jhb171achill

A 30ft with four wheels?

Amazing as always, Noel! Just discovered a nice trick. Switch on several of the Tara Junction videos together, and just listen to the background noise! Absolutely amazing..........

Looking at the pic above, the platform to the right of the class 37 could be extended a little simply by moving the signal cabin to the left of the running line (in the field, immediately be4side the track. The branch platform in the background to the right of the train of 4-wheel coaches could also be extended at both ends by almost the length of another 4-wheeler at each end. That would make a difference without causing any major hassles?

A very big stretch - probably unlikely but theoretically possible. But it’s your layout, so Rule 1 applies!

Yes, to both questions. Park Royals would have run with the FULL range of gennies - original 4-wheel tin vans, then the (few) 6-wheel ones, then the above 32XX series, BR vans & Dutch vans.

Could be wrong, but I don’t remember ever seeing anything here made by Dodge.

That 1898 photo….. I was unaware of the end windows in any of them….

The GSWR had first class 5-wheelers of very similar design to that, though they were 30ft.

See below;

The GNR, like the BCDR and CBSCR, seems to have had a liking for non-standard* lengths for six-wheelers, though 27ft wasn't among them. All but the third vehicle shown appear to be of types which were either 31ft or 32ft - though the GNR also had a few of 34 & 35ft length. I would suggest that the 3rd vehicle here is 30 or 31ft; they didn't have anythging shorter, though several pre-1876 constituent companies did - but these aren't of this type. The ones either side are maybe 32 or 34ft. The "Doncaster" design you have above is a 29ft body - nothing on the GNR(I) was this dimension, though in 00 scale it would barely be discernible. (* Standard length for six-wheel coaches in most cases was 30ft - virtually universal on GSWR, MGWR, BNCR (MR / LMS NCC) & WLWR; not universal but common on CBSCR & DSER)/.

Ah! Got ya........... NIR set on the Enterprise today - just a 3-car 3K!

3-car NIR railcar on the Enterprise this morning, zebra on it yesterday and the day before….. Nothing new there. But here in Malahide, the daily sounds of the Tara 071s has fallen silent, so one notices that sound when it appears. And it did - the night before last - at 01:40. What was an 071 doing out and about on the GNR at that hour? Hauling some sort of yellow thing about?

Absolutely superb stuff, Leslie!

This, indeed, is the harsh reality.

The little Peckett is close enough to 00 scale compatible itself!

Now THAT would be something. But the good folks of Barnesmore don't speak Swiss................

Indeed. Several of the proposed "Re"-openings would almost certainly need to be on new alignments at least in part. Any attempt at anything resembling the Derry Road would need to face very major diversions in and around Portadown itself, Dungannon, and especially Omagh and Strabane. The UTA & Stormont Government did a very efficient job in ensuring maximum difficulty in resurrecting anything. ANY type of link with Letterkenny would have to be a completely new route. The tortuous route between Strabane and Letterkenny, apart from being narrow gauge, probably was twice the mileage of a direct route. A new line would have to cross the Foyle via a new bridge, and head down the old GN line a short distance before turning inland. A Derry-Letterkenny route via Strabane wouldn't even begin to make sense, even if the CDR line from Strabane to Letterkenny HAD been straight. Both administrations should pass laws that if there ever comes a day when any existing railway infrastructure has its use discontinued, the right of way remains with the state, and remains protected; this to include station sites. Yes, Dublin port, we're looking at you.

That’s very reassuring, DoctorPan, good stuff!

Superb stuff, Leslie!

Call me an oul cynic; but I'll believe ANY reopening when I see it. They've been prattling on about all manner of reopenings, and freight hubs and the like for decades. Successive governments, of ALL political parties north and south have not looked forward to plan anything for their grandchildren probably ever. It's all about what gets them the next election; and idle talk and soundbites do that just fine.

Quiet...ER? A Tara Mines train with loose wheels, clanking 071 bits, and carrying marbles, while tumbling down a tin staircase in an echo chamber fitted with Electric Picnic amplifiers, while the driver is roaring his head off into a karaoke machine turned up full, would be quieter than many carriage on some trains..... Try a Howth Dart on a sunny Saturday, or a stag-from-drimnagh and hens-from-rathkeale express to Killarney on a Saturday....... So, "quieter" than WHAT, exactly?

I've half a dozen covering that period that i'll post to you. 1955-63.

And no chinchillas were harmed in the making of this post, no doubt.............

Best option for photos might be the IRRS archive - but oakwood did a book on the line many years ago. From memory, some nice carriage photos in there. As far as good was concerned, they didn't carry much - alone among Irish narrow gauge lines, this was primarily a commuter railway (which, as an aside, also was the only Irish narrow gauge line with any double track). If it's for models, loco livery lined black, carriages dark green. After GSR takeover, locos unlined all-grey, carriages dark maroon.

Note the "G S" still (barely) visible on that old GSW brake van in Galway......