Details from the archives

[Robert Shrives]

On 10/09/2020 at 13:44, Lambeg Man said:

The noise, the riding and the vibration once we got up speed after Howth Junction was absolutely incredible. Hence the reason I only spent 15 minutes with Alec, conversation becoming almost impossible in the din.....

As a 16 year old I enjoyed a ride in an HST powercar "guards van" from Penzance to Truro  and your last phrase says it all ! 

great pictures regardless !  

[jhb171achil]

....And the track's just been lifted.

 

1932 on the Cork, Blackrock & Passage.

 

(P Dillon Collection)

[jhb171achil]

Cyril Fry's magnificent 400 class in 1910 period GSWR lined black. By the mid 1910s, they started painting everything grey, which of course the GSR continued ten years later, and so did CIE until they painted most of them lined green in their final years.

 

This model, however, was not built BY Fry. It ran on his layout, and was thus his, and in his collection - but it was actually made as a one-off by Bassett Lowke.

 

 

[jhb171achil]

York Road and Belfast Central, May 1989

 

 

[Irish Padre]

That’s brilliant. May 1989 was just about when my school commute stopped and I headed off to Edinburgh - just as Scotland finally cleared most of its loco hauled trains and went to DMUs! 

Edited September 21, 2020 by Irish Padre

[jhb171achil]

We're off to lovely Leitrim today. When passenger services on the T & D ended, some of their coaches were transferred to both the WCR and the C & LR. This is at Ballinamore, and the others are on the Wisht Clare.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by jhb171achil

[jhb171achil]

Second last is near Ennistymon station, Clogher Valley van in tow.

 

Last one is Ennistymon station, with an "F" class diesel in charge of the daily goods, c.1956.

[pat141]

That would make a great little layout.

[jhb171achil]

Narrow gauge smallest coaches (Copyright P Dillon collection)

First, Schull & Skibbereen 4-wheel first, No. 2S, at Skibbereen in 1947, just before the line closed, one of but two vehicles from this line which ended up in CIE green. NOTE: "Flying Snail" the wrong way round! This is a loco tender right-hand-side transfer, not a standard one. The other little Bessbrook & Newry vehicle was a passenger brake vehicle which also held six third class passengers. It is currently at Whitehead awaiting restoration.

 

Finally, one of Cyril Fry’s models of a Castlederg & Victoria Bridge Tramway coach (My photo). This one is not on display in Malahide as it remains in private (Fry) family hands.

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by jhb171achil

[jhb171achil]

Off to Donegal, hi.

 

Meenglass and Barney Curran with his brand new pride & joy, No. 19, at Stranorlar in 1950. It will be seen that Barney and the dog are not socially distancing..........and despite neither having day-glo clothing, they weren't arrested and given twenty years' hard labour.........

 

(Copyright P Dillon Collection)

 

Now - over the winter I have the pleasant duty of sorting this collection out. It contains much repetition, e.g. seven different near-identical views of the same vehicle. I need a GOOD scanner. Some of us here will be well familiar with such things but I'm not. I also have a vast collection of old glass negs of my grandfather's (very few of railways, unfortunately) which I want to do a good job on. 

 

Can anyone recommend a decent scanner which is (a) absolutely top of the range resolution, but doesn't require me to sell the house, car and dog; (b) can handle glass plate negs, old celluloid black & white negs, colour SLIDES, 1970s colour NEGATIVES, and 1970s prints of both colour & black'n'white persuasions; and (c) can easily be used by a total and utter idiot (me!), including for photoshopping and sundry enhancing? Please PM me if so with info, as I don't want to hijack this into an "Amateur Photographer" blog..........

 

Some of the stuff will be required for a future publication so it needs to be as good as possible.

 

Anyway, back to Donegal, hi!

 

 

[jhb171achil]

Schull & Skib about 1938 (train about to leave Schull) and just after closure. The "crooked" chimney on the loco is, I assure you, an error in my scanning rather than a very unique locomotive design! The coach is one of but two which received new CIE green, and only a month or so before closure. It will noted that it has a reversed "flying snail" logo - this would be an offside loco tender or bus example.

