Dugort Harbour

[jhb171achill]

"....You're measuring it? What for?"

"I'm making a model of it, with an electric motor..."

"Really? Well, measure away, she's being withdrawn at the end of next month. Last of 'er class. We're getting a new "C" class diesel when they've built them all...."

[jhb171achill]

“I wish there was Guinness in these - we could roll one away!”

”Charlie, that joke just gets funnier every damn time you tell it…..”

 

[jhb171achill]

Happenings in Dugort……

On one day’s train spotting in 1966, C201 has brought in the goods, but expired with a broken fuel pipe in the siding, where C230 will rescue her later. Meanwhile B125 retrieves the passenger set from the back loop road for the 11:40 to “town”.

[jhb171achill]

“I don’t know why he does that. Every single time he travels, he has to look in every window first….”

”It’s as well for him there’s only the one coach…”

Edited February 21, 2022 by jhb171achill

[DJ Dangerous]

Have you no grey 071 to haul a train of spoil wagons?

[jhb171achill]

1 minute ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Have you no grey 071 to haul a train of spoil wagons?

No, I'd need a "WT" class 2.6.4T "Jeep" to haul spoil wagons! I've nothing later than 1968............I would, though, get a RTR 80 class set if it's ever available, but I mightn't admit publicly to running it!

[jhb171achill]

"There's two more down here, gimme a hand down"

"Where do we put them now? They've already told the guards they're missing!"

"We'll hide them behind PJ's shed - he won't know, and the guards'll never look there..."

[jhb171achill]

“Thought I’d find you two eejits behind this”

”What!!! Who tipped YOU off?”

”Never you mind. You’re both under arrest….”

[murrayec]

Some light;-

[jhb171achill]

12 minutes ago, murrayec said:

Some light;-

Superb! How did you do that?

[jhb171achill]

Nowadays, if a train arrives at a terminus, the driver switches off and walks to the cab at the other end, switches on again and awaits the green signal to go back whence he came.

Until comparatively recently, all over the world (and possibly in a few places still), there was a great deal more to it than that.

On many traditional branch lines here, the daily service was two passenger trains and a mixed. The mixed would usually be the branch passenger set with whatever trucks were necessary tagged onto the back.

What follows shows the sequence when a passenger service arrives, and departs as a mixed - only.

First, the branch set arrives as a passenger train. The loco detaches to run round.

Yes, I still need to add the vacuum bags, etc........

Next, the loco runs round.

 

There are several vans and an open wagon at the goods bank to be added to go back to the junction, but the brake van has to be retrieved from a line of other wagons which are to remain. This will involve pulling the whole rake out, isolating the van, propelling the other wagons back into the siding, and placing the ones to go against the van.

The vans are removed.

Edited September 27, 2021 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

Now to sort out the first three and the open wagon with barrels in it.

First, the wagons to go are placed in the cattle loop. Next, the wagons between them and the van have to be put back in the goods platform road.

Back they go.

Now, the passenger set is drawn forward and backed down onto the wagons which are to go.

Routine everyday stuff; today busloads of enthusiasts would descend on the place to witness such manouevres.

Passenger set attached to goods wagons, then drawn forward and reversed into the passenger platform having also attached the van.

Time to do the brake test and check wagon couplings.

[jhb171achill]

And we're off!

If a mixed comes IN, and also LEAVES as a mixed, it's twice the work - and we're not into the beet season yet, nor is it Cattle Mart Day.

Edited September 27, 2021 by jhb171achill

[murrayec]

19 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Superb! How did you do that?

I switched the lights on in photoshop! - a few selection marques with level adjustments for the headlamp beams, and some render 'lens flare' for the light glare and the flashing blue light.......

Eoin

[Broithe]

34 minutes ago, murrayec said:

I switched the lights on in photoshop! - a few selection marques with level adjustments for the headlamp beams, and some render 'lens flare' for the light glare and the flashing blue light.......

Eoin

Truly remarkable!

All that was missing for full authenticity was to turn it upside down.

[jhb171achill]

32 minutes ago, Broithe said:

All that was missing for full authenticity was to turn it upside down.

I've given up modelling Australia, Broithe!

 

____________________________________________________________________

"One and sevenpence for a pint, I'm telling ye. He's put it up a penny!"

     "It's one and fivepence in O'Donoghues, and a half pint is still ninepence at yer man's out the harbour road"

"OK, let's do the brake test....two minutes to go..."

Edited September 27, 2021 by jhb171achill

[David Holman]

The sequence showing branch line train movements might seem obvious, but such things are increasingly lost in the midst of time and I often come across folk new to model railways who have no experience of how things were.

 As for things like brake vans at the end of a train and fitted vans at the head and this sort of stuff rightly needs to be shared.

