turned in many places.

Exactly, Leslie! And a cupboard, of course, for chocolate.

Looks more like a hand gun than a loco! Those things seem to always divide opinion; some love 'em, some hate 'em! they certainly were an odd looking item, as virtually everything Bullied is famous for was.... When BR were designing their standard classes in the fifties, they set on certain design features which would become the identifiable "house" standards - personally I thought they looked well. Had steam been retained by CIE, it is likely that a similar concept of a standard house style would have been adopted. It's probable that the UTA would have gone along with Jeep ideas, and possibly developed a standard class - which would have been suitable for most duties in the north - of 2.6.4.T which might have looked like a modernised Jeep, owing much to BR design. As for CIE, it's hard to tell, as they ditched steam earlier and had SO many non-standard types to pick ideas from, as well as a lot of varying types of traffic requirements. The "Woolwich" locos were well regarded by both Inchicore and loco crews - something like that would probably have been the norm for passenger work...

I want one with a working kettle inside the cab...

can you model miniature nappies in a weathered state?

Probably the road surface. jhb171 senior reported that on his first forays into rural western places, roads were just stone surfaced. The Achill line closure was actually delayed over two years, and a withdrawn passenger service re-introduced, as the local council complained to the GSR about the damage buses were doing to the road. Thus, a stay of execution had to be granted in order to allow the road to be upgraded. this wasn't only in the 1930s - the CDR had to retain the Donegal - Ballyshannon service until the end for the same reason. They had earlier applied to discontinue it.

I suspect that the ex-Pullmans did not have "snails", actually, as one picture I have showing one in the distance doesn't seem to show one. That said, the coach is withdrawn in the photo and the paint is old and peeling so I can't be certain. With matchboard, I doubt it.

I heard that one about the Bandon line too, way back. But CIE, for their part, certainly didn't take it seriously. Re the "troubles" in the 1910/20s, I don't think it would have prolonged the life of any line. Some years ago I went through the GSR and MGWR archives in detail and all the early closures followed a period of accountants super-analysing all the traffic receipts, coal and staff costs. In fact, I've a pile of this stuff right in front of me now, as I attempt to continue writing "Rails Through Connemara"... musty smelling oul shtuff.... The reality was that the lines concerned were hopelessly uneconomic and the Government not only had not money to prop them up, but no political will. The savings made by not having to compensate, say, the DSER, would have been a drop in the ocean. The stuff I have here now involve detailed investigations into the Passage line and the Muskerry system, the Kinsale and Macroom lines, and the Clifden, Achill and Killala branches. Even had the tooth fairy relaid their track (most needed it), the GSR knew full well that losses would continue to mount. Many of these lines, arguably, should never have been built in the first place. Many were constructed with "Balfour money" - this in itself an indication of poor potential for remuneration, as the major companies would already have built them of their own volition if they foresaw any potential profit there. The reality was that there was never a chance of the worst examples anyway ever turning a penny, and after construction it proved indeed to be the case.

Hahaha excellent! Probably right... and u boats as well as UG's....

Congratulations, Glenderg and new family!