Broithe

https://stradballyrailway.webs.com/locomotives.htm says No 15 is in Stradbally. "William Spence 0-4-0 1ft 10 gauge Tank engine No 15. The Irish Steam Preservation Societies original Steam Locomotive. It was one of 18 built to serve in the extensive 1ft 10 gauge railway in the Guinness Brewery at St James' Gate, Dublin. She was the last of the 3 strong batch to be delivered in 1895, built by William Spence of the Cork Street Foundry and Engineering Works in Dublin. She despite her size was a very powerful engine, having 2,900 lbs of Tractive effort, just under that of a Bord Na Mona Ruston and Hornsby Diesel. The Unusual Design came about because of the Failures with the previous designs of Conventional locomotives that were in Service, usually related to dirt getting into parts on the motion. The New design, the work of Dublin born Samuel Geoeghan who served in the great Doncaster Locomotive Works in England cured these faults by mounting the cylinders on top of the boiler and this eased maintenance in the small confines of the the line. These engines also worked 5ft 3in tracks with use of an adaptor wagon, called "Haulage Wagons", on a line was built between St James' Gate and Kingsbridge Station(now Heuston). They were well able for the work, being able to move 13 broad gauge wagons unassisted. They were finally displaced by Diesels in the 1950s and we received No 15 in 1966, which was steamed and mounted on blocks, acted as a Sentinel on the gate of the Rally that year. Over the next two years No 15 ran a public Service along a 50 yard stretch of track with several small trucks which also came from the Guinness Factory, one of which was preserved along with the engine in the Museum. She was replaced when No 2 became available for purchase and because she wasn't suitable for the line's tough gradients and the track played havoc with the tramway style wheels. She has remained in the Museum since, all that would be required to restore her to working order is a retube, oil to free up the cylinders and regulator gland and re-lathe the wheels. It would be possible for this locomotive being restored to a steamable condition but it would have to run on a separate line or to build a 3ft adaptor wagon, similar to what the locomotive was originaly built for but for the Narrower 3ft Stradbally gauge. There is some controversy about her true identity. Most railways identified Locomotives by their frames, where as Guinness went by the boilers. No 15 currently carries the Boiler of No 22, now preserved in the Cavan and Leitrim railway which is missing both a boiler and cylinders. Other survivers include her "Batch Sister" No 13, currently in the Tywyn Wharf Station Museum in Wales. No 17 preserved at St James' Gate along with one of the Planet diesel Replacments. And No 23, along with an Adaptor Wagon in the Brockham Museum in Surrey. No 20 currently resides in The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra, Belfast. No.15 can be viewed at Stradbally Steam Museum a short distance from the Railway Station at Stradbally. "

Have a look at the little humped spring blades at the end of the moveable rails away from the hinge. If one, or both, of them is still touching the 'disconnected' rail, then it will supply power.

Apart from the preserved version, the earlier black ones may have smaller lights than the orange ones have - not the end of the world, unless absolute authenticity is your aim, but a swap is the easy way, if it can be arranged. It's got to be worth trying.

I went to school for a year in Hereford, near the Bulmer's factory. The smell put me off cider for life.

Quite a common issue on the Big Island. Usually referred to as "staff shortages".

The Fanta brand name has an interesting history. It was conceived as an alternative to Coca Cola when US sanctions against Nazi Germany caused supply difficulties.

More than one controller?

These things happen all the time - often a problem of inheriting structures from a time before national standardisation. The French spent a lot of time grinding bits off platform edges about a decade ago. - and there are platforms at Clapham Junction that aren't used for passengers, as the gap is felt to be too wide for people to be expected to mind...

Absolutely! The staff on the ground are excellent, in general. Those in the ivory towers are less than ideal, I suspect. This is often the case with the ex-public services.

I have a great dislike of the fact that they retain the name, in the pretence of being a public service, as so many of the other privatised fiascos do.

'Royal' Mail is a commercial service, in the sense that it was privatised a decade ago. The UK government did retain a minority shareholding for a while, but I believe that they sold those entirely around 2015. It retains the use of the brand, although its real name is International Distribution Services plc.

The landing of Lady Agnes on a less-then-perfect runway, to go into retirement at the Museum in Stolin, takes some beating.

Whilst the two chauffeurs up front in a Vulcan had ejection seats, the three in the back didn't and were supposed to calmly exit via the hatch, in the traditional manner. Even in the early days, when high flying was still the norm, this was not easy and, when low-level, ground-following flights became the norm, it was basically impossible. Even if you did get out in time, the ground would not be very far away. There was an attempt at creating an ejection system for the back three. The centre seat would be fired first, then the outer two would be pulled, in sequence, to the central position, and then fired out. This test rig was built, but I doubt it got any further than that and was unlikely to have ever been fitted to an aircraft.

I've seen it before. Once when looking for a replacement door mirror glass. Initially both left-hand and right-hand ones were the same price, about a tenner. Then the left-hand one suddenly went up by a hundred quid. I asked the vendor if this was a mistake - No, that was the last left-handed one, and somebody might be desperate...

Mine are the ones for posh people.

The hinge issue had started before I 'inherited' them and I can live with it. If you look closely at the top picture above, you can see that one of the cable hooks (I presume?) has been knocked off (on the nearest trestle), but that is no issue at all.

Those Stanley plastic trestles are great things. I got a pair of the wider variety, from clearing out a friend's father's garage. They've turned out to be far more useful than I expected. Being plastic, they're much happier outside for extended periods than wooden or steel ones would be and the notches are very handy for an 'open table' set-up for sawing. Also, the slight gap at the top was a handy 'vice' for a job where I was using a lot of aluminium angle. The only issue I've had is that one of the centre hinges at the bottom is a little dodgy and opening that trestle requires a bit of care to avoid breaking things which have been bent, but won't stay back in the right place unless assisted.

A point to bear in mind, possibly - I've been 'watching' an item (not model or railway related) that I might get around to obtaining at some point. It was a 'Buy It Now' for £27:89. He's down to the last few and has nudged the price up to £127:89, possibly in the hope that the last few are snapped up by people who might not notice the 1..?

When Ford supplied Regan's iconic Consul for use in The Sweeney, there was an understanding that Transits would be the only Ford vehicles that were used by villains.

This has reminded me that I am putting great efforts into getting people to try this tactic for reducing fly activities. https://www.farmersjournal.ie/cows-painted-with-zebra-stripes-repel-flies-research-744389#: