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That shed colour is very much like "Catherwood blue" indeed... And the UTA green on the railcars looks spot on....

That is seriously excellent!!!

Not sure of the details - someone can doubtless help here - but I think I read that these are directly derived from the 071 / GM class, same engine. Check out YouTube vids of them - identical engine noise....

Well captured, Wrenn; unlike the Cravens, in the "later livery" the BR vans only had the original white line above window level, not the orange line addition as on Cravens. In other words the only change in the '90's was the addition of a single white line below window level.

An A071 class.....?

If you subscribe to the GardenRail magazine they have great info and great tips about scale plants / gardening. Their features on outdoor layouts of all scales (though primarily G scale or 0 gauge) are very good, and a great source of inspiration.

Having had a G scale outfit for some time before a house move, I can confirm that Mother Nature tends to get quite heavily involved even in that much larger scale. Unfortunately, while her efforts at assisting with scenery can be managed in a beneficial way in G scale, she doesn't understand OO! Moss on an OO scale layout will be overscale for one thing, but problematic if allowed anywhere near points! If it's allowed to grow on wooden boards it will encourage damp, but dry weather will kill it all off, cue an unsightly brown mess. I knew someone who at one stage had a very large outdoor circuit for the same reason - full length trains (of 1930s era LMS carriages) - and he actually didn't bother with scenery at all on outdoor sections. He just used a plain circuit on narrow baseboards about waist level. It looked well overall and certainly gave his locomotives good exercise. He never mentioned how he managed track cleaning.

Indeed.... let me know when you're going. I'll open a few doors!

Ah, yes! Thought so..... ! That loco in that green was a rarity - a one-off. I was looking at the C in Downpatrick today in the normal lighter green and it is correct, so it's a good excuse to visit (as 2 RPSI stalwarts did this afternoon...)! Thank you richrua!

One "A" class loco received dark green. I think it was A46, but in the midst of moving house - a convoluted affair with a new one being built - a lot of my researchy type of stuff is in storage, so I can't be sure off the top of my head which one for certain. It didn't stay that colour long, as black was coming down the road. The colour currently carried by the "C" at Downpatrick is the correct green for any diesel post 1955. I am afraid I don't know the code though.

In order to comply with modern health & safety requirements, IE have no choice in matters of access to Inchicore - they have to be very tight indeed. However, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility to have a suitable place cordoned off. But Messrs Deenihan and Varadkar would need to stump up the cash to carry out necessary access / parking / safety alterations.

Any chance of bringing it to Ireland, David? It would go down extremely well, especially at son e sort of exhibition in the likes of Headhunters in a Enniskillen. PM me if you want details of how to get in touch, if you're ever over. The railway museum attached has a GNR western area / SLNCR theme for the most part.

A model of one of those tanks in that scale sounds mouth-watering! If it's of interest I should be able to dig up exact livery details for pre GSR days. Post 1925 is obviously easier - plain grey except for buffer beams, covering wheels and motion as well as can interior, chimney and smokebox - none were ever black - but the pre 1925 livery was green lined red and white. It's worth noting that one or two of these locos retained C & L green, albeit it in a very weathered state, well into the 1930s.

I'm interested in this too.

Good potential there!

I'm sure you met some worthy characters on it, Mr. Wanderer!

Old Blarney, question 1: No. Question 3: Yes. Hunslets generally ran singly in push/pull mode with a set of 5 carriages (typically winter), and topped / tailed six or more usually seven in the summer. Five was the recommended maximum for one locomotive. Hunslets were underpowered for the work they were called upon to do, and nothing like as satisfactory as CIE's 121 / 141 / recently introduced 181 classes. NIR would have preferred a trio of 181s, but political pressure was put on them by the Stormont Government to "buy British". Thus was borne one of Ireland's more unusual diesel classes! Modellers: imagine a maroon and blue 1970 Mk 2 set with a maroon 181!

I've seen a very convincing NCC 4.4.0 made out of an (English) Midland Railway 4.4.0, and a reasonable approximation of a "Jeep" out of an LMS equivalent.... An LNER 0.6.0 can be reasonably made to look like a GSWR J15 or a MGWR J18.

Correct, minister. One class ex WLWR, one Macroom. In the middle of a house move, that's all that memory tells me, and I can't look up where they ended up due to all my "stuff" being in storage!

Excellent! Ideal for a line based on Tralee - Limerick - Collooney, or Limerick - Waterford. Model of Birdhill - Killaloe, anyone? Overall roof an' all..... Rework the cab "window", file off the coal bunker rails, dip it in a pot if grey paint, and away you go. Better still, fully lined WLWR maroon....

Stripes were gold, rebelred, on maroon ones; white (obviously) when orange and black.

Youghal indeed; loco in 2nd livery it carried (after grey and yellow)...

Very neat job indeed, Nelson. The crest looks good - all too often UTA crests on models are too big in scale.

That Sulzer is SERIOUSLY good looking!

The Bandon Tank (460) shown in that photo is, I believe, one of the CIE locos which received black treatment instead of grey.