jhb171achill

Love the chimneys on the right-hand coach...........

Yes, it and C231 (now preserved) appear to be the only ones to get this one-off variation. The rest were all in the lighter green, like carriages and railcars after 1955.

Is there much Irish stuff in it? And - do they have historical articles (like, say, the IRRS journal) or would it be more about their own organised trips / modern image?

Most of the Woolwiches ended up in green. At least one ended its life still in grey (which they were all in until 1945/7). The single one in lined black is correct, although that one engine - the only one of any class to carry that livery - only did so for about 18 months and only on one route, before withdrawal and scrapping. The several which were black had a correctly coloured pale green “flying snail”, not a yellow one. I think that plain black model has yellow logo - so it’s wrong. Easy to fix, though. In terms of realism, very heavy weathering would be appropriate for all of them in any livery! The only time they were clean was when they were grey…..!

€3 into the Casino Model Railway Museum in Malahide all this week, to celebrate their 3rd birthday.

Considering what you can do with it, I’d say that’s good value.

Thank you, Signal Post, I’ll pass this on to Tara (the lady issuing tickets at the door). She deserves the credit as it was her idea! She and I are currently discussing other possibilities. As always, funding is an issue!

Looking good!

One of my favourite layouts of all time, having seen it “in the flesh” twice. Captured the spirit of the real thing perfectly.

Love the cab controls! Absolutely excellent model.

Indeed! Indeed - many a rural line saw little else, ever!

Often wondered if it’s possible to tell a Protestant locomotive from a Catholic one….. (….here’s me bus….)

It does - and if you add in the period 1969-63, you’ve steam locos running alongside many types of diesels - A, B101, B121, B141 (brand new), plus - of course - AEC railcars on most main line services - like ICRs today. As for wagons, barely two alike in any train…. Plus, concurrently, in 1963, six different carriage liveries, three (filthy) steam loco liveries, and four for diesels…. Now, if THAT isn’t variety, I don’t know what is!

VERY true. I rant on about wrong liveries, or stock from a different era or area behind a loco from another. Sure, there’s “Rule 1”; and by far that is the most important. But for those whose aim is actual accuracy, the political equivalent of a black wagon chassis, or a grey 121 hauling brown goods vans, or a white or yellow “flying snail” on a steam engine…… or ALL that oul shtuff, is this: ”In 1741, the English took away all the food and sent a quarter of the Irish as slaves to Australia. Most of the rest died and a few were left. Then, in 1916, Ireland became independent from England and the Protestants killed all the Catholics in the north. Then there was the “troubles”, when the Irish Free State (or “Eier”) went to war with Northern Ireland (which is part of England). The American president came to sort it all out and now there’s peace between the two places thanks to America, and that’s called the Good Friday Agreement”…… As an aside, good folks, please sit down, take a deep breath, and have your smelling salts and therapist handy before you read what follows; and you will not be able to UN-read it. ALL of the above drivel, and break it down by each individual nonsense detail; all of it - at one time or another, I have heard (or even been TOLD) by the good folks from the USA - is absolutely true. I busted a few myths to a citizen of that country one time, who insisted that his ancestors belonged to a mythical race known as the “Black Irish”. Ohhh boy. Never was so much nonsense spouted by so few….. I digress. I look forward to the cookery programme with interest, and hope that footplate fries in Achill locomotive shed feature prominently. Let us HOPE they research it properly.

Duffy’s it was; just home. Great oul night and great to meet several more of us IRM website folks. Tim-O, Ironroad and several others whose “handles” I forget; hope to see yiz all again. A perfect example this evening of the camaraderie which keeps model folks in touch - excellent night. You’ve put an idea in my head, George. Some sort of gathering where it’s the museum first, then a bar with food and pints…. I’ll mull over that idea.

Rugby or tennis?

I’ll post bits and pieces here from time to time about “what’s on”. Bit late for many, but if anyone is about tomorrow evening (Thursday) the museum will host a modellers’ “get-together” between 17:00 & 20:00, in which demonstrations of the layout and its highly complex DCC control system will be shown and described. Model maintenance and repair experts will be on hand too, and you are free to view the entire Irish collection of Cyril Fry’s models. At 8 pm or so, an informal few may adjourn to a local hostelry for pints. See ye there. The museum asks me to mention that the €10 entry fee (which includes the whole museum) should be booked online in advance as they’ll have no facility to accept payments after 4.30pm, the normal “last orders” time.

EXACTLY!

The Enda Kenny one was an unmitigated car crash in terms of research - or lack of it. The researcher, a young lady from Belfast, was given my contact details and emailed me with a list of questions. I answered every one. When the episodes went out, she ignored every single thing I told her, yet included my name in the programme credits. I was unamused, and emailed her to enquire as to why she bothered asking such questions, then trotting out a whole series - not just one programme - of such unutterable rubbish, when she had the information needed to hand. I await a reply................................. Her drivel did, of course, include the obligatory eyewash about just about every closed railway in Ireland "being dismantled and then dropped on the Germans" - and the "first and last trains on the Achill branch carrying the dead. Awful.

Rebekah, can you give Kathy my condolences as well. I don't have her contact details any nmore.

Correct. No matter what anyone's politics are, privatisation of railways in a country like Ireland (north AND south) would be disastrous. It's simply not an option. However, this is not to say that a commercial operator could not "buy access" too - but such an operator would find the rail operation not to be something which put euros in its shareholders' pockets.

One of the longest trains I ever saw in Ireland, possibly THE longest, was about 1975. It had twelve or thirteen bogies with a 6-wheel heating van at one end and a Dutch or BR van at the other. Just three coaches were Cravens, another three were Park Royals, and the others were a dining car and laminates of two or three different types….. all were mixed up.

You’re very welcome here, Darrman. If you’ve any questions on any aspect of the hobby or Irish railways in general, you’re in the right place.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, from new until the late 1980s, they almost ALWAYS did; other than the post-1972 Mk 2s, trains of a single uniform type of carriage were almost totally unknown. Almost ALL trains were a random mix of: Bredins (until last one withdrawn c.1975/6) Cravens Laminates (of many different types) Rebuilt / unrebuilt 1951-53 CIE stock Park Royals (several variations) Ex-GNR stock like K15s Remaining old wooden GSWR bogie stock (until last withdrawn in 1974; almost no two alike among several dozen). VANS: 4-wheel luggage 4-wheel generator 6-wheel generator ”Dutch” generator Ex-BR generator (several variations) The extent of this variation is such that a 1960s-80s train of more than two carriages simply does not look realistic if all the carriages are the same.

That's a very good way to get started, and inexpensive! The only thing I might suggest is put the white lin e on the vans and paint the roof black before doing the weathering.... in traffic, the white line often looked distinctly off-white / tannish due to weathering (brake dust).... Looking forward to seeing this project develop.