Darrman

Santa Claus has finally arrived...

In the end, I just went for it: pre-ordering items is free. Again, a sad day for railway modelling.

Bad news all around. I hadn't pre-ordered any CIE coaches in the hope I could possibly buy them on release: I don't see that looking too likely now. Should I pre-order a few of the remaining coaches now? It's an orderly shutdown, but they are shutting down.

Since it covers several lines, I'll just make a new thread for this. The latest revision of the TEN-T network is going around Europe for approval. Its purpose is to enhance connectivity across Europe, but since Ireland is on an island this doesn't really achieve much for us. The important part is being eligible for funding from Europe: what government would turn down free stuff? Being on the core network (lines in bold - Dublin - Cork and the border) need a top speed of at least 160km/h by 2040 - Cork's already there. No speed requirement is given for the comprehensive network, though the thought of 100mph Nenagh trains is funny. Signalling also has to be converted to Europe's standard, which seems spectacularly pointless to me and a waste of money as there'll never be any trains from the continent, but if ERTMS really does make things significantly more efficient, I'm all ears. Airports with more than 12 million passengers a year (Dublin) need "long-distance rail" connections - in other words, the Dublin Metro won't cut it. Cork is a core airport too, but falls well below the rail connection threshold. As much as I'd like to see one (one foot back in the door to West Cork), how would it even be done? Finally, the expected date for completion is 2030 for the core network and 2050 for the comprenshive network: plenty of road for the can to be kicked! Left: 2023 draft, right: 2017 version. There's seperate maps for passenger and goods services: the only difference is the Foynes Branch and Limerick Junction to Limerick is a core line for goods, along with showing sea ports (Dublin, Cork, Foynes as core, Waterford, Rosslare, Galway as comprehensive) instead of airports. Additions include reinstatement of the South Wexford and Athenry to Claremorris, along with inclusion of the Nenagh Branch and South Tipperary - possibly a sign that they won't get closed. Foynes is currently in progress, and the reinstated Navan line is still there as an aspiration. While several towns were listed in the 2017 map, only four cities are in this year's; they all have to come up with "sustainable urban mobility plans". And of course, a certain political event resulted in the elimination of everything north of the border, leading the Dublin-Belfast line to be unceremoniously cut off. An improved railway is always a good thing. Let's hope the money comes in.

Galway Beo report that vegetation clearance is underway on the line. In addition, the Mayo News reports that Government have agreed to apply to include Athenry-Claremorris and Waterford-Rosslare into the TEN-T network, which would open up funding from Europe. Not directly related to the WRC but still important is the signing of a contract to refurbish Ceannt Station, bringing Galway from two platforms to five, as reported by the Independent. I've tried to find relevant planning applications, but Galway City Council's website is rubbish and any time you try to search for something it breaks. The significant capacity upgrade would serve Mayo services well.

First time at a model event. Had a good time, met a few forum members, and came home with a nice haul of stuff.

