patrick

Sad news. I always got great service from them and their postage rates to the US were unbeatable.

My money is on a 30 ton van.

Any plans to do the grain hopper again John?

I appreciate everyone who is trying to sort this issue out. I am extremely bad at tech issues and the best I can offer is that I'm using a Samsung android phone to record and post the videos. Maybe there is something I can do at this end to help.

A42 leads a beet special passing Kelly's Cross in the setting sun December 1965. 20231224_221258.mp4

A42 shunts Kielys cross beet siding as the sun starts to set on Christmas eve 1965. The train will continue to Youghal where it will pick up more loads before continuing on to Cork, arriving hopefully before closing time! Wishing all forum members and their loved ones a happy Christmas.

A42 with a beet special to Youghal takes the loop at Grange to wait for the midday passenger train from Cork. 20231213_172924.mp4

Crossley power on the South Waterford Line. A42 leads an empty beet special through Grange and meets A55 shunting the pick up goods at Glen More, 20231212_165834.mp4

Thanks John. The interior looks grey in the O'Dea photo.

Thanks guys for all that great information. I believe I will go with the paint scheme shown in the O'Dea photo.

The latest addition to the fleet is this Provincial Wagons GN brake van. After the dissolution of the GN in 1958 CIE acquired several of these vans. They didn't last long on CIE however I recall seeing one arrive in Tralee on an afternoon goods about 1966. I plan to run it occasionally during mid sixties operating sessions on the South Waterford Line. Does anyone know if any of these vans were repainted by CIE or if they retained their GN lettering till the end?

It seems that there was no shortage of auto traffic on the Midland in the mid sixties.

CIE also built flat wagons using the triangulated underframe . Provincial Wagons did a kit.

A steam heating van maybe?

Special train of empty wagons bound for Waterford passes a goods train shunting in Glen More. 20231030_131929.mp4

I don't know if some were built with the heavier buffers or later upgraded but both types were in service together into the seventies.

The beet campaign is in full swing on the South Waterford Line and A55 leads a train of empty wagons to Glenn More for loading on a cold October morning in 1967. 20231029_113505.mp4

Just wondering if a 30T brake van is in the pipeline.

Aren't these announcements generally made at the Dublon show?

I received my copy this past week and am very pleased with it. I wouldn't normally spend so much on a book but having grown up in Tralee in the sixties and seventies and having explored what remained of the route over the years I felt I needed to own a copy. The book is of very high quality an is the last word on the line. At 325 pages, that's eight and a half pages per mile which must make it one of the most comprehensive book on any railway in existence!

Ah, the escapism of a model railway. From time to time I hear Maureen's voice at the top of the stairs telling me how late it is and suggesting I get to bed! Love the sand loading facility. It reminds me of the various gypsum loading facilities that existed at Kingsport over the years.

Track work on the curve outside Grange. There were two bad rail joints on curves on the main line. Put it down to my inexperienced laying flex track on insulation foam when I started the layout. These areas were prone to occasional derailment especially when trains were propelled around them. Today I finally got around to fixing it. Here East of Grange a section of track was replaced to fix the problem.

A goods train approaches Glen More in 1972.

Last weekend Maureen and I traveled to Stratford Ontario for the annual Shakespeare Festival. While there we saw Spamalot, Dark Magic and King Lear, all wonderful productions. I also got to check out the railroad activity. Stratford is served by the Canadian National RR which runs a daily freight daily in each direction and two Via Rail trains each way between Sarnia and Toronto. It is also the interchanged point for the Goderich Exeter Railway whose main business is hauling salt from a mine at Goderich and grain from online elevators. On Saturday we caught the Toronto bound Via train and a Goderich Exeter GP15 at Stratford, the Goderich bound train having already left. Monday morning we caught the Goderich power, two GP's in the yard. It was a great weekend getaway which we hope to do again next year.

1971 on the South Waterford Line. 20230825_175030.mp4 1974 on the South Waterford Line. 20230825_183722.mp4