Hunslet 102

AEC railcar 113 gets a helping hand from CIE B165 after failing on an all stations Lisburn to GVSt!

I still have the Hymek (non runner) , the container crane and the 2 container flats with containers. The containers have been repainted to Bell containers and the flats chopped down to 40ft, while the crane is still in use at Adelaide yard, all from my 1967 train set!

Great story Steve, thanks for sharing. Jim has shared a few similar stories of events of the past on the railway, sounds like fun at times!

Below is Jim’s reply to the movement of the UG and SG3.

Thanks Steve, I will have a look in Diesel Dawn, also know one of Jim’s Markle dvd’s shows an MPD leaving Lisburn in 1972, good excuse to have a bit more nostalgia! I was thinking the Harlandic or DH as possible motive power, although the DHs were quite underpowered. A CIE loco ?? I think this is one I will quiz Mr Edgar on!!

Yep I remember the MEDs being at GVSt long before the central line was reconnected. Also, great shout out about Parting Shot, as I leafed through it again last night, the 2 car MPD in ‘69 solved which MPD set to model. Due to space, my No1 platform accommodates a 2 car set best, a 3 car set overhangs, so 6 and 7 for mid 60s, MPD late 60s and 2 car 80s for mid 70s! Interesting info about the UG and SG3. When they were hauled to Adelaide, any idea what motive power was used? I assume they would have been hauled up the third line.

Thanks Steve, I am glad I put my decals on the oldest bus in my Corporation fleet !

Thanks JHB for your comments and some great information! As a youngster around 1970 I used to cross the line to play in the bog meadows and remember playing on an old steam engine, which must have been 47! I was 4 when Adelaide shed closed, so don’t remember it unfortunately.

Thanks Kieran, that’s nice to hear, very hard to get a shot of inside the train shed due to the angle it’s built!

Nice job Kieran, that production line never ceases!

Another couple of shots from inside the train shed, with a side view of the earlier AEC railcar photo taken in 1966. The next photo was taken 10 years later in 1976 and shows the customs building that stood at the end of platform 2, GVSt a shadow of its former self by then, with just a couple of weeks to closure. And finally a close up of the tobacco factory, another iconic building in the area that succumbed to so called modernisation!

Any updates on the redevelopment of the layout Kieran? Also, have you a new layout plan now that the helix has gone, like hidden sidings etc?

Yea I suppose Kieran, have so many projects to complete or start I sometimes feel it is like spinning plates....

Looking good Steve, I like the way you have left enough room for scenery either side of the tracks.

And there in lies my problem Kieran!!

Yep an LMS 3F for the UG. I also have a 4F for a Big D, an L1 for an S class and a 2P for a U class, all suggestions from the Modelling Irish Railways book! If I ever get round to doing them it will be a miracle, especially with so many other projects still uncompleted, but hey that is the beauty of the hobby, always something to do.

Early evening at Belfast Great Victoria Street catches a UTA AEC railcar and a UG class (still to be converted!) awaiting their next turn of duty. A couple of Corporation buses are seen above the station crossing the Boyne bridge.

JHB, were these goods trains to Lisburn or to Grosvenor?

Great looking railcar set, always had a soft spot for railcars, especially the various types NIR had!

Nice BUT set, like your Enterprise headboard, sets it off well.

Thanks Steve, that’s a wealth of information and very helpful. Plenty of operational potential for the 60s era, really was a big mistake closing the Derry Road. I can see the potential your layout design has for watching many various train formations and stock going backwards and forwards!

Very interesting Steve, many thanks for taking the time to post and for the copy timetables. Don’t worry about clogging up the thread, if there is information or facts that can help me with creating an authentic model, I don’t mind taking detours on the thread! Growing up beside Adelaide station I was just too young to remember the locomotive works, it had become part of the bog meadows by then, although there was the odd abandoned steam loco for us to explore! I think I have always just thought of the Dublin express as the Enterprise, although I was aware of the semi fast services, it is good to know the difference’s, the book seemed to indicate that all through services had stopped. As I have picked up a few steam locomotives to convert, a big D etc and have an interest in how the service was before the Derry Road closed, the like of the 61 onwards timetable out and in to GVSt would be of interest. Thanks again for your information, no need for peace offerings as I would rather have the correct information than not! Andy

Thanks Lambegman! Being born in 1962 the 60s is not my most knowledgable era, I was more a 70s /80s era, but since building GVSt I have moved to a 60s/70s era. There is a photo in Irish Railways 40 years of change by Colin Boocock showing a Jeep hauling green CIE coaches from an exchange at Dundalk in 1963, stating the coaches had been brought to Dundalk by a pair of GMs! ?? I was 1 at the time, so can’t confirm I witnessed it! Yes I would be interested if you had more details of 60s era operations, thanks

Yes there was plenty of atmosphere back then!