The Dart+ Southwest plans for Kylemore Road bridge mention making provision for a station at that location, though they won't build any station as part of that project. Source: https://www.dartplus.ie/getattachment/9fb2b4a1-400c-4a27-898e-4778ba33cd1c/Volume-3C-Option-Selection-Le-Fanu-Bridge-to-Kylemore-Bridge.pdf The plans also make mention of passive provision for a station at Cabra where the sidings used to be (link here). Image is from page 19. While I see nothing stopping Irish Rail from building something at Cabra tomorrow, it's probably better to do Kylemore with the Dart works. Building a station just to knock it a few years later to allow four tracks would be foolish. The Dart plans entail doing Dart+ West first, which is all well and good. Unfortunately, Ireland's planning system is glacial, as you all know, and when I went to the railway order page, it turns out Irish Rail have submitted an updated enviromental impact statement this month forcing yet another statutory consultation... I'll link the statement here for those interested. Needless to say, this wasn't much publicised. Maybe it will be done at the end of the decade? Regarding the MGWR main line, putting a big bike track on top of it is a ridiculous notion, and that's exactly what happened. Rip it up - not that it will be. I passed through Athlone a few months ago; the railway (if you can call it that) is in a sorry state. Does anyone have any idea how well-used the "greenway" is? I took a photo looking towards Dublin. From memory the line had been lifted beyond the last level crossing in the Galway direction, but I didn't take a photo of that side. It would be a lot of work to reinstate Mullingar-Athlone. You'd have to reopen Athlone Midland, relay the entire line, bulldoze the bike track or fence off the cyclists. If the cyclists can stay, what do you do for passing loops? Divert them around Moate? Cyclists on a platform would only lead to trouble. If doubling the line, the cyclists have to go. I've no idea of the state of Mullingar: is the Galway side of the station still connected? Doubling Maynooth-Mullingar should be little trouble though. Getting a platform under the bridge at Kilcock does seem awkward, but since the line was built as double there shouldn't be much of a problem. Even if Irish Rail thought full doubling was too much, actually using Enfield's second platform would be a very simple measure. How much does a footbridge cost? If going on to Sligo, the MGWR's limit of doubling was Longford, I believe; going further would therefore be more expensive. I'd like to see just how many trains a day go by which line segments to see where doubling is best, but this post is getting long enough and it's already very late.

Will the suburb Woodbrook is being built to serve come about or will we end up with another Kishogue situation? Certainly I see a whole lot of fields, but there is evidence of construction close enough. The station will roughly be where I drew a red circle (source: the planning permission page and documents within). Let's hope we don't end up with every single Dart stopping for a graveyard and golf course, and that the relevant construction doesn't have something stupid end up happening. Knowing this country, stupidity is inevitable. In Cork, they keep trotting out the "events centre" of non-existence every so often...

I was only in Downpatrick the other day for the Halloween trains, and it was a great day. Such a shame to see the place flooded.

EDIT: Double post, ignore.

Train was 40 minutes late into Belfast, but it was a full Enterprise service. It took ten minutes to get to Clontarf Road and it was held outside Drogheda to let another train pass. I returned on the 12:35 today. I intended to travel first class but I was greeted with a bus substitution until Dundalk with an ICR the rest of the way due to flooding on the line between Portadown and Newry. The train was ultimately about 40 minutes late into Dublin. Combined with a lack of Luas transfers (I heard there was a crash on Abbey Street from the taxi driver), the transfer to Heuston was more eventful than I'd like, but it did work out.

The Echo reports construction on Platform 6 at Kent has begun. The article includes a map illustrating where the platform will be: next to Platform 5, east of the train shed. https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41254498.html The printed article and online article are a bit different: the print version has politicians suggest Cork might get "all-electric trains, which are currently in storage in Dublin" - wires? 8200s? Wikipedia says there's five 8200s: with eight 2600s that doesn't add up, let alone once you add Mallow into the mix.

It's definitely black. Do I see two pixels of a chimney? What's the yellow pixel? I'll guess the whole new range is steam - it's definitely not a Dart. As for which steam engine this would be, I'm going to predict No. 90. It's preserved, and I'm definitely not biased because it travelled down to West Cork at all.

The 16:50.

I'm going on a holiday to the North next Friday and I have Enterprise tickets booked. Is the Enterprise always this unreliable? The way this thread is going, breakdowns seem to be concerningly frequent.

Once the Taras stop (if they haven't already), what will the fate of the Navan branch be? I can't see Irish Rail introducing Drogheda-Navan shuttles, nor any replacement rail freight. Is this the end?

It seems to have been delayed: the journey time section says "Kishoge Station will open in 2024 with local Heuston & Phoenix Park Tunnel services serving this station. This timetable has made provision in train timings for the future opening of this station at Kishogue." Leaving aside the fact they spelt it two different ways in two different sentences.

