jhb171achill

An addendum to the above; the variations I have suggested are two of the three GSR liveries, plus the GSWR livery. As non main line stock, I am unaware of any six wheelers ever carrying the brown and cream, which in any event was short lived. So you'd have the very dark Guinness-like very dark red - practically a dark blackish brown - with GSWR markings; then the same with GSR markings (1925-33), then the "LMS" maroon after about 1933. It seems that manufacturers find that the more livery more livery variations, the more viable a project is. (I would have though that the opposite might be the case, but there ye go; IRM might like to comment on the technicalities, out of interest?)

Update on this. Hattons are interested in principle. They are happy with the way the pre-orders for the CIE stuff are going; the black'n'tan van is sold out - despite being the rarest by far. Every single one of hundreds of these things were withdrawn between 1949 (DSER ones being mostly the early casualties) and the final ones in Cork in early 1963, which had only been retained for Youghal excursions - except - some SIX full vans plus a handful of old Midland thirds which went into departmental use as tool vans etc. The 6 full vans were all ex-GSWR, of several slightly different designs, one close enough to the generic Hattons design. Of those, probably only three ever became black'n'tan; 69, (now at the DCDR in altered state), 79, 10xx something, and possibly a fourth. Two more saw very little use despite being technically in use till the mid-60s, so it's highly likely they ended their days still green. Now - we'll all be aware of the lead-in period. The CIE ones were proposed long, long before any announcement; before Hornby did theirs, in fact. thus any expressions of interest at this stage will be, as the Donegal Catch TV ad would say, "filed away in a filin' cyabinet" for the future. Personally, and I know this debate has been done to death elsewhere, i am convinced that with a growing interest in the more historic side of railways here, there WILL be more stuff on the market in the future. It is not too long ago that the grey'n'green era was ignored by both manufacturers and modellers - but then along came Provincial leslie, 00 Works, Bachmann's train set, and IRM's magnificent "A"'s - and now Park Royals. A single day-to-day type steam loco, RTR, would kick this off, helped by the earlier designs of wagons of our own KMCE, Leslie, and SSM kits. Six-wheelers were the staple of so many trains well into CIE times. A RTR Bredin would be suitabloe to mix with them, back in GSR times' SSM do a nice kit of these. So - onwards and upwards. I'm away for my cocoa and smelling salts.

Early morning, sheep fair day, 1951.

Cue the IRM range of MGWR, GSWR & GNR prototypes!!!

I’m certain the demand will increase. With the norm in Ireland being various 4.4.0 and 0.6.0 types, one or both will be inevitable, I feel. A common and late-lasting GNR, MGWR or GSWR design of either type would seem the most logical.

Yes, absolute last coaches in maroon were early to mid 50s, but really the period 1945-50 is when there would have been more of a mix.

The 00 Works J15s (both types) would work well for these, but other than very very small number of SSM or JM Design brass kits, there’s nothing GSWR. Mind you, many GSWR branches were operated almost solely by J15s for decades - Mitchelstown, Newmarket, Kenmare and Castleisland come to mind. So a very reasonable layout could operate with nothing but these, just as a 1970 one could with nothing but 141s. I’ll find a pic to show the livery details. Basically it’s the same as BCDR / LMSNCC / (British) LMS maroon, as opposed to the very much darker “Guinness”-like hue of the GSWR. Like in earlier CIE times, a train of passenger stock would rarely have more than two vehicles the same. A brand new GSR Bredin could happily trundle along with a six wheeler built in the 1880s, and a 1915-era wooden bogie. new

And it’s off to town in 1966…..only two passengers this morning, and they’re in the van sharing a flask of tea with Johnny the guard, while they discuss the great issues of the day, like whether Ed will get his car fixed by Tuesday, and what is to be done about Michael’s cow shed roof. Meanwhile, Tom, alone in the cab, contemplates a job offer driving a post office van in Manchester, where his daughter lives…..

A shot taken from a moving car of the last train of the day passing Carrowmore Bog, in 1946, with a newly-outshopped 170 and a train of six-wheelers….

“Ye wouldn’t think of gettin’ up here and giving me a hand?” ”I looked in the shed - the other shovels are away with the PW lot…”

This is what I’m thinking! I would take some myself.

Question to our learned friends here: Hattons report very healthy interest in the CIE-livery coaches. Doubtless many here (meself included) have pre-ordered some. Would anyone be interested in a GSR-liveried range? Obviously, when CIE took over not everything had green paint slapped over it that very second. As we’ve seen with the 29 class railcars, it took over ten years for the last of them to become “green goddesses”. There was one C & L coach still in GSR maroon (albeit badly faded) as late as 1956. Thus, any early CIE layout could have a mix of newly-CIE’d coaches, and others still maroon….. So, for a layout of 1933-45 + a bit after…..? Thoughts?

Yes, it would; but not necessarily in the exact same building, perhaps? I’ve a notion that cabin was at the least very substantially modernised from its original form more recently.

That is just stunning!

I don't think it was original GSWR - more like 1960s CIE rebuild...?

Ghastly news. Commiserations - hope things get sorted out as well as they can, as soon as.

Not Dugort, but a steamy scene st a friend’s layout today. It’s 1959, and a UTA Jeep is visiting Dublin, seen here among three “Woolwich” types…

There’s worse disruption to services nowadays than the very worst periods of the Troubles!

"Installation of a locomotive"? Looks like recovery of a wreck!

No worse than a J15, but with limited distance ability due to smaller coal space, useless for long RPSI journeys, unfortunately.

I’m thinking a useful, common 0.6.0 maybe, but not the J15. Many possibilities.

Surely the 5 wheeled ones might be better?

She’s probably be too heavy on coal to make her economic to run there. It’s just 2 miles or so to Inch Abbey but to just light up a loco like that is £100+ of coal. If a typical loading was five packed bogies you’d recoup that but not with normal passenger numbers.

And only (likely to be) operational branch loco! The GNR one would require, I am told by reliable sources, a rebuild of such massive proportions that it would be (like 90!) virtually a replica engine - and thus holessly uneconomic fo9r an outfit like the DCDR to contemplate. All three surviving GSWR locos which would suit preservation - 90, 184 & 186 - were substantially altered over the course of their careers. 186 for one, and also 90, lost most of their original components in the 1910s - probably 184 too.

In the 11 or 12 years I volunteered there I never saw anything remotely like that