Tag Archives: coras iompar éireann

September 28, 2009 · 3:24 AM

Some Irish Conversions

Denis Grimshaw

 

Whilst these models are not built to fine-scale standards, and certainly not to a professional level, they do reasonably represent the classes modelled. In any case, using 00-gauge track at in 4mm scale gives much larger discrepancies than slightly inaccurate driving wheel diameters or axle spacing. The WT-class 2-6-4Ts Nos. 4 and 57 are Hornby Stanier locos, modified with Comet tank and cab sides, the bunker rebuilt in plasticard, outside steam pipes and a top feed. Painting is in post-war NCC style, rather than UTA (albeit incorrect for 57: I must get round to renumbering this engine to the 1-10 series). The VS 4-4-0 is a Hornby Schools, with a new brass sheet cab and other modifications in plasticard. The GNR SG3 0-6-0 is a Mainline LMS Class 4 with a new brass sheet cab and firebox, and other alterations (particularly the tender) in plasticard. It needs a new dome with a rounder top. The GSR B1a 4-6-0 is a Mainline Royal Scot, with modifications in plasticard, and repositioning the dome. All are hand-painted – some better than others! As my main interest is in operation rather than precise modelling, they give an adequate effect at relatively minimal effort! Whilst most of my models are NCC (with a layout based on Coleraine and Portrush) some poetic license has allowed other railway’s trains to occasionally visit! Scenery will hopefully be improved once I retire and have a bit more time at home.

GSR B1a Macha

GSR B1a 'Macha'

GNR(I) VS class No. 210

GNR(I) VS class No. 210

GNR(I) SG3

GNR(I) SG3

NCC Jeep

NCC Jeep

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September 28, 2009 · 2:52 AM

A Rake of Coaches: Or How Solving One Problem Leads to Another

John Mayne

 

It started out simply enough early in 2004. I saw the listing for a laminate brake standard on the Worsley Works web site and thinking it was a model of the 1958 brake composites, I bought the coach and a Deutz loco kit. I had been involved with the MRSI Loughrea group for many years and thought these models would give us a more accurate representation of the branch line in the “modern image era.” The only thing was that I was in the middle of planning a move to New Zealand!  So the Deutz and coach have never had a trip on the Loughrea layout. The Deutz is essentially a complete loco kit without wheels motor, detail castings and turnings, the coach basically consists of sides ends and underframe, the builder has to source roof, bogies, interior, detail casting and bogies. While the Worsley Works coaches are basically similar in design to Comet, the main issue is in forming a roof as most Irish stock is wider than the British; Comet and MJT extrusions are too narrow.  I model on 21mm gauge and while proprietary Commonwealth bogies might pass muster, I wanted the model to be as accurate as possible and bogies would require custom made side-frames. I was impressed with the detail of the coach and ordered an AEC railcar set, a Laminate second and a Park Royal coach: in for a penny,  in for a pound. Basically the idea was to commission any special components required such as bogies, roof extrusions or pressings and detail parts from UK manufacturers, to complete my own models and test the potential market.

Disappointingly, few of those I contacted responded or demonstrated a willingness to follow up on a serious enquiry for the design and  manufacture of components to compete the project. I had experimented with forming the roof profile variously from brass, plasticard and balsawood without much success, there is little practical guidance on scratch building coaches or metalwork in the contemporary model press. Commissioning an extrusion locally was prohibitive. Eventually I followed Allen Doherty’s suggestion of using a proprietary extrusion as a basis for cutting and filling to a wider profile. Bogies are based on MJT torsion bar compensation units which are easily adaptable to the wider gauge, and other details are a mixture of Comet and MJT components.

The Coaches:
Unlike the relatively rapid development of the BR Mk.1 stock, Inchicore like the GWR in the 1930’s, seemed to have difficulty in building two batches of coaches to the same design and went through several stages of development before the arrival of the Craven stock in 1963. Briefly the 1953-4 period  saw the introduction of a wide range of hauled stock based on a development of Bredin’s GSR flush sided timber framed designs, including open and compartment coaches, buffet, restaurant cars and mail vans. The earliest vehicles ran on GSR design bogies and traditional steel under-frames, later batches incorporated Bulleid triangulated under-frames and Commonwealth bogies. Even in the 1950’s such stock would have been expensive and labour intensive to produce and not readily adaptable to mass production, requiring a large highly skilled workforce to machine and assemble components. The Park Royals with their prefabricated components allowed volume construction using a semi-skilled workforce. Significantly though designed for suburban and main line use, only one design of body shell was produced.

1379 class Park Royal suburban coach

1379 class Park Royal suburban coach

The laminates (aluminium, insulation, plywood panel) are best described as of modular construction with several body designs (based round a small number of components), again allowing rapid construction. There appear to have been at least four designs: a brake composite, 70 and 64 seat main line standards and a suburban coach. I recall laminate coaches being refurbished at Inchicore in the late 1970’s. Each coach was stripped down to roof, ends and under-frames, and re-skinned; either CIE still had a stock of body panels or the manufacturing capability existed. One theory was that it was originally planned to replace the bodies after 20 years, but this was no longer required following the introduction of monocoque design in the 1960’s. Inchicore appears have briefly reverted to timber frame body design for its final batch of twelve coaches (ten standards and two firsts) before the arrival of the Cravens in 1963. Significantly these coaches used the heavier BR pattern of Commonwealth bogie.

