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JHB, just for the craic - I went and had a look at the OSI historical maps of the West Cork at the turn of the last century.....thinking maybe Baltimore or Bantry.............but no..........but I found not one , but two 3 way points in Bandon yard of all places.................must hunt for a photo of Bandon yard.............Im sure it stayed the same more or less until closure in the late 50s.

Fethard - on the Clonmel - Thurles Line springs to mind........thanks Ernie!

Thats great!

Thats fantastic Noel!

Nice job guys

well its either them or Railcars.............close run thing IMHO!

For those of a certain disposition - look away now! For those of us of a more, well, realistic bent - an interesting announcement of feasibility studies that could massively expand the number of Greenways in the near future https://www.thejournal.ie/greenways-ireland-5164123-Jul2020/ Some interesting ones from a railway point of view Athenry to Milltown West Clareway - Ennis to Moyasta. Dungarvan to the Cork Border along the old Mallow Line Rathkeale to Patrickswell along the old North Kerry/Foynes Sligo to Blacklion along the old SLNCR line Rosslare to Belfield along the recently closed Rosslare - Waterford And most improbably - Bagnalstown to Palace East.................from a personal point of view - that would be just fantastic to get this alignment back into public transportation - very scenic and would link up with the New Ross Greenway. A lot of food for thought there - very ambitious - but maybe its about time we showed this kind of ambition - from a railway point of view - it would keep the old alignments and the memory of the lines - none of them are going to re-open as railway lines again.

Cheers Poor PM - its been one thing after another !.......i'd say he'll be one happy man when they finally land in the retailers - only another 4-5 weeks - thats great!

Morning All As I have my mid morning coffee here in a very wet Limerick - is there any news? Without getting into "Daddy.....are we there yet" territory - has anything left China yet? Not that there is any great hurry here as I look at the stack of uncut plywood and softwood in the corner of the room.....

Would there be any need for it? Purely asking the question because 99% of traffic on the Boats drives on and drives off now Even 20 years ago - I had this mad idea to go inter railing around Northern France in late October for a couple of weeks (great idea in retrospect - travelled a whole load of rural lines that are gone now) - I took the train from Dublin Connolly to Rosslare and then the boat to France - even then - I was probably one of 5 people who were left on the train by the time we crawled into Rosslare Harbour........the days of foot passengers taking the boat were dying ........Ryanair has taken all that traffic and it ain't coming back any time soon..

We're intrigued!

Well Brittany Ferries moved their Cork to Santander over to Rosslare to Bilbao and Roscoff this year plus they have just announced a once a week Rosslare to Cherbourg freight service to start next year too....great news for the port after Irish Ferries pulling the french service last year - on the other hand its all Ro/Ro so not doing much for the Rail link.

Ah I wouldn't lay it all on the Poor Greens to be fair - they are probably the biggest supporters of rail and public transport on the political spectrum here - but , in these unprecedented times , they have other priorities than a sleeping railway line thru a low population area of the country whose last justification for existence disappeared 15 years ago........there are 2 other larger parties in the government too.... It really comes back to us , the people - the way we have chosen to live - outside of the large urban areas....is not conducive to the existence of a large sprawling rail network serving passengers and freight into every hamlet in the state - that was the 19th century......maybe we 'll decide or be forced to change our freewheeling road based 20th century lifestyle and rail might come back into play....doubt it....but it might....

That would be great for Rosslare. I last passed thru the summer before last on our way to France ( due to go thru this year but for the Covid) ....it was sad to see how run down the place was ..... Interesting to see the container angle... Cork Harbour is also spending squillions on a new deepwater container terminal...admittedly without a raillink in Ringaskiddy - The Tivoli docks are up for gentifrication.... As regards the Rosslare - Waterford link - unless there is a radical change in transport policy and the full environmental cost of road transport is charged to the hauliers and consumers....i still thinks its future is in bicycles.....

Not my era - but gave the piggy bank a good shake and ordered a pack! I might have to get a new delivery address as the commercial invoice on the outside - while understandable from a business point of view - is starting to attract the attention of the customs authorities at Chez Edo........"another package for you eh...."..........god help me when the A Class order lands........

Fair play to MM and IRM.....my contribution to the cause ordered!

I know its with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight - but if they had only kept the line in place - a nature reserve like the upper Sligo end of the WRC....................this would have been re-opened as a very busy commuter line now. Sallins, Naas, KilkCullen, Baltlinglass and Tullow - these are all dormitory towns for Greater Dublin now with a growing population. If the line was in place - my brother would drive 10 mins to Dunlavin to take the train to his work in Naas and his wife would take the train all the way to Dublin to her work in the city centre.............instead of them being up at the crack of dawn to drive to Sallins from South East Kildare for her to get the train to Dublin.

Evening Folks Im looking for some recommendations for a newbie's entry into the world of DCC - I have to be honest and say the last time I really passed more than a glance at the subject was as probably salvating over the Hornby ZERO in the catalogue about 40 years ago. Now that Im building my first layout since then - Im really looking for the Idiots Guide to DCC ( and I mean Idiot!) Any recommendations or advice would be most welcome - Im looking for a system that will allow me to run a mainline and branchline with 3 or so typical Irish rural stations etc etc. thanks Ed

Looks fab GM

I think JHB, that times are going full circle and , unions, are again being appreciated as the pendulum is hopefully starting to swing back toward the centre as young people are starting to realise that you have to fight for your rights in this world. Speaking as a person who has worked in both union and non union environments..........its the balance between extremes on both sides is what works...........there is an awful lot to be said for the German model of a degree of consensus and common sense than the adversarial version in the anglosphere.

C'mon now........................you can't be doing that around here......you'll have half of them on here speculating about Turfburners by the morning..................

Hi All Just came across a great little video in the RTE archives about the mining operations in Slivermines in the 60's. https://www.rte.ie/archives/2018/0219/941799-mining-in-silvermines/ the commentary is as gaeilge - but the video is good. Mad to think there is virtually no evidence of this left after 50 years.

Thanks JHB That explains a lot. Its in an interesting question why the GSWR decided to go differently than the other rail companies on the island in regard to this...............was there a continental influence in the Engineering department? or was it just cheaper?

Hi All Quick question on platforms. When did CIE raise the platforms to their current height? I assuming it was sometime in the 60's/70's ? Im doing my final plans up for my effort at putting together a layout vaguely resembling Bagnalstown and I noted that the platforms were much lower in James O'Deas photos from the early 60's and more recent photos in the 80s. thanks Ed

Yeah another run of the 141/181s would be great - I'd be buying multiples as I missed out the first time around - I think a more modern version would be good as the forthcoming 121s and IRM's A class are going to considerably raise the bar for standards and detail. but not this year or next as we'll all be a bit skint with whats in production at the moment........