Morgan+4

Drawings for Locomotives of the Great Southern & Western Railway This statement is to clear up misunderstandings that have arisen about drawings published in Locomotives of the Great Southern & Western Railway. Research for Locomotives of the GSR by Clements & McMahon (Colourpoint Books 2008) uncovered locomotive and tender drawings for almost all the 5’ 3” gauge types operated by the Great Southern Railways, a number of which had not been previously published. Size limitations prevented their inclusion in that work but a separate volume was planned to include all those drawings. Work on that project was abandoned following failure to elicit publisher support. The main intention behind the recent and the 2008 publication had been to place historic information in the public domain and it was frustrating that many informative drawings seemed destined to remain hidden. Then the up-graded twice-yearly periodical New Irish Lines offered an ideal means of distribution. Data sheets for every locomotive type had already been prepared and Alan O’Rourke as Editor readily agreed to their circulation free-of-charge with issues of NIL. The main constraint was weight-related mailing costs which meant release of the drawings in stages. The collection covers the following railways: GS&WR, MGWR, CBSCR, WLWR, GSR (i.e. 1925-1944), CIE. There are also some narrow gauge locomotives but for copyright reasons, a separate data sheet records those publications in which appropriate line drawings may be found. All drawings are from secondary sources. They provide varying levels of detail and the accuracy of some should be treated with caution – particularly GSR diagrams. Nevertheless, those that are little more than outline sketches at least provide a general indication of proportions. Locomotives of the GS&WR has been criticised for the absence of end drawings and plans. Readers are assured that if that information had been found during the preceding 16 years of research, it would have certainly been included. Some general arrangement drawings were found but size, age and condition made them unsuitable. One exception was a full set of plans for the GS&WR Type A tender but requests of the drawing’s custodians for permission to reproduce went unanswered. Signed by the authors