Irishish Signal Box?

[BosKonay]

New from Bachmann

 

[David Holman]

Maybe...

Several Irish railways used 'off the shelf' signalling - usually Saxby & Farmer. Is there anything available in model form from that prototype?

[minister_for_hardship]

It does have the look of a contractor-supplied cabin, but didn't think Irish cabins featured a full width balcony often, if at all?

[Garfield]

It does have the look of a contractor-supplied cabin, but didn't think Irish cabins featured a full width balcony often, if at all?

 

True, can't think of any with balconies offhand, unless some NCC examples did? Also, Irish cabins tended to have at least one window on the ground floor.

[minister_for_hardship]

Also, Irish cabins tended to have at least one window on the ground floor.

 

The bottom levels once contained banks of dry batteries and of course the underside of the lever frame, a few windows would be handy rather than fumbling around in the dark. Think you would see window(s) on all but the smallest cabins or cabins situated on platforms.

Edited October 21, 2015 by minister_for_hardship

[Magpie1951]

If you modified the ladder taking away the full width balcony it does remind me a bit of a DSER/DWWR style cabin.

[Glenderg]

GNRI had some full width balconies types, Glaslough being one, and it was in the design handbook initially. They appear to have ditched it in favour of the straight up and in approach.

That said there is very little "irish" about it. I can't think of cabin that had random rubble stonework to the lower quarters. Brick was easier and cheaper. Unless you had a large box like Mullingar and it needed to support a lot, but that was dressed stone. The finial detail on the roof is GNRI, but the barge boards are a fiction. Timber panelling always ran horizontally for weathering/flashing reasons, and usually there was a decent overhang on the roof.

 

Is this a real pre-production image or a sketchup model someone has made for a train sim or something?

[BosKonay]

It's a new offering from Bachmann Scenecraft

[minister_for_hardship]

Hadn't thought about the timberwork, the vertical panelling is not typically Irish, unless you count DW&WR arc roof cabins which are completely different to anything anywhere else.

 

I assume the full balcony type would have more timber exposed to the elements and rot would set in quicker, maybe that's why they didn't continue with them.

[Mayner]

The upper section of the Ratio 500 & 503 may be based on a standard Railway Signal Company rather than a GWR design and is close in general appearance to cabins used by the GSWR, MGWR & WLWR. Gort, Killucan, Mallow South and Roscrea come to mind.

http://www.ehattons.com/40599/Ratio_500_GWR_Signal_Box/StockDetail.aspx

 

It might even be possible to combine several kits to model larger cabins such as Athlone West or Galway http://www.signalbox.org/overseas/ireland/athlonewestjcn.htm

 

 

The Irish boxes tended to have brick bases with relatively small windows in the locking room. Lamp oil would usually be stored in a separate lamp room http://www.ehattons.com/40386/Wills_Kits_SS22_Lamp_huts_with_2_oil_drums/StockDetail.aspx. The railway company did not want a stray fag end or ember from the fire causing an explosion in the locking room.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Mayner

[DiveController]

Very informative, excellent thread.

[BSGSV]

The Bachmann model appears to be based on a Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway design (have a look at Midsomer Norton for example).

The Ratio model is based on the McKenzie & Holland Type 3 design, which wasn't used that much in Ireland (see Goraghwood with a panelled brick base, or Macroom (C&MDR) in timber.

The Gloucester Wagon Company/Railway Signal Company design, in its basic form, was used extensively in Ireland - but I haven't seen a model produced yet.

[Riversuir226]

Macroom was all horizontal timber but had the full width balcany, in the base it had the normal window & the door was at the back. The roof detail especially in the later years was missing one of the detail bits on the roof. Main problem is the balcony was at the other side of the building if you were using this as a base model.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Riversuir226

[Eiretrains]

Macroom was all horizontal timber but had the full width balcany, in the base it had the normal window & the door was at the back. The roof detail especially in the later years was missing one of the detail bits on the roof. Main problem is the balcony was at the other side of the building if you were using this as a base model.[ATTACH=CONFIG]20424[/ATTACH]

That's Jack McCullagh's photo from IRRS Journal 187? A very informative article on the Macroom was featured in the previous issue.

 

The model cabin is almost a mishmash of designs together, although for an Irish design one would expect to find a window in the base section.

[Riversuir226]

The photo was on display in Macroom in 1991 along with dozens of other photos of the line. If it is copyrighted i ll remove it, there is also another great view of the cabin in the Colm Creedon papers on the cork county library Website. I was aware of another irrs article on the line in journal 186, nice to know theres another one.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Riversuir226

[leslie10646]

I can't find any signal cabin remotely like this in the new book "Signal Box Register Volume 9: Ireland and the Isle of Man" published last month by the Signalling Record Society.

 

No doubt Bachmann will illuminate us on the prototype, if Irish it is meant to be?

 

By the way, if the signal box book is of interest, I hold copies here, profits going to the RPSI.

 

A 286 page volume, it ain't cheap but is a mass of info.

 

Paperback costs £24, the Hardback £32.

 

I'll post it for those prices, if anyone is interested. Send me an e-mail, or a PM.

 

Leslie

[jhb171achill]

A number of Irish cabins did have fairly substantial balconies, including the BCDR's Downpatrick Loop Platform North and South Junction cabins. Lisburn's Knockmore Junction, and a few GNR boxes also had them, but they were not that common overall, and many companies had none that I know of.

 

The windows and roof / gutter profile of that one is probably the least Irish feature of it.