The brake standard appears to be based on the 1970’s conversion of laminate coaches to brake standards rather than the 1958 brake composite design. The brake standards of this era were converted from laminate suburban stock and 1953-4 composites. The Worsley Works kit is of a different pattern and appears to be based on a conversion of a main line laminate standard. Two laminate brakes are preserved one the DCDR at Downpatrick, another by the RPSI as a service vehicle in their Dublin excursion train rake. The laminate standard and the Park Royal appear are to be accurate representations.

1448 class laminate standard

1448 class laminate standard

The etchings make up in a similar manner to the Comet coach kits, with the body sides and ends designed to be removable from the chassis. There is a half etched representation of the joints between the body panels, a distinctive feature of the laminates. The chassis comprises a main floor etching, with fold down truss rods, with separate etchings for solebars and a lower body stiffener making up into a nice solid chassis.  The solebars on the laminates and Park Royal coaches do not run parallel with the sides, the coaches running on Bulleid’s triangulated under-frames.  I have left well enough alone, though solebars, say from brass angle, could be set up in a jig to capture this subtle and distinctive feature of CIE stock of the era. The sides are easy enough to curve using brass bars and a straight edge. The Park Royal sides are etched in three sections with over lapping tags but are a bit flimsy being half etched.

Laminate coach - first section of roof in position

Laminate coach - first section of roof in position

I would rather use a formed sheet metal roof like the TMD Bredins, should a suitable one become available. I recently completed a C&L narrow gauge coach: forming the arched roof even with the down ward curving ends was simple enough, though forming a “modern” elliptical roof is a different matter and a subject seldom if ever covered in the main
stream model press. The etched brass assembly is soldered, and the aluminium roof extrusion glued in place using cyno reinforced with epoxy resin, with a strip of plasticard to reinforce the joint between the two sections of aluminium and support  the filler.

Laminate brake standard

Laminate brake standard

In the end on Allen’s suggestion, I used a Comet BR Mk1 roof extrusion cut down the middle the gap filled with body filler. The roof detailing covers a multitude of sins and lifts the model. Comet torpedo ventilators and PC lining strip  gives the roof its distinctive and  jointed appearance.  I decided to include a fairly high level of detail with door hinges, knobs, handles, toilet filler and communication cord pipe-work. Next stage is pattern making and castings for bogie side-frames, dynamo and vacuum cylinders, heating and  vacuum pipes, couplers, finish painting, build layout, couple up to B141!

Laminate coach sides clamped while glue sets

Laminate coach sides clamped while glue sets

Worsley Works underframe, MJT bogie compensation units, plasticard spacers for 21mm gauge, MJT LNER buffer shanks

Worsley Works underframe, MJT bogie compensation units, plasticard spacers for 21mm gauge, MJT LNER buffer shanks

Laminate coach with Comet seating units, plasticard floor and bulkheads

Laminate coach with Comet seating units, plasticard floor and bulkheads

There is also a lot of useful information on building etched brass coaches like these on the Comet Kits website: http://www.cometmodels.co.uk/ Follow the links: Downloads  Building Coaches the Comet Way.

[Ed: for more details see the following paper on coaching stock built for or by CIE from 1945 to the arrival of the Cravens: Kennedy D (1965) Modern CIE Coaching Stock Journal of Irish Railway Record Society 7 (37): 14-61]

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September 28, 2009 · 1:27 AM

Converting the Murphy-Bachmann 141 Class Diesel to 21mm Gauge

Denis Bates

 

The General Motors 141 Class diesel of CIE was introduced in 1962, and for over 40 years has been among the most successful of the Irish diesels.  So it was not by accident that Murphy Models chose it for their first foray into a completely designed Irish model (the previous Woolwich Mogul and the NCC Jinty were of course repainted versions of the English models).  So, although my main interests are in steam days, and particularly the BCDR, I couldn’t resist purchasing one, with a view to re-wheeling it to 21mm gauge and P4 standards.  The prototype is described and drawn in two of the model magazines: by Tim Cramer in Model Railways for March 1977, and by Shane McQuillan in Practical Model Railways for June 1986. The latter article describes also the building of one, from a kit by the Model Irish Railways group. Comparing the Murphy model with the drawings, I could find nothing amiss – except for the buffer spacing. The buffer centres should be at a spacing of 6’3”; on the model they are at 23mm (5’9”). I presume that is to match the spacing of other Murphy-Bachmann models, at English spacing.

