mfjoc

Air brake pipes were added in the mid eighties to allow them to work with the 60' air braked bogie flat wagons. It meant that the sundries and night mail trains could be combined

I really want to support IRM hence have bought the ballast wagon and the bubbles. Will definitely buy the CIE ploughs. Will be buying fert's, flats and anything else that comes along as long as it was around pre 1990. Will wait for the blue Tara's. I am not overly worried about paint colour as 90% of wagons should be heavily weathered to be in any way accurate. The principle cause of the weathering in the pre graffiti era was dust from the cast iron break shoes. My memory of the Tara's is that if one or two wagons in the train was blue, that was it. Hence the reason that Inchicore decide to paint everything brown in the mid eighties. The only wagons that were kept in any way clean were the ammonia's. Even these got very dirty, but because of the inspection regime, they were washed at regular intervals.

I mean the lid I think it was mentioned that IRM are planning to do a blue tar with the older style lid

I am an early to mid 80s' man up to Mk 3 era so am really interested. Haven't ordered yet as was waiting to decide what to do so I will definitely buy 2 plough in CIE finish. Likewise with the Tara's I have held off. Not so much by the colour but by the roof. Any pointers?

I seem to remember that the two middle bays had a wooden cross member fitted across to stop anyone loading a second level of pallets in those bays.

According to the Bible (aka IIRS journal) 1518 was converted to a snack car by October 1986 so it could have appeared with a single stripe.

I am not 100% sure but I think 1149 and 1150 were converted to super standard sometime in the 1970's to run on the enterprise as CIE wouldn't risk a mk2 set north of the border. Also I seem to remember 1508 and 1509 were converted sometime between1988 to 1989. This was due to the withdrawal of all timber frame stock following the introduction of the mk. 3s

By the mid eighties there were many surplus 12' wheelbase 20' container flats with floors in the 60's/70's that were only suitable for carrying 8' high containers. Some had even been built with oil bearings. The 8'6" high container was almost universal at that stage. The 22'9 skeletal flat was built the carry 20' x 8'6" containers. The wagon underframes were overhauled in Limerick wagon works and the bodies made from two old Bullied wagon bodies assembled by a private contractor in Limerick Junction loco shed.

Are the cements going to be orange or the later off white colour?

The gypsum hopper 26666 to 26694 were built in 1972 on the then standard 20' underframe with 12' wheelbase. this is obvious from the photograph on page 85 of 26686 in the 1979 edition of Doyle and Hirsch. I am pretty sure that the bodies were built by Parsons in Howth. The 9'6" wheelbase in the text is a typo. I have a copy of the 1972 wagon stock register which refers to diagram number 441 which is the GA of the 1954 built 16' long 9'6" wheelbase wagons 23963-23966. This is probably where the confusion arose. I am pretty sure that 26666-26694 were actually built to diagram number 468 which is what both the dolomite and the CCE hoppers were built to from 1969 to 1977. Gypsum when it got wet was quite corrosive and the hopper bodies had to be extensively repaired or replaced over the years. Also although 23963-23966 are noted to be scrapped by 1972 they were transferred to the CCE and probably lasted a lot longer. I have an undated copy of a Herbert Richards photo of 23963 with PWD painted on the body.

Have ordered three sets but think the train might be a bit short Very tempted to order another set

First post! I have been lurking on this site since the start but never bothered to join as up until now I have only been an armchair modeller of the Irish scene. My plan is to model the late 70's early 80's (supertrain era). That's what's so exciting about this model and the cement bubble to follow. The same basic 20' underframe was used on practically every four wheel wagon built by CIE from the mid 60's on. The main exception being the 22'9 container flat which was built to carry 8'6" high containers. Are there any plans to sell the underframe on its own?