minister_for_hardship

There's a greenway 'mania' right, fair enough some alignments will never ever open again either as a commercial or a preserved line (case in point, the North Kerry GST started out as a preservation group until road improvements chopped it in two) so it would be preferable that a disused line that has no hope of opening again have some afterlife and be of some use to the community rather than having big trees growing up through it. Having said that some of these groups seem to be losing the run of themselves.

Maybe the lawmakers think a drone is some sort of bee? There has been some impressive footage of urban areas that fell foul of the aviation authority, a strongly worded letter was the only outcome.

The Civil War put paid to the overall roof. http://cdn1.independent.ie/migration_catalog/article28981919.ece/dfa41/ALTERNATES/w620/47e3c1af-0961-4a51-bb31-da4267cf0bbe.jpg It once had a fine display of GSR bi-lingual signs for station facilities that all disappeared in the 1990s.

It might be considered by some a waste of film taking pics of mundane tasks and dirty locations. Plus some of these tasks may be carried out very early in the morning when it was too dark, or when photographers were still in bed?! Inchicore had the only mechanical coal stage on the CIE system afaik. I know at interchange/break of gauge places like Dromod, manually shovelling from one set of open wagons into another was commonplace. Wouldn't fancy that.

The deeper toned of the two whistles sounded when the emergency cord was pulled. Older coaching stock still retained the brackets that once held that cord. Think the GWR had something similar (EDIT just spotted, used them for braking instructions and other purposes), other railways in early days had a gong on the tender which rang when the cord was pulled.

Leafing though photos of GS&WR locos, wondered why the express locos in particular got a pair of lamp irons on the smokebox door. Some carried them into early GSR days, before being removed or the doors were replaced. Never seen any pics of them having a headboard or even lamps on them. What was the purpose? Some long forgotten and short-lived headlamp code? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-unHigzNWtHU/VG3CRijsBlI/AAAAAAAADho/YZiSHinoig8/s1600/Killarney%2BExpress%2BGSWR%2BLoco%2BPublishing%2BCo.%2Bpc.JPG The singleton "Sir William Goulding" got them too... http://www.maunsell.org.uk/newsletter/newsletter%20images/13line_drg.gif

Interesting to note what appears to be a Fordson tractor as a load in an open wagon as opposed to the expected flat. Would imagine flat wagons wouldn't be especially plentiful, probably they just needed to check if there was a crane of the right capacity at its destination to unload it.

Distress? Panic-stricken more like.

Maybe just one or two to brighten up things, rather than masses upon masses of varying shades of grey! Not quite PO, but the GNRI and GS&W did bright yellow(?) butter wagons, imagine they got the grey treatment eventually.

Very hard to find pics of the Ranks wagons, only ever seen pic of one with Ranks lettering still on it. There was a pic of the Denny container in a recent IRRS journal when new or nearly new. Looks well, red and white and Denny lettering in black. http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6190&d=1362575085 http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=443&d=1336039221

The Murphy Bros wagon did exist, have seen a builder's photo of one in New Irish Lines a good while back. Never seen one elsewhere though, so must have been either very short-lived and bought out by the GSR or whoever and painted grey like the rest or become so filthy and neglected that the wording couldn't be seen. The Kilkenny Coal Co, like most of Hornby's Irish interpretations, are pure fiction. The only other bona fide PO wagons from days of yore that I can think of off-hand are Ranks grain wagons, Mex/Irish Shell etc. oil tank wagons, Lyons Tea and Denny's containers. Think there were Guinness wagons, not a lot it would seem, there's a pic of one in Achill in the 1890's/1900's in Rails to Achill by what's his name and I *think* the RPSI had a bogie version?

Maybe add in the waves of closures in the 1960s and major incidents? eg Buttevant. Here's a useful page: http://www.irrs.ie/Common%20Files/CIE.htm

Most likely in storage with the rest of the collection.

True. World and his mother know all about it now. Add to that the sterling rate and Irish based sellers flogging stuff in sterling as main currency rather than Euro. Sneaky humongous postage charges for quite small things etc.

So would they look more 'scrunched up', like Hornby's interpretation of a 4 wheeler? (which I assume is freelance) http://www.intertrains.com/userfiles/Hornby%20GWR%204%20wheel%20coach.jpg

Just passenger coaches. Like this example: http://79.170.44.87/roxeymouldings.co.uk/assets/images/products/P1010091.jpg

Just wondering.... know that the Tramore had some positively antique rolling stock well into GSR days and the Waterford & Central Ireland had a lot of 4 wheelers, the W&CIR were reputed to have the worst passenger stock in the country, but how long did they last until? (Not counting 4 wl heating vans or Schull & Skibb ng stock here)

The plot thickens...

Yes, and there's a modern pallet wedged under them.

Most mining gauges are on the smaller end of the scale, maybe something to take some sort of rolling gantry or trolley?

IIRC most of it was bridge section rail, spiked onto longitudinal baulks. Towards the end it looks like they went for something more modern; bullhead rail, cross ties and chairs. The galv bolts look modern-ish.

Was anything marked on the chairs? Maybe leftovers from a broad gauge new build/replica project? Chairs are very close to the sleeper ends. Thought maybe some BG sleepers might have survived incorporated into buildings or holding up signs and things, but not out in the open with chairs still bolted to them? http://www.broadgauge.co.uk/library/images/locations/torquay_station/torquay_station_01_large.jpg

The tank locos used on the Kenmare branch on opening, which had quite a few tight curves, were equipped with water pipes that sprayed water onto the wheels. Don't know how long this arrangement lasted though.

"A typical (BR) ham sandwich would contain one slice of ham with another slice folded in half and placed diagonally over the first one. When the sandwich was cut diagonally it would make it appear that it contained three slices of ham when in reality it only contained two."

Hope they were nicer than the fabled British Rail sandwich. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1413962/Revealed-the-secrets-of-a-British-Rail-sandwich.html