IRM Latest! The High Queens of Ireland - IRM Celebrates 10th Birthday With GSR 800s

[GSR 800]

3 hours ago, Warbonnet said:

More to follow this week, folks….

 

Truly beautiful models! The CIE dark green looks fabulous.

If I was to give a tiny bit of critique it'd be that the smokebox dart protruding from the handwheel should be blackened, and the handle should be brass/same colour as the wheel.

AFAIK the handle was painted black at Cultra for some reason, they were never black (aside from with dirt perhaps!) during their careers.

See above regarding the dart being black.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2025 by GSR 800

[Patrick Davey]

My OCD would have me place them in order for that photo - 800, 801, 802 

Maybe that'll happen when IRM announces the S class, VS class and Jeeps......

[Mol_PMB]

1 hour ago, Patrick Davey said:

My OCD would have me place them in order for that photo - 800, 801, 802 

Maybe that'll happen when IRM announces the S class, VS class and Jeeps......

Those are all rather late in the alphabet. Wouldn’t they have to start with the A class and work up through B, C etc to soothe your OCD? 

Edited December 9, 2025 by Mol_PMB
Typo

[Patrick Davey]

31 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Those are all rather late in the alphabet. Wouldn’t they have to start with the A class and work up through B, C etc to soothe your OCD? 

Works for me!

[jhb171achill]

OCD?

We know of the A, B, C, D, V and Vs classes. 

But when will IRM do an "O" class?

 

[Warbonnet]

Hi folks,

We're a little behind on our update which will now come next week, but here is something for the weekend....

Honestly, you DO NOT want to miss out on these!

Cheers!

Fran 

[GSR 800]

23 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

Hi folks,

We're a little behind on our update which will now come next week, but here is something for the weekend....

Honestly, you DO NOT want to miss out on these!

Cheers!

Fran 

The valve gear looks excellent. 

Should the lining be yellow? Looks to be Macha in her later years, therefore with CIE green with white black white lining?

[Georgeconna]

I have a "ick" as the cool kids say about engines with double chimneys tbh. Love a Maebh but they are all two holers.

Probably be a Tailte I would opt for in light green as it got a snail on the tender too. 

love to see these in the flesh painted up as I am sure a decision would be a lot easier.

 

Edited December 12, 2025 by Georgeconna

[GSR 800]

On 9/12/2025 at 10:36 AM, GSR 800 said:

Truly beautiful models! The CIE dark green looks fabulous.

If I was to give a tiny bit of critique it'd be that the smokebox dart protruding from the handwheel should be blackened, and the handle should be brass/same colour as the wheel.

AFAIK the handle was painted black at Cultra for some reason, they were never black (aside from with dirt perhaps!) during their careers.

See above regarding the dart being black.

 

 

To follow up on this: from Great Southern railways

You can see The smokebox wheel and handle in polished brass, the dart in black, along with the lower horizontal handrail and the smokebox hinge polished/unpainted. The upper handrail is painted black, which can just be seen in the second photo. The Buffer faces are also polished rather than painted black.

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, GSR 800 said:

The valve gear looks excellent. 

Should the lining be yellow? Looks to be Macha in her later years, therefore with CIE green with white black white lining?

White in CIE times, yellow in GSR. 

Red name & numberplates on 801 & 802 only in CIE times; all three dark blue in GSR times, and 800 retained blue to the end.

[GSWR 90]

This is a photo of 800 in grey. Interesting that the GSR logo seems to be on a raised bit (wood?) rather than just a transfer on the body. It also seems that the logo doesn’t fill up the whole of the raised part – was this varnished wood? It doesn’t seem to be the same shade as the grey. And was it raised like this in GSR green?

Edited December 13, 2025 by GSWR 90

[GSR 800]

1 hour ago, GSWR 90 said:

This is a photo of 800 in grey. Interesting that the GSR logo seems to be on a raised bit (wood?) rather than just a transfer on the body. It also seems that the logo doesn’t fill up the whole of the raised part – was this varnished wood? It doesn’t seem to be the same shade as the grey. And was it raised like this in GSR green?

the coat of arms was on a raised escutcheon, ie a piece of metal (rivetted?) onto the tender. This lasted into early CIE days, with a small snail even painted onto the escutcheon. Removed early enough into CIE all the same, seemingly gone by 48 or so

 

[cheesy_peas]

I'd say it's on a board or metal sheet as a transfer couldn't be applied neatly over lines of rivets.

[GSR 800]

1 hour ago, cheesy_peas said:

I'd say it's on a board or metal sheet as a transfer couldn't be applied neatly over lines of rivets.

Didn't seem to stop them applying snails directly over a double row of rivets

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, GSR 800 said:

Didn't seem to stop them applying snails directly over a double row of rivets

It was on a wooden board at first, on Maedb at least, according to jhbsenior (possibly only for works grey photo?) but soon replaced by a steel sheet. 

As for transfers applied over rivets, anyone who’s ever tried applying a waterslide transfer to an uneven surface on a model will have a lexicon of associated rude words……!

Edited December 13, 2025 by jhb171achill

[cheesy_peas]

7 hours ago, GSR 800 said:

Didn't seem to stop them applying snails directly over a double row of rivets

Easier to paint those on, to be fair. A coat of arms is way more intricate.