 

(P Dillon Collection)

 

 

 

 

[Lambeg Man]

On 30/09/2020 at 00:07, jhb171achil said:

Can anyone recommend a decent scanner which is (a) absolutely top of the range resolution, but doesn't require me to sell the house, car and dog; (b) can handle glass plate negs, old celluloid black & white negs, colour SLIDES, 1970s colour NEGATIVES, and 1970s prints of both colour & black'n'white persuasions; and (c) can easily be used by a total and utter idiot (me!), including for photoshopping and sundry enhancing? Please PM me if so with info, as I don't want to hijack this into an "Amateur Photographer" blog..........

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I for one would be very interested in any results of your inquiry Jon...... 

[jhb171achil]

Down to the south-west, a former Macroom locomotive at Albert Quay on an unspecified dates (believed to be 1940s) and an unusual view of Bantry terminus, plus the small pier terminus beyond that. These date from about the 1945-52 period, as far as I can gather.

 

(All copyright P Dillon Collection)

 

 

 

[jhb171achil]

On ‎09‎/‎09‎/‎2020 at 04:35, Robert Shrives said:

I guess the tin van was a bit of a UFO when compared to the wooded stock. The side shot shows all the barred windows - pretty grim and prison like for the  loyal company servant ! 4 wheels ride well for coal  and sugar beet but not so go for animals of all kinds so a two edged sword compared to earlier vans.  Bogie brake vans  were the making of dreams! 

 

The hopper wagon is one I have not seen before, was it for a specific load ? Perhaps interesting that the cattle wagon is fitted but the more modern Palvan looks unfitted - how times change.    

Quite a number of cattle wagons were vacuum braked as they could be stuck on the end of passenger trains from time to time; same with horse boxes. The "Palvans" plus ordinary "H" vans were just goods vans and wpould not have been piped, unless there was some sort of one-off. I never saw a palvan in any other form that loose-coupled.

 

I've seen a pic somewhere of a 2-car AEC set on a Bantry to Cork working with a cattle truck tagged onto the end.....

[jhb171achil]

Locomotives in 1949 (as far as I can ascertain). All from the P Dillon collection.

 

[jhb171achil]

Another view, this time of a Limerick - Sligo train at Ennis in 1937. The interchange platform for the West Clare narrow gauge line is to the right.

 

With regard to the current discussion on the Hattons "Genesis" six-wheel generic coaches, look at the second and third vehicle. This route, which also passed through Ballyglunin, where the "Quiet Man" was filmed in 1951, always had ex-GSWR  or WLWR stock as the norm, despite going deep into MGWR territory - as it was a WLWR / GSWR line, not a Midland one! Equally, a GSWR loco was the norm by this time.

 

Thus the carriages are of GSWR design, same as the ones that feature in "The Quiet Man". And these are precisely the designs closer than any other Irish design to the "Genesis" ones.

 

So, in this train, you've the "genesis" full third and full brake, plus a bogie of 1900-1908 vintage at the front.

 

(Photo copyright P Dillon Collection)

 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by jhb171achil

[jhb171achil]

The Bessbrook & Newry Tramway was one of Ireland's early electric railways with its own generating station, long before e-cars could be plugged into the mains!

 

Interesting issue, of course - who will be the first to come up with a battery-operated local line like that, with "Toyota Hybrid" railcars for shortish distances? No overhead wires ort third rail? No vast expense in electrifying a line? Suitable to operate alongside diesel, steam, petrol, gas-oil, horse-drawn and veggie-oil-eco-powered stock?

 

Anyway - a scene not often recorded was the INNARDS of the generating stations from places like this. Here we have two cleanly-turned out tramcars, plus the generating station at Newry Station (opposite the GNR's Edward St. station), apparently in the late 1930s. The small vehicle, officially a "brake van", was actually a passenger brake, holding six passengers - Ireland's smallest ever passenger coach.

 

Its body is now at Whitehead, awaiting long-term restoration for a group in Newry.

 

Note the B & N T vehicles had side buffers - an extreme rarity on any narrow gauge, let alone in Ireland.