Nothing too dramatic, but seeing four-five minutes come off most Cork-Dublin times is good. An extra run from Mallow to Cork in the mornings will be nice; hopefully the big commuter plans come through soon. Pre-9am arrivals are always important, and it's good to see Dublin-Cork get that along with the pre-existing Cork-Dublin. Speaking of, the early morning express only takes 2:15 now: could we see sub-2:00 in the future? I can't help but note Kishogue is mentioned for a 2024 opening: will it happen? Sunday service for Portlaoise is a lot better too. The extra Drogheda services bring frequency to every 30 minutes for most of the day: part of the Dart+ preperations, I'd say. The new train from Westport fills a five-hour gap between departures, and its return means another 1:20 before the last train of the night. The service to Carlow fills in a three-hour departure gap on the Waterford line, which is quite sizeable. Nothing new for Nenagh or South Tipperary: still at two trains a day with a six and a half and five hour gap respectively between any movements at all. There's still a five hour gap betwen departures from Limerick to Galway too. Overall, the timetable improvements are welcome. The timetable once the new Darts hit will be the one to watch; Irish Rail themselves say the plan is to start regularising departure patterns next year.

The Examiner reports Alstom has been awarded the signal upgrade contract for Cork. Value given as €78.5 million. Works to start this year, finish mid-2026. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41207674.html

I haven't; I'll have to come up with some excuse to fix that. Forum round of golf, winner gets a Bandon tank?

A while ago I set a goal for myself: travel down every railway line in all of Ireland that I can possibly travel down. Yesterday I reached a major milestone: completing the passenger Irish Rail network in the Republic by covering the Phoenix Park Tunnel. My task isn't complete - most obviously, the North, need to do everything beyond Belfast - but there's also the various narrow gauge operations dotted across the country and I'm not sure which ones are actually open and operational. Below I'll list out each railway line so I haven't forgotten anything: if I did forget something, please let me know. Irish Rail - GSWR Dublin - Cork Islandbridge Junction - North Strand Junction Cherryville Junction - Kilkenny Lavistown Loop Line Kilkenny - Waterford Portarlington - Athlone Ballybrophy - Killonan Junction Limerick Junction bypass Limerick - Waterford Limerick - Athenry Mallow - Tralee Cork - Cobh Glounthaune - Midelton MGWR: Dublin - Mullingar Liffey Junction/Broombridge - Docklands Newcomen Curve Clonsilla - M3 Parkway Mullingar - Sligo Athlone - Galway Athlone - Westport Manulla Junction - Ballina DSER+GNR: Dublin - Rosslare Dublin Loop Line Dublin - Belfast Howth Branch NIR: Belfast Central Railway Blythefield Curve Belfast - Bangor Belfast - Derry Bleach Green Junction - Larne Coleraine - Portrush Trams: Luas Red Luas Green Heritage/tourist railways: Downpatrick and County Down Waterford and Suir Valley Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Fintown Cavan and Leitrim Stradbally Lartigue Monorail West Clare No passenger service: Drogheda - Navan Waterford - Belview Conniberry Yards North Strand Junction - Dublin Port East Wall Junction - Church Road Junction Disused: Belview - Rosslare Strand Athenry - Claremorris Lisburn - Antrim My source for the heritage lines is S. K. Baker's Rail Atlas of Britain and Ireland, 15th Edition - to my understanding the West Clare hasn't reopened for the season, for example. The many Bord na Mona lines aren't otherwise mentioned as they don't take passengers and are in the process of shutting down. Aside from them, I've been told on this forum the last railtour down the Navan branch was in the 90s. I assume no railtour has been down the remnants of the Waterford-Rosslare line since closure and have almost no idea whatsoever on how many rail tours journey to North Wall, with a quick google suggesting there was an RPSI tour there in the 70s. I'd be surprised if they (or any other tour) reached Alexandra Road. Lisburn - Antrim has had the occasional train across it, but again I have no idea when the last time that happened.

