minister_for_hardship

If it looks too good to be true, it usually is. Fair amount of car boot sale grade rubbish in that same auction.

Likewise. Bank account breathes sigh of relief.

It did, two large esso ovals , 1 per side that were removed subsequently. You can see the oval shaped set of anchor points that held them on in later photos before those too were removed.

I dislike the freedom of choice being curtailed. That and the postage situation of delays, bureaucratic bumbling, expensive postage/Revenue shakedowns, that this is happening in the 21st century and it's kind of normalised now is wild. Everything's HO in EU zone, architectural bits and bobs, loco and rolling stock elements pretty much completely different, road vehicles are of continental outline. It's yet another unintended consequence pain in the face.

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Sadly, you could write that about the present day and it would be equally true.

"This isn't a ballast wagon, it's a 'ballast van'. The presence of two of these in the working timetable listings for the 1975-1986 period had been puzzling me - why on earth would they use a van for ballast? Well the answer is that they were vans for people to shovel the ballast. 24803 and 24804 are listed in the 1985 WTT and here is the first of them, a 6-wheeler that looks purpose-built as a PWD mess van:" That wouldn't look out of place in Germany, very Continental looking design.

I guess by the 30s-50s it was probably seen as just another antique loco they had to work with, old pre GSR company brand loyalty having dissolved somewhat.

The railways would have generated tons of the stuff; accident report forms, luggage labels, returns of stock held at stations (everything from shunting poles to pen nibs), handbills, etc etc. There was a specialist collecting group called the Railway Print Society, unfortunately it folded a few years back.

Real, most paperwork is of relatively low value, bar say the likes of posters. Not worthwhile faking.

Interestingly, one of the old buildings has the Masonic compass and square symbol carved into a keystone.

Another auction room favourite. The worthless Indian made 'vintage" candle lamps, never used on a real railway.

The real deal, looks nothing like the one pictured above.

They are up against some stiff competition: 1st gen Sulzer Sci-fi B movie props, Morton's extended loco smokebox tumours, Guinness' Hudswell Clarke diesel/chelsea boot on wheels, Listowel & Ballybunion freak shows.

Sorry, no deal.

The GS&WR ones were long ago melted down, but the ones carried at Fermoy and Mallow may be in an attic perhaps...

"Sage green" is defined as a grey-green. Could be any shade, so not a very helpful description.

I realise a lot of research went into the Downpatrick rebuild of 90, but the current numberplate appears almost square in comparison to the oblong one carried at Mallow and that presumably carried first day?

I've been entertaining myself with photos of weird wagons on the IRRS Flickr pages, unfortunately can't reproduce here for copyright reasons. GSR open with a timber turf creel and GS&WR open with some sort of an extension of netting. CIE snail branded 6 wheel brake van but built on an old loco tender chassis. MGWR, always with an eye for a bargain, Spanish steel opens with brakemans shelters and "Norte" (Northern Railway of Spain) axlebox covers. Gas wagons but with CIE broken wheel logos, why were these retained so late in the day?? Fascinating how far some wagons wandered from their parent systems, 6 wheel ex CBSCR closed wagon at Liffey jct etc.

Spotted a very clean palvan on IRRS Flickr with a snail on upper right part of the sliding door, probably a very early one and only worn for a matter of months I'd imagine.

I shouldn't worry about that much. I haven't got access to my books here but after a bit of googling, found an image of 2 x 6 wheelers and bogie stock and there's a significant height difference between the two.

Crowbar, rope, saw, axe I believe were carried for emergencies. A hatchet would pretty useless. These things would be recorded and invariably be marked with company initials to deter theft. The auction lot hatchet blade, looking closely, is marked 'GNRI' but could be easily faked with letter punches.

How is it a "railway" hatchet? I'm convinced auctioneers are just calling random objects "railway" to make them more saleable.

The crews on the RPSI look like the Lyons Tea Minstrels after a spell of tender first running.

Note weasel words "vintage style", "antique style", auctioneer code for "fake".