I first determined that a P4 wheelset would fit between the bogie frames, and it does, just. My main mistake was to dismantle the loco as far as possible – this is not necessary, as the bogie frames can be levered off. They are similar to those of the Bachmann Class 20 diesel (described by Keith Norgrove at http://www.norgrove.me.uk/index.htm). A screwdriver is used to prise out the frames, which appear to be identical on the two bogies. The wheelsets can then be prised out of the bogies. Each wheelset has an offset plastic gear wheel, two brass bearings which are a push fit in the sideframes, and brass wheels with insulating sleeves. Measure the distance of the gear from the ends of the axles, before tapping out the wheels and sleeves using a small drift and hammer. The gear wheel can similarly be tapped off the axle.

If the model is to be converted to EM gauge, all that is necessary is to cut 2mm steel rod to the appropriate length, and put the gear and wheels on. Although there is a spline on the original axle for the gear, it seems tight enough on a plain rod (a smear of loctite could be used to anchor it firmly). To keep the axle laterally in place, two brass sleeves, or an appropriate number of washers, should be added between the gear and the bearings (or between the bearings and the insulating sleeves (see figure). For conversion to P4 and 21mm, the original brass wheels can be used, but have to be turned down to receive P4 rims (these are obtainable from Alan Gibson on special order). It is also possible to turn down the existing rims to P4 standards. For those without a lathe, it may be possible to purchase P4 wheels to suit. Before finally inserting the wheel sets, the pickups need to be adjusted so that they bear on the backs of the wheels. On the Bachmann wheelsets, the hub projects further out than the rim, and does not fit easily between the sideframes. However, the insides of the frames can be filed out (about 0.5mm or more) to give clearance. I used a cylindrical dental burr to do this, held in a drill press, and hand held the frames. Once finished, the loco ran just as well as it had done on 00 track. Now to try it on Adavoyle Junction, out of period though it be!

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September 28, 2009 · 12:58 AM

Something New; Something Old

David Malone

 

Several modellers have had a go at fitting sound chips into the Bachmann-Murphy 141 although some seem to be using slightly larger speakers than I did. To replace the unusable round one supplied. I did no filing, just snipped the corners off the oblong speaker’s plastic frame, and soldered the wires from the cut off speaker to the new one. I did not know that there were speaker terminals on the lights board. I have fitted my two, black 141 and 181, with Ultrascale wheels, to 21mm gauge. The wheels are intended for the BR “Western” class, and feature protruding hubs. I removed these using a chisel shaped hobby blade, wider than the tyre diameter. They can then be shaved off, using the outer tyre face as a limit stop, a few minutes work per wheel. I had to reduce the supplied axles length by 0.75mm.  The little gear wheel sits on a splined bit of the axle, and slides on the 2mm axle, but a touch of Locktite is all that is needed to secure it. I made the mistake of mounting the gear central on the axle, it should be slightly off set to fully engage the gear in the bogie, I will tweak mine over.  The pick up phosphor-bronze strips need bending out to touch the back of the wheels, and act as a side control spring. Now came the big test, would it run? It worked fine on my 3’ length of straight track, but what about my 5’ length, with a reverse curve 4’ 6” into 4’radius, with rail depression in excess of 1mm staggered in the curve: how would the rigid axles cope? Well, much to my pleasant surprise, they stayed on the track, no problem. Since then I decided to file about 0.5mm off the inside of the side-frames, just to provide a little extra clearance, and reduce the chance of the paint on the wheel disc wearing away.  Looking at the removed wheels, I think the protruding rim of the tyre could be turned off until the tyre is scale width, and then the flange could be turned down to P4 or EM profile, thus avoiding a twelve week wait and the expense of Ultrascale wheels.

Treated and untreated bogies. The untreated one is my CIE Supertrain liveried 181

Treated and untreated bogies. The untreated one is my CIE Supertrain liveried 181

Two versions of the 141 on 2mm gauge track

Two versions of the 141 on 2mm gauge track

I am now doing a bit of weathering on my 141/181s. I overdid the exhaust staining on the roof of the orange one, fortunately using acrylic so it washes off. On the sound chipped ones, I removed the grey bridging plate, and turned the speakers over, so they are face down into the
flywheel void, thus creating a sound box. It does seem louder, even with the hearing aids turned off. A dab of black acrylic on the silver speaker back makes them all but invisible through the grill. The next job is to fit all the plumbing to the “Pilot”, and try to combine the very neat etched coupling links with Exactoscale bits to form a strong coupling. The supplied ones are extremely neat, but I don’t think the little plastic pins would last long in service.

The J15 is finished, at last. I started it in 2006, having had the kit since 1985!!!  I found that the tender spring hangers that I mentioned were on the fret all the time. I thought they were the loops that some tenders had around the springs. A case of read the instructions.  In the RAF and civil aviation, the instructors always gave advice before you went into any written exam: “Read the d*** questions!”  Translated into model building this becomes: “Read the d*** instructions!”

