jhb171achill

Congrats, Stephen; a great excuse to buy the baby a train set!!!! :-)

Folks Just posting this because one or two members of this forum are already planning to be at Downpatrick on 17th March. If there are any of you going, do make yourself known to me (I'll be on as train guard). Trains will operate to an enhanced timetable with the first departure from Downpatrick (probably*) at 1100, 1120 from inch Abbey. Newly restored O & K No. 1, newly repainted, will haul most trains though the morning ones will be either A39 or 146. I will post exact detals of the timetable when it's finalised, b ut on the basis of previous years it will have departures from Downpatrick at 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1445, 1530, 1615 and 1700, and from Inch 20 minutes later. Parking is at a premium in the town that day, so it is advisable to drive to Inch Abbey (if approaching from the Belfast side) and get the train into Downpatrick. If approaching from the Ballydugan side it's not so bad. (* Based on St P's Day timetable in recent years)

I would add that that photo of Lady Edith - good as she certainly looks - was taken some twenty years ago. An American friend of mine who is very interested in her sees her regularly and sadly, she is most certainly not in that condition now.....

Lady Edith is, as I understand, mechanically in a very bad state indeed. It certainly needs a brand new boiler and firebox, and I would imagine much more besides. The cost of this alone would be several hundred thousand euros, and the cost of sending it from the USA to either Whitehead or England would be eye-watering, and then the cost of bringing it from there to Tralee... Meenglas also needs something similar. The funding issues for these two locomotives alone would almost certainly far exceed half a million euros. I don't know what the state of 5T is. Regarding carriages, replicas would be cheaper. To give an idea of coach repair costs to standards required nowadays for public operation, carriage bodies or even "kits of parts" require reassembling with much new material and replica chassis built. Based on work done in Whitehead and Downpatrick over recent years, I would estimate the cost per coach as €100k from "farmyard" condition to that required by statutory bodies (H & S etc) for public operation. Take those three locomotives and just a few carriages and you are clocking up a million in a very short time. Just saying! But, yes, I'd love to see something like that happen...

I know a D16 had a very limited range as it were, beyond the Achill line they were rarely to be seen, but small 4.4.0s were to be seen elsewhere and i suppose a layout based on a fictitious location (as many are) would provide a rationale for one. After the Achill line closed one was even based for a short while in Athlone to work the GSWR branch down to Portarlington, and I have evidence of one making it to Port Laoise on a special when something else had broken down! A GSWR D14 would be nice too. But so would SO many others.

Hope something positive comes out of Tralee at last! Personally, I'd stick to 3ft; a "centre of excellence" for it would be a big asset to the area.

I wonder is an "Achill Bogie" D16 4.4.0 too much to ask! (I'd buy a model of all six, guaranteed!). Very limited range of operation though, fair enough....

Anthony - there was a serious proposal put to the DCDR from a group who proposed to purchase a two-car 80 set and donate it to the DCDR. The proposal was approved by the DCDR committee, but since then the set had not been made available. Should said group acquire it and repeat their proposal, I am sure it will receive the same response. From the perspective of the DCDR management, nothing has changed to make them want to reject it at this stage! In fact, the coming St Patrick's Day operations would provide it with good opportunities for use on off-peak services.

All three are true. In Manorhamilton (on private property) is half of one of their bogie coaches which (with owners permission) I surveyed a good 15 or 20 years ago with a view to advising Downpatrick about it. Even then there was but half of it, but another half of a different one was to be found in a field near Glenfarne. The portion at Manorhamilton is now as good as fallen apart, and the Glenfarne one vanished. The AEC cab was indeed in someone's back garden on the down side of the railway line near the junction of the "back line" with the NCC main line. I do not know if it is still there, but it was in recent times. With regard to the one in Inchicore, it is No. 6111 and it remains in storage there. For a potential preservationist it would require to be entirely rebuilt, as the body is well beyond repair as it is; also, it has no engine, control gear or interior. It would require an eye-wateringly large budget to fix it up - and the only place it could probably operate would be on the DCDR, who have enough stuff as it is! It would, of course, be great to see this iconic type of railcar in preservation; they saw service everywhere from Great Victoria Street, via Dublin and Cork, to Bantry; most CIE main lines, Enniskillen, Clones, Harcourt Street Line, Tramore.... and my recollections of them were that they were very solid and comfortable even if the engine produced noises suggesting distress at times....

When they say "scrapping", it may simply mean "disposal".... There was indeed a serious proposal to preserve a 2-car set, which would almost certainly end up on the DCDR if the same scheme is revived.

EXCELLENT project Mayner.

Very many thanks folks! And yes, I'll have that pint now! I bumped into Josefstadt in the (modern!) IRRS a few weeks ago and it all came flooding back again..... and a 70 mile footplate run in India in a "Maedb"-esque 5ft 6in gauge WP class 4.6.2... must dig out the cine film! Pity it is silent...

