DiveController

So best info I have is that the GSWR ones were Carlisle built c. 1920 as 35T cranes and that one at Mallow was held at Mallow on its way from Cork to Buttevant to assist in the rail disaster of the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1980. Decaying in the yard for years it was placed on a plinth when the yard was converted to a car park and is still extant I believe

Great first post! @newman

I think this O' Dea photo (NLI on Flickr) is probably both GSWR cranes rebuilding the bridge in Cabra on the loop line (1930s). If recollection serves, it was the GSWR that build the line to link with the MGWR line and access the Irish sea or how many other cranes the GSR inherited from the MGWR, DSER etc. at grouping but both crane jibs appear identical. There is a suggestion that the Cowan Sheldon cranes date for the 1920s. Would the GSWR have acquired them that late just before the GSR amalgamation? I'll dig out the one from Mallow when I get a chance later and post a link later. EDIT: The steam crane at Mallow, looks to be the same crane to me Cowan Sheldon 1920. I believe that Westrail had it in Tuam for a while before it ended up in Mallow. I hope it is still in Mallow and Irish railway heritage hasn't gone to Hammond Lane for a song again? EDIT: there seems to be evidence of it still in existence in 2016/7-ish

I had the privilege of driving a 7-dog Alaskan husky sled team recently. The physical endurance of the dogs is incredible and they can cover at least 100 mile a days scooping up snow for quick drink on the canter. No yellow snow and brown is also a no-no especially if you're not one of the lead pair. Not exactly the Iditarod (1100 miles) but a superb experience with a steep learning curve on rough terrain. The Last Great Race https://iditarod.com

Most are either 1/43 or 1/50. Agree with Broithe I think 1/43

That's no good. You can't ski on that. What tundric steppe are you on? And don't sit too long in case the rocks get frozen

one of the most interesting things in Birr form the same era

Unless the logo was pre-existing and was carried over which seems unlikely but I don't know who preceded REFER in Portugal (I haven been there since about 1990)

That I didn't;t know. They must have been empties surely?!

While this all seems to be remote from the majority of users on this forum 2019-nCoV has been confirmed in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Australia, France, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, The Republic of Korea, United States and Vietnam. The bigger issue is the cases that have not yet been diagnosed and the fact that it may be transmissible even by person who do not appear ill. This novel virus has adapted to human hosts remarkably quickly. SARS was transmitted to humans from cats, MERS from camels, Avian flu from birds. None has an effective vaccine. The SARS epidemic was handled poorly so at least the Chinese have been more proactive with curfews on non-essential travel and provision of better protective equipment and medical personnel and treatment facilities. While the plastic goodies are probably going to be ok, there are now cases in Shanghai and Beijing (as you'd have predicted), 3000 have been infected, and 100 people have died (so far). These are just the facts (I hope) whether you consider them relevant to you or not.

REFER was formed in 1997 ten years after IR used the set of point logo. ,Although the logos are not identical the "R" obviously is the same. They may have copied the PWD colors too

Yes, Dave should be safe as long as he's not updating the Lima Thread and we really can't afford to lose the other lads (at a minimum you feel really sick)

I saw that on Flickr. So many threads on this site alone were ruined when this happened with photobucket and now all you get is that terrible logo in lieu of the photo. Thanks for continuing to post that GNR steam.I do hope Flickr will continue. Its very irritating to have to do it all again (so if that were to occur so we'd only need you to put up the Irish ones! @Irishswissernie). Yes, I just left and my coat is following no doubt .......

Generally there has to be a bit of a spark to get the NN going but yes, everything has its place and time I suppose

All coronaviruses mutate readily like the common cold and influenza. There is a lot that is not known for certain about the 2019-nCoV strain, including how contagious it is, its hardiness outside an animal/human host and its exact mortality rate for particular populations, age groups and people with other chronic illnesses (disorders of the immune system recent chemotherapy etc. things you don't normally think of right away). This is why the WHO has not given any authoritative guidance as yet. This is the same group of viruses that caused SARS and MERS the latter having a pretty high mortality. Coronaviruses can exist on environmental objects (even stainless steel) for up to a month but under more usual temperature and humidity levels more likely for a couple of days. Most transmissions are live animal-human or human-human by direct contact or close-range airborne contact. A friend who had been in the Wuhan area developed this, went undiagnosed and returned home. Mild cases can also transmit that disease to others. Anyway lots of variables and more that I'm not going to go on about that would allow contamination where you might not think possible. Assuming that the present strain remains a low mortality and only moderately contagious, contaminated plastics would be likely be non-infectious after a week or so given that transit time from China etc. a customer should be ok. If you want to be extra safe , leave your goodies in the box for a week before opening (like that was a possibility!). As for anyone examining lots of boxes of these, hand washing and a mask would significantly reduce the risk of contagion.

12 was one of the longer length 50' bogie coaches and the only one with a clerestory roof. A 'saloon', she was used as a restaurant before being converted to a second class iirc and then returned to her original usage a few years later. This was in the early 1900s and not sure what further modifications might have occurred later.

Love it, Bosko! So I wonder if the government or EU might mandate that an 071 sound system be fitted to the DART or some DMUs that don't reach the minimum noise level threshold on the grounds of H&S, stations, LCs etc. Y'know the lads at IRM might be onto something with this new A class sound project but maybe a slightly larger speaker?

Just when there was the opportunity to reduce the ridiculous amount of noise pollution that has crept into our lives governments around the world are mandating that the masses should continue to endure it just in case ..... (I'm not trying to be insensitive here, but that is just ridiculous) .....and as for 'futuristic' sounds that is just the thin end of the wedge

So on the weekend I decided to look in my copy of Shepherd and Beesley's DSER in which I thought there was a rather comprehensive listing of rolling stock including conversions (and back). How hard could it be to find one of these buffet cars surviving well into the steam to diesel transition. That coach seems to be 19D or more likely 29D on the better quality Flickr original but there seemed to be little in the restaurant/buffet section at all let alone a match even in the brakes. I'll have another look

Just as IRM did it, .... a prelude to the ferts

Some caution advised in giving the wife too much fertilizer

In the 'antiquated days' the signalman would not have allowed you into the station until it was clear to do so, nor the guard out of it if a passenger was running down the platform. So what happens now, the road is set all the way to Cork with greens set all the way by the CTC?

It might be possible to find a donor motor/chassis that you can 'drop' the body onto. The axles are asymmetric on the Es so most likely you won't find an exact match, but it might be possible to move an unpowered middle axle fairly easily. I know this E/421 is in bad shape but the chassis is seen pretty well apart from the bases of the wheels themselves

We need them by March https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/26278229928/in/photolist-2arjFys-2ddJqoK-G37NeN-ejt8FF-KkZPRP-R53JLj-24oZQkA

Volume 16 starts as N0. 99 Feb 1986 thru No 107 October 1988 so maybe No 104 or something. Someone associated with the IRRS might be able to help @leslie10646 or if a member has these volumes (unfortunately, I do not), maybe somone would have a quick flick through and see if there's an article in there that would interest you