 

(Photos copyright P Dillon Collection)

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by jhb171achil

[jhb171achil]

Cyril Fry made this model bus to advertise the Great Southern Railway's bus services, a few years after the GSR had taken over the IOC (Irish Omnibus Co.) in January 1934.

 

The bus  is one of a batch built in 1936, registered as ZA 7184. It was a Leyland TS7 9918 - GSR FC26F; to CIE TP43 1/45; withdrawn and scrapped 1949.

 

The GSR crest, reproduced in perfect miniature, may be seen on the back of the model. Here, Fry is seen with his creation, resplendent in its red and ivory-white livery; the GSR carried on with the same colours the IOC had used.

 

The GSR used this model in exhibitions from time to time, but its subsequent whereabouts are unknown. It is the only known foray of Fry into the world of very large scale modelling.

 

(Photo courtesy P Dillon Collection).

 

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by jhb171achil

[jhb171achil]

An NCC beauty in 1937.

 

(Copyright P Dillon Collection)

 

 

[jhb171achil]

Today's gem from the P Dillon collection is a nice shot of one of the earlier Drumm Battery sets (Set B) at Bray on an unspecified date shortly after being built.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by jhb171achil

[Irish Padre]

On 15/10/2020 at 00:16, jhb171achil said:

Another view, this time of a Limerick - Sligo train at Ennis in 1937. The interchange platform for the West Clare narrow gauge line is to the right.

 

With regard to the current discussion on the Hattons "Genesis" six-wheel generic coaches, look at the second and third vehicle. This route, which also passed through Ballyglunin, where the "Quiet Man" was filmed in 1951, always had ex-GSWR  or WLWR stock as the norm, despite going deep into MGWR territory - as it was a WLWR / GSWR line, not a Midland one! Equally, a GSWR loco was the norm by this time.

 

Thus the carriages are of GSWR design, same as the ones that feature in "The Quiet Man". And these are precisely the designs closer than any other Irish design to the "Genesis" ones.

 

So, in this train, you've the "genesis" full third and full brake, plus a bogie of 1900-1908 vintage at the front.

 

(Photo copyright P Dillon Collection)

 

 

Very nice. Mind you, if I’d got a ticket from Limerick to Sligo, I’d have bagged a seat in coach no 1!! It’s a very long trip....

[jhb171achil]

11 hours ago, Irish Padre said:

Very nice. Mind you, if I’d got a ticket from Limerick to Sligo, I’d have bagged a seat in coach no 1!! It’s a very long trip....

Yes, and it has a Lavatory! The six-wheeler doesn't......

[jhb171achil]

Photographs of Cyril Fry's "workbench" are extremely rare. Here we see his famous Lartigue model, now on display at the Malahide Model Railway Museum*, in the process of being built.

 

(courtesy P Dillon Collection)

 

(*  Currently closed to the public due to Covid)

 

[jhb171achil]

I am not sure if I posted this before. It an "0" scale model of a Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway locomotive.

 

The model is by Cyril Fry, but has been hitherto unknown as it always remained in family ownership and has thus never been part of the "Cyril Fry Collection" as legally defined. 

 

The livery puzzles me; Fry almost always made a point of meticulously researching liver details, as he did with dimensions and engineering details. He did, however, paint up a small number of models in liveries which he obviously liked (for me, that's an ICR set in 1945 CIE lined green!) - but which were not authentic by any long stretch.

 

Fry's OTHER Dublin & Blessington models are all in the correct very dark ivy green colour, and I have no explanation as to why this one isn't too. But, livery or not, it's an absolutely beautiful model, which the photos don't do begin to do justice to.

 

I do not understand the two sets of buffers - I wouldn't even understand ONE - as everything on this unique and fascinating line had tramway-type couplings. Has anyone any idea?

 

[jhb171achil]

Time to sally forth to far-northern parts; these from jhb171Senior's collection, which I believe date from his footplate run on 4.8.0 No. 12 to Burtonport in 1937, up on the Lough Swilly, hi.

 

One of the pics shows the view forward through the cab window near Gweedore, and a little-known ballast siding there, while another shows the view back along the tender.

These two views must surely be unique in Irish railway photography.

 

(All copyright H C A Beaumont Collection).