jhb171achill

Look at that top photo. Garfield, here's a sixpence, nip over to the Railway Bar and get me a couple of bottles of stout.....

Steve, you're on the ball! Where in Ireland, apart from the Dublin & Kingstown and the Luas, was 4ft 8 1/2 gauge track to be found?

Indeed, Snapper, and the enforcement must be supervised by extremely violent, deranged and hungry Rottweilers.

Very hard to pin down, Richard. The RPSIs second hand book stock is probably your best bet, or eBay.

That was one which was changed from narrow to broad. What three lines were changed from broad to narrow?

Dublin & Lucan Tramway; and CBSCR, the two Baldwin tank engines in the 1910s, short lived beasts.

Chevron, you'll get all the answers here. OO and HO are the same track gauge, but OO are 4mm to the foot scale. Don't ask me how these things ended up being a metric amount against an imperial one.... HO is smaller SCALE to accommodate American prototypes and you needn't worry about it unless you model USA / Canada. A "rake" of carriages, rather than a "rack", refers to a number of vehicles, e.g. a 6 coach rake, or a 4 car rake. An 0.4.0 is a steam loco with zero leading wheels, four driving wheels and zero trailing wheels. A 2.6.4 has a pair of leading (small) wheels, six drivers, and four trailing ones. The RPSIs 461 is a 2.6.0 - look at it and you'll see. Good luck with your modelling. Probably best to start with a basic set and get the feel of it, then you can develop it.

That's the one, BSGSV. The loco had previously been resident in Dundalk, as CIE used an A for the Carrickmacross goods, while ex-GN 0.6.0s were used on the Dundalk-Clones-Ballyhaise*-Belturbet-Cavan goods. * yes, even after rationalisation, run round could take place at Ballyhaise, either side of the island platform.

I remember. Fiddown.

I think a few at least are less than complete inside....

Could be a funnel, hf, but the conventional wisdom at the time was it was upturned. I suspect that from a practical point of view, you could be right. Now.... Kilmeadan..... Carrolls cross, damn... I should remember.....

Excellent, most interesting! Now, will a R-T-R model one in some German, Austrian or Czech livery turn up!

Kilmeaden. I suspect elsewhere too, from back of memory, but old age precludes me accessing levant memory.... :-)

Excellent... Could doubtless also be adapted as a double decker. All it needs now is a liberal dose of weathering filth, a few weeds growing out of an axle box, and a large roughly hand painted "B" on the side to indicate beet-only use!

That's it, Warbonnet. With one light turned upwards the British Army, who patrolled South Armagh by helicopter at the time, could see where the train was after dark. I footplated the "Enterprise" one summer evening in 1986 and my photos show a helicopter travelling along with the train (just above it, of course!).

Looking closer, it's air braked, and I suspect the buffer height may be lower than in Ireland. Detail differences eg from steps and handrails are about the only differences between this and the CIE version.

That "CDR" one is particularly interesting as it shows the cab window style of the G601 type, rather than the later ones. So it is clear that locos of this standard type were being built for at least three gauges between the mid 1950s and early 1980s. I wonder are there definitive records anywhere showing what other G class loco's there might be kicking about? The one in Majorca was not owned by the railway company, but by the outside contractor relaying the old line from 3ft gauge to metre.

On holiday in Majorca in the mid or late 90s, and bored with sun, sea and sand, I went off walkabout on the island's excellent bus and train network. At the time, the line just extended from Palma to Inca, with work just commencing on reopening the line onwards towards Sa Pobla, previously closed in 1981. So there was a construction train parked in a siding there; just a couple of four wheel ballast wagons headed by an absolute clone of a G class loco. Exact same design, same Deutz builders plate, with building date about 1980! Other than that it was metre gauge, rather than 5'3", it could have been Downpatrick or Loughrea. The thing was yellow all over, but this did not detract. Anyone ever seen it? IRM tends to concentrate almost entirely on 5'3", rather than our wealth of narrow gauge lines. If anyone out there is modelling narrow gauge, clearly a G lookalike would / could have been a feature on a West Clare or Donegal system that might have survived longer. And what if the three F's had ended up on a surviving Donegal line?

You'd think an 80 would look an easy enough thing to build. Yet I have rarely seen a convincing model of one. It begs for Murphy Models treatment, maybe? However, there's an exception to every rule, and this is it - even at this stage, this model looks very good indeed!

I think, but am not certain... The same A55 as in Hells Kitchen in Castlerea. Coaches were, as far as I recall, non corridor ex-GSWR bogie stock in CIE green. Leading couple of coaches were, anyway. In GNR days, a UTA-owned ex-NCC "U2" class 4.4.0 was a regular there for a short time when the GNR had it on trial on Belfast - Cavan trains. GNR stock was used, of course; usually 2-3 coaches and a few vans. The GN also tried out an AEC set on Cavan trains briefly, though later they rarely ventured beyond Clones.

I remember some years ago watching a packed 70 class set, diner included, leaving York Road for Derry. By the mid 90s, a two car 80 class set, ie one and a half coaches of actual seating, set forth on the same run. Now, it's double that in the form of three car CAFs. If the railway matches demand accurately, well and good. But two car sets smell of serious congestion on at least SOME services.....

Looking great!

Mayner, I understand that the one goods train on reaching Ballyhaise, ran up to Belturbet and back, before going on to Cavan. Right at the very end, it was just Cavan, the Belturbet branch having just closed. Josefstadt and others; a GAA special from Monaghan headed by an "A" passed through just before the line closed. Coaching stock was of CIE rather than GN origin. Symphony in green, deep in GN land.

I saw a very satisfactory job done a few years back by a certain member here, which involved using a type of corrugated cardboard which was just the right "look". I'd say light plastic would do the job well.

Afterthought: artistic licence plays an interesting part on many layouts. Had the Dundalk - Clones - Cavan - Mullingar section remained in use until the 1967 closures, old ex GNR stuff, now mostly re liveried in green or occasional new black'n'tan, would have mingled with classes A, C, and AEC railcars of both GN and CIE parentage....