jhb171achill

What locos and rolling stock do you have?

Steam or diesel? If both, maybe base it around 1960-2, and use rolling stock appropriate for that era.

That has to be one of the very best collections of anything Irish I've ever seen - and THE best UTA / NIR collection. Very well done and hope to see you back soon.

The model is. But: "WARTIME GREY"!!!!???? What a ranting, raving, unholy mess! First; Ireland was not involved in the war, and even had it been, CIE was not formed until 1945! Second, the livery is as fantasy-based as a tartan, lime green and pink livery would be for a GNR 4.4.0. 1. The grey is even lighter than wagon grey. GSWR / GSR / CIE loco grey was a very dark grey. 2. Even if it was correct, smokebox should also be grey. 3. Cylinders and wheels would also be grey. It's described as being an "authentic" model. Rule No. 1, of course, applies to all modellers and layouts; if he wants to paint it up like that, and imagine that CIE existed during either world war, fine - but don't try to pass it off as "authentic" anything!

Rolling stock for branch lines........ To such extent as any survived into the post-steam era, the rolling stock could be anything, hence perfect fodder for a small layout - you can have nothing more than a small terminus-to-fiddle yard set-up, but with an amazing array of stock. Locos not so much. You're looking at a diet of 141s basically, with a "C" / B201 pre-1975 as well. If you go on into the modern era, like Ballina in the 1990s, you'll get an "A" or an 071 as well. The only time you'd get a 121 is as part of a "pair" in later days. Rolling stock for passenger trains in the post-steam branch line times: Either one or two passenger coaches: Partk Royals (either of suburban or main line origin); laminates of a zillion types of variation; an old Bredin; very occasionally a Craven, but they rarely strayed off main lines; or up to maybe 1969/70, an old wooden-bodued coach of GSWR origin - almost certainly a bogie corridor composite. Vans - Any type of tin van, either type of BR van, Dundalk "Dutch" van, or one of several variations of converted Bredins to brake gennies. The unique Loughrea coaches 1904 & 1910 too - and one of these was on the Ballina branch for a time too. With goods, branch line goods trains were mostly covered goods vans of all the myriad of variations. All grey until 1970, but with some brown ones increasingly appearing in the 1970-6 period. Brake vans (obviously essential for ALL loose coupled goods trains) were mostly standard CIE 20-tonners, but Loughrea and Castleisland held on to ancient ex-GSWR 10-ton vans for a long time after such things were extinct elsewhere. So all in all, plenty of scope, which is what brought many enthusiasts at the time from the Next Door Island; where many branch lines had a two-car railcar and nothing else. Just like a surviving branch line in Ireland (Ballina excluded!) would be today; on a different but related note, I always thought that for those interested in prototypical operation, a mini-West Cork system today would be an excellent exercise, as there would probably be no goods, and all trains would be two-car 26 or 28 class railcars! You'd operate the whole thing with three sets - one for the Banrty main line, another connecting for Skib, and a third connecting for Clon. Add a fourth on a Bandon commuter run, and away ye go!

Loughrea will feature at a book launch hopefully planned for Saturday 1st November, the 50th anniversary of the last train there. Quite a few rolling stock photos in it, too.

Precisely why oul wans like me cannot, will not, and never could have got fired up by a Ballina timber train having 11 identical bogies instead of 12, an ICR with 4 carriages instead of 3 or 5, a yellow plant machine on rails, or an orange 071 instead of a grey one! Bah Humbug!

Irish preservation has just as many lamenting the lack of "somebody"'s as the Isle of Brexit has also!

Trouble is, there’s no someone! There simply isn’t sufficient interest in this country. If it was England, and A3 was a derelict Deltic, money, volunteers and more and more money would come out of the woodwork!

Who owns 015? I thought it was the ITG too?

Wasn’t aware of that - I had heard of ley lines, but I thought they related specifically to ancient English history - hence my initial as l thoughts that this railway must be over there….. Mr google tells me we have “ley lines” too; but I’d still be certain that railway isn’t here.

I’d say so, yes.

I would be pretty certain it isn't here, to be honest. There would be bound to be at least SOME sort of reference to it somewhere. Has to be Britain. Mr. Google is silent on this location.

"Cross Ley"? Actually sounds English. Anyone know where this is / was?

I believe it’s been opened on a number of special occasions for pre-arranged groups.

In the narrowest gauge place.

Yes, on some services. One per train. They were brown and cream when new - but not Pullman livery brown and cream - GSR brown and cream! (Similar shades to GWR in Britain so actually much the same), black roof not silver as in GB. Senior said that they eventually had standard GSR maroon, with “GREAT SOUTHERN PULLMAN” in yellow above window level. It must have been short-lived as I have not seen a photo like this. In a colour pic, though, of one in a scrap line in the early 50s, maroon can be seen showing under the green. Eventually CIE dark green but unusually no snail, due to the planked lower sides.

Over 30 wagons..... some main line cattle specials were allowed to load to 45 plus van! Tis a special breed of horse that was bred specifically for this use; they were born with lamps attached.

In all reality, the likelihood of a Park Royal behind an 800 class, while technically possible, is highly unlikely. By the time the main line PRs were being introduced, the 800 class were doing very little - Cork trains were largely in the hands of Crossley "A"s, B101s and AEC railcars. The stock needed for AUTHENTIC stock behind an 800 is a selection of both types of Bredins, the 1951-3 CIE equivalents, and various older main line corridor wooden-bodied GSWR stock. The older wooden ones and the steel-sided ones (Bredins onward) were, judging by photos of anything steam on the main line in the 1940s and 50s, about 50 / 50 each. With the actual absence of anything at all RTR at the moment, and (I suspect) for a long time, we must make do with what the nearest equivalents are. Apart from the SSM and Worsley brass kits, for RTR various types of 1930s off-the-shelf LMS designs from across the pond would do a reasonable impression of Bredins if painted in GSR livery (same as LMS, conveniently, down to the lining, but with very dark grey roof instead of silver) though different lettering; and there are some representations of wooden-bodied stock from Britain (go for LMS or GWR types, not Southern or LNER) again repainted. Alternately, the very same vehicles in older CIE green with eau-de-nil lines, as per the re-liveried LMS stock that came in that Bachmann train set with a Woolwich some years ago. The 6-wheelers wouldn't have gone behind an 800, with the possible exception of a full brake carrying mail bags, and alongside a TPO; now THIS is something for which nothing but a scratchbuild would do, but would be present in most 800-hauled trains. So right now, nothing beyond that; but who know what the future would bring. A RTR Bredin or laminate would cover a huge lot of holes in the market.

Certainly looks like it! You’d be aware the palvans were a lot higher….

I ate it all for him.

I think that’s a 1930s GSR van….

This is a truly outstanding layout! More please!

A lot - if not most - of the “soft-tops” were the older, lower-sided, round-roofed body types as shown in the models above. A handful made it to the late 50s.

Yes, there’s an hourly bts service. If you fly to Dublin, Tailté Tours will be operating a day trip from Dublin.