CIE steam era liveries questions

[Scots Mac]

Hi Guys, hi there,I'm a new guy on the block.Hope you don't mind a Scotsman joining in !!. I was over in Ireland a few months back and got severely interested in the Irish scene after a wee visit to Ballina station and railyard in Mayo. Took a liking to the Irish diesel locos and since coming home I've bought quite a few of the excellent Murphy models.At first I decided that I'd stick to the modern scene with preserved steam for a bit of variety.However as a long time steam fanatic once I started researching the Irish steam scene it pulled me towards the CIE 50s and 60s era and now I'm well and truly hooked. I now have umpteen projects on the go converting UK engines by Hornby ,Mainline,Airfix etc.,etc., to as near as I can similar Irish locos. I'm in the process of converting 3 rebuilt LMS patriots to the 3 Irish "queens", Maeve ,Macha and Tailte. I'm also working on a Hornby L1 4-4-0 to represent CIE B12 305, a hornby King Arthur 4-6-0 "Sir Dinidan" to represent the Irish B2 engine No 402. Also a Replica Railways B1 4-6-0 to Irish B1. A Hornby southern 0-6-0 to Irish 670 0-6-2 tank and a Southern M7 tank to CIE 0-4-4 279. I also have plans in the pipeline for other conversions based on the aIRFIX 0-6-0 and others .

Anyway guys,that now brings me to my questions. I have bought some good books on Irish steam and have gleaned some good information on colourschemes etc., however there are some "grey" areas I'm wondering if anybody can help me with.

In the book "Locomotives of the GSR",there is a list of locomotives that got the "green treatment" in CIE days. In the case of the 3 Queens,they appear to always have been lined out. Likewise the solitary 2-6-2 tank No850 definately ran with green livery and full lining which is corroborated in photos. However in the case of the 670 tanks which were given green paint jobs ,any photos I've seen of them all monochrome show no lining??. The last one in service 673 is pictured in 1961 in the book "Irish Railways in Colour" at Amiens street and is definately all black. The B2 I'm modelling 402 is also reported as being one of the locos to receive the green livery in the 50s but she is also pictured in 1961 in what appears to be either black or grey and carrying only the number 402 in either yellow or eau-de-nil (hard to tell) and no sign of any CIE snail logo on her tender. The B12 4-4-0 loco 305 I'm modelling is also reported as having received green but monochrome pictures of her in online galleries in the 1950s show no lining .The photographs are monochrome so can't tell if she's green ,grey or black ,but she is carrying a snail logo on her tender ??? So is it known if any locos got green without the black and white lining ? Anyway guys if you can throw any light on the subject I'd be most gratefull. I have been in touch with Railtec transfers here in the UK and Steve the proprietor is also interested in producing accurate decal sheets for CIE steam era. He has already done eau-de-nil snails and numerals for me.

We thought that some CIE locos had yellow snails but apparently ???, all snails on locos irrespective of green,grey or black livery were always eau-de-nil. Is this correct ? Anyway ,all the best from Sotland and thanks for listening. Slainte ! Davy Cormack (Scotland)