Dugort Harbour

[StevieB]

Do I spy a derailment in the left hand background?

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

On 19/4/2024 at 11:06 AM, StevieB said:

Do I spy a derailment in the left hand background?

Stephen

That cattle wagon - yes! Only seeing that now myself.... sure the track down there hasn't been properly relaid since long before oul Johnny Mac retired,,,,

[jhb171achill]

The Dugort Harbour branch has had a set of four GSWR six-wheelers allocated to it lately. The all-1st, a compo and a third are in pretty good condition given their age, but the old 1888 brake third badly needs a repaint and tidy up.

It’ll meet with its end once these new laminates are all built, but they’re due in summer 1959, so we’ve almost eighteen months of this thing…..

Received from Eoin Murray today; as always, truly outstanding master build of SSM kits.

Note the realistic canvas roof patches on the brake, faded paint and general weathering with brake dust.

Edited August 14 by jhb171achill

[Mayner]

I was wondering who could possibly have commissioned such a scruffy coach when I read Eoin's thread 

You need a CIE publicity poster for the new diesel trains to wind up the unfortunate passengers that board the train at Dugort Harbour.  The poster worked at treat at Keadue and our few remaining passengers now drive or take the bus.

[Tullygrainey]

12 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

The Dugort Harbour branch has had a set of four GSWR six-wheelers allocated to it lately. The all-1st, a compo and a third are in pretty good condition given their age, but the old 1888 brake third badly needs a rrr et paint and tidy up.

It’ll meet with its end once these new laminates are all built, but they’re due in summer 1959, so we’ve almost eighteen months of this thing…..

Received from Eoin Murray today; as always, truly outstanding master build of SSM kits.

Note the realistic canvas roof patches on the brake, faded paint and general weathering with brake dust.

Wonderful models both and that weathering is totally convincing! 

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, Tullygrainey said:

Wonderful models both and that weathering is totally convincing! 

Seems strange in our modern affluent age - if a carriage in that state turned up on the 15:35 to Tralee today, Joe Duffy’s phone lines would be jammed by the outraged in their BMWs in the station car park.

But such things were commonplace at one time. Look at any picture of, say, probably the worst examples - the Cavan & Leitrim in CIE days, or the SLNCR, or some UTA stock in the late 60s, and you’ll see carriages that look practically derelict - and, I can attest from my own memory, weren’t any better inside!

I’ve a set of 4 of these GSWR ones. I had suggested to Eoin to make the brake look a whole lot worse than the others, which appear well-kept and only slightly work-stained.

The idea here is prototypical; these old brake coaches often inhabited the same rural branch service for several years, with visits to Limerick or Inchicore for painting being less frequent than the “passenger” stock.

[Broithe]

45 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Seems strange in our modern affluent age - if a carriage in that state turned up on the 15:35 to Tralee today, Joe Duffy’s phone lines would be jammed by the outraged in their BMWs in the station car park.

But such things were commonplace at one time. Look at any picture of, say, probably the worst examples - the Cavan & Leitrim in CIE days, or the SLNCR, or some UTA stock in the late 60s, and you’ll see carriages that look practically derelict - and, I can attest from my own memory, weren’t any better inside!

I’ve a set of 4 of these GSWR ones. I had suggested to Eoin to make the brake look a whole lot worse than the others, which appear well-kept and only slightly work-stained.

The idea here is prototypical; these old brake coaches often inhabited the same rural branch service for several years, with visits to Limerick or Inchicore for painting being less frequent than the “passenger” stock.

At one of my many schools on the Big Island, there were some kids who came in by train. They taught me the technique of spotting an empty compartment, cleaning a patch on the outside of the window, then trying to get to that seat before somebody else did, and then wiping the fag smoke off from the inside, so that you could actually see outside.

I once saw a layout where the weathering included this feature on a few of the carriage windows.

[jhb171achill]

4 hours ago, Broithe said:

At one of my many schools on the Big Island, there were some kids who came in by train. They taught me the technique of spotting an empty compartment, cleaning a patch on the outside of the window, then trying to get to that seat before somebody else did, and then wiping the fag smoke off from the inside, so that you could actually see outside.

