jhb171achill

Ah! She's in new IE freight livery!!! :-)

Absolutely superb paint jobs on all of those! Love the weathering on the 201 roof.

I've seen pics of them when derelict at Naas awaiting their appointment with the scrap man. They were in faded CIE green - but with black ends, as with all coaches painted by CIE. The one thing I can be fairly sure of is that their external appearance was not altered during their lives, so if you do see pics of them at the end of their lives, that's also the way they were before. I can't recall if they had "snails" on them or not. I don't know either what classes of passenger accommodation they had - I must ask He Who Knows (i.e. who travelled in them). I suspect they were all firsts but I'll check and post here whatever I am told.

Unusual indeed! Anyone who has Brian Baker's absolutely superb DVD of the West Cork system will see the Bantry train consisting of two AEC cars either side of a Park Royal on one oc casion, and in another shot a four car set has an old 1902-vintage GSWR open third (same as 836 at Downpatrick) plus an early laminate in between; in yet another an AEC set is hauling a Midland Great Western 6 wheeler from the early Pre-Cambrian era... and I've seen a pic of an AEC set somewhere near Killarney with two cattle trucks in tow. Ideal stuff for modellers.

Maybe the Aussies might build a replica! Possibly cheaper......... :-)

Why does the last digit of the numb er vary, and why can't they make the "077" bit larger, or even a different colour, as on railcars? Also, why can't they seek exemption due to inability to mix with other ralway operators in mainland Europe - as some self contained railways have been able to do?

I'd seen those right enough - excellent stuff. The "down at heel" grey van no. 240 is in fact 240N - it's ex GNR, as can be seen with faded "G N" on the side under the CIE paintwork.

WOW! Models look amazing. Likewise, I like it more now it's seen (and well photographed) out'n'about. Interesting that some se a "bluish tint" in it; same was said of newly painted Inchicore locos back in the day. My father, who was very familiar with Inchicore from the 1920s, used that exact description of newly painted locos. The grey used 1918 - the very end - on all locos pre 1950, and most post 1950, was a shade darker, as witnessed on 186 - which according to him, is exactly the right shade of grey. The new 071 livery has a yellow patch in place of a red buffer beam as the onle and only relief from all-over sheep dipped grey - same as steam engines in the past. Just when we all thought the last of the old Inchicore traditions had gone, up comes this! Even the new logo (OK, go on, shoot me) looks fine to me with that livery.

Very much in tune with my observations and records, Leslie - yes, there were even exceptions! I suppose one important thing for modellers is that post 1955 anyway, very heavy weathering over paintwork so badly faded it was hard to make out at all, and sometimes bare wood in between, became increasingly common until the last of the older all-wood wagons disappeared in the very early 70s.

Possibles that I think might be marketable - all RTRs - first steam: GNR "S" class, 461, NCC "Jeep", 400 class? Maybe an NCC 4.4.0? Diesel: 121, UTA MPD railcar, 80 class, 70 class... Carriages: Park Royal, "Tin Van", GNR wooden stock, one or two types, GSWR bogie, MGWR 6-wheeler.... Standard CIE and GNR brake vans... Just a thought...

Richie O'Carroll Kelly? :-)

Most certainly is!!! More on the May Tour!

Wha' ya looking ah! :-)

Prior to 1970, there were very few bauxite wagons in Ireland, though what few there were would have been primarily on the GNR and NCC. CIE started to paint wagons bauxite-like brown in earnest during the 70s. Rules applying to BR were nothing to do with anything that went on here. As Glenderg implies, any similarities were more likely to be co-incidental, though CIE did plan things to some extent along similar lines. BR wagons had other unrelated livery differences too - roofs were not necessarily the same colour as body sides, as they generally were here, and chassis were inevitably black in GB, whereas here almost all companies used the body colour in almost all cases. Ironwork, too, was generall picked out in black on most British livery variations among different companies and BR - though I am by no means expert on what I suspect might have been many exceptions. Here, picking ironwork out in black was extremely rare, and not seen at all on CIE, GNR or UTA wagons. (NIR did, though, on a a small fleet of ballast wagons repainted a very light grey about 1970).

