jhb171achill

:-)

I'm not even sure what I had in mind when I started this thread, Wrenn! Whatever it was, I have inadvertently deleted the text, then posted it. Yes, I should have gone to specsavers....

With white stripes (which I forgot to mention!) below the windows, and two passenger coaches rather than one, it could well be Ballina indeed. I'd be inclined to think that it could also be that last (Limerick based) PR set which worked the Limerick - Rosslare link. The Nenagh branch is a third possibility. Incidentally, PR stock, like BR vans, acquired white lines below window level in the 90s, but none ever had the orange lines above, which Cravens acquired at the same time.

mid 90s; one two-car set remained on Limerick to Waterford. Livery: IE's Park Royal livery - black'n'tan.

STUNNING!!!! This is what, I am sure, 99% of us aspire to!

"Might-have-beens" in preservation are very numerous! Given willing manpower and money (neither existing in sufficient quantities in 99% of Irish society), anything's possible. I am aware, however, of several which were comprehensively researched, but nothing ever came of them. A section of the Tullow branch, a stretch of the Athboy branch, and a stretch of the erstwhile SLNCR near Belcoo, were all looked at in the 1990s / 2000s by several groups, and dirty tears ago the RPSI considered the ex-GNR Banbridge to Scarva line. The Fenit and Loughrea branches were in the preservation sights for a short while, and short sections of the Achill and Clifden lines were examined for possible preservation many years ago. Imagine a comprehensive Festiniog-style section of the CDR; maybe Donegal to Stranorlar, and a good stretch of 5ft 3 as well. Banbridge would be quite ok! Or a scenic part of Mallow to Waterford..... Achill would be excellent.... Too many possibilities..... Several narrow

No way of telling. I suspect, for several reasons, that steam into the sixties would have gradually become black, prob with white number and CIE roundel...

I'll give you full marks for imagination, gsr800! Fascinating scenario.....

Compromise on 275?

See what you mean, GSR. The 800 class "mid green with bluish tint", complete with its yellow and black lining, would probably have spread instead of the all-over unlined grey. It would also have adorned a fleet of newer-built standard classes of steam engines. Possibly, main line diesels might have been experimented with, as the LMS in England did. The narrow gauge lines then deemed worth saving (T & D, WCR, and C & L) would have been comprehensively modernised, and in the case of the WCR and T & D, we know that at least vague consideration had been given to conversion to 5ft 3.

The GSR actually did have very good publicity machinery, especially in relation to their considerable chain of railway hotels..... They had tourist buses of their own, too, in the west, and in Kerry.

When 400 / 500 classes might, in theory, have been fitted with newer or larger tenders, there was no £££ in the coffers!

Tenders were indeed swopped! Messrs Friel wouldn't have been party to it and Peter told me 30 years ago he didn't know!! Visual evidence says not 400; that's fair enough (and obvious); but visual evidence, and swopping, conceals whatever the real story is. One thing is certain: that tender, like its compatriots, would have been a "loco-swopper"! Gsr800; sneaking suspicion a Midland engine; hope so (as nothing else Midland exists - though GSR rather than MGWR tender....) but I could be totally wrong.

Thanks, Mayner - I think I'll remain as is! Certainly, installing DCC would at best be fiddly!

It could well be, GSR800..... unfortunately, no record survives!

The bit on the RPSI website about 186s tender originates in a 1970s Whitehead (not Dublin!) rumour; one glance at 186's tender confirms that it would most certainly not be from a 400, or any other loco of that size! Having said that, we don't know exactly what it DID come from!

Livery - all over navy railcar blue with GNR; what looks like a thin single red and white line along the middle. Lettering and numerals shaded red and gold. From about 1959, CIE light green, unlined, no snail; renumbered from GNR's 800 to CIE's K801. After about 1962, it obtained all over black with white lines round the tops of the bonnets. K801 in standard CIE font and size on cab sides, with CIE roundels on longer bonnet sides. Never had tan bits.

Very true, Warbonnet!

We've come a long way. In the mid 1970s, I had paper overlays on BR Mk 1's - and VERY crude they were. A BR "Hymek" class 35 was passed off as an NIR Hunslet! Yes, I had a GOOD imagination...

Are these on a private layout (if so, must be some size!) or can they be seen? A full DD set behind that loco, or 18 laden timbers, would be a sight to behold in 7mm.....

Excellent pictures - Loughrea extremely interesting!

That, Jawfin, is a REAL catch! As rare an Irish railway photograph as you'll ever find!

The photo above would have been post-1959 transfer to Bray, as she's in black (as repainted from green about 1962)...

I'm not, Garfield; all the electronic wizardry is beyond the wit of a simpleton like me - clockwork might be more suitable.... I was simply told by someone (possibly here, though I can't remember) that conversion of 1980s H0e / 009 stuff to DCC was at best problematical, and probably not feasible. Further thoughts or theories on that would, of course, be very welcome.

Any idea where I'd get one, John?