jhb171achill

Heirflick, you'd be very welcome. I would say to anyone though, if you let us know before you arrive we can be better prepared to make your visit worthwhile. The TPO is in original condition and will remain that way. Internally, all fittings remain, though it has had temporary partitions added to allow use as a Grotto for a guy in a red suit who comes each December to the railway! Externally it is in 1955-1961 lighter CIE green.

Wow! Selwyn Johnston (Headhunters / Enniskillen Railway Museum) would be VERY interested in that.

BosKonay, such a thing could well happen. The RPSI has enough carriages to make up a wooden / Park Royal / laminate rake in green - and in fact, most of its "heritage" set based in Dublin is already in the later post-1955 lighter green, snails and all. 461 is also in green with snail. At Downpatrick,one of the current running set (brake genny 3223 of 1956) is in the later version of the dark green, snail an'all. Downpatrick also has four other bogie carriages, and two unrestored six wheelers, as well as one six wheeler being restored, and a TPO and din ing car - all of which could authentically wear CIE green of either shade. That said, it is current DCDR policy to paint carriages as they would have been when new, i.e. GSWR livery for a coach of that company, and so on. That said, of the list above,many were new to CIE and therefore even with that policy will eventually be green. A detail: one of the above is Park Royal 1944. Because of the ridge along the bodyside Park Royals didn't have the snail, and were always in the lighter green as they were only being built when it replaced the dark green.

I'll try to reply to all. First, to Hidden agenda and A class 007, many thanks for your comments. I will tell BC that you were asking for him. (I'm on phone to him tonight). Freight and Mallow-Waterford... yes, we have discussed both of these, as well as three other long term potential projects, though the main thing I'm trying to get finished now is one on Galway - Clifden. As far as freight is concerned, the follow up to "Rails Through the West", while not specifically aimed at freignt, will feature a lot of it 1965 - 1985. Yes, trains, lines and stations WERE much better kept in those days; I remember an English enthusiast remarking to me once on a May RPSI 3-Day Tour about 1980 "You nevere ever seem to see a dirty loco in this country". This surprised me as I had assumed that British Rail would be the same, but apparently it was anything but. Moving on to Mallow and Waterford, Barry's collection doesn't really cover this route at all, though I would not rule that out for a future date, using other collections if I could get the right stuff, and the right locations. Finally, to Loughrea. I never heard of double heading "G"'s and I doubt if it happened. It might have been tried as a one-off, as indeed it has been at Downpatrick, but it is not satisfactory and runs a great risk of broken couplings. I could imagine one towing another dead, running light, but that would hardly be a common occurrence. Mayner, you were right in saying one was regularly stabled in the shed at Loughrea, but there was rarely a goods train as such; the timetable provided for one mixed train and two passenger trains per day - a long standing "standard" on many branch oines to such an extent it can be taken as a standard type of operation for a typical fictitious Irish branch line layout based in any period from the start of railways to the branch line pogroms from the '50's to 1975. Correspondents of mine, and my own observations on the only occasion I ever went by train to Loughrea, suggested that the spare G at Loughrea fulfilled three functions: (a) literally that, a spare loco. (b) Shunting. © The occasional "overload" goods, as allowed loads for G class locos were understandably small. When any heavy traffic was called for, e.g. a fair day cattle trains, what usually happened was that an A or C came in. I have seen a single pic, and only quite recently, of a 141 with a 2-coach passenger train in Loughrea. The one time I went, in the closing days of October 1975, the train was a re-engined "C" class and the usual single coach. The upholstery in it was the then-current mock-leather light brown plastic bus seat type, and someone had written on one of the seats in black biro "Farewell to the Dunsandle Express".

Amazing. I always thought if I ever got time, a 00 gauge West Cork layout would be a dream come true, but a G scale West Cork in the garden.... wow. Live steam Bandon tanks, ex-MGWR 0.6.0 tank engines, No. 90, C class diesels, AEC railcars and elderly 50ft bogie coaches and six-wheelers, all against a backdrop of beet wagons in sidings......