[Mayner]

13 hours ago, David Holman said:

The sequence showing branch line train movements might seem obvious, but such things are increasingly lost in the midst of time and I often come across folk new to model railways who have no experience of how things were.

 As for things like brake vans at the end of a train and fitted vans at the head and this sort of stuff rightly needs to be shared.

Railwaymen & women will try and complete a shunt with as few moves as possible; its likely the crew of B165 would have coupled on to the coaching stock after running round, before pulling out that long cut of wagons to release the brake van and the wagons due to go out in the mixed.

Choice things would have been said about the crew that left the Van by the stop blocks rather than some where handy like the cattle bank road. The staff at Limerick Junction had harsh words to say about the North Wall Shunters (human) that marshalled the Limerick portion of the day Cork Liner in two separate rather than a single cut of wagons one Oct Bank Holiday Friday in the late 1990s. The additional shunting was time consuming and could potentially delay Heuston-Cork-Tralee passenger services and the Shelton Abbey-Marino Point Anhydrous Ammonia train, high pressure stuff.

There are some nice photos of a mixed train with Kerry Bogie, GSWR Bogie coach & wagons in Kenmare Goods yard in Ivo Peters "Somewhere along the Line", there is also a late 1950s photo of the Loughrea mixed complete with the statutory 3 MGWR 6 Wheelers shunting a cut of covered wagons in Attymon Junction goods yard goods store road. According to Peters when made up the mixed complete with coach and van retired to the goods yard (possibly for the crew to have lunch or load sundries traffic) before returning to the platform at the appointed hour.

In railcar days the Donegal was famous for taking passengers for jaunts around goods and loco yards, shunting 'Red Vans" & turning railcars. 

In more modern times I saw the loco and coaches of the evening Connolly-Longford Commuter shunting the Longford Liner.  After discharging the passengers the loco and coaches propelled back towards Mostrim before running forward onto the Gantry Road. The loco coupled on to the Liner while still coupled to the coaches, then pushed-pulled the combined train until the coaches were safely stabled on the Gantry Road. The loco then uncoupled from the coaches and continued to propel the Liner out on to the Mail Line at the Sligo end of the station, before drawing forward into the passing loop to cross the Down evening Connolly-Sligo passenger.

Dugort Harbour is a bit of an out of the way place seldom disturbed by a Traffic Inspector from Cork or let alone Kingsbridge.

I was once asked "Ar-U-from Tralee?" when I asked a retired Kenmare Postman for directions while on 'Official Business" with the Health and Safety Authority", the post man was shocked that "they" had sent someone from Dublin  jumping to the conclusion that I was there 'about a man that fell from a roof" while I was only there on a "flag flying" exercise in "The Kingdom"

[Galteemore]

Nice comment on the Donegal, Mayner! Here’s a similar effort on the SLNC. It’s the 1115 ex Sligo which was technically goods only but seems to have had enthusiast passengers in the final years. You can see some poking their heads out here In Dromahair. I think there’s also gricers in the signal cabin!

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Galteemore

[jhb171achill]

It even occurred to me when setting those pics up that the crew would have been cursing the last lot up and down for leaving that van at the buffers! Such things could happen, of course.... laziness is nothing new!

[David Holman]

This side of the water, though guessing it was the same in Ireland, time was money for railwaymen, who would aim to spend the absolute minimum on each shunt. On Belmullet, I try hard to follow that rule and keep things as simple as possible. At exhibitions, visitors want to see meaningful action on not stock being aimlessly shuffled about. Moves need to be planned beforehand and there are sequences for operators to follow.

 It is all about practice and rehearsals. My operators are pretty good - better than me it could be said - but there are a few horror tales of folk not following the sequence and getting into a right old mess! Fine at home, but not when folk have paid good money to see trains running.

 My next nervous breakdown draws every closer with Uckfield just over two weeks away. Locos have been serviced, paintwork touched up and all wheels cleaned on all stock. However, no matter how much you prepare, experience warns me that taking a layout to a show is always fraught with problems. I just hope nothing too serious occurs...

Edited September 29, 2021 by David Holman

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

This side of the water, though guessing it was the same in Ireland, time was money for railwaymen, who would aim to spend the absolute minimum on each shunt. On Belmullet, I try hard to follow that rule and keep things as simple as possible. At exhibitions, visitors want to see meaningful action on not stock being aimlessly shuffled about. Moves need to be planned beforehand and there are sequences for operators to follow.

 It is all about practice and rehearsals. My operators are pretty good - better than me it could be said - but there are a few horror tales of folk not following the sequence and getting into a right old mess! Fine at home, but not when folk have paid good money to see trains running.

