GSR 800

AFAIK yes.

Fitted vans could be used as part of passenger and mail consists to carry mail and other such items. They were also just used as regular H vans as a part of an unfitted freight consist IIRC.

Taiwan, primarily, along with power projection in the Asia region, protecting maritime trade (Mahan). Nuclear missiles for the same reason every superpower worth its salt builds a nuclear arsenal. The only constant is change. Any dealing with China must come with the understanding they will work in their own interest, as all nations do. If the US tries cutting them out of global trade, the consequences will be incredibly destructive. Give them nothing to lose, see what happens. Likewise if they rolled over and let China do whatever they like it would be very negative. China heavily subsidised its industries, effectively bought and shipped the entire German solar panel industry over to China. Chinese domestic demand is suppressed through currency manipulation of the RMB to make exports more competitive. Something akin to the Plaza Accords of the 1980s could go some way to rebalancing trade, a revaluation of the RMB would increase domestic Chinese consumption considerably. This would not solve all issues regarding trade or geopolitical issues regarding the US, EU and China but it would be a step. The problem the US has is the catch-22 of a high debt and the way out of it being to raise interest rates. Doing so causes the repayments on the interest on the debt to, obviously, increase, but to not increasing interest rates means more money printing, more debt, and on it goes

I'd say driver training. If she was on 3, she was probably waiting for a road. 1 or 2, and she could've refuelled either.

She made it as far South as Cork, visited Maedbh in Thurles too!

It's one of those things I consider myself, whether to go matt or more satin for the smokebox. Usually it's more matted than the rest, but locos being cleaned, especially with oily rags, would show some shine. I've given a bit of matting at the top for soot around the chimney. Recently I've seen a br shed layout with locomotives kept glossy clean, but with smokeboxes matted and almost grey! I note modern cleaning practices at Connolly, which focus on keeping the "front" of the locomotive/railcar clean. The rest is less of a concern!

Many thanks. Funny enough for Macha's last tour they had the smokebox shining! It has a bit of grime on top nonetheless, don't wish to overdo it.

Maedbh has gotten a bit of weathering. There's not a great many photos of Maedbh in colour during her working life in CIE. The vast majority I've seen are taken after she was earmarked for preservation and received a fresh coat of paint. It's unlikely she did almost any work after 1958. There's two colour photos of her at work in later years. One is of her at Limerick Junction in 1955, the other at Thurles hauling a train of horsebox vans. These show her relatively clean but with some black grime in certain areas. In their earlier years they were kept almost spotlessly clean, but I intend to model the end of steam. Macha was utterly filthy toward the end. For reference I also looked primarily at the VS class in the 60s. Still kept quite clean, but far from spotless. The domes and corners of the belpaire firebox were almost always blackened! A mix of black and umber wash was used, with excess removed using a cotton bud.

One of the first books on Irish railways I read as a young lad gave me a solid impression that the Woolwich moguls and the turfburner were painted in a pale blue! Copyright 1995 Tom Ferris

We're going to need a bigger shed!

Another wonderful model!

Unless you plan on compressing the gable, 3 tracks or 4 will make no difference, the width of the shed hasn't changed.

I think he's referring to Connolly shed in modern times, with the roller shutter and 3 running roads (IIRC only two are used, the other, closest to the wash road, being red flagged)

When I'm feeling especially brave

A bit of work done to Maedbh over the last week or so. The Royal Scot has many similarities to the 800s, but the 800s have a much longer front end and bogie, along with smaller bogie wheels. Changing to smaller wheels meant a large air space was left between the wheel and chassis. This became a bit of a knawling bug for me To sort the issue, I fabricated some fau frames from plasticard, painted them black, then applied them to the sides I then karate chopped the bogie and placed a plasticard spacer to increase its length. I think this improves the overall appearance of the front end considerably.

GNRI action at Mullingar Broadstone also saw a great collection of former GNRI, MGWR, and GSWR locomotives between the closure of Inchicore's shed to steam in 1958(?) and Broadstone itself in 1961. Everything from the 400s to the GNRI's JT tanks made it to Broadstone.

IIRC the MGWR had a specific sleeping carriage for crews. It was avoided at all costs due to an infestation of lice! Don't let the bed bugs bite indeed...

Aside from the obvious answer of political lobbying, this one has me puzzled. Ballina is pretty well situated, don't get me wrong, but it's not the biggest town, it's not a major seaport, and yet it is the only major railfreight terminal left other than Dublin and Waterford (Though the Foynes is coming back online). Back in the 70s and 80s rail container terminals were dotted across the country. I'm well aware of the rundown of railfreight, its virtual elimination by 2008, but why has Ballina alone stood the test of time? What makes it any more viable? Especially compared to the likes of the Foynes, Sligo, Cork, and Galway? It is noted Ballina has (and had) major industries and MNCs and punches above its weight in that category, but its far from the only town with such?

One of the Buckjumpers survives, there are dozens of surviving 31s (which are the reengined 30s iirc?) Nothing in terms of motive power on the Midland survives!

Some wild out there speculation here...look away if that's offends.. Accurascale started off steam with a 4-6-0 in the form of a Manor. Now we've an 800 en route on the IRM side Considering the Buckjumpers and Panniers, one wonders if that will translate to an Irish tank engine? One would assume the WT would be the go-to for tank engines, but then you have the ubiquitous T2s and J26s, too. The latter I think has a very good case for itself, they were very widely travelled indeed! There's no midland bias going on at all...

The green question is a difficult one indeed. The AEC railcars received the dark green livery initially iirc before being repainted with the rest of the fleet in the mid-50s into the lighter shade. One needs look no further than various IRRS photos of the 800s to see how varied green can look. Maedbh has been in the same livery since the inception of CIE, however, the various photos of her after preservation have her green looking darker and lighter depending on the specific photo in question. For a long time I was under the impression Macha had received the light green treatment with Tailte, but apparently this is not the case. Initially I was sure the photo evidence of her in the early 60s was proof, but then I came across this.. 42, nice as she is, is not what I'm looking at. The 400 behind her, presumably laid up as a sound barrier for Inchicore, and painted in the dark green, has been thoroughly sun bleached indeed!

Sorry to hear this John, best wishes to you and the family.

Whether there's good food and booze on the train is the main thing I've heard from the average Joe. Steam specifically is probably better at attracting younger audiences and enthusiasts.

That was the Milne report of 1948, as mentioned by John. It advocated for mass standardisation of the steam fleet (and maintenance practices) down to 2-6-0 and 0-6-0 types to cover all work.