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O&K Sugar Factory Locos

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Posted (edited)

Aside from the ones that are on Flickr and the Paul Johnston (transport of delight) SmugMugmugmug site, does anyone have any photos of the CSE O&K locos in their own collections? Alternatively, do you know of any groups/people who might be able to help me with this? And I don't mean photos of them at Downpatrick 😃

I'm particularly interested in photos of the Mallow and Tuam locos, as there are a fair number of photos online of the Thurles ones and I don't think I've ever seen a Tuam one. 

Thanks!

 

 

IMG_7118.jpg

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Edited by GSWR 90
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Posted

Amazing, I can’t thank you enough for these! Great to have photos of all three of them, and really interesting to see the positioning of the number which is something I’ve always wondered about.
 

In the third photo, the numbers are in the same position as the Tuam locos (each factory put the numbers on differently) so the location might be Tuam.

  • Informative 1
Posted (edited)

There is a pipe sticking up with a knob on the end, on the inside of the tank on the third photo which corresponds with the pipe on the loco on the first photograph and its also the same number 2. The loco in the shed at Tuam nearest the camera has the pipe/ in a different position and is missing its cab plus I think the plates and number are in a lower position on the tank side. Casserley noted they were 1 and 3 so probably 1.

CIE1955-04-21TuamCSC13RMC83505Cas25186.thumb.jpg.311a9e8ef6923bd988884a6701166779.jpg

 

Edited by Irishswissernie
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Irishswissernie said:

There is a pipe sticking up with a knob on the end, on the inside of the tank on the third photo which corresponds with the pipe on the loco on the first photograph and its also the same number 2. The loco in the shed at Tuam nearest the camera has the pipe/ in a different position and is missing its cab plus I think the plates and number are in a lower position on the tank side. Casserley noted they were 1 and 3 so probably 1.

CIE1955-04-21TuamCSC13RMC83505Cas25186.thumb.jpg.311a9e8ef6923bd988884a6701166779.jpg

 

Hand hold for clambering up to access tank filler. Presume they got removed when tank removal and repairs were carried out and just shoved on in a different place. Perhaps it was less liable to get snagged on something placed on the inside?

Edited by cheesy_peas
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Posted
1 hour ago, Killian Keane said:

Someone told me recently these were paid for in cattle, is that true?

43 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Yes. Apparently a trade deal on barter terms 

 

Not slang for a few sacks full of shillings..?

Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, Jonathan Allen said:

Thank you. There are a surprising number of photos of them on the IRRS site – if you search their account for "CSE" you'll find a good few of them, but I'm always on the hunt for more! There are good pictures of them at Dalkey as well.

8 hours ago, Killian Keane said:

Someone told me recently these were paid for in cattle, is that true?

Yes, as mentioned above, it was because of the Anglo-Irish trade war. Here is a very simple explanation:

On foot of the Land Wars in the 1870s, Westminster passed the Irish Land Acts which allowed tenant farmers to buy their land with very long-term loans from the British Government. Large amounts of money were involved, with the proportion of farmers who were landowners increasing from 3% to 97% in about 50 years. After the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the funds were paid by farmers to the Free State, who in turn paid them to the British Government. When Fianna Fáil came to power in 1932, the Free State refused to pay back the loans to Britain, took a generally protectionist trade policy in the context of the Great Depression, and sought leverage for constitutional change (which eventually resulted in the 1937 Bunreacht which we still have today). This resulted in a trade war between the Free State and Britain, with each country targeting the other's key exports: high tariffs on agricultural goods (e.g. beef) going from Ireland to Britain, and high tariffs on machinery (e.g. steam engines) going from Britain to Ireland. This created a perfect storm in Ireland that led to the Free State using cows to buy locos from Germany: a shortage of cash, a glut of cattle, a need to develop local industry (i.e. build new sugar factories), and tariffs on British goods.

I'm not an expert so I apologise if I got any of that is wrong; I'm very open to correction.

It's funny how a series of political crises long ago resulted in these unique-looking locos coming to Ireland, but they have continued to be reliable and easy to work on almost 100 years later. They are a testament to the people who designed and built them, and they now also serve as important living reminders of the Irish sugar industry.

Edited by GSWR 90
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