Seamus - very many thanks, and I will endeavour to live up to future expectations! Barry and I will be doing one follow up to this, and there are a few more ideas in the pipeline, several involving (I agree) the golden age of black'n'tan.... My own earliest forays out into the main network away from base, as it were, would have been in those now far-off days.... One for the livery / weathering specialists to model - a GNR covered van (as I once saw in Rock St, Tralee), in CIE grey livery, CIE broken wheel on it, and a standard cast numberplate with "N" after the number... and a large "G N" beginning to show clearly through well worn CIE grey paint....

I would point out that arangements can be made to view / measure / photograph locos and stock at Downpatrick by prior arrangement. For those who haven't been, the following can be seen there, and in positions to be given a once-over by modellers: Locos: A, E, G, B141, O & K steam, RPSI No. 3, and GSWR No.90. Railcars: NIR's BREL railbus, RB3. Coaches: CIE park Royal, TPO, 24xx series dining car, laminate brake standard, laminate brake genny, BR genny van. Plus GSWR high and low roofed coaches, the sole surviving 70 class driving trailer, BCDR coaches of three types. There is other stock there but not fit to be examined, e.g. items shrink wrapped in plastic sheet pending restoration. Among the wagons, NCC "Brown Vans", NCC goods brake, NCC open wagons, a tank wagon and a breakdown crane. I hope this is of use to anyone modelling any of the above.

John, that's superb stuff as always - you must have a VAST (and fascinating) collection now.

The RPSI's Charlie Friel is also an expert (probably the leading one) on all matters GNR. He has done many talks on such things, most recently a fascinating one in Belfast about Portadown and environs. Check out the RPSI's annual "winter meeting" season for monthly meetings in Belfast. The next lot will start probably in September.

That tale was also often told of Dundalk Works! However, evidence on the ground indicates that neither of NIR's two blue colours, nor GNR blue, was anything like as unreliably consistent as such a policy would probably result in... As well as that, the infrequent repaints of these locos and the small numbers of them makes any livery change almost a unique one! (e.g. (8)113).

Anthony - yes, Goraghwood does seem to have been ignored more than it should. There is a pic of it in a book published by the IRRS some years ago, though it's a small black'n'white. Some of the Colourpoint and Midland Publishing (Tom ferris) books have pics of it too. Track plans etc might be avaliable in the IRRS archives in Dublin, if you are an IRRS member. If not, i would very much recommend joining, as the photographic collections they have are invaluable to modellers. I had a quicklook just now on the internet and right enough, can't see a lot there... If you are an RPSI member, there are some other members who have photographic collections andif you were to ask for somthing specific they might be able to help. I will keepwhat you say in mind and ask one particular member on the May Tour. But do remind me afterwards!!! And thank you again for your comments re the book... I'll relay all this to Barry, whose ears must be burning by now!

By all means, Anthony. Anything that anyone wants I can research if I don't know; as I said, I have access to enough information for most things. The one thing I might be scant on is exact dates when a particular loco or coach 9or anything else) FIRST got such-and-such a livery, but if one was modelling, say, a period in mid 70s, and wanted five 141s ontheir layout, it would be fair to say that three would be brand new "supertrain livery" and two would be black'n'tan; oneperhaps very shabby looking, the other not too bad. But which loco numbers? A purist would need to look at an IRRS journal,for example,of the period to see that loco 14X was one livery, while 14Y and 14Z were another. But i would have the details of how they were painted. If you know what i mean. If I get time over the next while (though the May Tour is approaching, and the DCDR accounts have to be finished!) I will try to get details of CIE diesels from B113/4 up to 071s put together insome sort of fashion suitable for a reference table. As and when I find info about anythiong unusual pertainingto an individual loco I will add that. Steam likewise; I have details somewhere of exactly which steam locos CIE painted black; there were only a dozen or maybe 20 altogether, and anything painted black was well past 1950. I also have details of which locos were painted green. Not just immediately to hand but I can dig it out. Coaches - same sort of concept. There were four variations of the green livery, three of them pre 1955, and several exceptions notably on the West Cork system. In black'n'orange/tan days there were minor variations and interesting details, such as the fact that only a very small handfulof six wheelers ever got the black and tan livery, and all thus treated were full brakes. Wagons throw up interesting details as well, such as a standard CIE covered "H" van in all over dark green at one stage (not sure why!). We also have examples of vehicles "skipping" a livery, such as ex-GNR brake third 114 (formerly in RPSI ownership, may be scrapped now(?)). That coach was the last passenger carrying vehicle to carry GNR brown/teaky livery, lasting thus to about 1966, when it was painted directly into orange and black, never being green. So if anyone has thoughts, suggestions, or enquiries, feel free......

