minister_for_hardship

Quite big, yes. Maybe the kit could be sliced up to construct 2 more modest cabins?

Perhaps if there was no dedicated loading bank and there was only very occasional traffic, they would use any old platform even the passenger one, in pre- H&S days?

Don't think I've seen ground floor windows quite that large in an Irish cabin. Other than that it wouldn't look totally out of place.

Those posters I believe were printed en masse as 'blanks' with EXCURSION TO... and with loco at the bottom and the rest printed on in small batches for upcoming excursions or filled in by hand with pencil by station staff. Had found some torn blank posters with the A class many years ago.

An unidentified 800 class negotiating flooding, on the Kerry Road....

Typical CIE poster with 800 class, replaced by an image of A3 and train in similar style in later years. 800 class (top LH corner) travelling through a surreal landscape. Oddly, I've never seen a GSR poster or other publicity material singing the praises of the 800s, GSR posters were nearly always letterpress, landscapes or a few which could be described as 'ethnographic' in nature.

I have a good idea where to look, think it appeared on 'Nuacht' at one stage. The 400's/500's and Woolwiches did a lot of Radio Train haulage. The 800's were the 'pin-up girls' in steam era advertising, even for Tramore or West Cork excursions! Also, they printed the locos arseways, if you see any have a close look...smokebox doors are hinged t'other way round. Saw a CIE handbill once that had an LMS Jubilee(!) I kid you not, masquerading as a CIE Radio Train loco.

There's a pic floating around with all three 800's together in one place (Cork iirc) with these headboards and flags in place. Could find it with a little rummaging... Did an 800 ever do Radio Train duty? Saw an advertising poster which suggested they did, but may be a flight of fancy by the artist.

Avocado bathroom suites...ugh! Maybe coloured suites may have some kitsch value now? Barbie pink anyone?

The CIE red/cream scheme of the early 60's was quite pleasing, West Cork stations were famously freshly painted red/cream shortly before final closure.

The acres upon acres of grey plastered all over CIE stations in the 70's/80's was quite depressing!

Can any of the savants tell me what this could be? Grounded in Drimoleague. Quite small, pre-GSR perhaps?

There was a convincing uk might have been fictional layout in RM a few years ago, can't recall where it was meant to be...but various people approached the builder when on exhibition 'remembering' having had caught a train there or having passed through by train!

Think they're banned now. No wonder the old folk years ago were all bronchitis with those things and open fires and bad chimneys.

Maybe a case of people modelling what they remember nostalgically, all those who modelled pre Grouping in the 70s are by and large no longer with us and the Big Four era is slipping out of living memory.

Curiously, those fantasy paint and assemble yourself Warhammer things are quite popular. Rather ugly brutes but I suppose they are your modern day equivalent of lead soldiers. I see the stores have areas where kids can come in and do their own work on tables provided, quite a good idea.

The Downton Abbey set was underwhelming, to say the least. I guess a certain amount of the downturn can be attributed to changing tastes, but in all seriousness offering a set like that.

It's like buying a brand new motor with a Model T engine under the bonnet...

Really? For a premium loco released in the 2010s that's just beyond belief. I don't mind a 'budget' range, but having a decent motor rather than something found in a lucky bag.

The starter sets of 30 years ago are pretty identical to starter sets now. A tiny primitive 0-4-0 loco that whizzes around faster than an A4 and stalls on points. This is Christmas cracker contents stuff nowadays.

Would it be the flats of the MGWR Bretland track laying yoke and an old steam loco cab stuck on? http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000148456 (similar flats under the gantry at Mullingar) The tank could be 2 or 3 tankers joined end to end?

No, grey is still not doing it for me, wartime and austerity and the late GSR plastering most everything in grey come to mind. And removing the front handrails is like shaving someone's eyebrows off.

The Thais - a great bunch of lads.

Had noticed on a display board outside Bangkok main railway station that railways in Thailand, or rather Siam back in the day, started off as standard gauge but were regauged to metre gauge. A visit to the site of the "real" Bridge on the River Kwai is a must for those of an enthusiast persuasion, a few Glasgow-built steam locos, loco and truck/railcar of Japanese origin (a reminder of WW2) and a Garratt were on display. There's a small well-hidden railway museum in Bangkok itself. And at Bangkok Noi there's a depot (with a few steam locos in residence for runs up to Kanchanaburi). Thai rail staff don't have a problem with giving foreign devils permission to have a wander around. Not much H & S in evidence.