jhb171achill

The standardised coupling arrangements (today, we've regressed!) didn't apply to the narrow gauge. Not only were the couplings a good 10 inches or so different in height (LLSR ones higher), but no two narrow gauge lines across the country had the same loading gauge. Schull & Skibbereen stock was only six feet wide, whereas Ballycastle stuff and Donegal stuff were almost 50% wider - and a good bit higher. And yet, almost all narrow gauge lines (the Cork and Muskerry and Bessbrook & Newry being exceptions) used the standard chopper coupling. An amalgamation of the GNR and DSER would indeed have been interesting - blue 4.4.0s round Bray Head would probably have provided the single most photogenic railway scene on the island! Hard to know about the Harcourt Street line, as it was CIE who closed it, but you could be sure the articulated GNR Gardner railcars would have had many outings there. They'd have needed a new works, possibly, as neither Dundalk nor Grand Canal Street would have been enough. Maybe they'd have concentrated locos at one location, carriages at another. I'm unaware of any definite plans to electrify anything GNR, though it's possible there was unofficial consideration given. If we had ended up "standard" gauge, cue an influx of clapped out British stuff, like the Isle of Wight! While it would have meant that we never heard a 141, or classes 071, A, B, C, D, E or G, and we never had De Dietrichs or Darts, MGWR six wheelers or the like, it would have made modelling Irish railways a lot easier, as we'd just have to repaint ex-LMS or GWR stuff, readily available in all shapes and forms from Messrs Hornby and the like.

That sort of thing, yes. Through goods wagons as well. Only certain vehicles from one system could access the other, as the two companies' couplings were different heights!

Ah yes, I meant the models..... I travelled all over Ireland in the rest thing, back in the day, when pussy was a kitten...... :-) I've seen the Clonakilty and Kiltimagh ones, and the RPSI and DCDR have used several examples in traffic in recent years. But thanks for pointing it out! Incidentally, I wouldn't be me without pointing out that the livery details on DCDR's 1918 and 3223, and all examples at Kiltimagh and Clonakilty, are entirely wrong in almost every detail.....

As late as 1930, the Lough Swilly & Co Donegal were considering amalgamation. While this would probably have had little effect overall due to joint lack of money - in fact, might have hastened the demise if the whole lot, can we imagine a Walker railcar taking us from Strabane to Burtonport? Or a link from Pennyburn to Victoria Road in Derry?

Well said, Glenderg. To me personally, they're fine but it's clear they're not rivet-count perfect. On seeing the green one, I rounded on details of the livery - though obviously (a) of all inaccuracies in any model, while it's by far the most obvious, it's also the easiest to put right; and (b) I would again echo the point that any model is better than none. I haven't seen one in real life, nor the park royal. Maybe it was photos or my eyesight but the PR did seem to look well.

That's actually the Senior Locomotive Inspector, CME and Chief Draughtsman all rolled into one, junctionmad.......

I have to say I think they look fine - and as I said elsewhere, it's nothing but good news to see anything RTR and Irish. The Park Royal looked good too. In terms of pricing, I think we all have to accept that in the normal course of things, manufacture of Irish RTR stuff is simply nog commercially viable. Thus, we either pay a premium price or don't get anything at all. Nothing made by any Irish manufacturer is exactly cheap, and being realistic nor can it be. So it's possibly-pricey stuff or no stuff, in most cases.

Personally, I never, ever heard staff refer to trains by number - they'd always refer to it as the "6.45 Ballygobackwards goods" or suchlike. One or two of our community here are, or have been, railwaymen - perhaps they might comment?

I'm a bit sparse on anything post-1980, Dave, but I'll have a look. I actually sold some 1990s ones recently!! :-(

And finally, for tonight: Note the Barrack Street branch - nothing actually timetabled!

More 1977; come out ye black'n'tans!

Ok, I'll look things out.....! But first, a few other offerings from 1977: look at the goods workings!

We can now create typical passenger trains of the 1960-70 period quite easily. While three-quarters of a century apart in design, it's hard to believe nowadays that as late as 1963, tatty old six-wheelers were the "standard" secondary line stock of the day. By the late 50s / early 60s, most survivors were of MGWR origin. Many trains ran at that time with a brand-new "laminate" or "Park Royal" sandwiched between an ancient Midland six wheeler and maybe a newish tin van! Add a cattle truck to the back and there ye go...

I'll get a few more posted up in subsequent days. Anyone got any requests for a particular line or year? (I can only go back to 1926, though....!)

A "Black Five" on the scenic Ballina branch would be quite a sight!

Severe corrosion ..... a Mk 2 body shell ..... Never! :-)

Noel, I never seem to be able to get that right!

Dublin was also busy. Much of the inner city workings had "E" and "A" classes up front. Don't forget that for anything goods-related prior to, say, 1977 (from which year the following extracts were taken), standard CIE brake vans are all over the place. Everywhere there'll be a couple kicking about in sidings....

The old North Kerry goods features here; mid seventies. In the passenger world, "supertrain" liveried Mk 2 coaches (or, as universally known then, "air conditioned coaches"), shared tracks (but not train sets) with the odd remaining Bredin, laminates of all types, Cravens and Park Royals in black'n'tan. Locos were a mix - about half are still black'n'tan, the rest orange and black "supertrain" style. Only the "E" class are by now all black..... A lot of activity in and around what nowadays seems to be Cork Halt and Luas depot....

From 1977. In latter years, CIE / IE tended to carry pages and pages and pages of stuff not related to timetables at all; in fact for some years now they are not really "timetables" at all - they are highly detailed technical manuals for all aspects of operating the railway, timetables forming just one part. Some of those from the seventies and eighties contain information like what follows, of potentials to modellers, such as the positioning of containers of various sizes on bogie wagons. Wagon number sequences appear in the 1970s.

The following are also from 1965-7 and show, among other things, the daily goods train of the Croom branch which closed in 1967. Where some appear upside down, maybe Garfield could put them the right way up in case anyone thinks it's from the Australian National Railways....

Above and below are from 1967

On this thread, I'm planning to post occasional extracts from WTTs in order to show how the railways actually worked in the past. The intention is that this may assist modellers who wish to recreate authentic train operation practices, and to assist in showing what facilities would be needed in a model station, particularly for goods traffic. It's 40 years today since the Loughrea line closed, so let's start with that, and while this extract is from 1967, it's much the same as any year in the line's entire history!

Absolutely top class job, superb. Great to see IFM adding to their excellent Park Royal, Murphy's Cravens, Mayner's vans, the SSM kits - as I said before, it's great to see so many prototypical Irish coaches available now. That rake of carriages looks just like a 1971 photograph - brilliant!

Martello towers? Wow - a fantastic and very atmospheric addition to any Dublin based layout! Question - is there anywhere else in Ireland where a Martello tower is within sight of the railway? I don't think there is.....