I once saw a layout where the weathering included this feature on a few of the carriage windows.

Did that myself, yes. I recall being in a venerable GNR bogie in CIE / UTA days, and the seat by the window was damp. The roof was leaking above it, and drip-dripping down, as it started raining into the journey. Myself and two others had to move. Also, I recall a strong damp musty smell, alive with the spores of damp rot, in a compartment in an ex-NCC "North Atlantic" coach in the late 1960s. The exterior was clean though, with paint almost still wet after being repainted from UTA green to the short-lived NIR "main line steam stock" all-over maroon.

[David Holman]

Wondered what Eoin had been up to lately. Superb!

[jhb171achill]

May 1957, and a summer Sunday excursion caught from the roadside between Castletown West and Dugort Harbour….

 

 

“Let’s get this loaded before the rain starts - and remember, absolutely everything has to be done EXACTLY by the book with that fella I was tellin’ ye about, ok? Never tell him anything that Gallagher tells ye, got that?”

Edited May 8 by jhb171achill

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Brilliant 

[jhb171achill]

A very well preserved colour slide from summer 1958 sees the afternoon local from Castletown West arriving at Dugort Harbour.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Purrrrfect.

[jhb171achill]

“Yes, I know it’s DEAD… Barney threw stones at it and it didn’t move. But where did it COME from?’

”It's that oul weedkiller, whatever they’ve put in it now, makin’ em all grow, or the myxomatosis or something….. ye think it bites?”

”I'm after tellin' ye it’s DEAD, ye thick. Any sign of the guards yet?”

Edited May 31 by jhb171achill

[derek]

On 31/5/2024 at 10:34 PM, jhb171achill said:

“Yes, I know it’s DEAD… Barney threw stones at it and it didn’t move. But where did it COME from?’

”It's that oul weedkiller, whatever they’ve put in it now, makin’ em all grow, or the myxomatosis or something….. ye think it bites?”

”I'm after tellin' ye it’s DEAD, ye thick. Any sign of the guards yet?”

Brilliant! Jesus, what goes on in your mind? 

[Broithe]

39 minutes ago, derek said:

Brilliant! Jesus, what goes on in your mind? 

It's best not to know what's going on in there - anyway, I reckon he got the idea off the web.

[Patrick Davey]

It's that very rare Orish spoider - Paddy Long Legs.

[jhb171achill]

The joys of Crossleys…

“Can ye get down there and have a look?”

”Yeah, but there’s no point. It’ll have to be towed. Tim can take it back to the junction on the back of the goods, but we’ll need to get it to Castletown first, that’s the problem”…..

[jhb171achill]

Every two weeks, CIE deliver a tanker of diesel to the storage tank at Dugort Harbour. This is one of the reasons the extension from Castletown is still there at all by 1967 - the fuel is for the two local single-deckers and the school bus which are stabled there at night.

The loco is off the Tralee-Castletown goods, and it takes the wagon out of the incoming goods, brings it down to the harbour, and takes the empty one back up.

[jhb171achill]

“I tell ye this. If yer man expects me to load all this on my own, what with me back, I’ll be off on the sick for a fortnight…”

”Where’s Jackie?”

”Off on the sick. See what I mean?”

(And just like that, the 11:40 was loaded and ready to depart…. a van full of parcels and eleven passengers on board (there were 25 in the bus)….another day at the harbour!)

[LNERW1]

The pictures are great as it is but the captions make it so much better! You have a very vivid imagination, JHB. I can’t wait to see what you might do with my layout when it’s detailed enough.

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, LNERW1 said:

The pictures are great as it is but the captions make it so much better! You have a very vivid imagination, JHB. I can’t wait to see what you might do with my layout when it’s detailed enough.

I’ll do me best, LNER!

[jhb171achill]

"Thing is, once you leave Cobh you'll be fine. The boat's at nine tonight, so you'll have plenty of time. Your stuff in the ship went six weeks ago so it'll be in Cape Town by now..."

"It'll be hard getting used to the heat, but sure there's nothing for me in Castletown these days... dunno even when I'll be back!"