J15 on 21mm gauge track

J15 on 21mm gauge track

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June 19, 2009 · 11:02 PM

Scratch Building a CIE Cement Bubble

Des Sullivan

 

Prior to its gradual demise, the freight section of  Irish Rail produced some very distinctive and unique rolling stock that just begs to be scratch built.   We have also been blessed that MIR has provided several quality kits in the past few years to recreate them.   The cement bubble has been one of these. However, when I decided to build an eleven to twelve  unit rake of them over twelve months ago, the euro-exchange rate at the time proved to be something of a disincentive.  I also wanted to capture some of the finer detailing that the existing kit as seen from the photo on Steve Johnson’s site didn’t seem to cover.  Since having built them, the euro has strengthened significantly and the kit has been superbly revised (what with a very solid new resin casting of the bubble and gangway and ladder brass etchings).  Oh well, c’est la vie.  I was fortunate in having the opportunity to photograph several of them at the old container sidings in Limerick station which revealed the finer detailing and colouring that would add to building a suitable model.

The basis for most 20’ four wheel CIE freight stock is the Dapol C043 cement wagon.  The distinctive springs, spring hangers and brake levers are all well captured on this model.  Also, because it is a plastic kit, there is much more “depth” to the brake mechanism than one would get with a single piece RTR moulding.  The dimensions are a little out, given that the model is a OO/HO hybrid, but this is really of minor importance compared to the abundance of chassis detailing.  Finally, there are several parts in the C043 kit that with minor alteration can be used to provide the extra detailing needed for the rest of the model.

  
Parts Needed
To build one you will need the following:
  • CO43 kit
  • Two Kinder Eggs – not the hinged type (yes, there are more than one) but the one with the two shells.
  • Guitar string (a light gauge “A” string).
  • A paper lollypop stick (c. 3.6mm diameter).
  • Transfer set (details later).
  • 0.35mm styrene sheeting 30mm x 80mm.
  • Scrap of net curtain material or K & S etched mesh 3/64 diamond.
  • Flexible 0.6mm wire.
  • Milliput.
  • Ratio signal ladder pack (#451).

  • Paint (beige, black, grey, white).

Chassis Construction
First, completely pare back and remove the raised rim on the wagon floor plate (part 6) using a sharp knife or blade.

Scribe and then remove the central part between the two holes.  I drill out several 6mm holes to make this easier.

Chamfer the straight sides of the hole at 45° to make for maximum surface and gluing contact between the bubble/egg and the base.

Construct the chassis as detailed in the Dapol instructions, make sure any flash or mould lines are pared and sanded back.  The main focus of these is at the buffer sides.

Remove the moulded chain from the end hooks prior to fitting as it will impede the coupling bars otherwise.

Widen out the wheels on the axles ever so slightly (0.2-0.3mm). Drill two holes on either side of the frames for the levers.

Base Detailing
The hole left after removing the central section of the plate is too long and will leave a gap at either side when the egg is put in place.  You will need to construct a new wagon floor sheet from styrene sheet that the bubble can sit into, see the adjacent diagram for the appropriate dimensions. 

Remember, fit-check-pare and repeat until a precise fit is got prior to gluing.  Then glue down the sheet onto the original chassis top.  It will take a bit of time, but once done properly, constructing another ten or fourteen can be done with assembly-line ease.   I made a stencil from styrene and used it to draw out and cut the other eleven chassis sheet covers once I was happy with the final dimensions.

Identify the plate (part 44).  This has raised diagonal detailing that matches the prototype closely.   Cut to size by removing paler material as shown in the attached diagram and remove the nodge on the top.  Fit at one end of the  wagon floor sheet, opposite of where the ladders will be.

Construct the cement pipes from chopped up parts 55 and 56.  Mark and drill 0.8mm holes in the floor sheet at the other end (opposite to where plate is on)  and fit.  Bend and then glue some 0.6mm wire to the back. Cut a 5mm length of lollypop stick at a 45° angle using a sharp knife, and mount near the pipes as shown.

Making the Bubble
One of the delights of scratch building this model is that the bog standard Kinder Egg is an almost exact scale replica of the bubble in terms of the hemispherical ends.    It does require lengthening and this is done as follows.Take a male section of one egg and carefully cut off the outer 4mm of the rim.  This is easy enough to do as the egg wall has a thin channel or groove here to act as a cutting guide.

Take the other egg and roughen the ends with sandpaper and then shape a small piece of Milliput so as to round the ends.  I recommend dampening the Milliput , applying to the egg end and then shaping it in the palm of your hand.  Leave to dry overnight. 

Fit the second egg ends together as shown and use the cut off piece from the donor egg (!!) to fill out the gap.  If the rim piece is cut carefully, it should be a perfect fit.  Glue the three pieces together.  Note that the plastic used does not take glue very well (even Superglue) so handle carefully.  It may be worth trying a more full-bodied epoxy glue though I haven’t done this to date. Glue the egg to the chassis base.  Glue some lead window strip underneath to add weight and ballast.

Other Detailing

Fit the manhole cover (part 51) as the Bubble cap.

Bend and glue the guitar wire as vacuum pipe.

The gangway can be made from net-curtain mesh (or K&S etched mesh) with a thin rim of styrene sheet .  Use double thickness styrene triangles as gangway supports and glue to the side of the bubble.