 My next nervous breakdown draws every closer with Uckfield just over two weeks away. Locos have been serviced, paintwork touched up and all wheels cleaned on all stock. However, no matter how much you prepare, experience warns me that taking a layout to a show is always fraught with problems. I just hope nothing too serious occurs...

Indeed - and I have seen that same "right oul mess" play out in real life.

While the intention is always to get the shunting done with as quickly as possible, someone could come up with an idea to take a short cut, but end up with a rake of vans blocking a main line. Even professional railwaymen were not immune.

The late Harry Mulholland had a great tale of a "right oul mess" involving shunting manoeuvres going horribly wrong in Lisburn in the 1940s, while jhb171Senior had a similar tale about a station full of half-shunted cattle trucks off the Sligo Leitrim delaying an evening passenger train at Enniskillen back in the day....

[Galteemore]

And one can only imagine what happened the night that an SLNC wagon fell apart in the yard at EKN…interestingly, cattle traffic had priority over all else on the SLNC. Woe betide the driver whose tardy station work caused a delay to the ‘shipper’….

On one unfortunate day in 1956, Lough Melvin blew a cylinder cover on the climb out of Glenfarne with the afternoon goods ex EKN, and had to limp back downhill. The driver of the 7:20 later that evening was not amused to discover that he had to shunt the wagon loads off this train as well as his own. The crowd of cattle dealers travelling in coach 9 were even less impressed by the lengthy shunt at Manorhamilton that ensued !

Edited September 29, 2021 by Galteemore

[jhb171achill]

16 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

And one can only imagine what happened the night that an SLNC wagon fell apart in the yard at EKN…

Yes, Senior witnessed that very incident; he was standing on the platform watching! The culprit was an over-enthusiastic driver and a SLNCR wagon that in truth, was unfit for traffic....

 

___________________________________________

"Was that you on the goods at Millstreet last week?"

"Yeah - yer man opens up - first time I've ever seen a C class so lively, I can tell you....broke the coupling. Couple of hours overtime in it, though...."

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

"...absolutely no idea. It appeared here overnight."

"It's too heavy to move, and when I touched it I got a sort of electric shock, so I'm not going near it...."

"Must be them Martians or something.... what does that writing mean?"

[Garfield]

Mis-sent to Dugort... sure the Grundig factory was up near Belfast!

[Old Blarney]

4 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

"...absolutely no idea. It appeared here overnight."

"It's too heavy to move, and when I touched it I got a sort of electric shock, so I'm not going near it...."

"Must be them Martians or something.... what does that writing mean?"

Sure me bhoy, dish has to be wonof de worsht chasis of asphalt and battery I've evor scheen. 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Old Blarney

[jhb171achill]

Shunting layouts - which is as far as I’ve got - need a good lot of rolling stock in order to avoid repetitiveness.

Here, Fair Day at Dugort Harbour will require a separate goods train today following the passenger local. The wagons are all over the place, but the passenger train will go first; there’s the Cork connection to meet.  
 

A point to make; not for the first time I commend Provincial Wagons for their typical wagons of the era - the Bullied opens, cattle wagons and "H" goods vans.

[the Bandon tank]

Hear hear, very well said.

[jhb171achill]

Autumn 1962, and two steam engines are at Dugort Harbour probably for the last time….. one is with a lifting train off a nearby branch, closed six months earlier, and the other is shunting.

Superbly realistic weathering by Dempsey, of this community.

On another day, “G2” 650 shunts wagons for the morning mixed train.

Eighteen months later, and it’s diesels….

Weathered again. I have several 141s and a 181. One will be almost pristine, and the others weathered to varying degrees. This one will be the dirtiest, the 181 the cleanest.

[popeye]

The weathering on the steam loco's looks amazing and 141 is pretty good too.

[scahalane]

That is superb weathering on those loco's;.

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, scahalane said:

That is superb weathering on those loco's;.

It is - and it shows how the grey (all models started in CIE grey) became "black"-looking in many cases!

I wish I could find a list that the late Bob Clements gave me one time of the actual locos which did end up being repainted black after 1956. I think I've lost it, unfortunately. There weren't that many - most remained grey. Those passenger engines in green got so exceptionally dirty that often they looked "blackish" too.

[Galteemore]

8 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I think I've lost it, unfortunately.

You’re safe here, Jb. We understand 

[Westcorkrailway]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

It is - and it shows how the grey (all models started in CIE grey) became "black"-looking in many cases!

I wish I could find a list that the late Bob Clements gave me one time of the actual locos which did end up being repainted black after 1956. I think I've lost it, unfortunately. There weren't that many - most remained grey. Those passenger engines in green got so exceptionally dirty that often they looked "blackish" too.

464, 90 and 201 were repainted black 

 

3 down, many many more to go