"Targeting corridors or towns with very low demand potential. Interventions that aimed to connect towns with populations of 10,000 or more that passed through sparsely populated areas (e.g., Letterkenny–Sligo) were considered, whereas interventions that did not extend to towns of a similar population and only served sparsely populated areas (e.g., West Cork) were deemed to be unviable for rail." - page 92 This makes this West Cork man sad, even if it is true - Bandon is at 8,000 and that's below 10,000. After that, Kinsale is at 6,000, Clonakilty is at 5,000, and Bantry and Skibbereen are both at around 3,000. But this is a strategic rail review, not a pipe dream rail review. Cork as a whole doesn't get too much - Youghal isn't so much as mentioned but the suburban lines are indicated as properly electrified as opposed to "other decarbonised" which I assume means batteries. The rest of the country has interesting things: electric Derry Road with Letterkenny branch and Portadown-Mullingar being the most ambitious. Of lower ambition but still important include connecting Dublin and Shannon airports. Of the "higher-speed" lines, cutting from Newry straight to Lisburn makes the most sense to me as the speed increase is large and it would cut a reasonable amount of mileage off. Electrification to Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford along with doubling to Athlone, Kilkenny, and Mullingar all makes sense to me. My only actual concern is diverting Wexford intercities to Waterford and across a reinstated South Wexford and leaving shuttles between Greystones and Rosslare for the DSER: I can't imagine that being faster. Building a brand-new parallel line to Dublin-Cork for 25 mph feels a bit pointless to me, but that's just nitpicking at this point. Overall if this report was followed to the letter I'd be quite happy. However... I'm in agreement here. If they just do the relatively easier tasks listed (Foynes, WRC to Claremorris, South Wexford, Lisburn-Antrim) this would be a respectable turnout. I'd list Mullingar-Athlone too, but good luck kicking the cyclists out...

Certainly I'd like to see it happen, but knowing this country, I won't hold my breath. I do wonder what the idea for Cavan and Monaghan is though. Since they didn't give hint as to what towns the line might pass through I can only speculate. Legend: Yellow: Electrified/proposed to be under Dart+ Orange: Operational Brown: Navan Branch - goods only Blue: Proposed Navan railway/my guess on the Cavan/Monaghan railway Green: Greenwayed Black: Closed Red dot: Operational station Green dot: Projected locations (Navan) / my guesses (Cavan/Monaghan) White dot: Closed station I based my crayon-drawing speculation on the 1906 railway map. I can't think of any other route that covers both Cavan and Monaghan but the GNR from Dundalk to Clones, before turning south to Cavan town and then the MGWR on to Mullingar. Realignments to avoid town centres and the six border crossings in a handful of miles would be necessary - I placed stations in villages with at least 1,000 population on the new line. I do wonder what the fate of the Navan Branch will be - with Tara Mines "temporarily" closed and passenger plans using the MGWR line to Navan, it doesn't appear to have any further use currently. I can't see Irish Rail deciding to introduce Navan-Drogheda shuttles - nobody would go from Navan to Dublin via Drogheda if the new railway is built, but on the other side of the coin, I can't see the new railway being built any time soon. Hopefully they at least release the draft soon - politics means the final report probably won't be released for a long time, if ever.

There's an Irish Enterprise North (Belfast-Dundalk) and an Irish Enterprise South (Dundalk-Dublin): both are needed for the full Dublin-Belfast. I've played a bit of this myself using Open Rails: it covers from York Road to Tara Street. The Navan and Howth branches are present as well, along with North Wall. On a side note - I haven't played it personally but there's also a route that covers GSR-era Kerry available for MSTS: https://tsforum.forumotion.net/t107-the-kerry-railways The same author (Moranb) has also made several Irish routes for Train Simulator Classic - it takes a very long time to download everything and finding all the assets is a large task that I still haven't completed, but I very much enjoy the Dublin to Limerick, Cork, and Tralee route - also featuring Cork suburban lines, the Nenagh branch, and all manner of sidings dotted across the line. I'll link the first part of the download (https://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-info.php?form_fileid=35529), but there's six in total. Other available routes include the Edenderry branch, Newmarket branch, Valentia line, and Dublin-Rosslare - which I only discovered today as I was writing this post. All of them are available on UKTS. https://www.uktrainsim.com/filelib-search.php?form_exact_author=Moranb

Today's Echo reports plans to apply for Blackpool and Blarney planning permission within 12 months and for construction to begin in 2026. However, as far as I can tell all quotes are from politicians, so take things with a pinch of salt. https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41169556.html