Many thanks enniscorthyman, that was one of my favourites too! I think of all of them, (and it's hard to pick a "best" out of barry's very high quality stuff!), my overall favourite is the goods trains crossing at Swinford and the trains crossing at Ballycar. All very workaday stuff, in the Indian Summer of the "Black'n'Tan" era. And here a story. As a mere nipper, I was taken by my dad to Kildare signal cabin. He knew the signal man and probably wanted a break from a family gathering in my grandmother's in Athy. While we were there, a train came rustling through, and the conversation went like this between Senior and the signalman... Snr: "Oh, is that one of the new engines?" (a grey 121) Signalman: "Yes" (Train whishes past - all coaches green bar the very last one in freshly painted orange and black) "Oh, and that's the new carriage colours" "Yeah... ye'd think we'd seen the last of the black'n'tans....." Good oul dry wit!

Looks good, ttc. I like the 2700 and locos sitting behind it like Drogheda and Limerick always were till just a couple of years ago... Was in Limerick station immediately pre-railcar. Stood at platform end watching a 141 shunting one BR van, then one Craven, and two trains sitting in the platforms, one would have been for Ballybrophy, the other Waterford or Rosslare, where it would reached about two days after leaving Limerick, weather permitting (thought that's another story!). I thought that would make a great basis for a layout too.......

I saw that layout a few years ago, alongside Belturbet at the Bangor show. Both are superb layouts, very realistic.

Thanks, Pat - much appreciated. Couldn't make the 171 for 171 today but the May Tour is heading down the line towards us.... as is another summer season at the Downs of Patrick. Anyone fancy doing a model of a DCDR O&K!! Talking of which, expect to see sister loco to no 3, O&K No.1, make its debut this summer fresh from Whitehead.

Best model I've seen yet of an 80 class.....

Ah Garfield ye have blown me cover! Thanks, folks, for your encouraging ansd complimentary comments. I hope you enjoy it and that it is of value to modellers. I suppose I should declare my hand; I was a modeller once and never lost interest. I am astounded by the quality of the models and layouts shown on this forum, which is why I keep coming back. At some stage in the future, if time permits, I would be back at it again. I had a layout loosely based on a CDRJC - sized system under CIE ownership in an imaginary part of the west, with a terminus in somewhere like Westport. It ran for some years in my attic until an issue with an overheated central heating system put paid to it. I never took any photos... It would never have aspired to the standards shown here so often, nowadays. And, of course, there was nothing ready to run... To the book; we did a London launch at the IRRS London area meeting the other night and it all went well. Barry and I have a follow up project planned, though neither of us have time to pursue it probably till next year. That goods train shown several times in the book, and which is on the cover, was the last train over the Burma Road, way back in '75. As Barry was taking these photos, I was busy gricing Loughrea with only two days to go until it closed. Thanks, indeed, to a colleague who has just sent me a load of unssen photos of G's all over Loughrea station and branch... there's a project for ANOTHER day!

As always, questions welcome - I have access to all sorts of details which my be of help...............

Bear in mind, folks, there were several variations of NIR livery; initial much lighter blue and current shade; two different sizes of yellow panel, also a day-glo orange rectangle, and two different sizes and styles of NIR logo on the sides! And south of the border there was also the original livery as they were all painted in USA before delivery with a non-standard darker than normal "orange", and logos on each end which (a) were slightly larger than normal, and (b) had gthe white "CIE" lettering surrounded by a white broken wheel instead of the standard tan one. Hope that's of help to someone, rather than a source of confusion!