jhb171achill

VERY true indeed!

Yes, 186 is correct - in fact, the shade of grey was correctly colour matched at the time and confirmed accurate by several ex-GSR men then still living. The 461 black livery was incorrect in detail - while that loco seems to have been very briefly black in the very late 50s, it was always plain grey after the DSER became part of the GSR and CIE. On the RPSI's 461, the yellow "flying snail" was wrong - no steam engine ever carried anything but the standard pale green "snail", lined gold - in other words, the same transfers as on the sides of carriages and buses!

Wow - crazy stuff, all right. It does very starkly show, though, the utter contempt that large companies (including railway companies) had for the safety of their workers........... had we never had trade unions, things would still be the same...........!

Correct. MOST had them, but just some didn’t. Apologies if I implied none had double! Yes, it’s a first with a luggage compartment. The GSWR & MGWR had similar, though obviously if very different body design.

Believe it or not, I’m only seeing it now! I prefer posts from the 1950s, as they were written aboard six-wheelers on the Ballinrobe branch…..

An interesting thing about GNR six wheelers is that uniquely in Ireland, many had no lower footstep . And yes, that Knockmore photo is as I suggested - full van, followed by a third, and the other two will inevitably be a second and a first, or another third (especially if it’s off the Antrim line) and a 1st / 2nd composite.

That would never catch on............. Actually looks fantastic!

Where's the black'n'tan one............

Go for six-wheelers, 27ft - 30ft length. While the GNR(I) had nothing whatsoever to do with the British GNR, by sheer coincidence it not only shared a name, but due to at one time a common engineer, similarities in some loco and coach designs. The long wheelbase type of four wheelers, with "modern" 1890s-style body shapes, never ran in Ireland in general and certaintly not on the GNR, so the best thing is Hattons six-wheelers in the LNER or GNR teak livery. The sort of typical make up will be similar to that on other rural Irish lines, namely (in the case of the GNR) typically something like a full 6w brake, a first, second and third, or more likely a third and a 1st / 2nd composite. Lines like Cootehill and Belturbet had mixed trains too, so add an old GNR brake van, a van or two, one open, and a cattle wagon or two.

A great day out in Omagh. Thanks to Tony for your customary hospitality, and meeting a few oul cronies there today, i8ncluding one gent with whom I used to watch "Jeeps" on ballast trains over fifty years ago...........!

Tankers - good question; but unlike rural areas in Britain, we didn't have milk tankers hyere - milk travelled in churns in vans, ideally ventialetd ones but in winter any sort of goods van would do. As for petrol, little or none; petrol was carried in canisters, again in wagons. In my next book I will be describing a raid on wagons carrying petrol for the British Army use in Loughrea in 1920 - this cargo was of significant size, but was housed in ordinary goods vans. Hopper wagons were all 4-wheeled and only used (perhaps obviously!) on ballast trains. In a rainy country, the vast majority of wagons on normal trains were goods vans, either with full roof or the so-called "soft-tops" - officially convertible vans. Opens of all numbers of planks were on most goods trains too, but would usually be in the minority. 4 and 5 planks were the most common. On fair days, out came the cattle trucks. Depending on local cattle marts, these could be just 2 or 3 in the regular goods train, or perhaps 100 or more loaded at a single location and despatched in a number of special trains, which could load to over 40 wagons and van. And yes, Leslie's GSWR goods brake is superb; two of these are at Dugort Harbour.

With the best will in the world, they’re having a laugh. Just OVER €70 for a book!! This is worse than some of those 071s online for €750…….! Colourpoint or Stenlake would have done that for €25. I’m afraid I won’t be buying any book at that price!

A lot of railwaymen had (and have!) quite offbeat nicknames, so away ye go with the imagination!

This promises to be a GOOD one!

Well done, Tony, a mighty piece of work. Looking forward to the launch in Omagh.

Only seeing this, Derek. You've put a lot of work into that - it's looking very well. Only (constructive!) suggestions I would make is that there doesn't seem to be a physical connection between the inner circuit and the rest - a connection would add much flexibility. Also, for Ireland, platform ends were never tapered (not all that much in Britain either)..... your idea of green paint on buildings, especially railway ones and post offices, is very much the way to go!

I had thought it was 3ft gauge.....no?

The 29s seem good big solid things. If they had decent spacious quality seating and first class in them, they'd be fine for main line services......

Only seeing this now; hope you recover well and soon, Northroader.

They’re not CLOSE to anything that ever ran here, but they are LIKE some sort of generic van, in particular the corrugated ends resemble the GNR cement vans which would become part of normal CIE wagon stock not many years after they were built. I’ve one or two though I would replace them if there’s ever a RTR one - but might I recommend the Provincial Wagons kit of a standard CIE van. John Mayne (Mayner) also has several Irish goods vans on offer. The most glaring and obvious inaccuracy about the above is not the body but the black chassis - it should be grey like the body.

Wondering if anyone will be travelling to this from Dublin? Thinking of sharing transport.

I like experimenting with light, but this is just with an iPhone. Once the whole thing is finished I’ll let Daughter-the-Elder loose on it with her high-end cameras….!

And finally, to show how the nights have stretched, here’s a B121 ambling past Carrowmore with the last train of the day in early April 1965….

An experiment; I waited until a late early summer bright night provided the unique sort of lingering daylight seen after 10 p.m. at this time of year, to step into my time machine to visit Dugort Harbour at 22:12 on 30th May 1965…… these are the results. 1. Among the last Park Royals still in green, and the very last tin van still in “silver”, this neglected pair sit on a warm night at the cattle dock at Dugort Harbour along with a shut-down B141, which will form the morning train to Castletown West. —- 2. Looking round this deserted West Kerry outpost, an old “soft top” of DSER origin can be seen in the back siding. It’s been there for 2 years now and will soon be scrapped on site. —- The only other stock on site are a wooden-bodied open and a “H” van, both empty - they’ll be tacked onto to the back of the morning train and dropped off at Castletown; plus a spare “tin van”.

? .... existing, and open to passenger traffic today............