DERAILED

Selection of used Hornby Dublo 3-rail track made by Meccano Ltd. Includes five sets of points. €15 plus p+p or can be collected from Enniscorthy.

Broken Rails, Crashes, and Sabotage on Irish Railways By Brian Mac Aongusa. Published by Currach Press (2005) A selection of crashes and mishaps which provide an insight not only to railway working in Ireland, but also to the fortitude and ingenuity of Irish people, when confronted with unexpected difficulties. The accidents described in this book include Armagh, Curraduff, Cahir and Buttevant. Hardback with NO dustwrapper hence bargain basement price of €10 (plus p+p) or can be collected from Enniscorthy.

VHS tape with unedited footage of the Cavan & Leitrim Railway and Bord na Mona in 1994. Shot for the “Cavan & Leitrim Revival” video and other Midland Publishing video projects. No copyright is implied or transferred with the sale of this work. The accompanying YouTube video shows a small extract of the footage and there’s plenty more C&L material including railcar C47 and the Fowler in action. €45 will cover the purchase and include P+P by registered mail on the island of Ireland. Elsewhere please PM for a quote.

Sold.

As part of my ongoing clear-out I have a box of 36 slides taken on the Festiniog Railway circa 1978/79. The Cob, Boston Lodge Works, Tan-y-Bwlch etc. Need a good home. €5 plus p+p or can be collected from Enniscorthy.

Eight issues from the 1980/90s - plenty of Irish content including Bord na Mona, C&L and the Tralee & Dingle. €8 for the lot plus whatever the postage is. Can be collected from Enniscorthy. Issues Nos.157, 186, 189, 196, 202, 208, 210, 218.

Sorry, forgot about that. The price of a pint of Guinness + a Kit Kat. Say €5 including p+p.

Slide of 1st northbound DART (8am ex. Bray station) on July 23, 1984. Slide is perfect i.e. the numbers etc. on both DART units are absolutely sharp. This poor scan was made with an iPod plus a hand held slide viewer! The coke tin on the platform is the signature item in the photo which gives the date (who needs Terence Cuneo's mouse) and I had an almost identical similar pic published in the IRRS Journal. Any interest? €5 including p+p

(11) 5" x 7" black and white photographs taken along the Harcourt Street line circa 1979 - long before the Luas was even contemplated. Prints are good quality i.e. better than the attached scans. €12 including p+p or can be collected from Enniscorthy for €10.

World of Rare books appears to be run by people who don't have English as their first language - at least that's been my experience - and they do post to Ireland if you contact them. However, I've never proceeded with a purchase because of their shambolic customer service.

The Foyle Valley Railway Museum closed for good last Friday 27th March and the future of its collection is still in doubt. I had been dabbling with the idea of starting a Facebook page to see what interest there might be in saving the museum but a glance at what's already online yesterday has put me well and truly off such an idea. Pictured below is what the local youth of the area think of their heritage and the late, unlamented, Derry City Council appear to have been cut from the same cloth. When I first came on the preservation scene in the late 1970s it was the same old story in Derry - bickering within the NWIRS, fighting with the Council and all leading to this inevitable catastrophe. Three generations of my family worked for the CDR but this sadly is not going to be carried on by my generation. Has anybody got any - positive - news? What has happened to all those people from way back such as David Lloyd, Redmond Gallagher, Danny Doherty .... More here: http://www.derryjournal.com/what-s-on/arts-culture/rail-experts-call-for-foyle-valley-museum-artefacts-to-be-safeguarded-1-6663183

Great Southern Railways "IRELAND GEM OF THE SEA 1930" by ALFRED S. MOORE Touring Ireland by Rail in 1930. Printed in Dublin. 52 pages, profusely illustrated, with photographs, period advertising and a fine route map. Rusty staples and mildewing to front cover. €20 including p+p on island of Ireland.

Sold.

Strip of 5 negatives of ex.CIE G-Class Deutz locomotives at the Irish Sugar Factory (Thurles) circa 1983. Includes G616, 617 and 615 - the latter one that didn't survive. Negs are nice and sharp - unlike my pics here which were mutilated by the flash. First €10 secures.

Sold to DartStation.

Two original 10 x 8 photographs taken in St.James's Gate brewery. €10 including p+p on island of Ireland. The one with Heuston in the background has slight creasing to the sky but can be scanned and easily cleaned up with paint - I've just done it with my archive copy! The red copyright stamp does NOT appear on the prints. Hurry as they go on Adverts and eBay tomorrow.

+1 The Facebook page has already started to resemble the one set-up to save the Waterford/Rpsslare line i.e. all sorts of unrealistic/irrelevant posts and pie in the sky ideas. Time will tell.

Some more background to the origins of the Tralee/Blennerville saga here: http://irishrailways.blogspot.ie/

Two comparison shots of Blennerville station - I prefer to remember it as it appeared in the 1984 (Joe St.Leger) pic rather than its present incarnation.

Best of luck Eamonn - an heir, a spare and a substitute.

Sorry about the poor scan above but if you press Ctrl + it should enlarge enough to read. Two more T&D items from the archive. 5T at Liverpool on way home and the 'welcoming' committee in Dublin.

Good luck in your dealings with local officials/business interests in Tralee. It should be borne in mind that some of those who drove away enthusiasts in the first place are still in the mix.

jhb171achill - Loads of sense in your post. The FVR needs to be handed over to a volunteer based organisation or it's curtains. One thing that didn't exist back when I was active (1978/98) is the internet/Facebook revolution, and what this means is that a new volunteer organisation with literally hundreds of members could be put in place overnight! This, as I know from my own experience, would have taken years previously. I'm happy to pay an annual sub to such an organisation but my presence as a volunteer or a founding member would not be in anyone's interest.

It's news to me that IRN is gone - gone quiet but not gone surely? The person (me) was NOT banned if you look at the username on Boards - account closed which is a very different thing and I can't see what that has to do with the sad fate awaiting the FVR. There can be few if any preserved railways in these islands that have/had so much potential as the FVR and it's difficult for this outsider to apportion blame but surely differences can be buried for the common good? A narrow gauge - cross border - steam railway in the North West should be able to rake in grants. Even the C&L was able to cash in on cross border funding and it's far enough from the border.

I wonder how many here have been following the Foyle Valley Railway saga on IRN here: http://irnirishrailwaynews.yuku.com/topic/676/Foyle-Valley-Railway-Museum?page=1#.VNz2PCxcpgA and it would be great if it could be brought onto this forum. I have been giving out about the demise of the Foyle Valley Railway for years and writing to all and sundry about it but I can't contribute on IRN as it's a 'Parks Free Zone'. To be honest my heart isn't really in it anymore but it does deserve maximum coverage in the hope that even now something can be done! I started a thread about it on Boards.ie four years ago here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055970708 but I can't contribute to it anymore less my alternative username is spotted by the over zealous Mods. jhb171achill - I know that you contribute on IRN so perhaps you could bring the discussion on here?