From the Catacombs

[jhb171achill]

13 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Portlaoise ?

No

13 minutes ago, Midland Man said:

Pity 

Cork?

Dundalk?

No and no!

Answer will follow soon..... one more chance!

[Galteemore]

Charleville 

[minister_for_hardship]

Kildare?

Ok just saw previous guess so nope

Edited April 2, 2020 by minister_for_hardship

[Midland Man]

Waterford (sorry if it is not on the main line)

[jhb171achill]

32 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Charleville 

No

22 minutes ago, Midland Man said:

Waterford (sorry if it is not on the main line)

No

 

29 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Kildare?

Ok just saw previous guess so nope

No

It is SALLINS, junction for the Tullow branch. The shed was on the down side, just before the branch diverged to Naas.

I was there twice. The other time there was no loco, but a couple of empty corrugated trucks sitting there.

Edited April 2, 2020 by jhb171achill

[Galteemore]

I was plugging through this for clues but missed that one!!

[jhb171achill]

This is a bit easier.
 

A few locomotives for this evening.

First two, Dundalk 1988/9.

Next, the evening (without looking it up, about 17:20?) Rosslare - Limerick, one very hot summer evening in 1977, I think. What on earth they put on three bogies and a van (and, indeed, when I first travelled that line in 1976, FIVE bogies, I will never know. There were never more than one carriage could have accommodated, as the timetable on that line has not been an actual “service” for sixty or seventy years, so few use it....even then. I reckon there were about 25 passengers that night. 

Without my notes to hand, I think that was taken at Bridgetown but could be Campile.  I’ve no recollection of taking pics at W Bridge that evening.

E434 is on Kingsbridge pilot in 1977.

123 is at Inchicore in 1986.

E405, also Inchicore, 1986. I think I took that pic the same day.

 

[Midland Man]

Should have known my dad lived in Naas and walked around the station as a child salon juntion would be a nice little model withs it's carrier shed and double row engine shed.

[jhb171achill]

Castlegregory Junction 1939, two weeks before the branch closed and the main line became goods only. A daily goods train would pass through until 1947, and thereafter just the monthly cattle train until the main line closed in 1953.

On the left the branch train (which Senior travelled on) has come to a halt. It awaits the onward train from Dingle to Tralee, which will come in from behind (!) the photographer; the picture is looking towards Tralee.

The train has from left, passenger brake van, cattle truck, two covered vans, 1st / 3rd composite, and loco.

This is one of Senior’s earlier photos. Sadly, during his earliest travels e.g. Harcourt St to Bray in DSER days, he didn’t have a camera.....!

[jhb171achill]

Fancy a trip on the Achill line?

 

[jhb171achill]

In the 1970s there were still a few grey wagons about - possibly a quarter of the four-wheeled fleet. A few still had pre-1963 stencilled “flying snails”.

So it’s flying snail time:

The “H” Van is in the Crossmolina Siding at Ballina, 1976. The GSWR ballast wagon is at Port Laoise PW the same year or possibly 1977/8.

The GSWR guards van, believed the last in use, is out of use at Rock Street, Tralee, at the same time.

The cattle truck is one in a line, withdrawn the previous year, awaiting scrapping in Cork goods yard in 1976.

Edited April 4, 2020 by jhb171achill

[Midland Man]

Great pics 

what is the is the wagon on the far right of the GSWR brake van and what happened to the GNRI ballast wagons?

[Galteemore]

Looks like a Palvan beside the brake, MM..

 

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, Midland Man said:

Great pics 

what is the is the wagon on the far right of the GSWR brake van and what happened to the GNRI ballast wagons?

The van, as Galteemore says, is a "palvan", always visible in a good train as they were slightly taller than other vans.

That GSWR ballast wagon is the same as the ones that ended up at Downpatrick or Whitehead. Each has one, the Whitehead one now restored and on display in the museum.

I'd guess there were still maybe half a dozen still about at the time I took the pic.

[jhb171achill]

Senior’s taxi. He used GNR Saloon No 50 as a “runabout” in the 1954-7 period for doing engineering inspections of the GNR’s Western District - territory this vehicle would rarely have seen otherwise. Here he’s out on a bit of a shpin... he was inspecting Enniskillen - Dundalk that day. 

I have the date somewhere - it’s in either 1956 or 57. The coach would be hitched up to a loco, but the pic is back to front thanks to a printer a few years ago. The loco is 197, which is why he took a pic: more often than not he got an 0.6.0. 
 

No. 197 was regularly based in Enniskillen at that time.

He had a set of steps which were used to get up and down from the end gangway to the track, when inspecting.

Edited April 4, 2020 by jhb171achill

[Lambeg man]

[jhb171achill]

I’ve up-pinged a few more of Senior’s photos. 

I will down-ping them onto this page over the next week.

Second pic, we’re doing a track inspection on the Harcourt St line in 1940. The mammon the bike was the Dublin Area District Engineer, Mr Joe Nugent, under whose tutelage a newly-qualified jhb171Senior was placed, in the GSR’s Westland Row Civil Engineers Office. He reported directly to the famous P T Somerville-Large.

I WELL remember my fathers battered brown case, in which all important documents were carried throughout his entire working life. It’s on the seat of the rail bicycle, and it’ll crop up again during the week in other pics. First person to spot it wins the chance to buy me a feed’o’Guinness once Internment is over.

In the first pic we’ve a brief view of 801 at Inchicore in 1940, when still only a few months old, not a great pic, but I like it. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by jhb171achill

[popeye]

Is he on the wrong line?

What does he do if a train comes?

[Galteemore]

This is lovely stuff, JHB. Your dad was a real old school railway ‘officer’ and I well remember his gentlemanly and quiet style - a glimpse into a world that we have now largely lost.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Galteemore

[hexagon789]

27 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

In the first pic we’ve a brief view of 801 at Inchicore in 1940, when still only a few months old, not a great pic, but I like it. 

It may not be 100% perfect, but it shows the scale of the 800s well, the picture simply says "power"!

[Midland Man]

Love the pics 

there is one of those bikes at Castlerea tied to the roof.The place there is class.Must go there again. 

[jhb171achill]

57 minutes ago, popeye said:

Is he on the wrong line?

What does he do if a train comes?

They had a light sabre from Star Wars, and they would point it at the DSER goods engine, and shout in unison "BEGONE!!!"

Seriously, they had to lift the thing to one side! No H & S back then....! They would liaise with the Traffic Dept., and tell them that they needed, let's say, an hour and a half on some stretch. If there wasn't one of these contraptions nearby they bring one on the goods train to the nearest station and offload it. Usually they could do it in between trains, but sometimes they got a possession. There were a couple of narrow gauge ones two, one now preserved at Dromod. I think the CDR had one too, although when he inspected the CDR track (twice, while working for the NCC) he had one of the older railcars.

Edited April 4, 2020 by jhb171achill

[DiveController]

7 hours ago, Midland Man said:

Great pics 

what is the is the wagon on the far right of the GSWR brake van and what happened to the GNRI ballast wagons?

A pallet van is forward and to the rear of the brake van. Each has a sliding door on the left side on both sides of the van. You can see the rail that carries the door high on the van in front of the brake van. 

So that's him on the footplate?

Edited April 4, 2020 by DiveController

[DiveController]

1 hour ago, popeye said:

Is he on the wrong line?

What does he do if a train comes?

I would think the right-of-way issue would only occur just the once ....

Edited April 4, 2020 by DiveController

[jhb171achill]

1 minute ago, DiveController said:

I would think the right-of-way issued would only occur the once ....

It wasn't exactly an everyday event, of course....

