Irish Royalty - Park Royal Coach Next For IRM

[jhb171achill]

20 hours ago, Mayner said:

 

 

Overcrowding and dampy musty coaches seems to have been part of the course in GSR days also.

Interestingly Railway Magazine features on Irish railways during the early 1930s include reports of passengers experiencing overcrowding and being forced to use damp coaches on the Dublin Galway (& West Ireland) Day mail during the holiday peak.

Apparently the train was strengthened with coaches which had been stored on a carriage siding with their windows open and upolstory and floors had become waterlogged. Following passenger complaints a gang of porters were dispatched with mops & brooms to 'sweep out' the water on the coach floors.

This was exactly the situation. Even with windows shut they got damp and musty. 

My abiding memory of UTA and GNR loco-hauled stock is exactly the same. Sitting in carriage sidings in the open month after month, and then hastily put into traffic. 

Even if they HAD tried to pre-heat them with a steam loco or (later) genny van, half the time the steam just leaked out under them and the heating was negligible to non-existent…..

And try telling the young wans that today!

[Horsetan]

20 hours ago, Mayner said:

 

 

Overcrowding and dampy musty coaches seems to have been part of the course in GSR days also.

Interestingly Railway Magazine features on Irish railways during the early 1930s include reports of passengers experiencing overcrowding and being forced to use damp coaches on the Dublin Galway (& West Ireland) Day mail during the holiday peak.

Apparently the train was strengthened with coaches which had been stored on a carriage siding with their windows open and upolstory and floors had become waterlogged. Following passenger complaints a gang of porters were dispatched with mops & brooms to 'sweep out' the water on the coach floors.

I can sort of see why Ryanair is the way it is.

[Mol_PMB]

For sale on eBay at present, a nice 1956 image showing a suburban train at Bray, comprising 3 Park Royals and 3 older wooden-bodied bogie compartment coaches. No need for a heating van here as there's a kettle on the front. The Park Royals have the livery variant where the roof and the upper part of the end are black; this was applied to some coaches but by no means all. Some had entirely green ends, while others later had entirely black ends.

6 x 9 Railway Negative: CIE 346 at Bray, Ireland 17/06/1956 LN-510 | eBay UK

[Mol_PMB]

I just went onto the AS website to pay for my last order of Park Royals, and I noted that six SKUs are now sold out - including at least one of each livery offered. 

If you want some, best get your order in soon!

[Metrovik]

Spurred on by Mol and out of fear I might miss out I duly placed a pre-order and I was pleasantly surprised that I was entitled to discounts with the very few points I had built up. Very much appreciated AS/IRM!

[Patrick Davey]

On 26/4/2026 at 2:50 PM, Mol_PMB said:

I just went onto the AS website to pay for my last order of Park Royals, and I noted that six SKUs are now sold out - including at least one of each livery offered. 

If you want some, best get your order in soon!

Looking like 8 PRs sold out now - great to see them so popular.

EDIT: back to 6 now.......

Edited 1 hour ago by Patrick Davey

[Horsetan]

On 26/4/2026 at 2:50 PM, Mol_PMB said:

I just went onto the AS website to pay for my last order of Park Royals, and I noted that six SKUs are now sold out - including at least one of each livery offered. 

If you want some, best get your order in soon!

Just after paying the second Park Royal invoice 

[Mol_PMB]

I’m really looking forward to getting mine, still slightly frustrated we haven’t seen any recent photos of them except a closeup of a broken one. 

[Horsetan]

13 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

I’m really looking forward to getting mine, still slightly frustrated we haven’t seen any recent photos of them except a closeup of a broken one. 

Theoretically, I should have one green one, and a BnT one, coming this way. Both being the preserved vehicles.

I wonder if they'll be as challenging to convert to 21mm as the Mk2s (split 1mm pinpoint axle and insulating muff arrangement)

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

Theoretically, I should have one green one, and a BnT one, coming this way. Both being the preserved vehicles.

