Irishswissernie

Spoil Trains 1968. The one here could be 53

A couple more today. An NIR railcar powered goods train leaving Belfast for either Larne or Derry with a nice selection of containers and vans. Can anyone confirm that the loop on the right was part of the unloading line for the spoil trains or was this further out. The Clonmel view (poor neg) shows a cattle train at Clonmel either awaiting the arrival of the 'cargo' or a path to somewhere else.

I did some digging last night re the dates as they seemed a bit early It would appear that the negs had been collected from various times and put into re-used sleeves. There are a fair number of Strabane just after the closure of the GN route in 1965 but before the track was lifted plus a few probably 1968-9 after some vandalising. From 1968 there are a number of 27 on its 23 March jaunt from York Road to Larne, Whitehead and return plus the RPSI Trip on 4 May 1968 from Belfast with 56 to Dublin then 186 +B147 down to Wicklow and back with a number of views at stops en route; back to Dublin and then 56 on the return at Dundalk & Portadown. Finally there are a fair number of WT's on Spoil and ballast trains, CIE Diesels probably taken at the time of the WicklowTour. NIR Units etc. The Grosvenor Road stored 37 & 49 shown above are more likely to be 1968. They are all good quality views. NOT bad for nowt

Your father has cracked it again; Grosvenor Road it is, I've just checked some of Mike Shannon's images and the chimney in the background confirms it. The yard also had the odd trees along the stream that flowed through it. The UG was 49 The negs are from 1965 1966 & 1967 and were in 3 sleeves but being partially sighted I didn't notice that each sleeve had a date in tiny letters in the corner. By the time I saw this it was too late and I had had them all out scattered over the table so there has been a bit of guesswork in what went in which year! This one of B185 is at Great Victoria Street with Grosvenor Road yard over the pool on the left.

I was recently given 120 negatives from 1961-1967 which I am now identifying and titling up. Can anyone confirm the locations of these 3 negs of withdrawn ex GN locos and other rolling stock. I think they are possibly at York Road, Belfast as a fair number of other views on the strips are there or on the Larne line. The saddle tanks are, I believe the Courtaulds pair.

They definitely made it to Limerick City so would have passed round the 'new' curve at the Junction but I havn't found any images of any actually passing through or calling at the station yet. This one Limerick City June 2001

Here are 3 more views of the bridge taken at the same time. Also a view of CIE crew Sleeping Car 224A on the Baltinglass Fair Train 15 March 1959 JG Dewing. There are some other antiques in the train including at the far left a van which appears to have had its end walls removed.

No offence taken, I am only partially sighted and the signal comment came in quite handy as whilst searching for a photo that showed the position and state of the signal more clearly it led to me discovering that the 470 view stated to be Clonakilty Junction was in fact at Drimoleague. Today we shall head north to the top bit of Ireland:

Track maintenance improved slightly later in the 1950's and also the line that 33 and its coach is standing on was not the main running line and platforms for Bantry & Skibbereen (on the right) but rather the loop line along the island platform for Clonakilty C213 below is on a through train from Clonakilty in 1959. One other point is that the signal at the far left isn't missing its signal arm, it was situated beyond the footbridge and the arm is hidden by the bridge side footpath fence. The shot of 470 was said to be at Clonakilty Junction but it isn't. I checked for photos in WE Shepherds CBSC book and there is a broadly similar view on page 85 taken from the footbridge described as Ballineen but it also is wrong. Finally I checked the OS 25 inch map for 1903 which confirms it as at Drimoleague Keeps me busy!

About the scruffiest one on my flickr but at least its the right loco! Sligo B134

A couple more today contrasting the shortest (Coach wise) passenger train to the the longest (mileage wise) service

Could be used for either I think as it has grills for air circulation etc which livestock would need.

Cars to the left , cars and a lorry to the right and now a train in the middle but I need this for me roses! NOTE THE ENGINES MANUALLY OPERATED WARNING BELL!

