jhb171achill

I presume the wagons are stored there on a Saturday to allow a clear run for several rugby specials on the main line, seein' as it's this time of year? Onwards to Barrack St. later in the day.......

There was a funding app prepared for "B" some 20 years ago, for which the cost was Stg.£160,000. The app passed its first stage, but during the convoluted correspondence the funding criteria changed, so that closer to the time it would be going anywhere, there was no longer funding. I had kept the firm to whom it was to be sent, fully up to date with developments, as I tried to sort out what instalments would need to be paid, and when. The company was based in Shildon in England. Those who are familiar with recent RPSI restoration projects will raise an eyebrow here. Yup - it was the very same firm to whom No. 171 was sent some time later. They went bust, and the RPSI (very luckily) managed to repatriate 171 before the scrapman could sieze it to pay their debts! SLNCR "B" would very probably have ended up in the same precarious position, so it is lucky that it never went there at all. Still, with a proven background in bus restoration, and a great familarity with Gardner engines (which "B" was going to get), I am sure a good job would have ensued. It would have been great to have it operational there now. As for RB3, yes, indeed, it was part of the UFTM collection. Under museum rules, a museum in possession of a listed artefact can't just chuck it if they get tired of it. They must first offer it to kindred bodies, properly registered with museum status, thus pre-fulfilling all normal standards for the care of the artefact. If nobody wants it, then they can sell it to a farmer to keep chickens in. Nobody wanted RB3. While I stand to be corrected on this, I think it is now DCDR property - and THEY don't want it, as it has never proved to be reliable, and in all reality is of very little indigenous Irish railway historical interest. Maybe it'll see chickens yet. It was in use one St Patrick's Day, as I recall, as an extra train. It did a single return trip. I was travelling as guard on it on the way back in, and the driver struggled with it to persuade it to exceed walking pace. That's the walking pace of a chicken, by the way. As far as I am aware it was never used for fare-paying passengers again., even though DCDR's experts did try to persuade it to behave. Useless oul thing.

Excellent stuff, folks, thanks!

Always thought the 50s were elegant looking beasts. I remember reading about them being built new; an earlier summer holiday in Brexitland having been before they were built, and memories of what I think were green 47s hauling maroon coaches. I wonder what a BR blue one might look like amongst 141s or J15 steam engines on a layout set in west Kerry, a decade before the 50s were built............. well, Rule 1. And all of this reminds me, courtesy of Senior;

Ladies & Gentlemen; a query. For many years, the Waterford & Tramore line had an elderly ex-MGWR four-wheeled luggage van, which they used to carry prams and larger luggage on the W & T, as from early GSR days the carriages where possible had extra seats crammed in, leaving little room for such things. When the railcars took over in the early 1950s, even they had bus seats. This van was retained until the end, being hauled by railcars and push-shunted at each end by the crew. Does anyone know of the whereabouts of any decent pictures of this thing? I have seen pics, but not really good ones to show it in detail.

Very very true. That bit on its own is soul-destroying. Obsolete parts, more often than not, have to be manufactured, carved or cast from scratch. Even that can involve very intyricate and time-consuming making up of templates, drawings, patterns, etc, beforehand.

Ever since the 1860s this area has been very flood-prone. From the day the railway opened into Downpatrick, the BCDR had bother with flooding in the area. Once a generation there's a really bad one, like recently. The DCDR, like the BCDR before it, has experienced pretty bad floods here before but the recent one was exceptionally serious. Given that the ITG has their operation base here too, it hit the ITG also.

That's because I stand on my head when I'm takin 'em.............

I seem to be better sticking with still images - a number of vids I’ve posted lately won’t work….

......................................... Naturally, the day would not be complete without steam, as 383 stretches its legs after a visit to Inchicore........... IMG_0245.MOV

Always enjoyed watching 141s shunting....... OOPS! A Dingle engine shunting too, in Castlegregory two weeks before the line closed 1939. ........................ As 146 shunts oil tankers, an 071 passes by with a Mk 2 set with "Dutch" EGV.

We just need a GNR pattern footbridge now, Leslie, as well as a GSWR one!

I'll be looking for one of these yokes myself - possibly two...........

Oooooooh boy! Looking forward to seeing THIS finished. (I understand that Galteemore is building a live steam 12" = 1ft scale "Lissadell" to run with it.......................)

And in addition to your good self, Derailed, another party quite separately looked at this site! But like so much in railway preservations, the "ideas man" must eventually play second fiddle to the "practicality / reality man"! Mulrany would have been amazing - especially to me - but was a non-runner for a whole range of reasons, even with considerable private funding behind it, had that been available.

