minister_for_hardship

Looking across the pond at Tornado and other projects (Hengist/GER 4-4-0/Beachy Head/Patriot/P2 etc) I wonder is there an appetite for a replica??

800 getting the chop would have been a shameful loss. Not the most practical loco in terms of ever getting it to run again but still... Pity no MGWR representative survived the purge, or even something like an ex GSWR 4-6-0 which could have been very useful to the RPSI, or a Bandon tank for a handy Maynooth run.

If that is 800, looks like scrapping was about to happen but was stopped in time. Name and numberplates removed obviously but the cab windows appear to have been taken off as well. I assume it was contractors that scrapped the locos, with the sheer volume of withdrawals CIE gangs couldn't possibly manage all that?

I think that was the one where under certain firebox conditions with the milled peat, a mini explosion could occur. Its regular crew in time could engineer these minor bangs to get rid of unwanted footplate guests.

The rest of the scanned online collection of Colm Creedon's scrapbooks can be viewed here... http://www2.corkcoco.ie/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1391429S67J2P.44415&profile=hip&uri=link=3100009~!290032~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=basic_search&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!horizon&term=Colm+Creedon+collection&index=SERIES

Tidbits of info here... http://www.corkcoco.ie/photographs/ColmCreedonCollection/Cork&YoughalRailwayAlbum.pdf

One local had uncovered rails, red bricks and pieces of masonry (granite I think) over the years from the trackbed. He reckons there's a lot more rails still down there that were never lifted, just covered in earth and debris. There doesn't seem to be any extant station building on the osimapviewer c.1900 map, but the rails can be clearly seen. Was connected up until 1927 or so iirc.

In Cork itself, a Queen Anne house was gutted, a hole cut in the wall and some sort of glass box effort bodged onto the side in a 'sensitive redevelopment'. It is now a Starbucks. Many Celtic Tiger era redevelopments were more drastic, just the façade of the old building was all that was retained. An art deco era tiled shopfront was painted over in the Superdry outlet, formerly the Moderne, contrary to planning regulations, which surprisingly raised a lot of public ire and the paint was eventually stripped off revealing the tiles once more.

A fragment of the old Penrose Quay station building survives, now boarded up. The building to the LHS of the tunnel portal also dates from that time.

It was in a bad state of decay so I hear. Now if this was anywhere else, there would be at least an effort at reusing some of it, replicating the rest and repurposing it, but this being Ireland we will have a great big newly bricked up void and modern ugliness in a Victorian era building. We seem to opt for the 'Yellow Pack' method of renovation/rebuilding when dealing with old buildings.

I have it on good authority that it is the disused one on Plat 5 that is planned for demolition, not the one at the eastern end.

They will go to town on commemorating centenaries leading up to the Truce. Will be interesting to see how they will treat the War that dare not mention its name.

"Preservation" Irish-style. Might meet the cutters torch yet, nothing stopping anyone torching them.

Saw a rock-fall on floor of Goggin's Hill last time and it looked recent. Think it may have been part of the above-ground air shaft that had fallen in. It hasn't been looked at or maintained since it closed so exercise care.

Doesn't stop them re-imagining the past. I very much doubt many that indulge in say, WW2 military modelling were knocking around back then. The present scene doesn't inspire me either. Neatly demarked car parks, soulless modern buildings and structures made as ugly as possible with indiscriminate use of galvanised steel barriers and palisade fencing. Little or no activity between trains to speak of.

An Post did have R4's in green briefly. Logo seems to be a bit smaller in reality.

The last run of the Dublin city trams was accompanied by crowds 'celebrating' their passing by breaking windows and ripping off parts of the tramcar as souvenirs. Gardai had to be called in.

As Irish as Hirohito.

Anyone not aware of the campaign might think there's been an outbreak of petty vandalism.

Not having a working layout is like having stuffed animals on display in Dublin Zoo, or being offered a pint of lemonade in the Guinness Storehouse. It seems nothing can be done in this country without stuffing it up.

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The 'silver' is just the silvery-grey colour of the alloy it is cast out of. A contact of mine showed me one he got recently. I'm assuming they only got a coat of paint when the whole loco got painted, this snatcher might have come out of stores to replace a faulty or damaged one.

Simply awful. Ballymun part deux.

Brightly coloured houses are a recent thing, the local co-op/hardware store back in the day would have a limited palette of masonry paints and whitewash would be far cheaper anyway. Business premises might go with colored paints, but nothing as garish as today's shades. Doors might be picked out in brighter gloss paints and window frames would have been white or brown perhaps. Old coloured postcards of streetscapes would be a good guide. Owners of whitewashed thatched cottages tended to paint the doors and windows in bright reds, blues and greens.

The semaphores in Cork are operational, not ornamental, but living on borrowed time. Clonakilty is nicely set up, but could have been done better. The stock doesn't resemble anything that ran on the West Cork or Ireland for that matter. Wouldn't be too much of an ask to have someone build a Bandon tank and some genuine stock. It's fine for childrens' parties and that's about it - as an interpretation on what the West Cork was like before it closed...forget it. Tralee - Blennerville is closed for maybe 10 or 15 years now, and the way it's looking I don't see anything happening here, despite the exhortations that had been made online a few months back. I think Ballydehob and those places along the S&S missed a trick without making reference to the railway anywhere. If it wasn't for the viaduct you could be forgiven for thinking that this part of the SW was never served by rail.