Hunslet 102

I had heard somewhere that Downpatrick were looking at trying to preserve an 80 class,but dont know if that was just a rumour or wishful thinking.As these railcars were the workhorse of NIR for 30 years,it would be a shame and a travisity if one was not preserved. Shame that the DH shunters were not preserved after all 3 had originally gone for preservation,but diesels dont seem to have the same appeal as steam for preservation,although in my mind they are as equal in our heritage as any steamer.

There were 3 DH locomotives in total and at first,after withdrawal,they were all preserved by the Irish Traction Group.2 did end up back in revenue service in Sri Lanka while the 3rd ended up in Wales but was out of service.

A few more photo's from the layout showing a face of the railway that has changed forever.The 2 photo's below show an NIR weedkilling crew at work,no high viz vests or HSE shackles here!! The following 2 photo's show the full weedkilling train with an NIR DH loco in charge.This train actually ran like this back in the early 70s,mainly on the single line between Lisburn and Antrim.

Thanks Jawfin,I assume you are a volunteer at Downpatrick? I am not sure what the wheel configuration of the E class is.I know you have a couple at Downpatrick,are all six wheels powered or are the back two unpowered,a bit like the trailing wheels on a steam engine?

A couple more photos taken from the layout.The photo below is of a common site from the early 70s,a top and tailed NIR Hunslet Enterprise with 102 Falcon leading and 103 Merlin bring up the rear.Sister loco 101 Eagle heads in the opposite direction with a PW train while in the freight yard,2 CIE 141 class loco's can be seen,B165 waiting for the line to clear to take a freight to Dundalk with sister loco B188 making up her train for later. The next photo shows the 3 NIR Hunslets at work individually,a view not recorded muck in real life.Again 102 Falcon is in charge of the Enterprise,101 Eagle is still doing PW work while 103 Merlin idles in the headshunt .A CIE 141 class shunts some cement bubbles in the freight yard.

Great photos Jawfin,thanks for posting.The E class never made it North,but the A and C class loco's were still in regular use along with the B classes.As a matter of interest,where were these photos taken? I am still in the middle of doing an A class which I was going to paint in black n tan,but the all black livery is growing on me!

Thanks Jawfin,these type of trains with the Guinness containers were quite common in the late 60s early 70s.They do make a nice looking train.

Glad you liked the pics,Kirley,hope to get some work done on the actual layout soon as I have been concentrating on completing a couple of Hunslets,an A class and some freight wagons over the Christmas break. Andy

Below is a photo of the PW gang only.Track renewal back in the 70s and before was certainly hard graft

Not much modelling done to GVSt recently as any modelling time has been devoted to building 2 more Hunslets to give me the full set of 3 that ran on NIR and also upgrading my A class.I did however manage to fit in a bit of train running time and a few pics of what was happening on the layout are included below. The above photo and the photo below show the PW gang at work repairing the up line,while a CIE 141 class passes on the down line with a Guinness train for Grosvenor Road goods yard.A long distant memory of how things were done on the railway before tampers etc and not a high viz vest in sight.

Hi Rob Thanks for your comments on the layout.The Metcalfe terrace houses are very close to the type that I also grew up in in Belfast,close to Adelaide station.I model the layout from the 70s period as I have fond memories growing up around the railway at this time and most things,apart from the terrace houses,have long since disappeared. PS I am Hunslet 102,not Kirley,but Kirley's layout looks good too! Andy

Jawfin-thanks for your comments on the layout,glad you like it. Nice clear photo of the A class,thanks for sharing.I am rebuilding a Q kits A class at the moment,having tossed it from the loft hatch a couple of years ago,one of those butterfinger moments that takes a bit of time to get over! Hopefully I will be able to get some more photos of the layout posted shortly. Andy

Hi Kirley-thanks for your continued interest in the layout progress.At the moment I cant promise what work will be done on the layout over the Christmas period as at the moment I am working on 2 more Hunslets and an A class and hopefully adding westhy Sulzer to that list also.The Hunslets have been in their boxes for over 2 years,so are long overdue to be completed!I will try to get some work done and get some posts up again. BTW,enjoying your own layout progress on IRM,it is looking good and look forward to more progress updates from yourself.

