Irish model "Eras"

[jhb171achil]

There was comment somewhere on here recently on "eras" for easily categorising what model ran when or where. 

 

Elsewhere, the same question arose, and I suggested this, if it's of any interest........

 

1834 - 1890   Building

 

1890 - 1910   Second wave of government-assisted building ("Balfour" lines, most narrow gauge)

 

1910 - 1925   Main companies' "Heyday". (The "heyday" period?)

 

1925 - 1945   GSR era; if applied to the north, the understanding would be that the "heyday" continues in the north, even as just about everything south becomes CIE.

 

1945 - 1960   Transition Era / "grey'n'green" era. Loads of grey wagons - other than the GNR, no brown wagons have yet appeared; most CIE locos still grey; both UTA and CIE carriages green. THREE aspects to this: Closures (1940s NCC & post-fuel crisis CIE; 1950s UTA, GNR & BCDR, and narrow gauge), Modernisation (mass withdrawals of old rolling stock and replacement by new stock (UTA & (especially) CIE); and dieselisation: gradual elimination of steam on most of the network and mass introduction of AEC railcars on both GNR & CIE, experimental one-offs on the NCC, and MED's on the Bangor line 1950-2; B101, A & C class locomotives CIE.

 

1960 - 1972   Consolidation (or "black'n'tan")  era. After years of decline, and the end of the vehemently anti-rail Stormont policies and reduction of the UTA to what is now NIR, and final large closures (West Cork 1961, Tralee - Limerick, Limerick - Sligo '63, Mallow - Waterford & Croom branch 1967), plus final end of steam on NIR, it's now a smaller, more standardised, modern railway north and south.

 

1972 - 1995   Early Modern (or "Supertrain") era. A diesel-operated, air-con modern carriages, and containerised freight railway operated in a steam-type environment, with semaphore signals, a lot more shunting than the 1972 Rail Modernisation Plan ever envisaged, and working practices going back to the Norman invasion. We might call this the "Early Modern" era.

 

1995 - date   Contemporary era.  Freight decline, locomotive replacement by railcars, the "no-shunt railway" comes of age, along with virtual elimination of semaphore signalling, computers doing more an more work both on trains and off them, and in public interfaces.

For modellers, that suits well. If we divide these into periods, we have:

 

A   Pre 1910

B   Heyday Period

C   GSR Period

D   Transition Period ("grey'n'green")

E   Consolidation ("black'n'tan") period

F   Early Modern Period

G   Contemporary (or 21st century) Period.

[Damo666]

Thanks @jhb171achil, interesting proposition.

 

I got caught out recently in the Accurscale department of RMWeb when I referred to some coaches using the Hattons version of Irish eras. It would be helpful to have an agreed reference source.

 

I recall a few years ago seeing something somewhere on the Irish railway logos, and grabbed a screenshot for my reference. Unfortunately I didn't also record the source, but a few minutes this morning and I've found it here; I see that you and someone called 'LostCarPark' contributed to that thread too.

 

This is my 'updated' personal snapshot, which I hope is acceptable to post here. All credit to the original authors who are in the link above.

 

How well do the Irish rail logos match the A - G eras you propose?

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Damo666
Logo list updated / clarified

[Colin_McLeod]

@jhb171achil the simplified version for me is:

 

"Before my time"

"Rail Runabout days"

"My NIR days"

"Translink & pink buses"

 

[jhb171achil]

Hi Damo

 

The "Snail" in the photo (was my dad's; now in Enniskillen Railway Museum / Headhunters), WITH the writing (which literally means "Dublin Tramways"), was as mentioned used on trams and buses in Dublin from 1941; but when the Dublin United Transport became part of CIE, the same logo began to be used on railway vehicles. So in terms of trains, the one with the writing doesn't apply.

 

the next one - same colours, gold lining, and logo but without the writing, is fairly and squarely Era D. Wagons were all grey, most steam engines were too, and the rest, plus carriages and wooden doors in stations, were green; hence the "grey'n'green" era - a bit like references in Britain to the "Rail Blue Era".

 

The "Roundel" or "broken wheel" was introduced in 1962, and used until 1987, so it covers both the E & F period - it is the 1972 introduction of AC stock and the 1970s end of steam in the north which ends E and starts F, rather than the logo on its own; though slightly earlier, 1968, N I Railways came into being, so early NIR properly belongs to F.

 

The modernised roundel was used more on CIE tours literature and by the CIE group overall, after CIE was split up in 1987, so it was never really a railway logo.

 

The "set of points" logo would best fit as F, with the "three-pin-plug", "swoosh" and "flag" as G.

 

 

 

D   Transition Period ("grey'n'green")

E   Consolidation ("black'n'tan") period

F   Early Modern Period

G   Contemporary (or 21st century) Period.

Edited April 24, 2021 by jhb171achil

[NoelG]

On 21/04/2021 at 01:11, jhb171achil said:

There was comment somewhere on here recently on "eras" for easily categorising what model ran when or where. 

 

Elsewhere, the same question arose, and I suggested this, if it's of any interest........

 

1834 - 1890   Building

 

1890 - 1910   Second wave of government-assisted building ("Balfour" lines, most narrow gauge)

 

1910 - 1925   Main companies' "Heyday". (The "heyday" period?)

 

1925 - 1945   GSR era; if applied to the north, the understanding would be that the "heyday" continues in the north, even as just about everything south becomes CIE.

 

1945 - 1960   Transition Era / "grey'n'green" era. Loads of grey wagons - other than the GNR, no brown wagons have yet appeared; most CIE locos still grey; both UTA and CIE carriages green. THREE aspects to this: Closures (1940s NCC & post-fuel crisis CIE; 1950s UTA, GNR & BCDR, and narrow gauge), Modernisation (mass withdrawals of old rolling stock and replacement by new stock (UTA & (especially) CIE); and dieselisation: gradual elimination of steam on most of the network and mass introduction of AEC railcars on both GNR & CIE, experimental one-offs on the NCC, and MED's on the Bangor line 1950-2; B101, A & C class locomotives CIE.

 

1960 - 1972   Consolidation (or "black'n'tan")  era. After years of decline, and the end of the vehemently anti-rail Stormont policies and reduction of the UTA to what is now NIR, and final large closures (West Cork 1961, Tralee - Limerick, Limerick - Sligo '63, Mallow - Waterford & Croom branch 1967), plus final end of steam on NIR, it's now a smaller, more standardised, modern railway north and south.

 

1972 - 1995   Early Modern (or "Supertrain") era. A diesel-operated, air-con modern carriages, and containerised freight railway operated in a steam-type environment, with semaphore signals, a lot more shunting than the 1972 Rail Modernisation Plan ever envisaged, and working practices going back to the Norman invasion. We might call this the "Early Modern" era.

 

1995 - date   Contemporary era.  Freight decline, locomotive replacement by railcars, the "no-shunt railway" comes of age, along with virtual elimination of semaphore signalling, computers doing more an more work both on trains and off them, and in public interfaces.

For modellers, that suits well. If we divide these into periods, we have:

 

A   Pre 1910

B   Heyday Period

C   GSR Period

D   Transition Period ("grey'n'green")

E   Consolidation ("black'n'tan") period

F   Early Modern Period

G   Contemporary (or 21st century) Period.

excellent synopsis Jonathan. Personally though my own nostalgia memory it’s pre-1974 or post-1974. Perhaps also 2008 as the beginning of the end or the orthopaedic yo-yo era, the hideous plastic ICRs (roller skates on rails).