A couple more from the latest batch. The horse box is interesting as it appears to have 2 compartments for different sized animals. At the left a dog box pig/young calf maybe. The Highland Railway used to tie a calfs legs in sacks and give them to the guard to look after. (The whole calf not just the legs!) The Strabane slide of Erne had a paper insert at the left and bottom to change the composition. I've seen it in print but can't find where. I,m using it as my screen saver so that the icons don't obscure the loco

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The trouble is that somebody else would no doubt outbid us both anyway. Actually probably over 90% of my acquisitions have been on private deals or through contacts.

I'm pretty sure its Maguiresbridge thanks. Now for you mail van enthusiasts what about these 2 gems at Cork in 1953

I think he's cracked it. There's a view looking the other way page 45 Fermanaghs Railways and the details of the building look the same apart from the lighting but the book view is some 30 years earlier and looks like gas lamps. Thanks!

I don't think its Ballyhaise although the building is very similar. At Ballyhaise there is a hillside behind the building with a house high above it and also a footbridge beyond the station building. The railcar looks like either C2 or C3 after they were split and a trailer built to run behind them. They were regulars on the old Irish North Dundalk -Clones- Enniskillen and Cavan Ballyhaise-Clones Portadown

Can anyone identify this station. Its GNRI and there are similar building styles in the Clones area but I can't put my finger on this one? ca 1953

I am still uploading my Irish Videos 2000-2006 to Flickr . This one extended and up-graded loaded today is one of my favourites. Limerick Junction 160 + 145 set off with loads at dusk on 12th November 2002 the memory of the pair at full power fading into the distance in the otherwise quiet of a still evening lives with me still. The next day 203 arrives on a down express as 141 + 147 wait on beet mts for the platform to clear. Meanwhile 124 arrives from Limerick on the shuttle and once any passengers needing to change trains are on board 203 sets off south. 141+147 then enter platform 1 and quickly run round to clear the main line for a non-stop Dublin 201 powered express. As they reverse their train round the curve on to the Limerick -Waterford line line the up express gains on them on the main line but thankfully they beat it and are safely out of camera shot as the 201 roars past. The main line crossing is now clear for them to take a run at the bank up to Tipperary. Memories! Memories! ah well back to the scanning, 400 negatives to go. Different lines I never saw, Waterford & Tramore, Timoleague & Courtmacsherry, West Clare - Donegal - Swilly- Schull & Skibbereen even + many others.

Scanned this JG Dewing neg this morning. Class 4 Owenea on a mixed including a 6 wheel coach plus superb scenery - Another good start to the day! Couldn't quite get Geranium Red for the Copyright Overlay !

No NCC narrow gauge the collection with the missing Donegal photos date from 1953 so too late. I was lent and have scanned the Dewing records so I could interpret his ref numbers to work out the dates. He started before WWII and did take some on the Antrim lines but I do not have any negs. I have a print of 102 at Ballymoney on 28 August 1936 but don't have rights to put it on here (I think I have seen it published somewhere anyway.) I do have about a dozen at the end of this album on flickr which I've probably mentioned before https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157627623204943

There are 7 but in a bit of a state, most have been published but with the image cut down. I have removed the paper masking so the whole image will go on flickr but cleaning them up will take some time. The group of 250 with the SLNC and L&LSR Letterkenny negs in from another photographer covers all of Ireland with one exception - the CDRJC so they appear to have gone elsewhere!

Feeling a little blue this morning anyone? Amongst the latest acquisitions are approx 40 J G Dewing original slides. These are the remnants of his material which the purchaser of his slides/negatives etc after his death has had for a few years but because they were in such a state re-mounted etc had been put to one side whilst he concentrated on other material. Part of the problem was identifying which were originals and which were duplicates provided by Colourail whilst the original was used to provide copies for sale. I think I have managed to identify the originals and am now cleaning them up etc. "Lagan" was still in its original card mount so it only involved removing dirt etc. Others have been re-mounted as and when the card mounts wore out but in a variety of mounts including re-used plastic kodak, Gepe and home made card/glass jobs. Some also have paper amendments over part of the slide to improve/alter the composition of the image which in some cases have been glued on! Apparently John Dewing did slide shows etc which could explain the heavy wear.

Initially light branch line passenger traffic but they would have handled mixed and goods trains on lightly used branch lines