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Belfast Great Victoria Street Station and Adelaide-lookalike tribute


Hunslet 102
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A wee while since my last post,mainly because nothing much has happened on the layout since it. Still many plans to get put into practice, but for now below are a couple of photos from the mid 60s in the UTA era. A jeep is in charge of some of the final internal goods within Northern Ireland, something that would cease before NIR took control. It is seen passing an AEC railcar,in UTA green and regional livery, while the 2 CIE B class loco's give a more modern theme to the scene and will be around for some more decades, their wagons will mostly be wiped away within a few years.post-1918-0-05890600-1514388142.jpegpost-1918-0-46769800-1514388176.jpeg

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Great to see you posting again Andy. I envy you modelling what you remember seeing not what you have read in books.

Thanks Kieran,although the books always help to re-jog the memory! I was lucky growing up beside the bog meadows and playing in the old abandoned stock after the closure of Adelaide locomotive shed. Seeing Adelaide freight yard growing from that and witnessing the various freight and CIE locomotives that arrived on a regular basis,it was just part of everyday growing up back then. It's only in hindsight that we realise we were witness to some of the most golden years on Irish railways!

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Andy you have just reminded me of my own time exploring Adelaide. We might even have seen each other!

Ha ha,quite probably! I think you said one time you stayed in Charlieville Avenue, while I stayed just down the street in Hugh Street! The bog meadows was out of bounds for me as a child as you had to cross the main lines to get to it, not that that was ever going to stop us!

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So,as I am on a trip down memory lane of Adelaide,below are a couple more photos from the glory years of freight that had regular traffic between Dundalk and Adelaide.

 

An A class has just crossed from the yard to the up main line heading back home to Dundalk. A B class is in the headshunt with a couple of fertiliser wagons,while in the yard 2 sister loco's assemble more wagons for a return trip south later. A C class can also be seen,they too done regular freight trips. (The A and C are currently being refurbished!). Lurking in the background was Adelaide's regular pilot loco, Hunslet 102. Although it was meant to marshal the wagons,it spent most of its time idling behind the cement silos while the CIE loco's marshalled their own trains!post-1918-0-86677800-1514494656.jpeg

 

A close up of my favourite loco and livery (apart from the Hunslet of course)

 

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Hopefully the next two photos are the right way up! Belfast Great Victoria Street station as I remember it in the early 70s, with BUT and AEC railcars in NIR maroon/cream, Enteprise driving trailer in the new NIR maroon/blue and the ubiquitous DH shunter!post-1918-0-61323100-1514919691_thumb.jpegpost-1918-0-30153200-1514919704_thumb.jpeg

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Delightful Andy, keep the pictures coming please.

Thanks Kieran, a lot of tidying up to do on the layout,the fluctuating temperatures in the loft have resulted in the platform surfaces starting to blister (just in front of the AEC) and a bit of warping of the tobacco factory,probably due to its length. A bit frustrating, but it is either the loft or nothing!!!

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The following photo was taken from the Boyne bridge looking into the platforms of GVSt. The Hunslet is heading to the carriage sidings having brought the Enterprise in earlier, while an MED and AEC await their next turn of duties.

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The photographer has now descended to platform level to photograph the MED and AEC. A very tired looking GVSt, as it was in the early 70s after constant bomb damage,can be clearly seen.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Going home! It is late Saturday afternoon and NIR DH No2 is returning to Grosvenor goods yard with an empty ballast train having done some upgrade work just outside Portadown. CIE B182 is returning to Dublin with a shoppers special,consisting of a mixture of Cravens,Bredin's and Park Royal coaches. Hopefully the shoppers picked up some good bargains in Belfast!

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  • 3 weeks later...

A friend sent me a great old photo of Great Victoria St station,back in its heyday. What a hub of a station it once must have been. Anyway,below are a couple of nostalgic photos of the station from the 60s, with a UG class arriving with a local from Lisburn,a Jeep with a semi fast Dublin service and an AEC railcar. Also present are Corporation and UTA buses passing over the station on the Boyne bridge. Murray's tobacco factory is on the right.post-1918-0-08685900-1518383919_thumb.jpegpost-1918-0-69093300-1518383960_thumb.jpeg

Edited by Hunslet 102
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Those were the days.

I remember getting trains  from Finaghy to GVS when i was young but the steam was all 

gone by then. So that is why i would have more interest in diesel power.

Agreed. I was young when steam finished,so I too prefer the early NIR diesel era. The GNR section had the best variety of motive power,only in hindsight do I realise how lucky I was to witness it!

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