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.