226 Abhann na Suire

8 minutes ago, Branchline121 said:

I think the only issue with that is the Class 231 was built by Stadler, not Alstom, although I still hope we get some Irish FLIRTs as I find them to look quite attractive, moreso than that of the ICR or 29K.

Oh no yes I’m aware the new trains will almost 100% be identical to the new DARTs, I was more including the picture of the 231s for the red and white Cork colours as a livery option!!

I do agree though hopefully we get some Flirts at some point, I see it being quite likely too, given what a flexible design they are, being adaptable to many different gauges and power supplies! A good option for the Enterprise replacements in my opinion…

Absolutely brilliant new timetable!! Very buzzed personally to see a much later 20:20 Heuston to Waterford service and a 20:20 Waterford to Heuston service in the evenings too! A great addition and one much needed by Waterford residents! No more day trips to the big shmoke being curtailed by the last train home at 18:25!!

A pre-09:00 arrival from Heuston into Galway is another great addition as well as two new Galway to Dublin services: 09:05 and 20:50!

Icing on the cake is hourly Enterprise services from October 7th too with services transferring to Grand Central on August 25th. The October 7th timetable will see clock-face xx:50 departures from Connolly to the north from 05:50 until 18:50 with a 20:50 evening service too. Unfortunately departures from Belfast are not exactly hourly clock-face departures (annoying for the OCD but a third world problem really… just would have been nice to have!) but are more or less on the xx:00 mark from 06:02 until 19:02 with a later 21:02. Worth nothing some services depart on the xx:00, some on the xx:02, and some on the xx:56. Pre-09:00 arrivals to both cities finally as well though!

Of note as well is the addition of half hourly Cork to Cobh and Midleton services on Saturdays too with an improved Sunday timetable, the official addition of Kishogue to the PPT timetable as well as some services starting from Connolly instead, and other minor timetable alterations around the network.

An excellent timetable change overall though and it’s great to see IÉ putting their money where their mouth is for their customers with stuff like this! 

Irish Rail have confirmed that the Enterprise will be operating from Grand Central from August 25th and an hourly timetable with pre-09:00 arrivals into both cities to come on October 7th

Very exciting news and a long overdue but big step in the right direction for cross border rail! Just a shame that while the Belfast bound trains are clock face departures at the xx:50 every hour, the Dublin trains out of Belfast are not… would’ve been a nice touch I wonder why they weren’t able to do that…?

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

Would have made an ideal preservation project. City to seaside, holidays and weekends, while if the single wheeler had survived, what a draw that would have been!

It was thought about!! The company that restored the Waterford and Suit Valley Railway, when formed in the late 1990s/early 2000s, had 3 options in mind, the line to New Ross, the line towards Dungarvan (which they went with) but were also highly considering the Tramore line! Would’ve been amazing but I think with the track gone and little to no remains of any sort of right of way, it was deemed to difficult to do. Still, would be very cool if anyone on this forum has a few million euros lying around…? 

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

At the very end, the only points were at the waterford end, and there were (I think) just two! Tramore was a dead end. Waterford had the platform road and two sidings, one into the shed. Not even a run-round loop. the entire rolling stock was just three AEC railcars and two coaches, one fitted as a driving trailer.

Had it survived, it's a reasonable assumption that today it would have but one set of points (at Waterford) and a pair of 2-car 26 class railcars!

I could be wrong but I thought Manor Street had a run around loop outside of the trainshed (if you’d even call it that…) Not sure though… definitely were a few sidings though with one at the southern end of the station dropping down to the road on Bath Street for road access for removing the locos for maintenance. The AECs were delivered here too. 
 

Such a shame that it closed. I’m a Waterford native and the bus route that replaced it is jam packed at all hours of the day, especially in summer so the train would have done a roaring trade if supported by a local Tramore route that brought people into the station. I’ve already wondered would it have been connected to the network somehow if still around…? Probably not given that a large tunnel seems to be the only option of doing so… Still the line would have been an excellent test-bed for the new battery DARTS and in ideal candidate for electrification too! Very sad that it’s gone it was such a unique piece of railway infrastructure

15 hours ago, GSWR said:

I'm looking into putting together a layout depicting Tramore Railway Station some time in the 1930s, but I can only find pictures of the exterior of the station and the platform. I remember seeing a diorama of the station years ago, and the only thing I can remember is that there was a turntable, although I'm not sure about the accuracy of this. If anyone knows anything, or has a layout map that could help me it would be fantastic. Thanks in advance!

