Lambeg man

Rock Street yard looking south, 1989...

You have to remember that from about 1953 the writing was on the wall and closure considered. In the years that followed the succession of reprieves tended to come at the 11th hour. So it was always a sort of "stagger on for one more year" operation.

May it be long and happy. LM

Nice idea and I for one understand your motivation Bumble Bee. However I personally have never accessed any 'social media' (Facebook, etc.) and NEVER will. The whole of so-called 'social media' is in my opinion a sea of sh*t that I would rather avoid. Is it really the case that someone in Thailand who suddenly wants to build a model of say Wexford would not 'Google' MODEL IRISH TRAINS and find this marvelous site? Dilution of resources is often not the best way forward. Polls have been carried out on this site and resources are already listed. All that said, I wish you good luck with your project. LM

Roy Beattie was NIR's first civil engineer, though he later went on to become the General Manager. In 1968 he organised the purchase of NIR's first modern PW machines, e.g. a tamper and I think some other mobile track maintenance gadget. The UTA never had anything like this. From memory 'Mac' Arnold bewails their purchase in 'NCC Saga' as the money would have been better spent on repairing steam locomotives! Moving house tomorrow so no access to books at present to give more details.

This surely is NIR No. 4 on the 1968 RPSI 'Brian Boru' Railtour. Could well be Limerick.

Apologies for late attendance to this thread and for repeating anything that has already been stated in respect of the subject. I still recall receiving a Bachman 'Mogul' in 2000, seeing the photograph on the front of the box and thinking, "Wow! The first ever proper 'Irish' model locomotive." I then opened it, examined the model and immediately realized "It's just a Southern 'N' class painted in CIE livery." I felt very disappointed given the cost. The smoke box door was the immediate giveaway. That said, it was a well intended gift and while currently modelling the UTA/NIR 1960's scene around Lisburn, I have always intended to run this locomotive with the poetic licence that it was the first RPSI engine. My model of No. 171 as built by Ivor Hughes is so pristine in finish that it can only be regarded as being in the RPSI role. I have an 'OO' works 'U' class that again is in pristine GNR livery and looks too good to daub in black as it would have been in the 1960's. Running alongside these excellent professionally produced models, all my 'hacked' and badly painted efforts look like shite. Where I am going with this? Okay, so obtain 'look alike' 1960's stock, I have for years struggled to adapt 'donors' of British Railways outline locomotives, hack them, repaint them, etc. and yet they are still not wholly accurate. While this hacking process was something I was prepared to spend the time on 20 years ago (it was even sometimes fun), things have changed now I have run through the aged 65 barrier. I personally feel time is no longer on my side, so buying something accurate 'out of the box' becomes more desirable as I get older. The mortgage is paid off so I now have more disposable income than I had 20 years ago. Facing a bill of £300 to £350 for a genuine Irish model is no longer the issue it would have been 20 years ago. Evenings spent hacking Airfix LMS carriages into something 'Irish Looking' are gone now. With the slight loss of digital dexterity that comes with age, I now turn to Silverfox who can provide much better models than I could have ever produced in the first place. What I am trying to say is that as the age demographic of our illustrious circle increases, I think so will the market for 'off the shelf' proper models. If for example a RTR 'WT' was produced next week, I could offset the cost of one by selling the pair of Hornby 2-6-4T 'Fowlers' I have sitting on the ramps awaiting 'surgery'. Please IRM, think of me and others as 'charity cases' (I can arrange a plug on Comic Relief) and do a 'WT' first........... Oh, just realized, high bunk or low bunk, now that would be the question? Na, forget the idea. Keep doing what you what you do best! P.S. It's okay, I have ordered an 'A'.

Done.

I've read that this sale of so called "serviceable locomotives" was due to a ban at the time by the Eire government on the export of scrap metal. I have no idea what the purpose of the ban was or when it was rescinded. Despite what CIE (a government owned body!) declared, it was obvious to any Californian Lawyer that the stock was purchased by the Spanish for scrap and there was never any intention of the locomotives being "refurbished". Surely the gauge issue was a giveaway?

Here it is............. It is at Greenore. Note it only has two axles. Appears to be a Brake van (Guard's compartment at the far end) with 'Drovers' (?) accommodation this end.

You're welcome Airfixfan. At £16.99 (including postage) it is steep when you consider how many of the 'Demand DVD' copies (Ian Allan reissues of the Midland Publishing originals) are available for less on E-bay!

Had just received a copy of the above. BE AWARE... There is NO new footage on this DVD. All of it (mostly taken by Harry Luff) has already been published by Tom Ferris in his series of DVD's. The commentary is poor, maps are incorrect and no opportunity has been taken to enhance the picture quality for that already published. However there may be some who have not had the chance to see the footage in the past and for anyone in that boat, be my guest......

Thanks for posting Noel. I fully concur with your analysis as to the programme content. One bit you missed to mention was Kohler's reaction on discovering that during his absence from the company all the old Hornby moulds had been thrown in a skip! The programmes were put out originally on BBC 4 some time back and not available via I-Player.

Hi Airfixfan, Do you know who the photographer was and the dates? LM

Nice photo Airfixfan.

m

Agreed Jon. I have purchased the 6-wheel heating van and the 4-wheel luggage van from SF and I am very pleased with them. They knock my efforts in that direction into a cocked hat. My abiding memory of these six-wheel heating vans goes back to around 1969. I still recall reading the weekly circular for a particular week and seeing that on the following Saturday a return CIE excursion from Dublin to Belfast (possibly a 'shoppers' excursion) was scheduled to leave GVS at 17.45, the same time as the regular Saturday's NIR local service to Lisburn. I obviously wondered how could two trains leave at the same time? So I made a point of being in GVS at 17.45 that Saturday. Sure enough both trains were ready. I recall Andy Lawlor was the local service guard and we got away at 17.45 in front of the Dublin. As we stopped at every station and halt to Lisburn, our train clearly blocked the Dublin. Getting off at Lambeg I waited to see the Dublin eventually pass. It came past at about 20 mph as the Lambeg up starter signal only cleared as it approached. Despite all this taking place on a warm summer's evening, I still recall the 141 laboring through Lambeg with nine or ten coaches and a six-wheel heating van behind the engine. I was amazed at the amount of pressure this van 'punched down' on the track as it passed. It caused more downward deflection of the track than the locomotive did. So for my 141 hauled 'Dublin Excursion Set', one of there vans was essential. The following week the operating circular set the local departure back to 17.48!

A happy New Year and thanks for posting Airfixfan. Where was this taken?

May I echo the above statement. Ciarán Cooney has done wonders with the material that would have otherwise sat in the vaults in Dublin. One of my most memorable IRRS London meetings was when Ciarán gave a presentation of IRRS photo's and finished with a demonstration of old damaged colour photographs and the results that he had "repaired". They end results were nothing sort of AMAZING! A very talented guy to whom many of us should be very grateful.

View of Foyle Road station in 1967: Photo by J.H. Cleary from Feb 1994 Railway Magazine

Brilliant stuff Ernie, many thanks for posting. Also of great use is the account of Henry's travel movements.

May I take this opportunity to post a picture of Ballynahinch, County Galway in 1990. By then of course private residences.... Also a view of the former level crossing at Ballynahinch and a nearby railway bridge still in existence in 1990.

No Shane, I wasn't asking for YOUR post to be moved! Sorry, I just copied ALL of my original post to here. The request to move was for my original post as I could not find a way to post it in "Services". Sorry again for any offence or confusion caused. As you can see I have now edited it to read what I actually meant to say! Kind Regards, LM