Colin-many thanks for posting up such a variety of photos of the Boyne bridge supports at Great Victoria Street.The photos will certainly help me when I come to model the bridge,I really like the detail from the arch supports on platform 2,it is an angle of them that I did not have from the old photos I have been working from from the old GVSt.The column supports on platform 3 are well detailed also and are still the original supports as they are the same as a photo I have from the 60s,apart from the cylinders as you rightly pointed out. Thanks again for taking the time to take the photos and for posting them up,they will be well referred too. Hope you enjoyed the model show at Cultra,it sounds like it was a good show. Andy

Thanks again Colin-that would be most appreciated if you got a good pic of the Boyne bridge supports and it would be good to see an official UTA photo of the interior.Thanks for your help and links from above,I must admit the project has been an enjoyable one to research and hopefully the model will do the old station justice. Andy

Colin-Many thanks for the attached photo's,the last 3 in particular long since disappeared into history.The room that I have means I can only model the 4 platforms,the metal fence at platform 4 being at the baseboard edge,so thus I don't have the room to model the bus station section and wall.Some great roof detail on the final photo which will be very useful,I have quite a few photo's of the platforms with just some details of the roof,but your photo helps plug some gaps.What year is the photo from?,with the roof intact I would assume it was pre 1972. The photo at Lisburn looks good with great detail for the supports for the canopy's,so again thanks for posting it up and also again to Dart_8124 for highlighting the link.The station looks to be in great shape and well maintained. A couple of other details that would help me with the layout,would be more detailed photo's of the supports on the platforms for the Boyne bridge,I only have an old b/w steam era one for reference and also any close-up detail photo's of Murray's tobacco factory as again most photo's of this are background shots to the trains.Any help would be greatly appreciated. Andy

Stephen Like the photo of the shed,you are right it is a stunner,it will really compliment your Amiens Street layout. Andy

Thanks for your comments Dart_8124,glad you find the thread interesting.The layout is my own static home layout based in the loft,so all the work is my own,as and when time and resources permit. Thanks for the info on the column supports at Lisburn,my mother still lives there,I am now based in Glasgow,so next time I am home I will make a point of studying the station more closely. Thanks also for your offer of further help if needed,I may well seek your advice as things progress. Andy

The scrap yard is certainly getting busy Stuart!Good job with the class 37.Looking forward to more updates on blue with yellow faces and to getting round for a running session soon,as long as I can bring some Irish loco's!

Good to see you back Stu and thanks for your comments on the photo's.Hopefully you will get Blue with Yellow faces photo's back up on your own thread soon.Did'nt realise the Ayr show was the September weekend!Falkirk is certainly on the calander,always a great show.Hope you and John enjoyed the Ayr show. It would be good to have a railway night some time soon,will speak to you about arrangements soon. Andy

Thanks Stephen,your comments are always appreciated. Andy

Not much work done on the layout over the summer,but now that autumn is here that will change.Anyway,here are a few more photos from the layout. Below can be seen a view across the yard with cement bubbles and vent vans in view.A B141,number B165 is shunting fertilizer wagons in the headshunt while the NIR Enterprise headed by driving trailer 812 heads towards Belfast.Just visible behind the Enterprise is the tail end of BUT 122 heading with a local to Lisburn. Below a view of the same scene from the lineside on the opposite side of the yard The above photo is the same scene wfrom a head-on view. A general view of the above scenes.All 4 photos are the same scene but from different angles. Andy

GoingUnderground-Many thanks for your comments on the layout. The railcars that ran on the Bangor line-Multi Engined Diesels (MED's) in the 50s would be the same stock.These railcars entered service in the 50s and lasted until 1977 before withdrawal.The livery from the 50s in the UTA era up to around 1968 would have been green,with the colour scheme changing to maroon and cream/light grey when NIR took over the running of the railways.There were also MED railcars on the York Road to Larne line and some of these ended up working out of Great Victoria Street in the early 70s,hence the reason one can be found on my layout.As they are my favourite railcar of all the various types that ran on NIR,one would have been included anyway! The UTA certainly favoured bus and road haulage,which they were also responsible for,over the railways and under them the railways of Northern Ireland had their own 'Beeching',or in our case 'Benson',which decimated the network in the 60s, but not before the UTA had already closed all of the BCDR apart from the branch to Bangor in the early 50s,not long after gaining control. Andy

Great Victoria Street station was the Belfast terminus for the Great Northern Railway (Ireland)- GNR- up until the demise of the GNR in 1958,so the old familiar terms of the locals would still have been in existence in the 60s.I only remember the station from the early 70s,by which time it had lost its magnificent front facade,which as you said, was demolished to make way for the building of the Europa Hotel.The station thereafter went downhill with various bomb attacks and the decision to build Belfast Central-on the outskirts of Belfast! which replaced GVSt in 1976,when GVSt finally closed. The opening of the new Great Victoria Street in the 90s I think proved the planners got it wrong in the 70s,but too late for that once proud landmark station of the GNR. Andy

Thanks Retro King for your comments. Being born and bred in the Adelaide area,it holds a lot of happy memories for me and the lookalike tribute through the layout helps to bring back and retain those memories.I was 'back home' in the area last month for the first time in a few years and was quite surprised at the change to the freight yard,which has all but gone.2 months school summer holidays in the 70s watching the freight operations is alas just a memory!At least the layout helps transport me back to those days! Thanks also to all those who click the 'like this' box,its much appreciated. Andy