Branchline121

Interestingly, the All Island Strategic Rail Review suggest only 4 tracking up to Clongriffin, and making a new direct line that follows the M1 for fast services (Enterprise) and rejoins the northern line at Drogheda. I wonder if it would be beneficial to complete that project first?

Interestingly the review states it did study a Navan—Derry railway line but did not consider there to be enough demand.

You’d really think they’d just convert the 1.5 V DC on the DART to 25 kV AC instead of extending the redundant DC system when it could be AC from Greystones to Belfast.

Well, the CIÉ almost bought a second-hand class over from Britain in the ‘70s — the Class 251. It never came to fruition, but I’m sure they would’ve looked awesome in the “supertrain” livery.

I'm late to this thread but it's nice to see you all have such cute cats. I'd let mine near the layout if I wasn't so scared she'd flatten it...

Why did they ever get rid of the old Europort station? I was never at the old one tbh but comparing pictures of it with the present one leaves a lot to be desired — especially when there’s no real pedestrian access to Rosslare Harbour village!

Another change to the alignment I could see happening is the section crossing the Foyle. I imagine they would want to keep inside the border and avoid having a few kilometres needlessly inside the Republic; Foyle Road station isn't there anymore too so they would presumably stick to the east bank of the Foyle so they can connect with Waterside station. The alignment at Strabane likely won't be preserved either seen as the old station site is now under a roundabout. The review also recommended electrifying the Derry Road, so any over bridges or tunnels would likely be rebuilt/demolished, or alternatively the track be lowered to accommodate for the OHLE. It sounds challenging but would be great to see it happen.

Don’t forget to them the reinstatement of the Derry Road and the direct line between Clongriffin and Drogheda. Also a short spur to Limavady and railway between Mullingar and Portadown. There’s finally the electrification of most of the important lines (Dublin radial lines to Cork, Belfast, Galway and Waterford + the Derry Road). It could really transform our railways if it actually happens, so hopefully it will.

I’m excited that Meath will finally get electric trains, even if it’s only Dunboyne and not as far as Navan like in the Strategic Railway Review, I wonder when that will happen, if it happens at all?

I was having a look at the article on Wikipedia (I know it isn’t that reliable in terms of Irish railways) for the ‘UTA AEC Class’ and noticed that it is proposed to be merged with the ‘GNRI AEC Class’ page. I was always a bit foggy on all those Northern railcar classes so is the two similar enough to be one article or is it unwarranted? I personally didn’t think there was much of a difference but are they the same or are there at least slight differences?

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.

Or get we could also get someone to remove the train from Red Dead Redemption 2 and replace it with a J15!

Dunleer probably.

One alternate history scenario I sometimes wonder about would be if the GSR/CIÉ decided to undertake an electrification scheme inspired by the Swiss, instead of the later dieselisation plan. I doubt there would’ve been anything close to the capital for it, but it would have been interesting to see something like that on say the Cork or Belfast route with trains hauled by something like the LNER EM1 or NZR EW classes.

I’d say it would be a likely candidate as it could also be easily retooled into one of the LMS/BR 2-6-4Ts for Accurascale, which certainly would sell a bit, considering how ubiquitous they were in Britain.

It seems the entire page is unsourced, someone ought to add a few references; talking about Wikipedia oddities, the A class is listed under 001 class, which isn’t an error, but I find it bizarre they refrain on titling it the A class, same story with the C class. It is disappointing some errors exist, but I suppose it’s a miracle we have any pages on the site at all, seen as the interest is a lot smaller than that of Britain or Germany.

I always find it entertaining to look at photos of where airships were moored when they were relevant, trains weren’t the only things unfortunately phased out by planes. Here’s 2 pictures:

Looking at the page now, it seems someone has just removed it today, probably influenced by this thread.

So anybody got news about B134? It's been almost 2 years since she was unveiled...

While not getting as much airtime on video games as companies like British Rail, I've decided to create a topic on our railways' virtual appearances spurred by Subway Surfers. Subway Surfers -- a bit of a mindless game, but good to play in short bouts when bored. I've come to learn that, presumably because of St. Paddy's Day, the game has had Ireland added to it. I'll attach pictures below. A 2600 lookalike. Looks like a mix of a 29000 and maybe a DART? Good ol' 071 with containers. I just thought it was interesting to see a more casual view of Irish Rail, in such a successful game too! I might post more examples on this thread if I find any.

It wouldn’t be the only Irish-looking livery in the states either, the Southern Pacific’s livery looked quite similar to our own Black n’ Tan livery.

Used to be found on Silver Fox Models’ site but I’d say they haven’t been made for a good bit so your best hopes would be on eBay— as expensive as it is.

It’s a shame that half the 201s (including the one that hitched a ride on an Antonov) are lying derelict in Inchicore. I would wish to see them back in action but considering they’re gas guzzlers it’s probably unlikely; I wonder if the old 141s are still there too?

Has it been hauling those liners down the Silk Road?

Looks like the much anticipated turf burner to me!