And hats off to you @GSWR for such a project! I’m jealous you got around to it before I did but please keep us all posted!! A couple of Studio Scale Models J26s and a Silverfox AEC will look gorgeous on it!!

Rest in peace Dave, and condolences to all of his family and friends

Hi all, just a couple of musings about Luas Lucan, just said I’d put them here to at least get them out of my muddled brain!

I’ve been looking over the plans for the Luas Lucan Line and I’m a bit confused. The line seems to have an ideal alignment from Adamstown as far as Ballyfermot but I’m unsure as to the route plan from there. I’ve seen plans where the Lucan Line is treated as a branch off of the Red Line (joining at Blackhorse all the way into the city) but I think this should be avoided at all costs as all they can possibly do is decrease frequency to Tallaght, Saggart and Lucan - shooting oneself in the foot!

I have wondered why a Phoenix Park or Chapelizod Road option has not been considered, something similar to below (drawn on in yellow)
as a stop in the park as well as at the Zoo and on Parkgate Street could be built with the line then crossing the Liffey adjacent to the Sean Heuston Bridge with a connecting station at Heuston and path-sharing with the Red Line to the top of Steven’s Lane before heading down James’ Street and into the south city.

I wonder though if there are regulations about putting it through the Park…? It doesn’t serve a lot of populated areas either no matter which route you go here, and while the park option would be good, the Chapelizod Road option would travel around 3 kilometres without a stop which is probably a waste of tram line… And maybe the bridge over the Liffey Valley here is just too elaborate…

However, the best plans I have seen is where it meets the Red Line at Blackhorse, heads up Tyrconnel Road and through Inchicore and along Emmett Road before meeting again at James’s and sharing track for 50 metres before continuing on James’s Street towards Christchurch (drawn on again in yellow below) I have seen plans that suggest it just joins the Red Line instead between Blackhorse and James’s before before continuing on James’s Street towards Christchurch which would (with capacity enhancements on the road-segregated section in question here, be doable) but I still think the above option is preferableI as it a) opens up new areas to Luas access and b) minimises shared corridors to maximise frequency.

And finally I do think that rather than ending it at Trinity (a bit of a middle of nowhere stop transport-wise) a continuation out Townsend Street to link with DART and Metro at the southern Townsend Street entrance to Tara Street Station (in front of the planned Metro stop), and maybe even on down Pearse Street and to the Bord Gáis/Grand Canal or even out as far as Poolbeg and Ringsend (Metro included in dark purple)

Just a couple of general musings/ideasI thought I’d share with regards to it as it would be a great asset and a very useful 3rd line for the city if done right!

@Barl thanks a million!! Hopefully the powers that be take as much of it onboard (pun very much intended) as possible and we might have a halfway decent rail network on our hands soon enough…!

On 20/5/2024 at 9:48 AM, airfixfan said:

Translink have pencilled in August 25th for Enterprise to start from GVS Mk2!

Grand Central to open for August 25th???

15 hours ago, Darrman said:

It says Kilbarry, Water Rock and "Carrigtwohill East" (presumably meant to be West) will open sooner while Monard and Ballynoe will open later. From there I assume the park and ride stations at Blarney and Dunkettle will be in the sooner category, rounding things out to five. 

Blarney, Dunkettle and Kilbarry make a lot of sense to open first but Water Rock and Carrigtwoohil West..? There doesn’t seem to be an any existing development around those two areas. Although maybe they’re being tackled and built ahead while they’re doing the Midleton doubling, killing two birds with the one stone and so forth. Ballynoe actually already has housing very near to it and if they end up putting it halfway between Carrigaloe and Rushbrooke, would end up being right beside the ferry terminal to Passage West which could be an even further kind of transport catchment, maybe a sail-rail ticket into Kent…!!

15 hours ago, Darrman said:

Blarney will "get a significant park-and-ride and terminal station ... with a third platform, a passing loop, and charging infrastructure required" and be involved with the M20 somehow, presumably via having a junction for it. Slowing of intercity services is my greatest concern, so hearing about a loop is good news. It also suggests not every train will run to Mallow.