Once, he went to inspect one of the tunnels under Bray Head. A fireman had reported a rock falling off the roof into the tender of his loco. The modus operandi was for Senior and his assistant to get up on a sleeper platform on a flat wagon, which was propelled by a loco from Bray. Using a long pole, they poked and prodded at the suspected area, to see if there was anything else loose!!!!  Having found nothing, they reported it safe....

Can you only IMAGINE how THAT would pan out today, with safety concerns!!!

[DiveController]

Mr. Beaumont Sr. (stepping back, after checking the possession was still clear) to assistant "Give it a good belt there, Paddy! .... now to the left a bit, go on, really go for it this time ....."

Edited April 4, 2020 by DiveController

[Lough Erne]

Great photos. Re the inspection bike, what is the tube attached to the bike for, drawings, umbrella, staff? 

Speaking of one way/ single line working I remember chatting to HB over afternoon tea a few years ago recounting a tale of meeting an unscheduled train on the C&L section and having to lift the bike off the line sharpish!

[jhb171achill]

9 hours ago, Lough Erne said:

Great photos. Re the inspection bike, what is the tube attached to the bike for, drawings, umbrella, staff? 

Speaking of one way/ single line working I remember chatting to HB over afternoon tea a few years ago recounting a tale of meeting an unscheduled train on the C&L section and having to lift the bike off the line sharpish!

I have absolutely no idea what that tube was.

Anyone else?

Yes, I'd forgotten about the C & L incident! There were few enough ordinary trains on that line, let alone an unscheduled one, so I wonder what the train was? This incident must have occurred while he was on the GSR, so c.1944. 

[Mayner]

3 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I have absolutely no idea what that tube was.

Anyone else?

Yes, I'd forgotten about the C & L incident! There were few enough ordinary trains on that line, let alone an unscheduled one, so I wonder what the train was? This incident must have occurred while he was on the GSR, so c.1944. 

Possibly a coal or cattle special.

Coal traffic was likely to have been heavy during the Emergency with up to 3-4 specials daily and cattle specials were run to serve the larger cattle fairs.  Mohill, Drumshanbo & Bawnboy Road could each dispatch over 100 wagons for seasonal cattle fairs into the late 1940s

Tralee & Dingle 3&4 were drafted in during the Emergency to assist the remaining C&L (6) and Passage Locos (3).

The C&L implemented a "time interval" system in conjunction with staff and ticket working to allow up to 3 following trains to occupy the lengthy Drumshanbo-Ballinamore section of the tramway, the GSR streamilned the system during the Emergency installing telephones at Kiltubrid and Ballyduff halts eliminating the time interval element, the system also appears to have been implemented for a short time to allow two following trains to occupy the Ballinamore-Mohill section of the Main Line

[NIR]

4 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I have absolutely no idea what that tube was.

Anyone else?

About the right length for an umbrella or walking stick?

[minister_for_hardship]

5 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I have absolutely no idea what that tube was.

Anyone else?

Yes, I'd forgotten about the C & L incident! There were few enough ordinary trains on that line, let alone an unscheduled one, so I wonder what the train was? This incident must have occurred while he was on the GSR, so c.1944. 

Somewhere to stow a large type staff perhaps? 

MGWR locos once carried similarly sized tubes on the cab side sheets.

[David Holman]

The GSW guards van pic is a real gem and one is very much on my 'to do' list!

 As for Senior's transport, I think I prefer the inspection saloon to the bike!

[jhb171achill]

No. 100 on the Courtmacsherry goods, 1956.

At this stage, this train did not even run on some days. As you can see, the station staff wouldn’t have been doing much overtime on this day.

The Guard’s Van is the only T & CR vehicle then left in use, No. 5J.

The car is Senior’s pale green 1951 Ford Prefect, which I remember very well...

Edited April 5, 2020 by jhb171achill

[Galteemore]

That picture sums up the appeal of Irish railways, and why I model a 1950s backwater.  Pure class.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Galteemore

[Midland Man]

Lovely stuff My future OO gauge layout will only focus on small traction would 100 be as long as a juntie chassis