[Mayner]

14 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

As for transfers applied over rivets, anyone who’s ever tried applying a waterslide transfer to an uneven surface on a model will have a lexicon of associated rude words……!

Applying waterslide transfers over rivets/raised detail is bascially a case practice and  suitable preparation and selection of suitable transfers, wetting agents & varnish/sealant.

N Scale Lehigh Valley Diesel. One my pride and joy, very much a hard worked 'layout loco' I finished the loco in LV livery about 25 years ago using Microscale waterslide decal set, incl black/white nose/pilot stripes s, Micro-Set (wetting setting agent) Micro-Sol (solvent/softner) around details/irregular surfaces. Loco painted in a gloss aerosol red then, then finished with a semi matt aerosol. Paint did not adhere too well to handrails which were molded in a black flexible plastic.

4mm Ranks Ireland wagon (Enlargement shows up the blemishes!) Decals comissioned from Railtec Transfers, Humbrol Decalfix (recommended by Railtec, Micro-Set Micro-Sol incompitaible). Main challenge was applying large RANKS (Ireland) Ltd element of decal due to its sheer size, applied RANKS (Ireland) Ltd as 3 separate decals! (Ireland) after applying the two larger decals!

Again model first spray painted grey with a gloss finish and then sealed with a matt/semi-matt finish once decals had dried out

I originally intended to have the decal pad printed comercially, but printer declined to print further wagons after pad printing the initial batch of 20T Brake Vans

 

[GSWR 90]

Well-placed teaser in a class 73 post

[Colin_McLeod]

On 9/12/2025 at 7:31 PM, Patrick Davey said:

My OCD would have me place them in order for that photo - 800, 801, 802 

Maybe that'll happen when IRM announces the S class, VS class and Jeeps......

I have a friend who suffers from CDO.

It's like OCD but with the letters in the correct order.

[GSR 800]

Very interesting photo of Tailte in 1953 in the IRRS flickr.

Note the numberboard on the top of the smokebox, with no number on the bufferbeam!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/55108647485/in/dateposted/

Extra brackets on smokebox door, smokebox handle and wheel, and polished buffers. Also looks like she could be in the lighter green, though really impossible to tell.

 

[jhb171achill]

42 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

Very interesting photo of Tailte in 1953 in the IRRS flickr.

Note the numberboard on the top of the smokebox, with no number on the bufferbeam!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/55108647485/in/dateposted/

Extra brackets on smokebox door, smokebox handle and wheel, and polished buffers. Also looks like she could be in the lighter green, though really impossible to tell.

 

Yes, she would be in the experimenta lighter green there - probably newly done.

Wasn't aware that it ha no number then! Maybe they applied it later!

[Mol_PMB]

How did the 1953 experimental light green compare in colour to the late 1950s light green? In my research I have found a few photos around 1953 that clearly show individual carriages in a much lighter colour than those around them. But they’re all monochrome pictures. 

[Mol_PMB]

For those interested in the 800s there are some photos for sale on eBay this week:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336449899148

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336449899785

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336449900395

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336449900905

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336449901239

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336450070451

[jhb171achill]

19 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

How did the 1953 experimental light green compare in colour to the late 1950s light green? In my research I have found a few photos around 1953 that clearly show individual carriages in a much lighter colour than those around them. But they’re all monochrome pictures. 

It was much the same. It is possible that while the early 50s colour on 801 and one batch of new coaches was an experiment, and despite the fact that it was not proceeded with at the time, that in fact the “new” coach livery from 1955 was simply this, with simplified lining compared to the dark green.

[Mol_PMB]

Some pages back, was someone looking for a photo of an 800 hauling a Park Royal?

I have found one. So you can put away your Rule 1 and get buying! 

 

[GSR 800]

38 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Some pages back, was someone looking for a photo of an 800 hauling a Park Royal?

I have found one. So you can put away your Rule 1 and get buying! 

 

If its something other than Macha's 1961 tour I'd be v. interested in seeing it!

There's a photo of Maedb at Kingsbridge shunting an extra coach onto her train in A Second Glance, a Park Royal is in the adjacent carriage siding.

[Mol_PMB]

12 hours ago, GSR 800 said:

If its something other than Macha's 1961 tour I'd be v. interested in seeing it!

There's a photo of Maedb at Kingsbridge shunting an extra coach onto her train in A Second Glance, a Park Royal is in the adjacent carriage siding.

IRRS Journal 212 (Oct 2023) page 344.

It's 801, pictured at Mallow in May 1962, '... having worked a trial train from Cork to evaluate the locomotive's performance following its boiler re-tubing. No. 801 latterly operated on the joint IRRS/SLS/RCTS railtour on 5 June 1962'.

The train comprises a tin luggage van, a Park Royal, two older bogie coaches probably of GSWR origin, and a fifth vehicle which is indistinct but might be a 6-wheel van.

So I'm not sure if that's of interest or not - it isn't the railtour itself perhaps too late for you anyway.

There are other images of 801 in 1962 from the same photogapher here, but not the one at Mallow with a Park Royal:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/albums/72177720314948147/

 

 

[Colin_McLeod]

Will 'Belfast to Cork Enterprise  headboards be available for the 800 class?