jhb171achill

Yes, useable up to about 1976. With a “broken wheel”, two possibilities - 1. Grey wagon with tan and white logo: 1963-70, with many still retaining that to the end, as they’d never been repainted; thus 1963-76. 2. Brown wagon with all-white logo: only after 1970, right to the end. The more “Provincial Wagons”, the better, as always!

Same to all here! Here's to a great modelling new year....

CIE provided a lot for its employees back then. Even the GSWR was well ahead in some respects, though working hours and pay scales left too much to be desired before trade unions became properly developed. They ran things like savings schemes, and a library for workers at Inchicore. My grandfather had a small savings scheme with the railway for years - it transferred over from GSWR to GSR to CIE. I believe he cashed it in when he retired, two weeks into the CIE era.

Gawd be with the days when you’d lines of wagons, horse boxes, and the back platforms, and a few “A” class sitting with ferts or bubbles waiting to go somewhere……. and there was a Limerick - Rosslare passenger train with a 141 and up to five laminates and a tin van….

….and, in a similar vein, when the GNR took over the day to day running of the DNGR in the 1930s, their stock started appearing on the DNGR, which displaced a lot of older DNGR stock. The NCC bought some carriages, and these were used primarily on the Larne line locals as far as I can gather. Senior recalled seeing a coach in DNGR livery on a Carrickfergus or Larne local, I would guess in the late 1930s.

Good thinking! jhbSenior took a photo of a long rake of DNGR 6-wheelers at Scarva in, I believe, 1944…

The Lord will provide!

Talking of what denomination it is, I wonder is it five pound, ten pound or twenty pound denominations; and whether they have silent collections on the "Sobboth".....

Both excellent! Spent this afternoon looking through Ballycastle….

That pebble-dashing looks amazing! My thoughts too, or a Presbyterian! But, like railway architecture, ecclesiastical architecture can take many forms.........

Do many of these represent the almost standard length of about 45 feet used on most Irish lines? Seems from observation most model TTs are the scale equivalent of something you’d turn a British 9F on. They may be fairly standard for British lines but look completely out of place on an Irish layout - far too long.

WOW! That’s looking great!

They had a letter system just to show different types; the letters don't actually stand for anything. I don't know the origin of a two-letter code, though, like "LB". Similar to the way our neighbours across the pond used oddball names of fish (seacow, etc) to designate different types.

Bad photo, but they appear to be carriage trucks; and yes, snails on them.

Yes, that’s closer to the post-1955 green than the older green. Only ever used on coaches and railcars. For West Cork the snails won’t matter, as all locos were tank engines. CIE never put logos on any actual steam locomotives at all - only on tenders, and for that matter, not even ALL tenders.

So, this island actually had Ireland's first ever narrow gauge line..... Interesting concept, overall, and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. Wasn't aware of those Bowaters models, though the Irish stuff is all (Irish) standard gauge....

When I hear someone from what Mr Borat called “The U S and A” wishing people “Happy Holidays”, I automatically reply “Happy Christmas“!

And that's the very tank engine I'm referring to!

Very nice little project, Metrovik. I think small outfits like that have great potential, and they're simple to get going. You had asked for suggestions - your run-round loop is necessarily short, I can see, so trains must of course be short. If you use the West Cork Clonakilty brach, the Foynes branch, or the sort of trains that would have operated at one time into Fenit, Castleisland and several other places like that - little backwaters - a single six-wheel passenger brake coach will suffice as a passenger train. The forthcoming Hattons one is perfect, and will be available in livery suitable to the era you are depicting. I am thinking that you'd get one of these plus at least one, maybe two wagons, into that loop and you could still run a loco round it. Another possibility is to have a modern laminate type of coach, like the brake composites (1904 & 1910) used on the Loughrea branch. The first of these arrived in green, which is appropriate to your era, of course. You'd need to have a "tin van" if you're using any diesels. Silverfox do them, but need to be told to use a correct livery, as their CIE green livery is pure fantasy. So, passenger coachyes dealt with, what about locos? A "C" class, or if after steam has ended, a 141; or in the case of steam, an 00 Works J15. Another possibility for steam is one of those (British) North Eastern Rly. 0.6.0T tank engines, which bear more than a passing resemblance to an ex-MGWR "J26". Just slap an overall coat of very dark grey over it and away ye go. A dozen or so Provincial Wagons, mostly goods vans, but maybe a couple of cattle and opens for variety, plus one of Provincial's GSWR goods brake vans and you've more than enough for a thing like that. I like the overall roof idea, though I would echo the comments about it hiding the train a bit much......... Could be fiddly, too, if something's off the rails under it.

There were a few experimants with push-pull early in the 20th century but none were successful. Certainly by the end of the "grey'n'green" era, nothing like that. However, you can emulate something like the Foynes once-a-day mixed in its last days - a loco and a single six-wheeled brake compo. I think it had two third class compartments and one first, plus the brake van part. Use one of Hattons Genesis brake thirds, painting a small "1" on one of the compartment's doors. A compleye passenger train in one 6-wheeled vehicle - or, in model terms, just 12 cm of length plus couplings. Closer to your neck'o'the woods, the Clon branch passenger train was often also just a single brake vehicle.

I’ve been asked to do one on Irish ones! No time, though!

PRICELESS!! Guess what my grandson will be viewing tomorrow.....

Awkward to maintain, less reliable and very noisy, but……. YES! Bring ‘em back! Far more comfortable (with ear muffs) than ANY modern vehicle!

Carriages with doors in the middle would be better…..

It would be no worse than the “direct curve” on NIR at Great Victoria Street - and little sharper than Cork…..