The ladder included in the kit is perfect, but there is only one in each kit!  I suggest Ratio signal ladder as an alternative.  It is also a little finer in scale. 

Fit the manhole cover (part 51) as the Bubble cap.


Bend and glue the guitar wire as vacuum pipe.


The gangway can be made from net-curtain mesh (or K&S etched mesh) with a thin rim of styrene sheet .  Use double thickness styrene triangles as gangway supports and glue to the side of the bubble.

The ladder included in the kit is perfect, but there is only one in each kit!  I suggest Ratio signal ladder as an alternative.  It is also a little finer in scale.

Given that a rake of fifteen  will probably remain permanently connected, for added realism I suggest using the coupling provided for the end wagons, and very light gauge wire loop glued to the hooks to connect each of the interim wagons.

Note: I will be producing a brass etch of the gangway and supports as an all-in-one bendable unit as an alternative to the above.  It will also include the ladders.  This should be available in January 2009.*

Painting and Transfers
Painting offers a few challenges as the model has had several liveries, including orange and beige.  However for the last decade and more, most of them are an interesting mottled shade of greyish white with algae green streaks.  The chassis originally was black but is now usually a non-descript grey-brown. If you are going to be building or repainting any volume of models,  I strongly recommend purchasing a good quality air brush, such as an Iwata HP-CS and a mini-compressor.  These can be got for quite good value off eBay.  The simple reason is you can paint a brace of kits in a matter of minutes using diluted acrylic paint with a smooth, uniform coat that covers even the most inaccessible parts, dries quickly and allows repainting almost immediately.

Paint the model in the following order:

  • Paint the entire kit in white primer.
  • Spray-paint the chassis and wheels in a lightish grey brown.
  • Spray the bubble beige (mask as necessary).
  • Fit the “Broken Circle” and cement decals. I made up my own stencil type transfers of the CIE circle, “Cement,” model numbers and wheel inspection dates. Contact me if you are interested in sets of these.*
  • From overhead, use a criss-cross alternating mixture of white and primer grey to get a non-uniform finish approximating to ten years of cement coating. Another option is to spray a thin mist of water and then sprinkle minute amounts of fresh dry Polyfilla powder through a very fine sieve to get the layered cement look.
  • Bend and attach the side levers using 0.6mm wire into the pre-drilled holes, paint white and then yellow.
  • Paint the cement pipes a darker shade of grey/brown.
  • Paint the ends of the brake lever white then red.
  • Paint the sole-bars at appropriate points as indicated in the picture and fit the chassis numbering and inspection stencils.

To Conclude…
Oh the hours of blood, sweat and tears that can be summarised in little over three pages!   However, taking the approach as laid out above and tackling them in an assembly line fashion, you can build a fifteen-unit rake for little over €100 in a matter of days.  The main points to re-iterate are: get plenty of pictures to be in that comfort zone about the detail locations and take your time to get the chassis cut out and chassis sheet dimensions and angles correct.  You’ll be well rewarded.  In a future issue, I’ll tackle how to build the 20’ beet wagon using Corrugated sheeting.  Nice!

[Ed: I once weathered a OO lime wagon with toothpaste, which looked like a thick coat of chalky minerals, but I would advises a test-patch, as some paint finishes may not tolerate tooth-paste.]

 

* dezsullivan@eircom.net

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April 15, 2009 · 11:29 PM

Station Survey: Abbeyfeale

Alan O’Rourke

 

We have already represented the North Kerry line in this series, but another station  will not come amiss, especially as elevations of the main building are to hand. Abbeyfeale station opened with the rest of the Newcastlewest-Tralee section on Dec. 20th, 1880. The original plan was for a single platform, but by July 1881,  the station was re-modelled with a passing loop and  second platform to make it suitable for crossing passenger trains. The station had a 293’ long down platform  (with a 3,530 gallon water  tank), 224’ up platform, carriage dock, a long shunting road and a crossover from the goods store to the platform road. In 1881, it acquired a Gloucester Carriage & Wagon Company signal cabin. In GSR days, staffing consisted of a station-master, clerk, two signalman, checker, porter and a guard. As with many smaller Irish stations, it really came to life for livestock traffic. Typically, for  Abbeyfeale fairs,  ten wagons were supplied in advance, with a special of another ten to twenty from Limerick about 7am, and a loaded train back to Limerick about 2pm. For bigger fairs, Limerick sent down a special of twenty-five wagons the day before, with the engine stabled at Listowel overnight, and  in the morning, there was a special from Tralee of fifteen  wagons and a buyers’ coach, and for the main Autumn fairs, which might generate three specials, there was an empty train of twenty wagons train from Limerick about 7am in the morning. If anyone wants a narrow gauge feeder, they can employ a little modeller’s licence, and conjecture that one of the numerous still born plans spawned by the 1883 Tramways Act had proved more successful. In 1884, the Abbeyfeale  & Brosna Tramway was promoted to run south from Abbeyfeale, with baronial guarantees from Glenquin in Limerick and Trughenacmy in Kerry, and in 1885 the Limerick & Kerry Light Railways and Tramway Company, prepared Bills for both Abbeyfeale-Brosna and Listowel-Ballybunion schemes. None of these ideas seems to have progressed beyond the planning stage.

