Irish Royalty - Park Royal Coach Next For IRM

[cheesy_peas]

On 30/7/2026 at 3:09 PM, Colin_McLeod said:

LOL

I think it strange that CIE painted its trains black and tan while the UTA painted theirs green.  Surely that's the wrong way round!

CIE had been just short of 3 decades of everything from rolling stock to road vehicles to premises being plastered in varying shades of green, I imagine "green fatigue" had set in and went about seeking a new look.

[Mol_PMB]

CIE had only been in existence for 16 years when the ‘black and tan’ livery was introduced in autumn 1961. 
For the first couple of those years most stock would still have been in GSR livery. 
And for new locos and rolling stock there was a ‘silver’ period in the late 1950s. 

[jhb171achill]

From first to last known examples:

Buses - 1945-67-ish

The (very small minority of) steam engines which weren’t grey (or black) - 1946-62

Diesels - while many started off silver in the mid-50s, the B113 & D classes were always green - 1945-approx 1963/4. 

Carriages - 1945-late 60s. I’ve seen pics of stock still green in ‘67. 

Road freight - as buses. 

Station paintwork - inherited a dark green and cream scheme from the GSR, and while most stations were repainted (mostly in white, black and several shades of grey) from the early 60s, some retained it later. 

But green lives on at Dugort Harbour!

[jhb171achill]

On GSR livery: wagons marked “G S” had largely disappeared by the early to mid-1950s, more due to replacement of large numbers of prehistoric ones than repainting! Carriages  - by 1950 there were very few left in maroon, bar maybe the occasional old parcels van. One coach on the Cavan & Leitrim remained “maroon” (by then, a tatty and badly faded brownish-pink!) until 1958.

I’ve seen a pic taken about 1950 of scruffy-maroon six-wheelers in Cork. Probably secondary stock. 
 

[Tractionman]

On 2/7/2026 at 7:34 AM, Mol_PMB said:

There's only a handful left now...

I see there's a few back up on the IRM website for anyone still looking...

[leslie10646]

Well spotted, Tractionman!

They were selling out as I looked, but I quickly grabbed enough to make a civilised train!

[leslie10646]

I went on to get a Mark 2 rake in Maroon, BUT I was too late to get a BDTS Driving Trailer in Maroon! So, I'll have to run round the train.

Crazy .......

Help! 

Edited Friday at 23:42 by leslie10646

[Mol_PMB]

7 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

I went on to get a Mark 2 rake in Maroon, BUT I was too late to get a BDTS Driving Trailer in Maroon! So, I'll have to run round the train.

Crazy .......

Help! 

Leslie, you can avoid running round by having a Hunslet at both ends…

[leslie10646]

Ah, no, Paul - one's enough! I spend five hundred quid last night and a hundred the other day with these chaps, so that's enough for now?

Quite what my offspring are going to do with this stuff, I've no idea .......

[Tractionman]

9 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

I was too late to get a BDTS Driving Trailer in Maroon

it seemed to sell out a while back, so I too am considering a rake without it--the maroon livery looks gorgeous but 5 coaches is a fair wodge but without the DT I am still pondering...

Edited yesterday at 09:03 by Tractionman

[Mol_PMB]

On past experience, a few extras of each type often appear for sale a few weeks after delivery - presumably unpaid pre-orders. It’s a gamble though. 
I do think there would be a market for a re-run of grey/blue BDTS (not generator) vehicles, these seem very scarce. Or even the grey/white/blue livery which at least one of them carried. 
Of course there was also the unique BDTF - though I’m not sure if that would need a different tooling. 

[Tractionman]

10 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

a few extras of each type often appear for sale a few weeks after delivery

yes indeed, as with the Park Royals that popped up again in stock yesterday when I looked--true--I have done the 'get back in stock alert' for the DT on the IRM/Accurascale website, but using this feature has not worked for me in the past so I am not hopeful!

[leslie10646]

9 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Leslie, you can avoid running round by having a Hunslet at both ends…

Actually, Paul, I'd forgotten this - I'd have to buy three more coaches, of course!

I HAVE another Hunslet - almost as noisy as my sound-fitted one - the other one is BLUE and from our friend John - I could buy the rest of the rake in grey / blue?

Don't encourage me, I'm of to Switzerland where there's a shop in St Gallen where you could bankrupt the British Treasury, never mind yourself!

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, leslie10646 said:

... I'm off to Switzerland where there's a shop in St Gallen where you could bankrupt the British Treasury, never mind yourself!

There's another one in Luzern and two or three in Zurich....

[Mol_PMB]

20 hours ago, Horsetan said:

There's another one in Luzern and two or three in Zurich....

I'm sure that when I first started visiting Switzerland it was about 2.5 CHF to the pound, and prices seemed reasonable.

On a recent visit I nearly bankrupted myself with a visit to the workshop and layout of this gentleman: https://www.laser-creation.net/boutique/preannonce/

But it's a super country to visit and I still have a lot of railway miles to cover there. 

[Horsetan]

34 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

I'm sure that when I first started visiting Switzerland it was about 2.5 CHF to the pound, and prices seemed reasonable....

It was about 2.3 SFr when I last went (October 2006 for a wedding).

I remember ending up in Luzern for a day and stumbling across a model railway shop not far from the Kapellbrucke. The price tags visible in the window were enough to dissuade me from going in to have a look.

I think that may well have been the last ever visit to CH, as the exchange rate is even less favourable now, prices have gone up anyway, and I definitely can't afford a week there.

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

It was about 2.3 SFr when I last went (October 2006 for a wedding).

I remember ending up in Luzern for a day and stumbling across a model railway shop not far from the Kapellbrucke. The price tags visible in the window were enough to dissuade me from going in to have a look.

I think that may well have been the last ever visit to CH, as the exchange rate is even less favourable now, prices have gone up anyway, and I definitely can't afford a week there.

Getting there and back is cheap enough on the cheap and nasty airlines. I find that hotel accommodation can be reasonably priced if you're not too fussy - usually cheaper than Dublin. But eating and drinking out is expensive - best to snack from supermarkets where you can, there are some nice local brewery taps that are reasonable, and maybe just have the one pricy proper meal each day. And for transport, make best use of the regional passes, or visit a canton which offers a free travel pass for the duration of your hotel stay (Jura and Appenzell do this, others may too).

[Tractionman]

1 hour ago, Horsetan said:

2.3 SFr when I last went (October 2006

It fell off a cliff edge, exchange rate now makes it even more massively expensive, it was expensive enough as it was!

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Tractionman said:

It fell off a cliff edge, exchange rate now makes it even more massively expensive, it was expensive enough as it was!

Practically at parity now. It's one of the perhaps accidental factors that CH benefits from to dissuade migration!