Note on an old colour slide from 1966: "This morning's 11:40 leaving Dugort for Castletown".

[jhb171achill]

(The neighbouring branch to Drumbane, which lost its passenger service in 1947, is in the process of being lifted in 1968).

"Twelve miles of it pulled up over the last few days, sure they'll have buses all over Kerry before long"

"Well, I suppose with the mill gone in Drumbane, and the mart moved to Kenmare, there's been nothing much over the line since the fuel crisis..."

"What's he doin'  - growing the damn tea leaves? We've to leave in ten minutes. Where's the Rich Teas, anyway?"

 

Edited August 14 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

On 19th September 1961, the afternoon train crosses the Dugort River as it approaches the Harbour station.

 

 

"Tell ye what, the overtime on the weedspray will be good - three weeks all over the system"

"Yeah, but sleepin' in that oul van, and you've the stink of the weedkiller on ye for days afterwards - sure it's worse than fair day in Ballinasloe!"

 

 

"Yeah, but the up goods has to be held at the junction. The special will be in the next section at the time, which means we'll be looped at Farranfore for at least half an hour, and gawd help us if the down mail is running late. That would mean we're not into Tralee until maybe eight...."

 

 

"Paddy! Would ye give Martin a shout an' tell him if he wants a lift up to Tully gates, he'd need to get a move on!"

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

On a murky day in 1957, A30 approaches Dugort Harbour with the 08:35 mixed.

 

On a bright summer day in 1960, No. 472 leaves Dugort Harbour with an overload goods.

Two years later, in her last year in use, the same loco is seen shunting at Dugort Harbour. Yes, it's about to rain.

 

"OK, Here's one. The Englishman an' the Scotsman an' Irishman walk into a bar, an' there's a rabbit sittin' there with a bottle o'stout in front of him, an' a woman on his lap......"

"I'm tellin' ya! Thirty five vans an’ a drover’s van, over the summit with 120 pounds on the clock…. If anyone could keep time with that lot it was him, even with THAT coal…..”

 

An almightly thunderstorm is about to erupt one summer afternoon in July 1963 as A42 brings the afternoon connection off the down Tralee train into Dugort Harbour.

Edited August 14 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

A bright day in summer 1965, and B141 is heard above the seagulls as it idles its way down to Dugort Harbour with the mixed. Only one van to unload today, with rolls of Irish Linen from Brookhall Mill for the local textile firm, O'Shea's who make linen souvenir goods for tourists, and some cases of Persil for McInerney's Cash Stores.

 

Seen from a hill opposite the station, B165 shunts the following day.

 

C201 appears in Dugort Harbour with a rake of empty trucks one day in 1966. Coal boats, once reasonably common here, only turn up about three times a year now, but when they do, the coal is unloaded into wagons and taken away.....

 

 

 

[ttc0169]

Really captures the Achill terrain-just need to add more roaming sheep Jonathan

[Dempsey]

Simply brilliant 

[Rob]

Excellent stuff- well done

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, ttc0169 said:

Really captures the Achill terrain-just need to add more roaming sheep Jonathan

VERY good idea……

[Bob229]

Excellent scenery and stories

[jhb171achill]

“I thought PJ had got someone to fix that fence?”

”C’mon SHOO!!!”

”Ye’d better get Bridie - I think they’re hers….”

 

—- —- —-

 

“…Need to get ‘em out before PJ comes back. And put some oul oil drums or lobster pots in that gap or they’ll just come back in….”

[jhb171achill]

It’s a quiet sunny afternoon at Dugort Harbour in August 1959, as Pat unloads a VW-sized consignment of turf just arrived from Kenmare.

Meanwhile, the sun illuminates the gorse and fuchsia behind the buffer stops….

[jhb171achill]

On a quiet summer evening, Dugort Harbour reposes, since the late afternoon mixed went back to Castletown.

Since it’s fair day tomorrow, several cattle trucks and spare passenger stock are stabled here this evening.

Smell the salt air and drifting turf smoke….. beyond the gulls down at the harbour, silence.

 

This might look better for 1959!

 

Edited August 15 by jhb171achill