Interesting though that not all trains will run all the way to Mallow… I suppose it will already be served by Dublin-Cork trains every 30 minutes in the peak but surely some will go that far so as to give it a decent service. Where will they put the end-of-line charging equipment though, Blarney or Mallow..? I remember seeing an artists impression of the 3 stations north of Kent and they’d be a Kildare-style slewed outer platforms with a bi-directional fast track down the centre… would be nice to see a Clongriffin-style station though, but just any kind of station is progress! And a big park and ride off the N20 will also be great… just hope they don’t do an M3 Parkway job and place it AFTER the toll bridge… (side note but does anyone know does M3 Parkway get healthy usage…? I’d like to hope it does…)

15 hours ago, Darrman said:

Finally, the article says the units for Cork will come from the 750 Dart carriage agreement signed with Alstom. With two orders of 95 and 90 carriages respectively, an extra 150 will put us at 335/750.

I presume these will be the exact same as the new DARTS for ease… If so though what with the DART having its green and white livery, I wonder will they get a special red and white livery…

15 hours ago, Darrman said:

Those seem reasonable enough. I'd shift Tivoli a bit further west for ease of access from places such as Mayfield, but I'm looking at it from 2024 and not whatever Tivoli master plan is out there.

Old Dunkettle is completely inaccessible nowadays and the North Esk yard is well-located for a Dunkettle park and ride. It would be a lot less work compared to draining the marsh and making that the car park, plus building an access road and bridge south of the roundabout. Rail freight's probably not coming back, so we're as well off using it for something. I'd place Tivoli slightly east of its original location, around the junction with the R635, but there's still two kilometres between one end and the other of the Tivoli docks. Ultimately, I just hope there's no Kishogue jobs!

Yes that’s probably a good point about Tivoli, I have no idea about any development plans either I was just guessing where it would go but I’d say you’re right, the east end of the docks makes most sense both in terms of new and existing development. And yeah North Esk is perfect for the Park and Ride. I do believe that Park And Ride Station parking in this country should be free and subsidised by the government in favour of people switching to electric trains but that’s a whole other kettle of fish

3 hours ago, Darrman said:

The contract, worth €50 million, has been signed for design of the new stations, depot, and trains.

The Examiner has a bit more detail than the Irish Rail press release, so I'll go off of that. Stations at Blarney (and Stoneview, which is north of the old station), Monard (plans from 2001 suggested Rathpeacon sidings, take with pinch of salt as the new town wasn't built), Kilbarry (at the old station), Tivoli, Dunkettle (on North Esk yard), Ballynoe, Carrigtwohill West, Water Rock. The article says five will be built immediately while the rest will be built with the houses, without specifying which stations will be delayed.

The fleet will be up to 150 battery carriages, with charging points at the termini and depots. Aside from that, no wires. The depot location is also undetermined, with the Examiner article saying there are six candidates. RTE's report says there will be 30 five-car sets. 

The railway order application is planned for the end of 2025 and completion of works by 2030, subject to planning and funding, of course. Hopefully everything goes well.

I have to say, while I would be inclined to be somewhat cynical about these kinds of things, this is brillaint progress. Stations at Blarney and Blackpool make perfect sense and will attract many commuters, and the new Transit Oriented Development at Monard will also be great. I presume the station and associated large residential development at Tivoli will be on the currently unused old docklands to the south of the Lower Glanmire Road? I’ve attached two map images of where I’m guessing the station and development here and the P+R station at Dunkettle will go… 

In terms of the order of construction, I presume Blackpool/Kilbarry, Blarney, Dunkettle, Tivoli and Ballynoe will be the 5 to be constructed first as they are the 5 that currently have a transport significance, ie some form of development already there or a large P+R opportunity and catchment with Monard, Water-Rock and Carrigtwoohil West to be built when their respective developments are kicking off…?

With regards to a depot, the docks at Tivoli could be a good location although might impact on the development as a 150 carriage depot would need to be quite large… Monard could be an ideal location; near or beside the proposed station, accommodation for the workforce in the town and a good location in terms of the network.

All in all a very exciting project and one which I do think will progress well! Construction due to start on Glounthaune to Midleton imminently apparently so it would make sense to just keep going with the projects.

One thing I do wonder about though is how they’ll built the 3 stations north of Kent to minimise impact on Dublin-Cork service which are expected to be half-hourly, at least in the peak by the time all of this is done. Maybe Clongriffin style stations, with the two stopping platforms and tracks on the outside while the two through lines pass through the centre…? 

