jhb171achill

Excellent job!

That first pic shows it in pre closure state with platform road on right lifted; ie in CIE days.

I have seen one somewhere, must delve. One of the Colourpoint "Irish Railways in Pictures" had enough pics of the place to provide a wealth of detail for a modeller. It would indeed make a fascinating subject for a model. Towards the end, in the 1957-9 period when it lost its passenger service and came under CIE ownership, the track was lifted at the main platform and the daily parcels / goods workings both used just the island platform, though with state ownership being so short-lived, it very much retained its GNR atmosphere to the end.

That is one beauty of a layout. Takes me right back to the 70s!

Interesting to see them in their original " duck egg light blue"... But for sure the most accurate way to model them is after a lengthy soak in the great weathering / mud-adding factory in Newry!

Indeed, also he did articles in the RPSI's Five Foot Three. Quite a character, I first met him in the mid 70s...

Absolutely stunning model, great to follow its progress from inception.

Good thinking, sir! And having touched it, we then say there's nothing as boring as watching it dry.....

I did have it mind that they weren't connected, but obviously a transfer could have been effected, albeit awkwardly, using rollers and adjacent tracks! Nothing as awkward as the Waterford and Tramore, though, where a wall had to be knocked down and rebuilt for stock transfer purposes...

It's the entire staff of the nations public transport queuing for their pay, post recession year 2030..... One burger a week, whether they are hungry or not......

Minister correct, Mayner's answer an interesting one too. Another short lived one was the Northern Railway, in between the Ulster Railway / INW and the GNR (I)....

Now that's one I didn't know, Minister....

Shortest lived Irish railway company or administrative body?

They weren't used for a very long time, but would make a very interesting addition to a layout. Don't forget the weathering... any time I saw them they seemed very tatty!

Excellent work! Keep us updated!

Yes, it was used with hat wicks but was of Mk 2 enterprise origin.

I think those whit lines came in about 1986.

Ah, UP, it's a terrible terrible condition to have to endure...... worse than listening to "wonderwall" played by a Temple Bar "musician" on board an MED bound for Larne on a wet Tuesday morning in February.......

I've seen that artist's work on the Internet before and he does some fantastic and realistic re-liveries of all sorts of things by photoshop! Excellent stuff.... Though a 201 in that livery in reality would give me a dose of the conniptions and the screaming fits.......

Best places for station modelling inspiration are (from north to south), Coleraine, Ballymoney, Ballymena, Antrim, Carrickfergus and Lisburn. Not sure if the ticket takes you to Dundalk, but if it does go there too. For modern image, graffiti included, any of the rest! For tasteful(ish) modern image, Bangor or Newry.

I have to say I'm fascinated at the continuing development of this highly unusual layout, of a very interesting and unusual prototype. Excellent stuff, superb model, well done!

Pity it didn't survive. In any event, it would make a fantastic basis for a layout!

And to go back to the original subject matter, the key for accuracy in putting together a train in pre 1970 times, irrespective of what engine was pulling it - would be the fact that rarely if ever did you get a train made of a rake of carriages all the one type. variety is the key; only in post-1970 NIR Mk 2 times, or CIE AC Mk 2 times did the spectacle of a whole train of the same coach type grace the rails. Even Cravens, during the 1960s and 70s, were not in sets of same; they were interspersed with the last few Bredins, laminates (of various types) and Park Royals. They were to be seen with four and six wheeled "tin vans", BR vans and Dutch vans also.

Don't worry, Broithe: I'm fully clothed...... and, as for internal combustion, don't forget the County Donegal's railcar no. 1, of 1906 vintage!

"The Ironroad Eireann Co. Persons applying graffiti to any edifice, locomotive engine, passenger carriage or goods wagon belonging to the Company are hereby warned that the penalty for all such offences or outrages will be a minimum of ten years slow torture, followed by mandatory death penalty; this as a minimum. By order of the Management"