I wonder if they'll be as challenging to convert to 21mm as the Mk2s (split 1mm pinpoint axle and insulating muff arrangement)

We shall both have to cross that bridge!

[lucas]

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

We shall both have to cross that bridge!

Make that 3 of us 

Looking at the pictures shared earlier it does look like much the same setup as the Mk2s. Makes me wonder how difficult it would be to get a factory to run off a small batch of 21mm split axle wheelsets

[Horsetan]

6 hours ago, lucas said:

... how difficult it would be to get a factory to run off a small batch of 21mm split axle wheelsets

Longer insulating muffs would help

[Warbonnet]

22 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I’m really looking forward to getting mine, still slightly frustrated we haven’t seen any recent photos of them except a closeup of a broken one. 

Allow me to spoil you so...

 

[Mol_PMB]

Thank you!

[Warbonnet]

[Bob229]

Stunning,  the green livery reminds me of the one in Clonaklity model village carpark

[Patrick Davey]

Drool.........

[Westcorkrailway]

14 minutes ago, Bob229 said:

Stunning,  the green livery reminds me of the one in Clonaklity model village carpark

It was painted into a darker green since!

 

[Mol_PMB]

5 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

It was painted into a darker green since!

 

Like this:

 

[Patrick Davey]

I wonder how many more PRs will sell out after Fran’s reveal of the incredible photos above!

I just hope they fit alongside the platforms at Clogherhead

[Mol_PMB]

I was thinking the same. One reason I’ve held back on making platforms for my layout.

CIE themselves had to cut back some platform edges when the Park Royals were first introduced. And then some more when the first laminates entered service. 

[Patrick Davey]

That B&T livery is very striking.  It really shouldn’t work but it really does

[Mol_PMB]

1 hour ago, Patrick Davey said:

That B&T livery is very striking.  It really shouldn’t work but it really does

I'd love to find the original illustrations that went with the design consultant's report. 

[Westcorkrailway]

6 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I'd love to find the original illustrations that went with the design consultant's report. 

I heard from that There was even scale models made up to demonstrate the livery  

[Mol_PMB]

46 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

I heard from that There was even scale models made up to demonstrate the livery  

Interesting! I wonder what happened to them.
The copy of the report I found in the IRRS archives has words but no pictures or diagrams. But the words suggest that there were some accompanying illustrations at least. 

[cheesy_peas]

2 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

I heard from that There was even scale models made up to demonstrate the livery  

Maybe a Fry commission?

[Mol_PMB]

I learnt yesterday while at the Malahide Casino with JHB, that Fry and other contemporary modellers of Irish Railways were quite picky about the liveries they liked and didn't like. To be fair, I'm the same.

The Fry collection includes quite a lot of carriages in the fully lined dark green 1940s CIE livery, and a good selection of 'silver' and BnT locos and rolling stock too. But there's nothing at all in plain dark green, or the 1955-1961 light green. There's a clear preference for green livery on steam locos with several models in green that prototypically ought to have been grey. Surprisingly, there's no AEC/BUT railcar model in the Fry collection, which otherwise well represents the steam and diesel railcars. So Fry and his contemporaries had their 'Rule 1' just like we do. That's absolutely fine and I'm very grateful that he did produce the models, and record the liveries, that he did. But we need to remember that it's not a complete record.

Here are some photos of one of his GSR coaches in the elaborately lined dark green CIE livery of the 1940s, seen out in the sunshine. Also a S&S coach in the same scheme. JHB reckons the colour of the EdN lines on the S&S coach is a better representation than on the GSR coach. Note that when well lit, CIE dark green isn't as dark as you think.

 

There is no evidence that this elaborately lined dark green livery was applied to the Park Royals. But there is some evidence that the first batch of Park Royals built may have been this colour of green, with simplified lining.

 

Also, note that Fry added build dates to his models, for example the S&S coach in the last photo was built in October 1950.