Edo

Evening At the risk of getting the head pucked off me for having the temerity to ask: "Are we there yet"? Im just looking for an update - i totally appreciate that there were unforseen difficulties with the model and that PM wants the model to be the best it can be - Im assuming Christmas delivery has slipped - i 'll wait as long as it takes! Just trying to juggle the finances timeline - ie - if no 121 on immediate horizon - then Fert bundle is viable ...... This is not to be construed as any kind of criticism - just a polite request for information - I'll be looking for same update on A Class aswell. Let there be no knicker twisting - but if anybody has anything to tell - it would be much appreciated! Thanks Ed

Keep em coming! Thanks Ernie!

Thats great Ernie - thanks very much Its mad how fast that building ( old station house?) on the right foreground went to ruins inside 3 years if you look at the RBAI tour picture above. Thanks again - im slowly piecing together the station and yard is it was before it closed - a picture down the line and yard from the Western bridge would complete things!

Indeed - Im sure Leslie McC of this parish , mentioned to me that he was on the RBAI Tour 1963 in Roger Joanes Photo above - the very last train to run down the line in its entirety from Bagnalstown.!

That would be lovely Leslie! Unfortunately Warley is not on my radar this weekend - very envious of all those going - enjoy - sounds like it will be a great show. I'll just follow the directions on IRRS.ie and sign up there. My weekend is "babysitting" my nephews and niece who are completely obsessed with Thomas the Tank engine and Friends and dinosaurs ................I'll be setting up the Thomas set on the living room table and the weekend will be about how many triceratops can fit in an opens good wagon....and would somebody move that T-Rex off the main line.....................the joys of being young!!! Ed

Ernie - thanks a mill - that is just brilliant - love that photo ! Ive been meaning to sign up to the IRRS for some time now - I'll get that situation rectified soonest I have the DSER book on order now aswell thanks guys Ed

Linka - now there is a blast from the past....i think the moulds are still somewhere in my folks attic...

Looks simply brilliant - and there is more to come!

Hi Anita Sorry for only coming back to you now - its interesting that there is so little available on Palace East - I come from Borris further up the line in County Carlow where they tend to obssess about the line as far as Ballywilliam - not the rest! I know that a relative of mine made a tv program on the line for the BBC and there wasnt much on Palace East as the landowners were , diplomatically speaking - a bit un co operative at the time. ....which is a real pity as the station house , station masters house, signal box and most of the yard are still there under all the growth.... I dont live around that part of the world anymore - but i'll be trying to fit in a visit or two to Wexford County libraries amongst other places to do some research in the new year -there is so much that is not digitalised ....anything i dig up I'll throw up here. Ed

Price of domestic peace - you know the score JHB ......particularly as all the IRM orders start to roll in......

Cheers Fran I'll get the order in before the end of the month - i took a serious hit in the kitchen applicances black friday sale in Harvey Normans......

Same here....the visa is in an ICU at the moment

Flipping hell - sold out already ! Well done lads - delighted for ye Just as good I got the last order in when I did! Better get off the pot regarding the Ferts sharpish.............

Looks great so far.....i assume sheep will have eaten the grass down a bit by then

Whens the big reveal!!!

More!!!

God Yeh - them were the days He took all of those videos along the mainline out of Dublin Heuston as far as Cherryville (Kildare) Junction - so you would have all the services from Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and Westport/Ballina going to and from Dublin along that line - that would be pretty hectic at rush hour between 5.30 and 7.30 in the evening when you probably would get a train passing every 10 mins or so as they all funnel out of Dublin along the same line until the Waterford service is the first to split off at Cherryville junction. That video brings back memories - particularly the one of the Waterford to Dublin service crossing the points at Cherryville - in my students days I took that train so often I would probably do it eyes closed and still know where I was - sitting here in my office at home - I can still feel the sway and bumps as the carriage crosses the points onto the up line for Dublin and we saunter casually into Kildare - normally the last stop before Dublin and then 071 growls and its foot to the floor across County Kildare into Dublin before slowing passing Inchicore and sliding down into Heuston and then picking up my bike and cycling back to my flat in Rathmines in the rain for another week in UCD......................great times!

Delighted to hear the Cattle wagons are doing well Leslie - are you getting your sales "mojo" back !

Hi Leslie - if u were to go ahead with it - I'd be interested in 6 or so Simply - anything that ran on CIE lines south of Dublin between 1950 and 1980 - Im interested!! Ed

an average of over 33 wagons per cattle train ..........................flipping hell.........I best start saving pronto!

Cheers Leslie - I'll be in touch

I find saying nothing at all and a parcelmotel account to be most effective...... "Where did that come from" "Shure i've had that for years.....must have been underneath those boxes over there ...shure ye keep tellin me my den is a kip"....etc etc and so on...... she'll totally guilt you in some extravagance for her in the end....they always do

You are definitely getting up to Irish levels of muckiness there - can hear the squelching across the yard from here!

Cheers Wrenneire

Ten-T is a financial instruement for funding Transportation projects as opposed to a EU directive. When you actually look at the detail its the Shannon Estuary that has Ten-T core network status - which means its open to matching funding from EU sources for upgrading transportation infrastructure which meet various criteria................that last bit is kinda important. the Shannon Harbour development companys' own plan "2041" mentions the upgrading of the line to Foynes briefly - but their priority is the upgrading of the Port Facilities and increasing the harbour and docking space and a new upgraded road. The Department of Transport's own 2030 plan plus Limerick county councils plan prioritises the building of the new road to Foynes while saying " no decision" has been made on the rail line. the only funding drawn down in connection with the Rail line has been 800 grand to conduct a feasibility study - which started in 2015 and still hasn't been completed - how much research does a 25 mile line need? seriously? In the same time - the Docks project has gone ahead full steam and the road project has passed all planning and designed phases and will now be fast tracked because of the Ryder Cup - expect it to break ground next year - its definitely happening. forgive my cynicism here - but I fully expect when the road is completed for the rail line to dropped forthwith - ie no business case for a line that barely made 25 000 euros in its last year of operation in 2000 - unless some operator with a compelling business case and need for rail transportation - the odds are long - then foynes line will continue its transition back to nature. I expect by 2041 that there is a 80/20 chance of the greenway the whole way from Limerick Station to Rathkeale with the decomposing line to Foynes left in the place on the other side - Castlemungret will be lifted and long gone by then with a cycle way in its place. The EU is not this all powerful entity that our nearest neighbour is desperately trying to flee from - it does most of its work in co-operation with the nations and regions of its memberstates - politics is the art of the possible (well it used to be - we might be entering the art of the Rhetorical on current developements) - the Western rail corridor was in Ten-T until Varadhar looked at it in 2012 and concluded that it made no business or strategic sense and decided the states funds could be better spent elsewhere and it was removed - Its the Irish State that decides what stays or goes in the Ten-T core network - because all Ten-T is is access to funding to help build whatever projects the State wants to go ahead with - and those priorities change all the time . the Foynes line - even with Ten-T funding - in the absence of a serious business case and real prospects - ie customers - is a non starter - as much as we might all wish otherwise.