Drawings of steam/diesel locos, coaches and wagons from the 40s to present day from magazines and books

[josh_]

Hi all, 

Im wondering if any of u here have any recommendations of sourcing books, magazines and all inbetween with drawings of irish rail stock 

While back, I got my hands on 4 really good books with them in Donegal museum and wondering if any other museums, heritage sites, etc; had a few or many

Im thinking libaries might be a good start starting from my local one and keep me busy during easter break

[Flying Snail]

Hi Josh,

Can you start us off by listing here the four books and the drawings they have in them?

 

 

Edited April 11 by Flying Snail

[Mayner]

I am not really familiar with the Irish railway drawings published in books and magazines during the lqast 20 or so years. 

An other issue is that out of print books with Irish drawings may not be available in the public library system

New Irish Lines archive may be a good starting place https://newirishlines.org/archive/  

It includes J P James 1992 archive of drawings published in magazines & on line copies of IRN (usually contain drawings) from 1992-2023 which should keep you busy.

Diesel Dawn (Colm Flannigan) Colourpoint 2003 covers the development of the diesel railcar in Ulster from the 1930s-late 1960s and contains small scale drawings of many of railcars that operated in the province during this era.

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

I'll add a few to keep the ball rolling, focusing on some books that you might not expect to contain rolling stock drawings but have a few gems within.

 

The book 'Wesk Cork Railways' by Chris Larkin has an unconventional scrapbook-like format but it is filled with evocative photos, reminiscences and facts. It contains stocklists of CBSCR locos, carriages and wagons, and a few drawings of CIE rolling stock that worked the line. These include:

• A good drawing of an AEC railcar including side, end and plan views with dimensions. 
• Side and end elevations of CIE composite coach which I think represents the 2130-2136 series of 1952 - this is a painting diagrams showing the position of lettering and logos.
• Side elevation of an H van - again a painting diagram

 

The Oakwood Press book 'The Farranfore to Valentia Harbour Railway', volume 2, by Patrick O'Sullivan, contains the following drawings:

• A good drawing of 20-ton Ballast Van 8457 including side, end and plan views, though not dimensioned (this was the red brake/tool van used on the lifting train)
• Dimensioned side and end elevations of the GSR cattle wagons built in 1944
• Dimensioned side and end elevations of the CIE cattle wagons built 1947-1959

 

The Oakwood Press book 'Rails to Achill', by our very own Jonathan Beaumont, contains the following rolling stock drawings (there are also drawings of buildings etc):

• Side and end elevation of D16 4-4-0 'Achill bogie' with some dimensions
• Dimensioned side, end and plan views of MGWR 6-wheel 5-compartment third class coach
• Dimensioned side, end and plan views of MGWR 6-wheel 2-compartment brake third coach (with birdcage)
• Dimensioned side, end and plan views of MGWR 6-wheel full brake coach (with birdcage)

 

 

[Flying Snail]

Here's a reference for magazines from the British Railway Modellers of North America:

https://www.brmna.org/xrefs.shtml

They have an index of British magazines' issues that have drawings of locomotives, rolling stock and structures. Included are indexes for Ireland. Its been a while since its been updated - the last updates for Ireland are 2003 - but its a good starting point for hunting down back issues.

Edited April 12 by Flying Snail

[josh_]

On 11/4/2025 at 5:13 PM, Flying Snail said:

Hi Josh,

Can you start us off by listing here the four books and the drawings they have in 

 

So from the “blue bible” on the bottom up to the Dingle train is what I’ve got but I’m keen on standard gauge dimensional drawings

also the Tralee and dingle by rowlands, McGrath and Francis and the bottom last 3 is what I got in Donegal heritage centre 

Edited April 12 by josh_