I'd say she will, Heirflick. However, she spent a long period sidelined in the 90s when 461, 171, 4 and 85 were all bumbling about - at any one time, three of the four of them anyway. She is very useful in many ways, especially things like Santas, and crews are familiar with her, but main line speed especially tender first is a problem on things like long distance day trips and the May tour. There is much to be done with other engines, so she might be out for a while. 184, on the other hand, may not see steaming again - at any rate, for a very long time, as she requires little short of a total rebuild. In relation to 171 and 131, the cost of restoration of either - and in the case of 131, fabrication of many many missing parts - is astronomical. Work will proceed as funds and time permit, but as mentioned by others they will both be long term as a result. As a general rule nowadays, given patterns of usage and the logistics of maintenance, repair and restoration, any steam engine can be considered to be in traffic for 6 to 7 years out of every ten. After each ten year period, even if they are currently in traffic, very major 10-year exams are required for insurance and health and safety purposes. This type of exam requires a boiler lift at least; itself producing a bill for the finance officer of the day to mull over. This applies to anything steam that the RPSI has, north or south, main line or Whitehead site; also anything on the DCDR.

And gone are all the old cattle sidings! What would Tatlow and Atock think! :-)

Totally right, Snapper; both organisations have working parties at Downpatrick every weekend, and ITG guys also operate in Carrick-o-S. More new bodies would be very welcome at both places. In the case of Downpatrick, you've the choice of two preservation groups on the same site!

Indeed, Mayner - I remember going through a 1960 WTT once with the intention of finding out exactly how many locos, crews etc were needed to do a day's work on that system. As you say, it was an odd working. The Bandon tanks were indeed needed on beet specials. A recent DVD shows none other than an 800 class (802, I think) taking beet empties from Mallow to Cork, where a Bandon tank took over to ferry them to the junction. At that point a MGWR J26 (552) set sail with them for Clonakilty; the return journey being a mirror image as far as Cork anyway. Further interest could be added with 90 or 100 trailing 2 or 3 wagons into Courtmacsherry. If that's not fodder for a fascinating model railway setting, I don't know what is! Towards the end, beet was handled on the Cork - Clonakilty Junction with Bandon tanks or on occasion, a C class loco, but Midland J26 0.6.0Ts ruled the branch to the end. You are right about the INW turns. There is no way they would have sent an "A" class out to Carrickmacross unless it was spare for a while in Dundalk. And it was generally (if not always) a GNR "A" class 0.6.0 which operated the "rump" INW goods. The locomotive used between Inny Junction and Cavan was generally a "C" class, so it may well have been a Mullingar pilot. The railways were undergoing a fascinating period of change at the time, as we all know. I am surprised more model layouts don't concentrate on this period, but with the growing number of truly excellent kits available, there is no reason why this might not change in time.

Yes - it will be 461 & 85 before too long. 186 is a great oul girl though.

Book in process, heirflick.... finding time is the issue, though!

I'm in for the lottery winning tickets! In all reality, the price tag for her restoration would probably be of the order of 750k to a million.....

171 will require a considerably greater amount of work, and lots of money. It is planned to have her out again, but it will be some years before it happens.

Incidentally, hammer blow wouldn't be an issue.

Nobody on this island would like to see "Maedb" back in traffic more than me! But I have to say (and with benefit of RPSI experience for many years) that it is safe to say it won't run again. Theoretically, of course, it could; theoretically anything can happen. The issue which would need to be faced are the size of the locomotive, which would make many bridges tight, the colossal cost of retoring it and training crews, and the economics of running it. The RPSI operates in a much smaller marketplace than UK train operators, and even if the market was there things like platform lengths come into play. How many stations in Ireland could take a 15 or 20-bogie train? Modern H & S regulations wouldn't allow a train to operate which was longer than the passenger platform at which it stopped. Cultra have a live steam model of 800, though not on display. It is one of a number built by the late model maker from Dublin, (someone) Montgomery. I think it is 7 inch or 10.5 inch gauge. THAT could operate!

Is it €620 for a full RTR model including painting?