thewanderer

Afternoon folks, The latest batch of photos from the past week feature: aturday 7th December 2019: Today we visited Tralee and saw 2601 + 2602 stabled while later in the evening saw 22026 at Maddam's Hill outside Killarney. Wednesday 11th December 2019: 083 pictured passing Clonkeen with the 1000 Mallow - Portlaoise Relay Train. Friday 13th December 2019: Pictures from Portlaoise and Heuston. Saturday 14th December 2019: The day was spent on the Maynooth Line photographing the RPSI Santa Specials and the Commuter traffic on the line. Click https://bit.ly/2S0Ku9A to view them all.

Today's picture roundup comes from Ballybrophy with 076 on the Relay Train, Portlaoise, Thurles and Mallow. Click https://bit.ly/2YnGUaU to view.

Evening folks, Latest pictures from the week so far include: Tuesday 3rd December 2019: Images from Portlaoise and Limerick today. Thursday 5th December 2019: The main event from today was pictures of 071 at Ballybrophy and near Portlaoise with the relay train from the Nenagh Branch. The relay train was working around Borris-in-Ossory relaying track. Click https://bit.ly/2YsDunq to view.

Another small update to the website this evening with the first pictures from the December 2019 gallery. Monday 2nd December 2019: Premier Class 5ICR 22039 was very unusually allocated to the 1530 Heuston - Limerick service on Monday 2nd December covering for a shortage of 4ICR sets. Click https://bit.ly/33I8h0q to view the pictures from Portlaoise and Limerick.

I was in Glasgow for a couple of days between the 26th and 28th November for an IRO event in the City. Between these events I managed to get out and explore some of the extensive suburban railway network the city has to offer. Click https://bit.ly/2DFL6cB to view the 160 images from the visit.

A few images from Thurles tonight while waiting to collect family off the 1750 Tralee - Heuston. Click https://bit.ly/35A9wjp to view.

Evening folks, Pictures from this week comprise. Tuesday 19th November 2019: Pictures today come from Ballybrophy and Portlaoise. Wednesday 20th November 2019: Featuring 071 arriving at Portlaoise on a relay train from Mallow. Friday 22nd November 2019: Pictures this evening come from Terenure and Heuston Station. Click https://bit.ly/2pGbzDk to view.

Pictures today come from Portlaoise with the hightlight being 071 heading L.E. from Inchicore to Portlaoise PWD yard. Click the image below to view.

On Saturday 16th November rail services were suspended between Portlaoise and Limerick Jct. for the renewal of turnout of Ground Frame 820 at Thurles. Here we see tamper 751 tamping the new turnout on the Saturday afternoon. Pictures from the day also come from outside Cashel. Click https://bit.ly/2pooSbs to view.

Waterford & Suir Valley Railway Sunday 27th October 2019 While on a visit to the Waterford area, I travelled on the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway at Kilmeadan. It's been nearly 5 1/2 years since my previous visit to the railway and since then the Waterford Greenway has been build beside the railway. I'm rather split on this greenway to be honest. On one hand it has certainly increased the passing traffic at Kilmeadan with walkers and cyclists stopping off for refreshments at the station cafe, but the greenway has destroyed the tranquil scenery of the railway from Kilmeadan in towards Waterford. Click https://bit.ly/2NR1YTx to view.

Evening folks, Photos so far from this week: Monday 11th November 2019: A postscript to Saturday's pictures. I called into Quakers Road while on the way back home. Earlier in the day 084 had visited the branch with the relay train and relayed the track near the level crossing with 2nd hand rail and sleepers. Tuesday 12th November 2019: Pictures from Thurles and Cork while heading to Cork on the 1400 Heuston - Cork service for the IRRS show in Cork later that night. Wednesday 13th November 2019: Pictures from a wet Cork on Wednesday morning as I head to Dublin on the 0925 service. Later in the day has two batches of pictures from Heuston, where in the space of a few hours the weather deteriorated significantly. Click https://bit.ly/33KYaJ7 to view all the images.

Great to see so much positivity in the parish about replacing life expired infrastructure

Saturday 9th November 2019: The Nenagh Branch is currently closed between Ballybrophy and Birdhill for relaying work to be carried out. The first section to be done is in the Ballybrophy - Roscrea section between the 4 1/2 MP to 5 1/4 MP around Quakers Road Level Crossing. I visited the area today to see the progress so far on the first day of the closure. Click https://bit.ly/32w0jHb to view.

I think you are. The 1305 Connolly - Sligo is 8 x 29000 on FO. I doubt this would carry as 4 x29000 past Mullingar as you suggest. It's 8 x29000 for a reason, i.e. its rather busy leaving Connolly. The 1505 Connolly - Sligo is increased from 4ICR to 7ICR on Friday's. On the Heuston side two extra 3ICR;s from the maintenance pool are pressed into traffic on Friday's to allow the FO 1615 Heuston - Waterford to operate and increase capacity on the 0735 Heuston - Westport, 1310 Westport - Heuston from 4ICR to 7ICR. 1815 Heuston - Westport from 5ICR to 7ICR and the 1710 Heuston - Athlone F.X. (Westport F.O.) from 4ICR to 5ICR. The fleet is intensively used, even more so on Friday's with little options for recovery if things go wrong due to the demand on capacity on this day.

