jhb171achill

I have to say I've many very fond memories of those coaches. They had a very "homely" feel about them. The DCDR's 1918, although currently out of traffic, was my personal favourite type. However, one can still travel in 3223 on the DCDR, which is in the current normal running set.

Funding permitting, full restoration.

Don't know, Garfield. It would be nice if one had survived, but I was at a meeting today in Belfast in which one detail of some non-railway related stuff was the proposed restoration of one of the surviving - and very similar - ones from Belfast docks.

A J15 could be in earlier and later boiler versions, earlier / later cabs, and earlier / later smokeboxes. Original or later tenders would be other variations. With so many variations (look at the RPSI's 184 and 186, how different they are), the manufacturer might need to research which was most saleable, and possibly offer half a dozen separate numbers. There'd be no need for livery variations! Every single one of the class was grey from even pre GSR days until the end. None ever wore green or black, though a single one (possibly 193, I forget...) got a unique livery of grey with a black smokebox almost at the end of steam - probably the only grey engine ever to get a black smokebox.

Kirley, laminates generally had charcoal grey upholstery with a blue fleck through it, black seat tops (antimacassar area), and the interior sides were real or mock wood effect with white ceilings. Internal doors were varnished wood. The bright blue seats on the model shown are completely wrong - no laminate ever had seats in any colour remotely like that, whether in silver, green or black'n'tan days. Incidentally, if you repaint one in silver, remember that roofs, ends and bogies are also silver! And - seriously weather the roof!

I want a turf fired 071.

Is it an 0.3.0?

There will be photos of Fenit Pier in colour in a forthcoming book..... including a steam crane in action on the pier.....

Can I be the first to order a few "H" vans?

The Park Royals were indeed a great job, and its to their great credit that they are doing anything Irish and RTR. But a little care on such a basic thing as outward appearance ought to be a no-brainer.

There's "mpdfan" over on Irish Railway News site who is well placed to comment on the Derry stuff. Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's locked up, uninsured and uncared for - well done, Derry City Council......

Everybody - Vote for GSR800!

Garfield, can you PM me the spies' contact details? And the factory boss?

The anticipation mounts; who'll be the first to post a picture of them!

And rightly so, GSR; I think I'll write to the papers.

Saw that on the Emerald Isle Express! I have occasionally seen that in the past - I don't think it's unique.

Makes perfect sense, DiveController. Some colours - blue probably being the best example - can look very different in different light. CIE green has its moments, but those of us of a certain vintage who remember it will have seen the real thing in many variations of daylight, and daylight is the final arbiter of any colour. Thus, it's probably easier for me (and a certain Mr O'Rourke!) to judge accuracy. But with so much information about nowadays and many good colour photos coming out of the woodwork, putting a white line on a green coach is just lazy, careless. What would people's reaction be if the white line on the Black and Tan one was light green!

Ah for heavens sake. That's plain elementary! The white is wrong and the green looks a bit too bright. Surely to goodness we should be past simple errors like this, but they got the GNR railcar livery quite wrong too. Pity, as the model looks so good otherwise. The font for the carriage numerals on both liveries isn't right either.

Looks fantastic, but is the line on the green ones white or light green?

Replacement of signs with GSR standard enamel was simply a mater of money. They would allocate a budget for a line and all stations would get it, while there were none on another line, just originals. Then, another small budget would allow replacements on a piecemeal basis for a while; on yet another line, therefore, they'd only replace those they had to - e.g. ones which got damaged or rotted. The Clifden, Achill and Killala lines never got a single one between them, and while the Foynes line mostly did, I don't think there were any between Ballingrane and Tralee. Sligo - Limerick was a mixed bag, mostly pre-GSR! Narrow gauge lines were also a mixed bag.

I'll have a look tomorrow, Broithe. I'll be in Killarney tomorrow and the next night. Funny, the majority of all the unicorns I've ever seen are after leaving the Killarney Grand in the wee hours. The scariest thing I've ever encountered in Killarney is "The Wanderer"......

Wow! Excellent work - VERY realistic!

hahahaha excellent! Our good moderators and ballast wagon vendors will be raising eyes to heaven. Just as well there are no unicorns there.

How many shekels to the euro?

There's a wee man in the carriage with a handset....