jhb171achill

Indeed. There was a cull of them in the early 70s - they were commonplace up to then, but a few did survive in use. I saw one in use in Kilkenny I think in 1976. Same with wooden opens and, indeed, other wooden vans - quite a few 1970/2, but no wooden opens at all after that, and few if any wooden vans like ex-GNR ones, for example.

I'd stake me IRM "A"s on it. Saw them daily, and I know where an actual example can STILL be seen.....

So have I, but it ain't right! Nothing a bit of weathering won't cure, anyway............!

Why, oh why does every model made in UTA livery have to have yellow lining? It's supposed be be red and "straw" - a light beige colour, not yellow................ Mind you, it IS a beauty.

There’s also Drumawhey near Bangor and somewhere else in the north. There used to be an amazing set-up at Cultra, but that had to close.

On a B101 model, yes, that's an issue in the green livery! On the later black, or black'n'tan liveries, it was (mercifully) lower down. Incidentally, the number is in light green, not white as it looks here - this is due to the age of the photo. The green looks pretty accurate though.

One for IRM, hopefully some day! I’d love to see a good quality RTR one of these. This was taken by Cyril Fry in Waterford. (From P Dillon Collection)

It is A46, you're quite right; and like many another example of the A, C & B101 classes, the green waist line seemed to vary. Obviously, it isn't on the loco there, but equally obviously it was at another stage, as photos exist (which is what IRM correctly relied on). In 1958, it's been repainted from the awful plain silver (i.e. plain muck!), but the lining hasn't been added yet. The application or the waistline in the 1958-62 period was a bit like the application of the "dayglo" patches on the front of locomotives of the A, B121 and B141/181 classes in the post-1987 era; some had them, others never did, and others again had them for a while only. I suspect the example above, as you suggest, was very short-lived indeed.

Another highly valuable addition to the growing range….

That horizontal-planked GSR van is crying out to have a model made…. a kit, even. A handful of them were in traffic JUST about long enough to get the brown livery after 1970/1…..

A quiet night? And now a moon-landing buggy thing appears?

Parking directly across the road, first two hours free, and free all day Sunday. Within the museum grounds, disabled parking only.

Actually, I should mention - if there’s anything in the Fry collection that anyone wants more pictures of at any time, ping me privately and I’ll take pics for you. Dunno the answer to that! The systems WERE similar, but not identical.

Some nice stuff up in Marlay Park…

. We can’t leave out the SLNCR, of course, nor the BCDR….

Some northern stuff today. First, Clogher Valley. The dark maroon carriage paint is not just authentic; it may be actual original paint. The CVR maroon was, in Senior’s opinion, slightly darker than the “standard” sort of maroon used by the NCC, BCDR & GSR. He was invited to tour the railway and works in 1940 when he had just joined the GSR, and a coach was in the middle of being painted in Aughnacloy Works, so he saw it fresh. . For our budding NCC narrow gauge modellers….. . Wagons - GNR. Buy yours now from Provincial McAllister!

Indeed - very probably, I’d guess! You’re spot on. There is something in the back of my mind, right enough, about the UTA (or newly formed Ulsterbus) selling some of those buses to various operators in the south. School buses were certainly one of these uses. Around the time of the UTA / Ulsterbus changeover, they bought in a load of second-hand buses from Ribble, Crosville (North Wales) and somewhere else, and these were used to replace “half-cab” single-drivers, now redundant due to one man operation. As an aside, few if any of those old standard UTA single-deck half-cabs ever got the bright new blue and cream Ulsterbus livery. A few of the MGWR’s J26 / “E” class saw 67 years in actual use…..

I think J15 No. 130 was among the very last - there were only 3 or 4. The Irish Railfans’ News has chapter and verse. Must look them up…. But it was limited and short-lived too. Actual steam working on CIE finished completely at the end of February / start of March 1963. After that, the only steam was UTA / NIR until 1970.

I think about 1965.

The sort of thing you've so expertly depicted could, if it really existed, have had just about any of those locos. Doubltess some sort of off-the-shelf Simplex would be high on the list. If steam, a little Peckett like the Larne Aluminium Works one.

This is interesting; why, I wonder, are there several UTA buses parked up there? Possibly the UTA had sold them off to a local school bus or other type of private operator?

Barry Carse's Metrovick book has C234 becoming B234 in December 1965, so I'd go for 1966. J15 130 was one of the last steam locos on CIE's books, only OFFICIALLY withdrawn in 1965, though no steam locos at all operated* after March 1963, including 130. (*Other than as stationary boilers).

Autumn 1964, and a Knock pilgrimage special pulls away from Dugort Harbour at 7 a.m. No dining car, so it’ll be hang sangwidges in brown paper and flasks of tea all the way up to Claremorris.

That’ll save him Lodging a complaint.

I knew that CIE got rid of 3rd class and re-designated it 2nd in the 1950s - but I hadn't realised that any vehicles in the lighter green livery ever had a "3" on the doors, let alone an AEC railcar! Every day's a school day..............