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From the Catacombs

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jhb171achill

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Some more odds and ends....

1.  Authentic GSWR "crimson lake" and lettering; this background colour also being initially used by the GSR before they had their "main line" brown and cream, and post-1933 lighter maroon liveries. This is on a model in Cultra which was made by Inchicore apprentices back in the day.

2.  Oughterard water tower; typical MGWR style for modellers! Good to see Mr Holman has an Achill-based example "in use"!

3.  Ballycastle beauty. These originated on the Ballymena & Larne section of the NCC, where the five of them were the only corridor narrow-gauge carriages ever to run in Ireland. The NCC removed the gangways before they went to Ballycastle, and those purchased by the CDR remained sans gangways. Modellers may care to note a livery detail on NCC stock. While owned by the British LMS, and "LMS maroon" featuring on locos and carriages, some differences in markings were perpetuated. Many narrow gauge and main line secondary stock, as well as much suburban stock, had neither lining nor an LMS crest, and in some cases (such as this), not even the letters "L M S  N C C". This vehicle is plain unlined maroon.

4.  Donegal view, I think late 40s, but I haven't a date.

5.  "Maedb" slowly inches towards Cultra.

6.  Actually, one of my favourite pics, albeit of probably the most uncomfortable rail-borne vehicle ever to run in Ireland - these MED sets were truly awful to travel in, even worse than the 450s of NIR, which had two speeds - stop and go, and two temperature settings - Baltic and microwave. Lisburn, c.1977 / 78.

7.  Some sort of yellow thing. With senior being a PW engineer, doubtless he knew what this thing was; to me, it's a rail-borne scorpion, perhaps, or a lobster on wheels. Nice "H" vans, though.

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Edited by jhb171achill
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Photo 3 shows NCC coach 353 at Ballymoney. This coach ended up at Ballycastle along with NCC 350. When the other 3 coaches sold to the CDR in 1951/2 they were not sold due apparently to the cost of moving them to Ballymoney where the 3 coaches sold were located. Photo 4 Strabane and agree with date as I have many photos of same location from about 1948

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I'd be inclined to say that Photo 4 is prewar as 12 has not been fitted with a front vac pipe yet and there are photos of her in 137 so fitted,also the use of one of the Red opens points to an earlier date incidentally the wagon is No2 which the books tell is supposed to be one the vans,but has never made sense from a dating point of view.Andy. 

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3 hours ago, Andy Cundick said:

I'd be inclined to say that Photo 4 is prewar as 12 has not been fitted with a front vac pipe yet and there are photos of her in 137 so fitted,also the use of one of the Red opens points to an earlier date incidentally the wagon is No2 which the books tell is supposed to be one the vans,but has never made sense from a dating point of view.Andy. 

Could ŵell be - he was there first about 1937... 

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Just watched a youtube video of this railcar. WHY oh why has it got a deafening, and COMPLETELY inappropriate American-sounding train horn? Do a few sheep need a walking-pace railcar to announce its presence as if it is a 90,000 hp mile long Union Pacific coal train headed by nine of GM's biggest locomotives across the Rockies?

Absolutely, totally ridiculous. Disgraceful, like the butchering of the inside of one of the handful of surviving Donegal carriages in Derry into some sort of stupid-idea 1990s "club car"!

What's next - a "Thomas" face on it?

These people shouldn't be let out.

Rant over.

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  • 2 weeks later...
33 minutes ago, DERAILED said:

Correct. What about the railcar?

That is beyond my remit, but it must be around 1950, I would think - that track may not have been there for long after the construction phase.*

I was there in 1976 and I don't recall there still being a connection.

More competent people may be along shortly.


*Having said that, the tower looks well weathered...

Edited by Broithe
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The famous steam tour of 64 visited this branch but I think this image is c 54-57, when the REC had a number of Irish visits, including a run on the 1115 Sligo-Enniskillen goods, behind the SLNC’s premier loco ;) image below courtesy @Irishswissernie

9 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

The railcar is one of Bullied’s monstrosities.

But is the location not the Ardnacrusha siding?

That’s what I thought at first but for the cooling tower….

Ballysodare, SLNC 'Enniskilleen' early 1950's

 

Edited by Galteemore
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Sorry, JB, I don't think it's Ardnacrusha - see attached Lance King's photo of the IRRS tour to there in 1962.

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PS, I thought that it was here as well, but the architecture is different!

The REC is based two miles from my home, these days - principally a modelling club now - but important enough to have a "proper"sign on the main road!

The photo could have been taken in Hampshire this year, it looks wet enough!

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The power station is Portarlington and the photograph came with a souvenir booklet for the opening in April 1950. However, the date of the photograph and the railcar details are what puzzles me. What does REC on the railcar indicate and can anyone make out the number.

 

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REC is ‘Railway Enthusiasts Club’ - GB based group which did a lot of Irish tours - you’ll see the headboard on the SLNC pic above. 2661 may be the number - the unofficial REC archive records a Bulleid of that no in one of their photos. 

Edited by Galteemore
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From a scratch builder’s perspective, I’ll grant you that it’s a lot more of an enticing option than the compound curves of a regular AEC….and it does have an offbeat appeal, like one of those Neilson tanks - another case of putting straight lines where most designers put curves !

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Edited by Galteemore
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6 hours ago, DERAILED said:

The date is 1950 and the weathering is just the poor photographic reproduction. It's not Ardnacrusha - what about the railcar?

Sorry, but the photo must have been taken after 1956/7 when the "Bulleid-bodied" AEC railcars were put into service (IRRS Journal No.20, Page 243 refers to their entering service).

The REC, being Farnborough-based, with Mr Bulleid's pacifics racing past their door every hour of the day and night possibly requested the set specifically! After Mr B's fine coaches on the Southern Railway - they must have been a bit of a culture-shock!

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