 

Just where I’m guessing the new stations at Tivoli (centre) and Dunkettle (right off-centre) will go. If Dunkettle is built on the North Esk yard (makes perfect sense in my opinion) then with the new arrangement of the Dunkettle interchange, car access to the Park and Ride will be very easy from the M8 and N25

Good location by the looks of it! Pretty close to a lot of amenities and also while I’m a pretty populated area, there’s space to the immediate sound and north of the line and beyond for transit oriented developments! Great to see more investment in the Limerick commuter system!

Stations at Adare and the specially Dooradoyle on the newly built Foynes line seem to me like a huge missed opportunity, Dooradoyle being a highly populated area currently underserved by public transport.

A park and ride station out by the N24/M7 junction by Castleroy was being floated a while ago too, is that still on the cards…? Moyross is definitely progress so hopefully we see more similar projects pop up around Limerick, in conjunction with doubling to Ennis and Limerick Junction!

I could be missing something but I always hear talk about how it’s not straightforward to run plonk down a platform at Adare and run passenger services to Limerick once in the morning and evening? And the same with why passenger services (temporarily until the M3 Parkway extension is eventually built) and even RPSI specials can’t use the Navan line…?
 

Freight trains are far more heavy than passenger trains so it can’t be a track weight issue… So what’s the problem with having to supposedly ‘upgrade’ a line to accommodate passenger traffic? Because the Foynes line when reopened would have some amazingly ideal locations for new purpose built TOD (transit oriented development) commuter towns for Limerick city… 

On 10/5/2024 at 11:56 AM, Broithe said:

Graffiti is a strange 'culture'. I know of a distributor road in a city on the Big Island, built in the 1970s with acres of concrete 'canvas' easily available on bridges, embankments, etc., and not a single spot of paint anywhere, in a city which is not 'unadorned' in general.

I only noticed this situation about a decade ago, but there is just nothing sprayed anywhere along the ten miles, and it is not due to any obstructed access.

I suspect that, if some ever does appear, there would be a rapid avalanche of other 'work' by 'competing artists'.

I am careful about who I mention this absence to, but nobody else has ever agreed that they had already noticed - you just don't spot what's not there, I suppose.

I did once spot a small paint mark at the base of a bridge parapet, but it turned out to be a road maintenance mark. I considered suggesting to the council that they might be careful, so as to not set off "tag wars".

I have to say I’m not completely opposed to graffiti (as long as it’s on a plain wall and not the side of a train…) as it can brighten up otherwise plain walls but I also concede that regularly that walls that they ‘brighten’ up are walls that the owner doesn’t want ‘brightened’ up and then has to pay to have it cleaned.

I do think however that an excellent way to stop potentially vulgar or unslightly graffiti-ing on large wall spaces where it’s not wanted is for the local council to commission artists to paint murals on those walls. A Waterford native myself, the Waterford Walls project has led to many many murals like these popping up (legally) on otherwise bland walls and has really brightened up the city and can actually act as a way for the graffiti-ists to do something constructive with their spray-paints!! 

It’s nearly a year at this stage since the draft came out, I wonder what’s taking the final report so long…

On 30/4/2024 at 5:38 AM, GSR 800 said:

The long ugly concrete brick 2 road structure directly adjacent to platform 1

 

Oh thank god hahaha I’ll be glad to see that go that’s for sure!

That’s brilliant!! Very exciting and they look very very well indeed! I was never mad about the orange triangle on the cabside of the artist’s impression images so I think this new livery looks much better without it.

A few queries though, does anyone know is there an immediate confirmed plan ready to go for the next phased order of trains…? I presume they’re waiting for the Maynooth depot to be built and line electrified before they order the next batch…? And where will this fleet be maintained between now and the Maynooth depot coming online? Does anyone know how the fast charging at Drogheda before the return journey will work…? The article says it’ll take ‘under an hour’ but with a proposed every-10-minute service, is this really doable?

They do look brilliant though and I have to say charging points at every seat is a huge plus too! And with their longer distance battery capabilities and wide scale operation, for once Ireland is out in front for public transport infrastructure!!

Surely a Jeep…?

7 hours ago, Mayner said:

The IE Signalling and Electrical Department demonstrated a degree of innovative and lateral thinking to allow the morning Limerick-Ballybrophy service to split mid-section in the Birdhill-Roscrea Block Section allowing the lead unit to continue to Ballybrophy and the trailing unit to return as the Nenagh-Limerick commuter train.

