jhb171achill

Imagine...... "Black and Tan" "Puke" Two names with one thing in common; best avoided in their day, and best forgotten subsequently!

The silver "livery" (ie actually not a livery at all - no paint anywhere!) was a fascinating but totally impractical way to turn things out. Ends and chassis, drawgear and brake gear, all got so filthy it was impossible to tell they weren't painted a muddy brown. As for roofs - bad enough on tin vans or carriages, but worse again on diesel locomotives - they were covered in smoky deposits, thus largely obscuring the "silver" on the roofs! Incidentally, as a point of historical accuracy, it's important to remember that "silver livery" doesn't mean they were painted silver. They were just left in bare metal, unpainted entirely! So nobody need worry about lining styles, paint shades, parts picked out in other colours and so on.... A strange one, all right!

CIE green would indeed look good!

Absolutely outstanding! Very atmospheric, very realistic.

Ah! That explains it.....

It would be indeed, Broithe.

It's not a million miles off the early 1960's experimental UTA "Catherwood" livery for railcars!

Regulations in the WTT, Minister...... Yes - the model is THAT realistic......!

True, minister..... and it was the "Pale"......

Since when has a "ZO" (i.e. Dublin) number plate been Northern Ireland?

Yes, but unfortunately not likely to translate into railway traffic.....

There's certainly no political will here at all, not has there been for decades, and that's not going to change. However, international carbon-emission agreements and resultant EU rules may well overtake things at some stage; let's hope they do. What Ireland has against it, of course, is small distances. However, properly thought out, you would imagine that basic system of goods trains from Dublin to Waterford, Cork, Tralee, Limerick, Galway, Athlone, Ballina, and Belfast or Derry should be feasible.

Having seen one of these wagons in the flesh, they are absolutely fantastic and an absolutely essential addition to any mid fifties to mid 2000s layout....

Outstandingly good!

Thank you Dave, very helpful.

As my American colleagues would say, that is truly AWESOME!!!

Off railway topic I know, but I was vaguely interested in getting a drone... looks like an interesting hobby. Anyone know the best place to go for advice / start-up?

Fantastic photos, folks - many thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. We'll do it again! :-)

Yes. The law has not indeed caught up; doubtless numerous issues need to be addressed there. In the meantime, and probably only for a short time - most things are probably fair game.

Looks great!

A great pleasure to meet some of our number for the first time, and others again, at the DCDR today. Hope all concerned enjoyed it.

I have John Edgington's address - he doesn't do email but will respond to postal enquiries. The pic shown above is the earlier dark green. As Mayner says, the post-1955 lighter green livery (they were one of the extremely few classes to carry both)) is as shown in that photo in the book.

Folks Updated arrangements - I've been roped in to do guard on the 1400 ex Downpatrick and the 1420 return from Inch Abbey, so I need to be there at 1330 latest. Therefore - Garfield / Warbonnet - I'll pick you folks up at the agreed spot at about 11. So, we can all be free to arrive when we want; see the arrangements above - the first of the three tours of the sheds will be immediately after the 1445 sets off for Inch Abbey. Thus, it will start promptly at 1450. Other arrangements as stated previously. Looking forward to meeting some of you! We can all meet for a bite to eat afterwards if desired.

Cue an exploration series of some closed lines? Landowner permission would of course be a major issue. None of us would want a drone over our private land with unlimited access. BallyG station is different as it's in public ownership (CIE Property Board or IE, still, presumably?)

The gold lining on the "snails", Rialto, was quite thin, and omission of it wouldn't be a great disaster! Ideally, if transfers were available with and without it...... after 1955/6, when the lighter green carriage livery came in, they were light green unlined. Steam engines of the all-grey persuasion, plus the few in green, and the even fewer in black in the very late 50s, always had lined light green "snails". Beware of yellow imitations; these are doubtless the result of (a) the incorrect livery of 461 when first restored in 1990 (it was painted black, and with a yellow "snail", neither of which were right), and (b) the fact that on grey or black engines, the cabside numerals WERE pale yellow! Luckily, a green D class is more straightforward - best of luck with it.