Bóithre Iarainn

That's a great painting! I had wondered if the SLNCR could have survived in a similar fashion to the Burma Road, lingering on for freight into the 60s or even 70s.

Hi all, Under the 1953 Act that created the GNRB, Cavan-Portadown, Dundalk-Clones-Enniskillen-Derry, and Bundoran Junction-Bundoran (along with Dublin-Belfast) were all defined as common service lines owing to the fact that they served both jurisdictions. The Act gave the Irish government the power to subsidise these lines in their entirety in the event of Stormont wanting to close them, but, of course, that didn't happen. What would have been the likely outcome had the Irish government been willing to subsidise these lines? Would the GNRB have survived? I assume it would for political reasons, but for how long? What would have been the fate of the SLNCR? Presumably merely a stay of execution? And what about the remainder of the Derry Road which was not a common service line? I'm sure this topic has been discussed many times before, so apologies if I'm re-treading old ground.

Fantastic stuff Jonathan, thank you for going to the trouble of getting this for me! Do you know why the Asahi liner ran via Mullingar instead of Portarlington for a time? Was it simply a lack of capacity on the latter route? Thanks again Mayner! Do you know if Moate station was open for passengers by that stage or did it shut in 1973? The closure date given in various places online is May 1987, but I can't imagine there were many passengers alighting from one train on Sundays or the late night mail trains.

Thank you very much!

I'm not exactly sure of the year unfortunately. I'm most interested in finding out when the last regular scheduled freight and passenger trains ran, as well as the final train of any sort (other than the weedsprayer and inspection car, which I know about). I think passenger trains finally ceased in 1987, Mayner informs me that the 15:40 Sundays only Ballina-Connolly service was the last regular passenger train, so I assume this was it. But I've read about (unspecified) passenger trains being diverted onto the Mullingar-Athlone section after this and eiretrains.com has a photo of a panel train at Streamstown in April 2000. Sorry if that's too vague a request! It's always fascinated me that this line lingered on for quite some time after regular traffic ceased, unlike most of the 'closed' but extant lines.

Many thanks for all of this Mayner! What was the logic behind the 15:40 Sunday only Ballina-Connolly? Also do you know if the Asahi liner ran via Mullingar until the factory closed in 1997? Or was it redirected before that?

I'd hardly say that Ireland is fixating on investing in rail freight. The Foynes line is being backed by the port so I assume they think it will be useful.

That seems fairly conclusive, which is a pity. Not that there'd be much chance of it reopening even it was feasible. I wonder would the same problems apply to the Bundoran line if it had survived? That was meant to be very scenic too I believe, along the shore of Lough Erne. And it actually carried a fairly strong tourist traffic while it was open too.

I can't imagine those figures convincing many people in the Department. It's a pity though, it would have been a stunning line to travel on. Is the situation the same on the West Highland Line?

I'm not sure about making a fortune but some of the more scenic lines in the west could surely have become very popular with tourists, like the West Highland line is in Scotland? The Valentia branch might be the most likely candidate as it survived relatively late. Understandably CIÉ didn't have the luxury of maintaining remote lines in case they became popular for tourism but it is a shame one or two weren't kept open long enough for it to become plausible. I see that you don't include the Harcourt Street lines as being shut due to jiggery-pokery. I take it you disagree with the theory that it was sacrificed to justify rural closures?

Does anyone know anything concrete about the regular services on this line after 1973? I understand there were mail trains and Asahi liners until c.1987 but I can't find much detailed information or dates. How frequently did were these trains and was this all that ran? I also know there were some PWD trains into the 2000s, would anyone have any details about these movements?

Hello all, In Colin Boocock's 'Locomotive Compendium of Ireland' the author mentions that Northern Ireland Railways purchased six surplus C/201 Class locomotives in 1986 (renumbering them as 104 Class) in order to transport lignite from the Lough Neagh area. I've found a little about the proposed lignite mining at Crumlin and Ballymoney at this time but I've found little that related to rail transport. Does anyone know what the traffic being envisioned actually was? Was NIR planning to rail lignite to Kilroot? Thanks!

Wonderful photos there warb thank you for sharing! Many thanks! That has cleared things up a lot. I must try to get myself a copy of that book, it would be a handy reference to have. I believe I recall reading that there were three additional wagons and they were delivered in 1995. Thanks Robert, I'll have a look at those drawings

Hello all, Would anyone happen to know the capacity of the ammonia wagons? I've always been struck by how short these trains were, I believe they ran with only six wagons before being lengthened to nine after the introduction of the 201s. Were these short trains lengths due to the weight or was it a safety precaution?

Somewhat related to this topic, does anyone know why the Limerick shuttle service has always used a bay platform at Limerick Junction rather than the station being remodelled along the lines of Howth Junction, with platforms on the Dublin-Cork and Waterford-Limerick lines? Surely this would allow for a more efficient Limerick to Waterford service after all.

Hello all, I was reading through IRRS Journal 152 (October 2003) lately and I found a report in the News section about a Norfolk liner that had started between Belview and North Esk. With a bit of googling I also found an article in the Irish Times about the new service (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/iarnrod-eireann-heartened-by-freight-contracts-1.365705#:~.). I did some more digging in the IRRS journals and in Journal 149 (October 2002) there is a reference to Norfolk running a liner from Belview to North Wall and back once a week. This seems to have been on its last legs at the time due to Iarnród Éireann’s imminent decision to relocate the North Wall yard. Can anyone remember either of these liners or has anyone come across anything about them? I had never heard of Norfolk running liners except for Belview-Ballina. I’m particularly interested in the Belview-North Esk train, as this started at a time when IÉ was withdrawing from freight. Given that I’ve heard nothing else about it, I assume it didn’t survive long, but does anyone know exactly how long it ran for and why it ceased? While I'm at it I may as well ask about the more well-known Norfolk liner from Ballina to Belview. I know this had quite a chequered history but when exactly did it start running for the first time? Thanks!