jhb171achill

Priceless!!!!!! :-)

I love the old MED parcel van!

Private owner wagons were indeed looked after by the railway companies here. Which I suppose is why many ended up in the standard CIE colours of the day.

And the steam engines were heavier too. Good times!

It never bothered steam engines, says jhb171 the dinosaur.

You're 100% right, OB. It is "think" that had led to numerous careless, unforgiveable errors in museums and preservation. The one certainty is that on the rare occasions that Irish wagons were in a unique livery, the chassis usually was too - not always, but generally. Thus, if I was modelling these things I'd go for red chassis, heavily weathered with brownish brake block dust. This could be corrected if appropriate in the future.

I'm so baffled now, Eoin, that I've forgotten how to work out which way up I am myself!

I think 560 (originally no. 115 "Achill") was the last one standing. It was still in traffic and seen in Tralee, Fenit and Cork, right into steam's last year on CIE, 1963. I always thought one would have been ideal for Downpatrick.....

There we have it. They were red prior to being grey! Mystery solved. (Chassis red, grey or black, OB, can you recall?)

No, I always drink Guinness instead of Fosters.... And I've never eaten a kangaroo. I also have a footplate pass from Derry to Burtonport and back....It's actually for a first class coach seat, but he travelled on the footplate of one the tender engines. I think it was No. 11, as the other one was by then out of use.

Excellent, OB! I'm typing this while gnidnats no my daeh. llitS isn't right.

Now that would be good! G scale Irish layout. Who's for G scale laminates and H vans?

Absolutely right, Mayner, you've reminded me of a couple of other places I saw them. I wasn't aware that any survived to get the standard CIE brown (red-oxide). I suppose, for historical accuracy, we need to be aware that we now have proof of them in both CIE liveries. Thus far, the red.... we all know of examples of where incorrectly applied liveries, or incorrect recollections, fuel theories that something was a certain colour, when it wasn't. It's so easy for a modeller who hasn't had the requisite number of birthdays, aches and pains, to assume that if the UFTM, RPSI or DCDR paint something tartan, then it must have been tartan. Not so, as many examples in all three can show us. So - one wonders where Alphagrafix got their information from? Was it reliable information, and if so, did their printing process produce it correctly? Their SLNCR coach, for example, is red. It should be deep maroon, although that one's understandable as the very few coaches on this line that saw a paintbrush in the "colour" era (Nos 4 & 11 spring to mind), faded to a weathered nondescript browny red colour in the Leitrim wind and rain quite quickly. Red would be colourful on a layout in world of almost all grey. It MIGHT be accurate. However, if realism is the preference, we at least know grey is accurate. And post-1970 or so, brown with broken wheel too. Incidentally, for all wagons, the brown started appearing about 1970. Prior to that all grey. By the time loose coupled stock was done away with in the mid 70s, about 60% of stock was brown! the rest grey still! the odd one still sporting a "flying snail" stencil.

I have sampled same in Brogans and the Old Ground - excellent. Great town, if I remember rightly, for diddly-dee music too. And it might now, Michael, so it might.

Ah! Da wisht. I know it. It's between Skibbereen and Buncrana.

Where's Clare, Horsetan? Doesn't sound like somewhere on the main line.....

I found a few old used railway tickets issued to the GSR Chief Draughtsman and his son, the later GNR Western District Engineer... The Clogher Valley one included a personal tour of Aughnacloy Works... And no matter which way I hold the iPhone when taking photos, they always turn out upside down. Any thoughts on that? Should I stand my head when taking them?

Looks like it, Kirley! If I manage to dig up anything else I'll post it here.

Not now, GSR - the RPSI & DCDR have been all over that end of things!

An extremely reliable opinion I consulted tonight casts great doubt on them ever being anything but grey. I suspect that if any were ever red, it didn't last long. In those days, separate liveries eg the Asahi, Tara or Ammonia were unusual and private owner / reserved operator stuff generally carried the standard livery, ie grey. The photos show above both suggest grey, though with the top one it's hard to tell. While the chassis on it looks darker, maybe black, so does the wagon hogs to the left - and it would certainly be grey....the picture exposure is the wild card there.

I'm not sure - I'll check!

Could be, GSR.... Horsetan, I must look into that!

Interesting..... can anyone here answer why we are all fascinated with it?

There are a few in the scrap line. Both 124 and 134 still exist too.

Interesting, waffles! Thanks. For modelling accuracy purposes, do you know (a) if initially the chassis was red as one might expect, or black? (B) when they were repainted standard all over grey ?