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IRM Cement Bubble Poll - Mercig Factory Weathering or Pristine Finish?

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Posted

A quick check of the book Parting Shot by Norman Johnston reveals a Couple of photographs of Orange Cements and they are exactly like that, Very light coating of cement dust. :). Most likely only on the rails a short while.

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Posted

On a serious note what was the chronological timescale and order of the three liveries (ivory/white, orange, grey) used on the two axle cement bubble wagons?

Posted
On a serious note what was the chronological timescale and order of the three liveries (ivory/white, orange, grey) used on the two axle cement bubble wagons?

 

Forgive the "ping", but any answers for my question above? Thanks. Noel

Posted (edited)

Richie, I think the orange colour goes back further than 1978. See these pics from Boyne Road Cement Works from the early 1970's. I think it was the initial grey livery that only had a short life span.

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Boyne%20Road/IrishRailwayStations.html#Boyne%20Road_20100127_0007_CC.jpg

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Boyne%20Road/IrishRailwayStations.html#Boyne%20Road_20100127_0009_CC.jpg

Edited by iarnrod
Posted
1967 Grey

1978 Orange

1981 Ivory

 

That's not definitive, but based on photographic evidence. Messrs. Hirsch, Doyle, Carse et al. might have a more accurate timeframe.

 

Thanks Richie. Does that suggest the earlier loading procedures were tidier or a different mechanism? The later ivory wagons seemed dirtiest in photos.

 

Richie, I think the orange colour goes back further than 1978. See these pics from Boyne Road Cement Works from the early 1970's. I think it was the initial grey livery that only had a short life span.

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Boyne%20Road/IrishRailwayStations.html#Boyne%20Road_20100127_0007_CC.jpg

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Boyne%20Road/IrishRailwayStations.html#Boyne%20Road_20100127_0009_CC.jpg

 

Some really fabulous photos and data on those links. Thanks for posting. The orange livery is growing on me. :)

Posted (edited)
Richie, I think the orange colour goes back further than 1978. See these pics from Boyne Road Cement Works from the early 1970's. I think it was the initial grey livery that only had a short life span.

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Boyne%20Road/IrishRailwayStations.html#Boyne%20Road_20100127_0007_CC.jpg

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Boyne%20Road/IrishRailwayStations.html#Boyne%20Road_20100127_0009_CC.jpg

Nice reference shot, Noel. Would be interested in some in the orange livery with light weathering like these shots.

I always wondered how the ivory fell into such decrepit condition. I don't really like the ivory that weathered. My railway, my cement bubble wash, (sorry), on an occasional basis being are they are so loved by so many

Edited by DiveController
Posted

Nice work Mr Ruxton! If I'm honest, my focus was getting running numbers of the Ivory livery, and all the livery variations on point - which wore "BULK CEMENT", which had the broken wheel, and the rare Irish Cement in blue branding. I didn't think there would be that much interest in either the grey or orange liveries, so never paid too much heed to dates of livery alterations.

 

The only thing I can think of regarding liveries, is that at some point there were grey wagons, with the older chassis, and the orange set with the newer chassis. Perhaps the livery alteration was to distinguish the two different types for some reason?

 

All liveries will be produced, all we need is a daycent A-Class to pull the buggers....

 

R.

Posted
Nice work Mr Ruxton! If I'm honest, my focus was getting running numbers of the Ivory livery, and all the livery variations on point - which wore "BULK CEMENT", which had the broken wheel, and the rare Irish Cement in blue branding. I didn't think there would be that much interest in either the grey or orange liveries, so never paid too much heed to dates of livery alterations.

 

The only thing I can think of regarding liveries, is that at some point there were grey wagons, with the older chassis, and the orange set with the newer chassis. Perhaps the livery alteration was to distinguish the two different types for some reason?

 

All liveries will be produced, all we need is a daycent A-Class to pull the buggers....

 

 

Thanks Richie. That's interesting, especially the last bit :)

Posted (edited)
Nice work Mr Ruxton! If I'm honest, my focus was getting running numbers of the Ivory livery, and all the livery variations on point - which wore "BULK CEMENT", which had the broken wheel, and the rare Irish Cement in blue branding. I didn't think there would be that much interest in either the grey or orange liveries, so never paid too much heed to dates of livery alterations.

 

The only thing I can think of regarding liveries, is that at some point there were grey wagons, with the older chassis, and the orange set with the newer chassis. Perhaps the livery alteration was to distinguish the two different types for some reason?

 

All liveries will be produced, all we need is a daycent A-Class to pull the buggers....

 

R.

 

Richie, I would say it is not an easy task getting information on specific wagons. You could well be correct about the introduction of the orange livery initially to distinguish between chassis types, but in my experience, information on CiE wagons is pretty scarce, so we will probably never know for certain. Even the IRRS Archives doesn't appear to hold much material on CIE wagons. I can remember someone telling me that most of the material from Limerick Works was destroyed/dumped at some point.

 

Here is another photo from 1982 with orange and ivory wagons in the mix :

 

 

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20G/Gort/IrishRailwayStations.html#Gort_20101216_001_CC_JA.jpg

Edited by iarnrod
Posted (edited)
Nice work Mr Ruxton! If I'm honest, my focus was getting running numbers of the Ivory livery, and all the livery variations on point - which wore "BULK CEMENT", which had the broken wheel, and the rare Irish Cement in blue branding. I didn't think there would be that much interest in either the grey or orange liveries, so never paid too much heed to dates of livery alterations.

 

The only thing I can think of regarding liveries, is that at some point there were grey wagons, with the older chassis, and the orange set with the newer chassis. Perhaps the livery alteration was to distinguish the two different types for some reason?

 

All liveries will be produced, all we need is a daycent A-Class to pull the buggers....

 

R.

 

I think the change from Grey to Orange bubbles was tied with CIE using up its stock of grey paint in the late 60s rather than an attempt to colour code wagons with different brake gear. The grey wagons in the Cabra Bank photo appear to have the later type of brake gear with 4 brake shoes rather than the earlier style with 8 shoe coach style brakes and hand brake wheel.

 

The prime purpose of the paint is to prevent corrosion, the paint job on a newly built wagon should be good for at least 10 years before a repaint, this could result in considerable overlap between livery styles with a class of wagons built in small batches between 1964 & 72. Its just about possible that grey, orange and vanilla wagons may have ran at the one time

 

The grey and orange wagons in the earlier photos certainly look cleaner than the later vanilla scheme. Was it something to do with the loading process at Platin, or was it simply that there was nothing to be gained for Irish Cement or CIE by keeping the wagons clean? An owner or road fleet bulk tanker driver by contrast would be quite religious about keeping his or her truck shining as the cleanliness of the truck is pretty much a reflection of how they run their business.

Edited by Mayner
Posted

A sincere big thank you to all of you who participated in our survey. We have been given plenty of food for thought and will make an announcement on the Bubble in the coming weeks. :)

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