Hunslet 102

It is always good to be able to recreate an image from your childhood and the following photo's show the DH shunter with some converted spoil wagons on ballast duty,something that was a usual occurance on a Sunday and a great way to spend your time in the days when time just whiled away at a gentle pace.

Kieran,a lot of work to get to this stage for the railcar,but the chassis is looking great.A note of caution,if you go with the NNK white metal cabs,they are not as wide as the railcar width in the kit. These are the ends I used on my own railcars and they are the width of a normal RTR coach.

Nice job Kieran with the NAE coaches,they look smart.Good job with the TPO also,looks great

A couple of scenes from the 60s.Both shots cover the demise of the old UTA before NIR took over and show AEC railcar 112 in UTA green just leaving the station in route to Great Victoria St,passing a Jeep with an internal goods train in Northern Ireland,something that had gone before NIR.

A busy Saturday at Belfast Great Victoria Street shows B165 in charge of a shoppers special just arrived in platform 4 Later in the afternoon,B165 is ready to return to Dublin with the shoppers and their bargains.In platform 3, an 80 class driving trailer will depart behind the shoppers special with a service for Portadown. The final photo shows an overall view,with a glimpse of A20 in platform 2 with the MK2 Enterprise set.

Superb as always Kieran,a video of that full rake on your impressive layout will certainly be a treat to see

Lovely job with the Park Royals Kieran,unique coach types that will compliment your layout

Great work Kieran,the Park Royals are looking great,better than my efforts! What's your other project,an AEC railcar?

Another scene from the 70s.Two of the ex GNR inspired railcars,BUT No135 in NIR maroon/grey livery approaches platform 2,while AEC No111 in UTA inspired blue/cream livery approaches platform 1.Note the different window profile between the 2 railcars. In the street behind,a joint RUC/army checkpoint has been set up,with an NIR Rail Express Parcels van making its way through it.These vans were used to take parcels between York Road and Great Victoria Street.

Great work again Kieran,they will look great once painted and another great addition to your layout

As the Christmas holidays draw to a close,there was time for another running session and a few more photo's.The first 2 photo's,taken from different sides of the railway fence,show DH shunter No2 in charge of a ballast train,passing GM loco B181 with the morning Enterprise from Dublin consisting of cravans and laminate stock.In the yard,sister loco B165 is shunting bubbles and H vans while B182 awaits to marshall a later goods back to Dundalk. The final photo below shows some of the buses on the layout,passing the fortified police station.

The first day of the Christmas holidays gave me the opportunity to get up the loft and give the trains a much needed run after nearly 4 months! Below is a photo from 1970,showing brand new Hunslet 101 Eagle heading under the road bridge with the Enterprise for Great Victoria Street.Heading in the opposite direction is Jeep No 6,making its way back to York Road via the Lisburn to Antrim line following a trip working to Great Victoria Street.In the street above,a couple of RUC landrovers show the changing face of everyday life in Belfast.

Excellent work Kieran

Great job Kieran,it has turned out brilliant

Thanks for posting John,only just seen the photos within the last couple of days,some great details in them that will help with the rest of the GVSt build,once I get it kick started again,probably over the Christmas period.

The CIE weedkilling train finally made it up north to do the NIR system,below are a few photo's of its progress.The first 6 photo's are a breakdown of the individual wagons of this unique 1970s train,the final photo showing the scale length of the train.

Below are a couple of close-up shots of AEC railcar 111 in the UTA short lived sector livery for the GNR section.111 was never repainted into NIR maroon/grey livery unlike the rest of the fleet.

A shot from inside the station looking towards the ticket barriers with a man with a broken leg trying to make his train on time.

It has been a while since my last update,with nothing much happening on the station build.I have however been building a couple of AEC railcar sets,painted in 3 of the livery's that could be seen in the late sixties at the start of the NIR era. The first photo below shows AEC 111 in the regional blue/cream livery in platform 4,beside sister railcar 112 in UTA green livery.The year is 1969,AEC 111 remained in this livery and was never painted into the NIR maroon/grey livery,while AEC 112 received the new livery around 1969. The next photo shows 112 heading out of the station,with the centre coach and rear AEC railcar 116 in the NIR maroon/cream livery. The following photo shows a K15 centre coach in the blue/cream livery,with the rear end of AEC railcar 118 in NIR livery. The final photo is an overall view of the station area,with CIE 141 loco in the foreground of platform 2 with the Enterprise made up of craven and laminate coaches,with the 2 AEC railcar sets in platforms 3 and 4.A brand new NIR DH loco is in platform 1 with the NIR weedkiller train,3 of these loco's arrived in 1969.

Thanks Colin,I could not have put your description of the scenes in any better way.Not the type of scene we would want to go back too,but they were commonplace while I was growing up and a reflection of Belfast in the 70s would not be complete without some form of army activity. Thanks also to all the guys who have liked the various posts on the thread,much appreciated.

The following photos were taken in 1970 Belfast and show the changing face of both Northern Ireland Railways and Northern Ireland itself.The first photo shows an army 'Pig' truck setting up a checkpoint,with the soldiers dispersing into their various positions.As with life in Northern Ireland at the time,everyone carried on with their every day lives as normal. The following photo is an aerial view taken from an army helicopter showing the army getting into position,while in the background,the changing face of NIR can be seen with brand new Hunslet 101 Eagle pushing the Enterprise to Belfast,passing the soon to be replaced BUT railcar. The final photo shows the Hunslet and BUT meeting at the station,with passengers going about their business as normal despite the activity in the street.

Thanks for posting the photo's of the old Queen's Quay station Colin,brings back memories of day trips to Bangor,which were the only holidays you got back then. Another of Belfast's iconic stations,with the resident MEDs,my all time favourite NIR railcars.Happy days

A couple more shots from the layout,featuring my favourite locomotives of all time,the NIR DL Class,or better known as the 'Hunslet'. The first shows 101 Eagle powering the Enterprise through Alsadon station,passing sister loco 102 Falcon,which is in charge of a permanent way train.In the goods yard behind the station,CIE B class loco No 165 is marshalling some loose coupled wagons for a return trip to Dundalk.Once GVSt station area has been completed,this station will be remodelled to look like the real Adelaide station from the early 70s. The following 2 photo's show the 2 Hunslet's passing each other in the station,one has been taken from the station side of the fence,the other from the good yard side of the fence.

Following on from the above photo's,the island platform canopies are nearly complete,another coat of paint should finish them off.The first photo is a side on view of the canopies in the early 70s having suffered more bomb damage with the repair gang trying to carry out some repairs. The following photo is the same view looking into the station.It is business as usual as the BUT in platform 4 is waiting to depart for Portadown. The last photo is from further down the platform,with the other end of the BUT waiting for the final passengers to board.An A class lcomotive is in platform 2 with the CIE Enterprise.

getting back on track with the station build,the following photo shows a start made on the island platform canopies that were situated at the end of the main roof.In the early 70s these canopies suffered badly from bomb damage and quite often left unrepaired.Much more work to be done to complete them to resemble the real canopies,but quite happy with the progress to date.