National Museum of Ireland, railway collection

[cheesy_peas]

Famously uninterested in railways or industrial subjects in general, don't know why they didn't send them on to the IRRS.

Mostly photos of GNRI interest, plus an interesting pre conversion makers photo of what would become CDR's Phoenix.

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/?page=2&term=Railway+&media=yes&adv_sub[]=Historical+Collection&division[]=Art+and+Industrial+Division&agent[]=Great+Northern+Railway+Ireland&organisation[]=NMI

 

[jhb171achill]

And naturally, wrong dates on some of them. A CDR picture with a red and cream vehicle visible in the distance is described as "1900"!

If this is the level of care that museums take, what hope is there for accurate recording of future history!

[Flying Snail]

Thanks for sharing - there's some lovely photos there, whatever about the dates.

I ran another search for the keyword 'train' and it threw up some interesting items

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/?term=train&media=yes

... including this lovely model 0-4-2 'Bray':

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-30320/?return=%2Fcollections%2Fcollection%2F%3Fterm%3Dtrain%26media%3Dyes

[Flying Snail]

... and here's something for the bus aficionados: a tin plate bus repainted in yellow with 'CIE Cavan' added

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-11020696/?return=%2Fcollections%2Fcollection%2F%3Fterm%3DC%C3%B3ras%20Iompair%20%C3%89ireann%26media%3Dyes

crude but quaint ... it must have many given many hours of pleasure to some Cavan child fadó

[Mol_PMB]

Some clear views of goods wagons, and carriage/railcar interiors. 
Thanks for the link. 

[Paul 34F]

Just had a look.  Discovered a GA diagram for Sprite, the tiny 0-4-0t and attached pay carriage.  The interior of the carriage is shown.  One for Mr Holman 

Paul

[Westcorkrailway]

Are these drawings for the one and only “Pat”

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166275/

[Flying Snail]

10 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Are these drawings for the one and only “Pat”

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166275/

Looks like it .... the third image in that sequence has 'Pat' written on it too

I've been having a play with this site and there's more images there than I originally thought - the original link cheesy_peas posted was for 54 items filtered for items associated with the GNR. If you knock off the filters, a search for "railway" then returns just over 250 items with a wider range of railways and subjects: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/?term=railway&media=yes&adv_sub[]=Historical+Collection

[Westcorkrailway]

Some of the highlights I found last night. 

[Mol_PMB]

5 hours ago, Flying Snail said:

Looks like it .... the third image in that sequence has 'Pat' written on it too

I've been having a play with this site and there's more images there than I originally thought - the original link cheesy_peas posted was for 54 items filtered for items associated with the GNR. If you knock off the filters, a search for "railway" then returns just over 250 items with a wider range of railways and subjects: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/?term=railway&media=yes&adv_sub[]=Historical+Collection

Lots to enjoy there! I shall have to work through them when I get home. As well as the CIE archives new images. 

[cheesy_peas]

Wonder how this found its way into the National Museum? One of the missing footplate components off of No 36.

[Mol_PMB]

An interesting but badly mis-captioned photo:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166977

A photo album that looks like it may have many more interesting images in:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166254

 

We discussed this one elsewhere, note that the 1946 date is the date that the photo was acquired by the museum, not the date the photograph was taken. This image is much more plausible as 1930s era:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-163303

This appears to be a drawing for an early GSWR 2-4-0:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166274

Whereas this is a photo of a GSWR 0-4-2:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166393

One more for the enthusiasts of prehistoric kettles:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-159692

Now THIS was the future:

https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-167009

 

[Rob R]

Thank for the links above

Edited 8 hours ago by Rob R

[Rob R]

Not forgetting the much clearer view of Victoria than that in the GNR loco book.

Thank you.

[GSWR 90]

On 28/8/2026 at 2:15 PM, cheesy_peas said:

Wonder how this found its way into the National Museum? One of the missing footplate components off of No 36.

Interesting it’s marked 0-1-2-3 – positions for when the valves in the regulator are open?

Edited 6 hours ago by GSWR 90