minister_for_hardship

Not a joke as such, more a funny story. Back in the day at Limerick Junction there used be staff dorms, this one was an awful rat-infested kip with a reputation for being haunted. Apparantly, one night a staff member supposed to be booked in there for the night, ran up to that station and swore he wouldn't stay the night at any cost. Said he'd looked in the window and saw the Devil, Old Nick himself....poking the fires of Hell with his pr*ck. Apparantly, there was a driver already in residence, who happened to have a goatee beard and a penchant for sleeping in the nip, had gotten out of bed to poke the fire.

Most likely this, painted green. http://www.shunters-junction.com/Pictures/Stamford%20collection/Stamford%20Coaches/Sta238.jpg Not sure about the white line running under the lower Eau De Nil band, did they have that in real life?

The closest font I've come across that suits GSR/CIE bilingual signage http://www.gaelchlo.com/bungc.html Download the font file, unzip it, bung it into the folder that stores your Word fonts and type away.

Looking at pics, the enamel advertising signs seemed to vanish from stations after the Emergency/WW2 for some reason, but remained on shops and other places for years afterwards. Tipperary had small 'Mazawatte Tea' signs, Foynes and Ballingrane had big 'Paddy' ones with the Whiskey bottle, Strabane had 'Virol'. BOVRIL was a popular one, got a huge one from my local station that was nailed up to block a hole in a shed after it was taken down. One that was hanging around loose for a bit had 'Prescotts Dye Works' but that got thrown away. There was a white/blue one that escaped for a long time at Mallow as it was so high up at the former freight yard approaches and covered with ivy with something about artificial manures (maybe Gouldings?) up to 15 years ago. BR did distribute some posters to Irish Stations, seen a one with a hotdog logo advertising rail/ferry services to/from Ireland dated early sixties. Some poster boards did carry 'LMS' lettering and spotted a big posterboard with 'GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY' (painted over but the letters could still be made out) at Kilkenny well before it was redeveloped.

What in the name of Jaysus was that? A Crampton?

That's the old logo. Great Southern Railway in 'Stralia has been rebranded to Great Southern Rail now!

Rather bizarrely, in a number of locations, eg Mallow/Cobh/Killarney the fairly new White/Orange/Black IE signage was replaced with signage with dark blue background and white lettering. I can understand a move away from the orange/black but this scheme doesn't really match anything. Hard to spot from a moving train in darkness/poor light as well.

An IR-era tubular steel nameboard, can't be many of those left now!

CCTV would have been unknown in rural locations 10-15 years ago, they're everywhere now. They're also seen mounted on poles monitoring level crossings. I've seen white plastic CCTV cameras, usually fixed to buildings or on a pole, that swivel around, probably with a motion sensor. Open to correction but the P&T poles with the monkey-load of wires would be disused with +20 years, but remained in place for a while before arbitrary removal. I'd say they're all cut down by now, sometimes the lads just chop them down and leave them there rather than carting them away.

Word.

Recently saw what appeared to be an early GA drawing of a 121 with what looked like 2 little apertures at the top rhs and top lhs of the nose. Looked like they were intended for Yankee style 'road numbers'.

Ah, I knew I wasn't doting....

Makes a refreshing change from the 'death of steam/early diesel' layout.

And ITL had a truely dire theme tune. I don't know how the late Ronny Drew kept a straight face singing that. I'll catch the new show on RTE Player, but I'll not expect miracles.

There's a kit for the MGWR 'E' already, but GSWR No 90 on a Terrier chassis maybe??

Cork City to Passage West (Cork City) Pretty much unchanged, some info display boards around Monkstown/Passage now and exercise machines around Rochestown. Nothing at all to indicate the start of the trail at the Cork end. Carrigaline - Crosshaven has been developed as a proper trail since (I think) Waterfall to Bandon (West Cork) One end of Gogginshill tunnel blocked off with site type fencing, presumably by landowner. Loo Bridge to Morley's Bridge (South Kerry) Loo Bridge now restored as private house after years of dereliction after previous life as a hostel. Glenbeigh to Valentia Harbour (Iveragh Peninsula) Girder bridge at Cahirciveen now fenced off at the town side at least, it was dicey to walk across anyway. Lower Camp to Glenagalt Summit (Dingle Peninsula) Kerry Co Council to develop a bike/walk trail along Dingle road, not on the T&DLR formation though. Tralee to Fenit now being cleared by Kerry Co. Co. as a new trail.

I grown to like the blue, but the lower panel lining with 19th cent scalloped corners doesn't suit a 1960's design IMO.

The uk has more, a lot more, greater population density of scobes. The Middleton seems to have stuff nicked, vandal attacks and break-ins on a nearly monthly basis. I don't know why they don't just call it a day and move.

Esp. over one of Hornby's fuglier creations. Ugh.

1:1 scale bridge portal for sale. http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/buildingmaterials/4118810

The round discs are very much a rarity now. They tended to be enamelled (like an old enamel sign) rather than alum. sheet like the square discs(!) so prob some old ones were still hanging around in stores. I know of ex BR stuff that was used over here, like a LNER marked signal lamp being used in an Irish lamp shed. Round disc may be BR(W), there's a blue tinge to the green glass you don't usually see here.

'Are you a train spotter?' *sigh* It's like saying "Are you a badge-wearing, number-taking, camera toting, anorak clad freak with no mates?"

To get around this, ebay lets you put in alternative addresses. If you have a mate in the uk, use his/her address (with permission!) and make it the 'primary' mailing address. Arrange to get the person to post it onto you or pick it up when visiting. Just make sure to put your primary address back to Irl when you go bidding on other things. Alternatively, contact the seller well ahead of end and they may change the postage settings if you ask nicely. Be warned, I had a Q kits 'A' and it was as rough as a badger's ar*e.

Tell them, "lads, it's a waste of time"...and..."Buy GM" as a parting shot.

I did hear of one Cork-based enthusiast offering to buy a Bandon Tank off CIE but it got scrapped anyway. The W&TR Fairbairn was a great loss, seen pics post-derailment just a dome knocked off and minor-ish damage. Didn't seem justified to scrap it, the GSR were said to be toying with the idea of preserving it.