Schemes like that can have a precarious long-term prospect. There are several existing (operational) examples of this species; a privately-owned operation funded by one individual with very deep pockets, but no preservation society as such to take it over when they age, like all of us. We see what’s happening at Moyasta; a well-meaning individual now getting on in years, close to being no longer able to run it. The other issue with places like Moyasta, Maam Cross, Finntown and the like is that they are in the absolute back end of nowhere. There is zero financially self-supporting market, and few or no local volunteers. Finntown exists due to being funded by a local co-operative. The others mentioned are the private property of one person, and thus dependent upon their personal funds and circumstances - and health! While I am open to correction on this, it is my understanding that the owners of several of the privately owned ones - two at least - are (perhaps unwisely) completely opposed to having a preservation society set up to administer and run the thing. In terms of my own earlier comments, I was sticking to those which got up and running, and do so; and also a few “might have beens”. Just thought of another; in the 1990s again, I was told of a plan (which, for numerous reasons was utterly impractical) to restore about a mile of the Achill line near Mulrany!

Very much so, and in the 60s they’re quite new, so clean and shiny too! Go for the ones with grey chassis - the brown chassis didn’t appear until well into the 1980s era. As Cathal says, in your chose era they’re mixed in with ordinary wooden opens, with perhaps a third of the open wagon fleet bring the new ones, the rest various types of wooden ones, mostly standard GSR but a handful of GSWR & MGWR examples too.

Yes. I have the files in my attic. I'm negotiating with the Irish Times, but they need to seriously up their offer. I can only reveal, at this stage, that the President was planning to have a bit of a party at the White House to celebrate the fact that a seventh cousin of his once met an African man in Missouri who had been to Fenit on a timber ship one time, and having set foot on the pier, was Irish. Thus, by association, the President was too. That's what he wanted new table cloths for. I remain tight-lipped about the President's daughter visiting Mr Weaver, and that locked-up chalet near the beach in Clogherhead. I do not believe that the signalman on duty at the time was..... Ah. I won't say any more.

I'd better start eating unpleasant things so that I won't taste nice....... so it's snails, garlic, germolene and strawberry jam for supper, with a sauce of over-ripe raspberries, out-of-date rashers, onion gravy (stale) and tapioca. Yup - says it in a nutshell. Now, if that thing had been used in 1916 in Kerry, or in 1690 in the north, it would be preserved. Not otherwise. (I wonder if I could get those letters off...)

Indeed - which begs the question what then - more 201s, probably.............. which would simply mean that today that whole fleet would be in use, and Ireland would have but a solitary class of locomotive. Things are unvaried enough as it is!, so thank gawd for 071s (never thought I'd say that about modern locos...!)

Yes, the one about re-engineing the B101s was very much true. As you say, they got superb use out of the 071s - but imagine if 071-type engines had gone into the Sulzers - would they still be seen in Ballina at the front of a train of containers?

A Jen You Wine MGWR 0.3.7 tank engine!

True, but what we have now is likely to be the limit. We've done well for our size, and our very limited level of interest but we're still much, much smaller.