Nenagh was closed as a Block Post  with the signal cabin closed and crossing loop lifted in the cuts/rationalisation of the late 80s with the Block Section becoming Birdhill-Roscrea.

The S&E people got around the problem of a train splitting mid-section and the rear unit returning to Birdhill while the lead unit continued to Roscrea, by combining 19th Century signalling technology with 21st Century Industrial Safety Interlocking equipment.

The Lead Unit was classified as the Train and the Trailing Unit a 'Banker" assisting the 'The Train" to Nenagh in a similar manner to the way Steam Locos and sometimes Diesel railcars banked/assisted trains from Stranorlar to the summit of the Stranorlar-Donegal line in Barnesmore Gap before returning to Stranorlar.

The Birdhill-Nenagh 'Banking Staff' may have been an actual 'banking staff that survived from the steam era or possibly specially fabricated for the job, the S&E people managed to interface modern industrial 'safety interlocking" equipment with the existing electric staff instrument at Birdhill to allow the signaler at Birdhill to 'clear' the Birdhill-Roscrea section and release a staff when both the Lead Unit and the Banker had cleared the section.

Interestingly the Donegal apparently used to detach railcars from trains in the Barnesmore Gap area to allow staff to cut/harvest turf in the gap, the railcar returning the Stranorlar on the Banking Staff when the days work was done.

That’s intriguing, wow!! Just goes to show that what a bit of outside the (signal) box thinking can do!!

16 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Latest I heard is retrieval to Dublin by diesel. Shame - 131 is a cracking performer as that great video shows. Not the engine’s fault today apparently 

RPSI steam jaunts down the DSER seem to be cursed of late!! I know last years ‘Sea Breeze’ only made it beyond Greystones and the few the previous years also didn’t make it the whole way. I wonder what it is?? The ghost of Brunel…?

5 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Would still need an extra driver though right? And somone to detach the railcars 

Extra crew, yes, and that was possibly where the problem arose. Then again, a two car train arguably doesn’t need a conductor, now for the Nenagh branch where at the time, ticket machines were few and far between, a guard would be how lots of people got tickets, but today I don’t see why you couldn’t you could get away with two drivers, one for each set. All the uncoupling though as far as I’m aware was done from the cabs of the units so no staff needed there. Again though not 100% sure

I know that 2700 units used to be used in pairs on a Limerick to Nenagh service around the turn of the century where once reaching Nenagh, the set would split with one half continuing to Ballybrophy with the other half returning to Nenagh. Not sure why they stopped doing this kind of service, would be a great idea for these kinds of lines, ie Waterford to Clonmel and on to Limerick Jnct with one half returning to Waterford… 

And you’d wonder if with the year that’s in it will a retro 201 be to follow…?? A few more retro liveries would be great to brighten up the network!

Is there an official timed service…? Surely the RPSI would run a special you’d think? Awful shame that the 111’s are no longer passenger-stock-certified, would’ve been the perfect outing for them

1 hour ago, derek said:

Hi Oisin. Thanks for the reply, but I can't seem to download your videos. Thanks nonetheless  for taking time to upload them. From what you say in your reply, we seem to have similar set ups (and similar problems). I too use a pair of Hornby controllers. I have never had a problem before this with any of my locos. I have emailed IRM about it so we will see what develops. I wonder if anybody else is having this problem? (Although most probably use DCC) .Thanks again for the reply.

Derek

Not a bother Derek, happy to help if I can. Ohh ok that’s weird, I’m not sure  what happened there then, there’s not much to the videos though I was just demonstrating the sound it makes but looking at the video you have on the other thread, the sounds are similar.

Yes I’d say you’re dead right, it’s likely down to the controller. I’ve had a similar sounds off of other locos before so I presumed it was just the way certain locos sound on DC and didn’t see it as much of a problem, and to this day all of my stock runs perfectly. Do any of your other stock, MM or otherwise have similar issues? 

1 hour ago, Anders112 said:

Hi Derek and Oisin,my Irish rail 181 made a similar noise when I first ran it on my DC layout. Got worried like yourself thinking there was something wrong.

On the instructions it says you have to let the gear in the motor to bed in by running it for a hour in each direction without any load . Left it running for two hours and have noticed the noise has faded significantly

hope this helps

thanks 

Dave 

Ahh ok well that’s it then I’d say! Thanks a million for the help Dave, case closed!!