minister_for_hardship

Attempted to put on decals on SSM brake van, the 30 ton brake van/vac brake lettering broke up on me repeatedly, so I've only got the lettering done acceptably on one side only. Wanted to clear laquer on the rest to seal them, had a guinea pig wagon with a decal already on it to see if that would work before proceeding, but the brake van decals started reacting to the laquer.

Henkel bubble cars.

I would expect little from the CIE Group, the Dublin Port Rally marked the 70th anniversary of CIE in 2015, plenty staff in attendance but officially a big fat nothing from the company. I think you were lucky to get a tweet off them.

Were these conversions from existing road buses or were they built as railbuses from the outset?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/trains-hit-large-animals-three-times-a-month-on-average-1.4113597 This quote from IR spokesman: .... said none of the incidents resulted in any injury to staff or passengers. While “in most instances, without being glib, the animals do tend to come off worse” reminds me of when George Stephenson was asked what would happen if one of his locomotives encountered a cow on the track: "It would be awkward for the coo."

What the devil is a "soft" opening?

ZR is Wexford according to the table here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland

Remember the days when children didn't have trampolines to keep them amused? Whatever did they do back then?

I don't see why the odd item shouldn't have no/minimal weathering applied or just the gloss toned down to represent something not long out of the paint shops.

Owned by O'Keefe Oil, Rathmore. Unsure if it's one they've had all along or something they've purchased lately as an advertising gimmick. I think it has an original Irish reg, not ZV or modern county reg.

Best I can do for now.

You may get answers here as some guys who were in the trade follow it and stick up photos. Worth a browse through the photos for inspiration. https://www.facebook.com/groups/186452771925056/

Only one C&MLR loco survived for reuse elsewhere, on the Schull & Skibbereen (ex No 6/6K "The Muskerry", renumbered 6S), another (sister loco 5/5K "Donoughmore") was supposed to go to the T&DLR section as 9T but that never happened in the end. Some goods wagons ended up on the Cavan & Leitrim, coupled together in rakes as the "hook and eye" couplings weren't compatable with "chopper" couplings, coaches were probably sold off locally and/or scrapped. Not aware any were transferred elsewhere. Edit: two open wagons went to the C&L section as their 210L, 211L in 1936 and used with ex Passage stock. Eight more C&M opens with two Clogher Valley opens arrived from the WCR section in 1957, used once for ballast work and dumped at Ballinamore until final disposal. Were to be renumbered 231L-240L in the C&L series but never carried them. A very small number of coaches survive, to this day, if you know where to look. I'm aware of a wagon somewhere else in a derelict state.

A brief spell on the Google machine found this. A camera shy location on a railway that not a lot has been published about, apart from the aforementioned Oakwood books. Photo doesn't have a source or credit, sites claiming photos of others as their own are a bugbear of mine. https://www.censusconnections.ie/muskerry-light-railway/

Cost!

Don't like the price, don't buy it. It's that simple.

Slightly ot but in light of the fact that there are "reasonable" amounts of home movies and cine film of railways here in 50s and 60s, it's a shame there's no sound film I'm aware of. We will never get to hear what lost classes of loco (or railcar) really sounded like. An rtr AEC would be a winner for me, haven't the patience, expertise or equipment for anything other than a simple wagon kit.

Not quite Indian or Indonesian, but Asia and unusual. Thai railways.

Snail on second pic is incorrect, it was convention that the upper "wings" should point towards the cab, a reversed mirror image snail should go here.

Howth has another OB, ex Aherlow Bus Service, has a large destination box and in half restored condition. Hard to tell what it once was, probably grey and red judging by the very few pics of it online. Judging by the production run, there should have been reasonable numbers on the roads here at one time in the hands of small private operators. One appeared in that awful Irish set film High Spirits with Peter O'Toole.

A recreation/reboot of the original privately run Connemara Bus which gained some fame though a popular song. This particular bus is a swimmer, ie came over in recent years from the UK, hence the modern ZV reg. I don't know if it's still operational.

Probably depended on the painter, if they were bothered filling in the gaps left by the stencil, or not as the case may have been.

The Waterford & Kilkenny did. "Even in the 1890s the passenger stock was four wheeled, of antiquated design, and regarded as among the worst in Ireland; but a few vehicles lasted a fair time, and one survived, in departmental service, until the 1960s" The Great Southern &Western Railway (McNeil/Murray)

Extending to Youghal apres the Midleton reopening was an open goal. But then we have to consider; A current government that are pro road, anti rail, in spite of making climate change noises. Lack of local interest reinstating the rail link, contrasting with Midleton. Once a greenway, always a greenway. You can't give someone a leisure facility and take it off them again and expect them to be fine with it. Anyone who has heard of Sustrans in the UK will know this. I'm not agin' greenways per se, I have cycled a few and they're perfectly fine for an alignment that will never have a snowball's chance in hell of seeing a train ever again, Westport Achill and North Kerry etc. I'm sceptical as to how "green" they are and how many cars, if any, they take off the roads.

https://www.accucraft.uk.com/products/kathleen-lady-edith-cavan-leitrim-4-4-0t/