The broad gauge line lost its passenger services in 1963, and Abbeyfeale closed to all traffic in November 1975, but the building is well maintained as a private residence with the water tower and platforms intact. The goods store still stands but when I walked through in 2002 was  labelled “dangerous” and the roof was beginning to decay. The town lies to the south. At the west (Tralee) end of the station, the line crossed the road north to Athea by a girder bridge, and then ran along an embankment, to cross the Oolagh River by a steel girder bridge with 40’ span,  which could provide some scope for scenic modelling, and where open-plan baseboards might help.

Details of North Kerry line locomotives, rolling stock and timetables were given in New Irish Lines, Nov, 2000. There are photographs in the O’Dea Collection in the National Photographic Archive of Ireland and Adrian Vaughan’s collection.

Abbeyfeale station above as opened, below as modified to be suitable for passing passenger trains, 1881: later additional trackwork shewn in broken lines. Line to Limerick and Newcastlewest to left of both drawings; line to Tralee to right.

Abbeyfeale station above as opened, below as modified to be suitable for passing passenger trains, 1881: later additional trackwork shewn in broken lines. Line to Limerick and Newcastlewest to left of both drawings; line to Tralee to right.

Platform Elevation

Platform Elevation

Floor Plan

Floor Plan

Section A-B

Section A-B

Bedroom Level

Bedroom Level

The elevation, plan and section are from GSWR 8″:1′ scale architectural drawings, courtesy of the IRRS. 

 

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March 9, 2009 · 2:06 AM

GNR Hopper Wagons and Plough Vans

Alan O’Rourke

 

Until the end of the 19th century, the typical ballast wagon was a primitive short wheelbase vehicle, with low drop sides, leather flaps to try and keep the stone dust out of the grease-axle boxes and, possibly still, dumb-buffers. To go with these, there might be a “ballast brake van,” often derived from an even older four-wheel coach, and sometimes a sort of combined tool shed and mess hut on wheels. But, from the 1890’s, a number of companies, including in Ireland, the GSWR, MGWR and GNR(I), started to modernise their permanent way stock, introducing higher capacity steel hoppers, where instead of shovelling the ballast out of low-side wagons, it could be deposited directly onto the track through bottom doors, and also “plough vans” with steel shears underneath, which at least started the process of distributing the gravel. These drawings show the GNR designs of the period, and a very similar, but later, design for gypsum traffic. The plough vans and eighteen hoppers came from Hurst Neilson & Co. of Motherwell, and were of all-steel construction. The ballast wagons had self-discharging hoppers, which could be operated by screw mechanisms from either side.  The van had double plough-shears between the wheels, so it could operate running in either direction, a large veranda and a covered portion with stove and lockers. All this stock had vacuum and hand brakes, and oil axle-boxes. An unusual, and it seems only experimental change was the use of “GNR(I)” lettering, instead of the more usual “GNR” and later “GN,” although since this only appears on the Neilson maker’s photos, it may have been their whim, and rapidly replaced by the orthodox legend on arrival at Dundalk. Similarly, although the posed official shot shows the van running as number 120, the GNR drawing lists them as 8166 and 8167, both built in 1910, and costing £242 each. Similarly, the Neilson hoppers, all built in 1910 at £138 each, had running numbers  8097-8114. Another nine hoppers came from Pickering in 1912, at £149 each, running as 8139-8147.

GNR ballast hopper 149, a Pickering makers photo (Photo: Historical Model Railway Society Collection, no. W1007)

GNR ballast hopper 149, a Pickering maker's photo (Photo: Historical Model Railway Society Collection, no. W1007)

GNR(I) Ballast Plough & Brake Van

GNR(I) Ballast Plough & Brake Van.

At the dissolution of the GNR, UTA got fourteen of the hopper vehicles, and the remaining thirteen went to CIE, for which the following details are recorded:

GNR No: Tare (Tons-CWT-Quarters): Date brake gear altered to take standard CIE KD block:
8098
8100
8102
8104
8106
8108
8110
8112
8114
8140		 –
7-14-0
7-10-3
7-12-2
7-17-1
–
7-13-1
8-2-3
7-14-3
–		 1962
1962
1962
1961
1962
1962
1961
1962
1962
1960

 

GNR(I) 20 Ton Hopper Ballast Wagon

GNR(I) 20 Ton Hopper Ballast Wagon

 

GNR ballast plough van no. 120, a Neilson makers photo (Photo: The Locomotive Magazine & Railway Carraige & Wagon Review, January 14th 1911)

GNR ballast plough van no. 120, a Neilson maker's photo (Photo: The Locomotive Magazine & Railway Carraige & Wagon Review, January 14th 1911)

 

