Hi, apparently in 2012 an ICR made it to the Antrim Branch. Does anyone have any photos or info on this ..read more

Hey guys, I bought a bachmann Thomas G scale for my young son, looking to build a garden railway. Looks to be hard to find bits and pieces here, looking for track, controller, rolling stock, everything really! Looks like Canada or Germany is the option for getting bits otherwise, thanks for any tips or if anyone knows anybody selling bits thanks!!  ..read more

Alright, I’ve just posted in another topic about this, but here we are.  There are two locomotives, both i believe 4wDM Ruston machines, at the former Bord na Móna plant, I believe now in the hands of SISK, south of Portlaoise, Co. Laois. I have already contacted Bord na Móna and the Stradbally Woodland Railway about the locomotives, and will today be visiting the plant, and will post photos and details, such as fleet numbers, types (though I do believe they are Hunslet Wagonmasters). As part of Western Europe’s largest industrial railway system, I really think at least a few of these loc ..read more

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/local-news/1487076/momentous-day-as-last-bord-na-mona-train-switches-off-engine-in-offaly.html ..read more

 Though nothing to do with Irish Railways, saw this article in a recent Railway Magazine and thought of modellers of this parish and their splendid efforts at creating Irish models from various prototypes.  Not sure why anyone would want to build a new Baby Deltic, because they weren't the most successful of the early diesels, but none got preserved, so I guess it was a case of why not? Chances are, it will be more successful than the originals too, comprises as it does the following: A Class 37 as the starting point [No 372, otherwise destined to be scrapped] A team at Barrow hill ..read more

Recently I've been reading through the big green book, and have been considering what might have been. The GSR built few locomotives in its time, and aside from 850 and the 800s, these designs were quite conservative and of questionable use. The GSR was of course, quite a cash strapped company, but nonetheless when pushed could produce powerful, modern, even innovative engines, similar to the GSWR and their 500s. The idea for this is what could have been built or done better with the resources available. The GSR built 5 J15A's and 10 J15B's, the former of extremely conservative design and pret ..read more

For anyone interested in the CIE/IR period, I made contact with the person (a former CIE employee) that was responsible for digitising all of The Link and Nuacht CIE staff newsletters spanning from 1947-2002. These are available on DVD format for viewing on laptops and PC's. Generally speaking, in the past these have only been made available to former CIE staff members and researchers. However, the person responsible has given me permission to share this on here. Cost of the DVD is €10 plus postage. All proceeds from the DVD's are given to charity. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy, p ..read more

Hi Everyone. Anyone had any problems getting items from Dart Castings in the Uk. I ordered some wagon compensation units from them about a month ago. Yesterday I got an email from them saying the package had been returned by Irish Customs. I suggested they used the wrong customs tariff code. They sent me a photo of the return label. Anyone get something like this before ? Tony.   ..read more

Hi guys imagine if you can the late 1950 early 1960's most Irish narrow gauge railways had gone by then, however lets assume for a while and a lets say that the West Clare had lived on for a few more years, so what I am after is would there have been a corporate livery for all PW wagons at this time and what sort of shade of gray would it have been? Thanks in advance for any help. Colin Rainsbury     ..read more

As far as I can tell, every railway line in Ireland has a one or two character code, as seen on bridges and level crossings. Some former lines have codes too as CIE owns some bridges across disused lines/owned them as of about 2009 when the first street view images came in. I haven't seen these documented anywhere, so I'll post what I've seen and enquire if there's any more. Some codes appear to be meaningful and have what they likely stand for spelled out in addition to the route covered. I also did some research into bridge numbers as not every route begins with bridge number 1. My sources i ..read more