Just for info purposes, in case anyone's still awake - I'll outline a few of the "might-have-beens"; tis a slow, cold, rainy Saturday night, and I have not yet decided whether I'm prepared to go down the road tonight for a pint. So; as far as I remember, and having been involved in feasibility studies (promoted by other people, not me!).... 1. Tullow. Two wealthy businessmen (so they said) approached the RPSI in the early 1990s. Their question: "Have you any old trains for sale?". (Yes, I know, I know, but better is to come, dear reader, and they never even mentioned the brits building anything to control us, or lines closed in the 1950s being sold for scrap to make bombs to drop on Germany.....!) Their rationale: they and their families had been on holiday in Britain and had taken a trip on one of the busier steam railways there, and on a bank holiday. I think it was the Severn Valley, but it doesn't matter. They noted six and seven coach trains jammed to the doors with people, and worked out that the fares paid per mile were very much higher than CIE charged. "Must make an absolute fortune!" they concluded. I exchanged several phone calls and correspondence with them, and we worked out that IF they had the bottomless pockets they claimed to have, and IF they owned the four miles of the trackbed of the line that they said they did, the RPSI could lease the two J15s to them. In theory. As always in railway preservation, theory and practice are not just on different planets - they are in different galaxies. When the realities of the care and maintenance of steam locos was made clear to them, along with the regulatory necesseties of boiler care and insurance, track maintenance and the like, they ran away scared. We had not yet discussed marketing, public access, sight lines for access roads, suitable access for low loaders bringing rolling stock, and financial sustainability, let alone commented on the fact that half a million tourists just will NOT ever descend on Tullow per year solely to travel four miles behind a J15 with two coaches. However, in an imaginary world, we now have a four mile line from the (then still existing) fully restored Tullow station, complete with original overall roof! Hell, why not throw in a new-build GSWR 4.4.0..... It would, of course, look great! 2. Belcoo. This was born of cross-border "Peace Money", along with IFI & ERDF funding. Had it come to pass, and it very nearly did - it would have consisted on a mile and a half of the SLNCR (stop that drooling, Galteemore, that's yer last wanring). This would have run from Belcoo station, across the road and down through fields to the MacNean bridge, which was (and is) in two bits in the water following being blown up by the British Army during the troubles in case those with issues about their presence in the area (which, to be fair, was the majority locally!) might use it to escape their attentions when moving things that might go "bang" about during nocturnal hours. And the funding was THERE! Yes, a first time for everything. Unfortunately, this dropped dead in the water due to a discrepancy of opinion amongst two leading local landowners, each of whom took the view that if the other one was in favour, well I'm aginst it. Had it come to pass, it was to be done on a low-cost, low key basis. With approval from IE, the Sligo railcar was to go to Brexitland to be refurbed and fitted with an almost new Gardner engine similar to the Donegal railcars. This was long before there was any talk of that vehicle going to Downpatrick; it was then languishing in Mallow, to which certain scrap merchants had, eh, travelled in order to relieve it of anything valuable, but thus enabling rain to get in and rust parts of it from the inside out. (At least it has survived). Permission WAS obtained for that, and Fermanagh Council agreed to part-fund it. Next, the RPSI would be approached with a view to having "Lough Erne" as a static exhibit there, and the NCC Railcar No. 1 also given a refurb and an identical Gardner engine. Ulsterbus was prepared to provide sheet metal and upholstery. The line would operate from Belcoo down to the lake shore - an excellent scheme. The terminus, like inch Abbey, would be a platform with short run round. No frills, but perfect for a location like that. No nonsensical, emotion-driven notions of new-builds hauling Enterprise-sized trains, to which every tourist on the island would surely want to do rather than go to the Giant's Causeway, Trinity College or the Cliffs of Moher. A "G" class, the Whitehead MGWR six-wheeler, again restored, and a brake van - all of which were available - would complete the entire stock. No endless sidings full of unsightly scrap - there was no room for anything like that anyway. An old carriage chassis - laminate, I think it was, with a flat floor on it, would serve as a loco-pushed "work wagon", similar to that at Downpatrick back in the day. By the time there was some sort of light of day where the two local landowners MIGHT agree, the funding pots were dried up, never to be repeated again on such generous terms. Personally, the above would have been my favourite. 3. Athboy. Another one I liked, and invested much research in. A study group was established; a founder member of IRM was one of the gang; in which the issue of a DCDR-style heritage railway within maybe an hour's drive of Dublin was contemplated. The purpose of the group was to extensively research what was possible, what suitable funding sources might be there, and what engineering and other issues might have to be addressed. In an initial meeting, and following some groundwork by several members, some eighteen possible sites were identified. Any with level crossings or access issues, either for the general public or bringing rolling stock in, were obviously eliminated straight away once those issues became known. From memory, there were two separate sites on the old Tullow branch looked at, a complete green-field site in Co. Wexford, where a new line could run along the river bank for two miles near Bunclody; a stretch near Carlingford, and a possible bit of the Kingscourt line were all looked at. Within one and a half meetings, we were left with two possibilities. For one reason or another all of the others were eliminated completely (as opposed to being considered less desirable). The two were Ballinglen - near Tinahely on the Shillelagh branch, now a rough greenway type of footpath; and Trim to Athboy. Both Trim and Athboy stations were long gone, but road access was fine, both are tourist towns, near a motorway, etc etc. So what would it have looked like? One end would have been fairly rudimentary, a la Inch Abbey. The other, probably the Athboy end, would be a new-build small station with the appearance of a small Dublin & Meath station. Rolling stock would be - with the initial agreement of the ITG - three "G" class; one on loan from Downpatrick, and two from Carrick-on-Suir. All three would be sent to Germany, where these things were still being built NEW at the time, or had been in the very recent past, and refurbed over there into as-delivered condition. Several laminates would be obtained, possibly heated in the same way the Loughrea coach was. Again, the Whitehead six-wheeler, a basic couple of ballast hoppers, work bogie and guard's van, and nothing else. Space would be available in a museum for displaying an RPSI or Cultra steam loco which was not in use. What went wrong with THAT one was that one landowner owned well over half of the route, which was straight and entirely clear, just through fields. That landowner was having none of it. The study group presented its findings to the local authorities / councillors at each end of the line. On a scale of 1-100, the interest level shown was 0. So there's a few might have beens to discuss over pints tonight, wherever you'll be!

Indeed - I omitted to point out that due to its industrial history, the greater Belfast area will have the lion's share of anything "industrial" in Ireland, and that biggish-sized boat accounts for the bulk of THAT; despite thw proximity of Whitehead to what is actually the most intensively "industrial" area on this island, it still doesn't get more than a trickle. Imagine how many Whitehead would get if it was situated in North Mayo or West Cork!