GNR ballast hopper no. 107, a Nielson makers photo, showing GNR(I) lettering (Photo: The Locomotive Magazine & Railway Carraige & Wagon Review, January 14th 1911)

GNR ballast hopper no. 107, a Nielson maker's photo, showing "GNR(I)" lettering (Photo: The Locomotive Magazine & Railway Carraige & Wagon Review, January 14th 1911)

The gypsum hopper drawing does not have any notes about outside builders so I assume they represent Dundalk’s adaptation of the earlier ballast hoppers. Six of these were turned out in the Second World War (or did the GNR call it the Emergency, or like the Church of Ireland prayer book for “our leaders” have different rubric for each side of the Border?).  I am assuming that these worked from Kingscourt on the MGWR, being handed over at Navan and forwarded on GNR trains to Drogheda cement factory. These vehicles were built with hand brakes only but cost had risen to £477 each (£205 wages, £235 material, £37 other charges), and the following details apply:

No: Date: Tare: Brakes Altered: Brake Screw Protection Plates Fitted:
6015
6016
6017
6018
6019
6020		 Oct. 1944
Oct. 1944
Oct. 1944
Nov. 1944
Nov. 1944
Nov. 1944		 8-1-1
8-1-3
8-2-0
8-2-0
8-1-3
8-1-3		 Nov. 1945
Oct. 1945
Oct. 1945
Oct. 1945
Oct. 1945
Nov. 1945		 Apr. 1946
Apr. 1946
May 1946
–
–
–

 

GNR(I) 20 Ton Hopper Wagon (Gypsum Traffic)

GNR(I) 20 Ton Hopper Wagon (Gypsum Traffic)

 

 

Reference: Anonymous (1911) New Rolling stock. Great Northern Ry. (Ireland) The Locomotive Magazine & Railway Carriage & Wagon Review 17: 22 (January 14, 1911).

I am grateful to the IRRS archives and Mr Brendan Pender for access to the GNR drawings and permission to reproduce them.

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March 9, 2009 · 2:05 AM

Lineside Details: GSR and CIE Tubular Post Signals

Alan O’Rourke

 

The traditional material for signal posts was either wood or steel lattice.  However, from the 1930s onwards, several companies tried more modern ideas, typically tubular steel, and these diagrams show the CIE design, including new light-weight metal arms, as opposed to the traditional wood design, with a heavy cast iron frame for the spectacle glasses.  The design may go back to GSR days; the late William South told me he saw the first of these designs of semaphores in the Limerick area in 1938.  The design had numerous variants depending on function and position, with differing heights to suit sighting and clearance, and including brackets, junctions and signals to protect level crossings.  Until recently, these tubular post designs, gradually replacing the older wooden post signals were a ubiquitous part of the Irish railway scene, but with the spread of colour light signalling, they have become something of an endangered species themselves in the last few years.

Diagram #1: GSR/CIE tubular post signal (distant)

Diagram #1: GSR/CIE tubular post signal (distant)

Diagram #2: GSR/CIE tubular post signal (home)

Diagram #2: GSR/CIE tubular post signal (home)

Diagram #3: GSR/CIE tubular post signal

Diagram #3: GSR/CIE tubular post signal

Diagram #4: GSR/CIE tubular post signal

Diagram #4: GSR/CIE tubular post signal

Diagram #5: GSR/CIE tubular post signal

Diagram #5: GSR/CIE tubular post signal

 

I am grateful to the IRRS archives and Mr Brendan Pender for access to the CIE drawings, which seem to date from about 1956, and permission to reproduce them.

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March 6, 2009 · 11:35 PM

CIE Four-Wheeled Bulk Cement Wagons

Robert Drysdale

 

The four-wheeled cement wagons, or “bubbles” as they are popularly known, are iconic of the modernisation of Irish Railways in the 1960s.  They are continuously popular subjects for modelling, so in this article a few observations are offered with that use in mind.  One hundred and fifty of these wagons were constructed over a period of eight years and most, I guess, are still in service.  The batch numbers are as follows:

  • 25050 – 25069 (1964)
  • 25070 – 25094 (1965)
  • 25095 – 25099 (1967)
  • 25105 – 25119 (1967)
  • 25120 – 25139 (1970)
  • 25140 – 25199 (1972)

The sub-plot of the article is about what information can be extracted from the Worldwide Web.  With the advent of the web and the digital camera many excellent images have suddenly become publicly available representing an unparalleled information source.  Of course, lacking access to the prototype, a lot of “reverse engineering” is necessary to guess how things are.  A list of websites used is given at the end of this article: if the reader is not yet computer-literate then find an internet café, order a coffee and get started!  I started this work in order to gather information for creating a rake of cement bubbles.  The only drawing I had was the one which came with an MIR kit, which is quite good.  Then I started searching the web for photographs.  What became clear quite quickly was that although these wagons may seem to be standard, there are actually subtle differences which reflect the building batches and modifications carried out in service.  These details might seem a bit too trivial for most people, but I believe that a little variation adds considerably to the realism of a rake of standard wagons.  My notes on this aspect are as below.

