Cravens Buffet

[StevieB]

Murphy Models produced a version of their Cravens coach as buffet car 1508 in IR/IE livery. I have a couple of questions to those of you in the know:

Did 1508 appear in its buffet car guise wearing the original CIE livery?

Were there any other buffet car conversions at the same time wearing the original CIE livery?

I need to know so that I can plan for the passengers in the twice daily boat trains that ran between Cork and Rosslare via the Cork to Waterford direct line via Youghal and Dungarvan.

Many thanks.

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

Stevie, I can't be 100% certain but I suspect it was only in the later version with "tippex" lines only and the orange line below roof level.

[josefstadt]

Stephen,

1518 and 1520 were converted to Snack Cars in 1986 so they initially ran in the CIÉ livery. I'm not sure when they reverted to their original form, or whether they ever received the IR/IÉ livery.

 

1509 was fiited out as a Snack Car in 1991. I was unable to find an introduction date for 1508 as a Snack Car, but I'd assume that both it and 1509 ran only in the IR/IÉ livery.

[StevieB]

Hi guys

Thanks for the information.

Mark, the train service I was referring to was that which would have run via Youghal and Dungarvan if only the aspirations of the Cork & Waterford Railway had come to be in the mid to late 1860s. Then there would have been no need for the lovely from Mallow to Waterford. As it was, lines were built only from Cork to Youghal and Waterford to Tramore, but in my imagination the intervening length was built at a later date. I'd better start posting something in the layout section.

Stephen

[StevieB]

A supplementary question - were the conversions of 1509, 1518 and 1520 done in the same way ie can the body of 1508 be used for the other three?

Many thanks.

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

They were all the same.

[josefstadt]

From a modelling perspective they were probably all the same, at least visually on the exterior. However, there does seem to be some confusion regarding the number of seats they had following conversion. The IRRS (Journal 101 Oct '86), the 3rd edition of Locomotives & Rolling Stock of IÉ & NIR (Doyle 1987) and the 1st edition of Irish Railways Traction & Travel (Metro 1987) give a total of 44 seats in 1518/20. The 3rd edition of Irish Railways Traction & Travel (ITG 1994) has 45 seats in 1508/09, while the 4th edition of this book (ITG 2004) has 47 seats in these coaches.

 

Can anyone confirm the correct number of seats in these coaches? Also how were the seats laid out? For example, in 1518/20 were there 11 full bays of 4 seats, or 10 bays of 4 and two bays of two? This could be important for modifying the seating inserts in the Murphy models.

[jhb171achill]

Yes, I did mean extrenally, josefstadt; i should have clarified that. Internally, there WERE differences, but I don't know what they were as I was only ever in 1508....