So there I was, in the IRRS in Drumcondra. The talk I had come to hear was interesting - all about the South African Railways, and what steam was to be seen, and where. An excellent presentation, I thought, as I tramped back to Droichead na Ball that evening. I had an interest: I was going there in a few weeks, all those thirty five years ago. U2 were the support act in the Baggot Inn, and it was raining. Fast forward a few weeks. A superb jaunt round Suid Afrika, with its apartheid-era segregrated carriages, "Blankes" and "Nie Blankes" on the doors of those at each end of the train. Ahead, a 19D or 15CA 4.8.2, maybe a GMAM Garrett - or, if one was unlucky, a diesel or electric locomotive. I left Port Elizabeth one afternoon, after watching what I now believe was the world's last intensive all-steam city suburban service during the early evening rush hour there - and I had run out of film! Hardly surprising, after a visit that morning to Sydenham loco depot and sheds, where some 72 steam engines and 7 diesels (newly delivered) were able to call home. The afternoon wore on; I took in the African air as we trundled northwards towards Bloemfontein. Here and there fields apparently full of cattle turned out, at closer inspection, to be full of ostriches. Wild baboons played on rocky outcrops. It was hot - very hot - as the train travelled further into the bushlands of the stony Little Karoo Desert. Life was good. A full camera, albeit lacking the wooden bodied packed suburban trains to Uitenhage, and a 2 litre bottle of cola beside me, the window lowered to be completely open. It was dusty and hot - I dozed.... The train halted at a small place in the wilderness, almost like an oasis in the desert. Half awake, I noticed two white people among those boarding - very unusual for places like this. I woke up fully as the train continued. I was parched with thirst and dust and hungry. Time to visit the dining car. The front of the train was reserved for "Nie Blankes", the rear for us mere "Blankes"; the dining car (and a guard with a truncheon) in between. The front of the train was packed to the doors, the rear had barely 2 or 3 people in each carriage, all of which were side corridor tupe with compartments. Hardly surprisingly then, as I walked up to the dining car some 4 carriages away, that most compartments I passed were empty. One contained a young couple who looked like Australian backpackers (yes, EVERY corner of the world!), and there was a very respectable looking middle aged woman in another. In the next coach, two men sat in one - I don't think there was anyone else in it. I got to the dining car, bought a meal and a 2 litre bottle of Coca Cola; in those days nobody worried about sugar levels, cholesterol, tooth decay, or any of the other wonders that modern society demands we monitor. And I am still alive, the last time I looked. Back down the train, yes, there's that woman, and here's the couple, and there are the two men... fair enough. But WAIT!!! Ponder a moment here! The two men? Our own Josefstadt (from these modelling boards) and his well known companion, who had delivered the talk in the IRRS two weeks earlier? Now here was proof that the sun had finally started to affect me. Or maybe it was the Coca-Cola. One never knows what is in these "E-numbers". I collected my thoughts. WHAT were these two good gentlemen DOING here? And what would they think I was doing here? Their interest in South African (and other foreign) railways was well known even then - but what a co-incidence. I knew them well - we had spoken after their talk that night, but I had no idea they were to be in Africa in 2 weeks, and they didn't know of my trip either! I put meself together, as they say, and casually opened the compartment door as I walked past it. "How's things, folks!", sez I. The look on their faces, if bottled, would make me a fortune. We trundled on through the spectacular deep red evening African sunset, putting to right all the latest affairs of CIE. Tomorrow, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria would beckon. A chance meeting in the Little Karoo desert; hard to believe it was thirty five years ago.

What are they? Is it track?

I think it's a GSR crest they are going to apply to it..... and maybe traditional Inchicore cast number plates! Now that would be something. You could see the number even when it was dirty.

In terms of offering it in preserved condition, this is the same as in later operating condition and would do unless someone wanted to model a 1000% rivet-counting accurate DSER (which, in itself would be awesome!). It could be done in either GSR / CIE grey or the RPSI livery; if the latter, it would be easy for a modeller of an earlier era to repaint into the former! All you'd need is a bucket of grey paint to marinate it in!

It wouold actually be ideal for layout operation. The two main lines leaving could join somewhere else allowing a continuous run round. Closer to home you could do a Newcastle-West-inspired layout on that basis too!

I have to say I saw the models on their stand at the Stillorgan Park Hotel last weekend, and they look far better in the flesh - excellent, in fact. I would add my voice to those congratulationg the makers (murrayec). I'd love a couple of 8 car sets! Need to talk gently to the credit card...

Originally Posted by Kinvara-Train yes cows,sheep,chicken for sale in stock from Preisser (HO) also Horses and Venison or Deer and dogs+cats Hope this isn't the catering tent... every little helps! I'm lovin' it..... :-)

Now, Anthony, what could be more civilised than that!!!!!! Count me in; especially if they give me some giros to cash........

I would certainly agree with RedRich. My own interest in liveries is well documented on these boards, and I think that it is important to get this right - but under no circumstances would I ever do anything but commend and congratulate all here who make the things in the first place; I always wish I had skills like that.

There's more to it than that, folks. As originally delivered the CIE roundel wasn't only in white, it was slightly larger than the standard type - but most of all, the "tan" colour was exactly that - very significantly darker and browner than the standard "orange". This would be the most fundamental issue on a model based around the earliest days. Thus, one might call that the "as-delivered" livery, soon to be repainted into (standard) "supertrain" livery, and later (after addition of the "tippex white" stripes), IR livery.

Des - the best of luck and congratulations. The pics of the loco look absolutely top class. I know that the person whose name was on the drawings would be thrilled to bits with it! (As is his 95 yr old son...)!!!!! Can't wait to get mine in due course! The exposure you've got on this is WELL deserved.

....all of which were matchboard-panelled. Initially GSR maroon and GSR brown and cream (not sure in which order) as opposed to Pullman livery! - latterly CIE dark green.

Amazing, Broithe! Brings back memories of when I was there almost 40 years ago!!!