Detail Variations
Solebars: it seems as though these wagons have been built with the stronger springs and spring-hangers of the later four-wheeled stock, presumably reflecting their load capacity of 20 or 21 tons.  There are many variations of lifting lugs within the class, which may be two, one or none per side and presumably not necessarily the same number on both sides.  Likewise the mounting plate for these lugs may be rectangular, notched or absent and in the latter case various stiffening ribs can be seen instead.

Buffers: two types can be seen on the photographs, both massive parallel items.  One (older?) type has a smaller base plate which fits inside the open channel section buffer beam.  Note that the buffer beam is arranged with the open channel outwards.  The larger buffer is attached to an additional plate welded across the webs of the open channel.  Whearas the larger buffer has a relatively plain housing, the smaller one is lumpy with a distal bulge on each side of the housing and a flat rectangle on the top surface next to the ram.

Axleguards: most of the axleguards are solid plate items, but some photographs show the earlier fabricated type with a triangular opening on each side of the spring.  This can be seen on other wagons of the same era.

Axleboxes: on a few photographs heavily bolted wing-plates can be seen on the side of the axleboxes, while most wagons have plain wings.  Earlier wagons had a plain dished end-cover whereas most of the photographs on the web show the Timken boxes with the characteristic triangular three-bolt end plate.

Unloading Valves: on most photographs, two small yellow-painted handles emerge from holes in the solebar, which control the outlet valves from the tank.  Although the little holes seem to be provided on both solebars, the handles appear on only one side.  I can see no convention as to which solebar the handles should be on, but there seems to be about equal numbers on left and right-handed examples.

Vacuum Cylinder Covers: the cylinders are located at one end of the wagon and protrude slightly above the chassis, necessitating a chequer-plate platform for safe walking over this area.  In a large number of examples this plate has been removed, exposing the vacuum cylinders and chassis, which poses an interesting challenge for the modeller.

Unloading Pipe: at the opposite end of the wagon from the brake system is the unloading pipework.  The main unloading pipe of 6″ diameter emerges from the decking at about 60° and is provided with a loose cover, which may be either cylindrical or rectangular.

It is debatable how much variation in these details can be seen in one rake of wagons.  New wagons would probably have entered service in very uniform condition but over time modifications would have been made and the various batches would have become mingled.

Colour
According to advice gleaned from the Irish Railway Modellers web group, the bulk cement wagons have had three liveries so far.  Initially they ran in a light-to-mid grey, then were repainted into CIE orange and finally many were given the Irish Cement ivory colour.  Of course since the cement is dumped into the top hatch via a loose hose a lot spills over the tank and ditto for the unloading platform.  Given some rain this cakes nicely and holds track dust providing a glorious spectrum of very off-white to brown colours, interspersed with patches of virgin white where the cake has flaked off.  Many tanks show a haze of light brown over the lower half of the tank suggesting track dirt and/or rust.  A competition for the most realistically painted and weathered cement bubble would be in order!

Operating Practice
We are told we should try to run our model railways realistically, so with that in mind it is worth examining the photographs for operational purposes.  I have read various opinions about how many wagons rakes consist of, namely 12 wagons per rake originally later increasing to 20.  Photographs of an unloading operation at Adelaide show the wagons arranged in pairs, i.e. with the unloading pipes towards each other.  Presumably this is to allow the unloading pipes to be transferred easily from one wagon to the second.  However, most photographs show a more irregular order, presumably after some shunting.  Despite the apparent complexity, the air unloading system allows unloading the wagon into a lorry-mounted tank, which must be equipped with a suitable air blower.  Thus a large unloading installation is unnecessary and cement can be delivered at a simple siding – see the example at Waterside, page 66 in Ulster Transport in Colour by Derek Young.

For completeness I should mention my understanding of how the unloading system works, based on the information available for BR’s Presflow wagons.  “Fluidised bed” is common in industry to make a heavy mass of powder behave like a fluid by pumping high pressure air through it.  The bottom of the cement tank is formed into two cones and it seems most likely that compressed air is injected into each via some sort of distributor ring (I’m guessing here) to fluidise the cement in the bottom of each cone.  When the valve on the bottom of a cone is opened, the cement flows out into the large diameter unloading pipe, which emerges up through the decking of the unloading platform and into the unloading hose of the terminal or truck.  The instructions for the Presflow state that the pipe-work must be purged with air before opening the cement valves in order to clear any water which has collected in the system, which seems wise.  Loading is via the large hatch on top of the tank, most likely by gravity and since this is not a closed system, spilllage occurs.

If any reader is able to shed more light on my observations I would be very glad to receive them on merlin-x@online.no.

 

Reference Websites For Photographs
onirishrailways2.fotopic.net/c948803.html
railsceneireland.fotopic.net/c1365051.html
irishrailciefreightandrollingstockpics.fotopic.net/c1494361.html

[We hope to have scale drawings of these characteristic vehicles in a future issue. Ed]

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