I'll start off today's picture update with, sometimes things work out in your favour when you least expect it. With loco 225 allocated to the 0800 Heuston - Cork, it would mean I would pass it mid section Ballybrophy - Portlaoise on the 0740 Limerick - Heuston. For those not in the know, this locomotive only returned to traffic last month working freight services after being stored since September 2010 after suffering damage in a collision with a tractor at a user worked level crossing near Roscommon. However, luck was on my side. Due to adverse weather conditions the 0630 Limerick - Ballybrophy was 20 minutes late arriving into Ballybrophy and the connecting service wasn't held. Passengers would be carried to Dublin on the 0913 Portlaoise - Heuston, which started back from Ballybrophy. Thankfully the 0800 Heuston - Cork was also running 14 minutes late and the empty set to collect the passengers in Ballybrophy was behind the 0800 Heuston - Cork service, which meant I was able to photograph 225 passing Ballybrophy. Later in the day we saw 086 heading L.E. from Mallow to Portlaoise and 228 worked the 1100 Heuston - Cork. Finally later that evening while passing Birdhill I called into the station to see the 1905 Ballybrophy - Limerick which was the last passenger service between Ballybrophy - Birdhill for a number of weeks as the line is closed for track relaying. Click https://bit.ly/2K3hc5A to view.

Evening folks, A small update tonight to the November gallery with pictures from: - Portlaoise - Limerick Jct. where 086 was viewed on a Ballast HOBS train. - Limerick. Click https://bit.ly/2JZXSX4 to view.

The South Wexford Railway This gallery was originally published in April 2012 and has been expanded in November 2019 with the addition of 75 photos to the gallery. The gallery now covers the route from Waterford eastwards to Rosslare Strand with photos of the route since services were suspended in September 2010 including some of the rolling stock and PWD movements over the route. Click https://bit.ly/2NIMOOP to view.

Evening folks, The weather was pretty dire over the weekend so not much chance for photography. So this weekend has a small update with some images from Limerick Jct, Killarney, Rathmore and Mallow to add to the first batch of photos from last Friday. Click https://bit.ly/2NbrMtj to view.

We kick off the month of November with images from Thurles, Portlaoise and Killarney today. Click https://bit.ly/2NtmacK to view.

Evening folks, It's been a busy week so only a handful of images so far. Monday 21st October 2019: A selection of images from Inchicore. Friday 25th October 2019: Two pictures from Portlaoise featuring 078 hauling failed 229 from Cork to Inchicore and 22046 + 22056 arriving at Portlaoise to form the 1525 Portlaoise - Heuston. Click https://bit.ly/34d3CEz to view.

The latest batch of pictures from this week have now been uploaded to https://bit.ly/33CcD9C Featuring: - Heuston. - Portarlington. - Thurles. - Limerick Jct. - Limerick - Sixmilebridge. - Plus for the Belmond Grand Hibernian trial to Sligo photos from Lough Owel and Hill of Down of the Sligo to North Wall working.

Evening folks, Two updates to the website tonight with updates to the October gallery and the Bord na Mona gallery. October gallery: I had to go to Galway today, so I decided to drive to Athlone and let the train take the strain for the rest of the way. Pictures come from Athlone and Galway and also shows the track layout changes which are happening in the yard. While on the way back to Athlone I copped 073 at Ballinasloe on a HOBS train so decided to head home via the scenic route to get a picture of it. Click https://bit.ly/318xC2i to view. While on the way home from Ballinasloe to Nenagh, a friend and a Bord na Mona expert rang me by chance for a quick chat. I mentioned that I would be passing Shannonbridge shortly. He informed me that it was a good time to be passing as the evening shift would start at 1700 and would see several trains heading out to the bogs on either side of the Power Station. So it would have been rude not to stop. After staking out the underbridge on the R357 road for 15 minutes the action begin with two trains heading out to the bogs. I decided to relocate to Blackwater Works a few miles away and caught up with the first two trains passing me once again. But that wasn't the end of it, a total of four trains were following the first pair in close succession. A great 40 minutes of railfreight action in the heart of Ireland. Click https://bit.ly/329C8Pt to view all the images.

Evening folks,. A varied selection of images from today including: - 2611 + 2612 making an rare appearance at Laois Traincare Depot on a driver training special. - Common user liveried 233 on the 1225 Cork - Heuston. - 3ICR 22007 has been fitted with a ZF transmission as a trial and made its first run today from Laois Depot to Mallow under test. Click https://bit.ly/35nvF5f to view them.

Evening folks, Saturday 5th October 2019: After spending three weeks in the USA and Canada its back to Ireland. Here we see 4003 arriving into Heuston with the deferred 1145 from Cork. Thursday 9th October 2019: 225 + 078 worked a trial in multiple from Inchicore to Mallow, following on from the trial last week as 225 edges closer to a return to service after 9 years out of service. Later in the afternoon Track Recording Car 700 passed Portlaoise with a 1115 Limerick - Kildare recording run. Click https://bit.ly/2AVgguX to view. If you wish to view the USA images, a mixture of railway and travel photography click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2019-International-Trips for the individual galleries.

Evening folks, A small update this evening featuring the start of our trip to head out west. The first part of the trip being heading from Nenagh to Heuston on the evening Branch train. Click https://bit.ly/2kjNrE3 to view.