thewanderer

Afternoon folks, The July gallery has been updated with a selection of images from this week. Wednesday 3rd July 2019: Pictures from Clonkeen during lunchtime of the 1300 Heuston - Cork which was 4ICR vice the booked MKIV set. Thursday 4th July 2019: Evening time in Dromineer on the shores of Lough Derg. Friday 5th July 2019: Today's bunch of pictures come from Nenagh and Ballybrophy in the morning and evening. Click https://bit.ly/30kHW79 to view them all.

We kick off the July gallery with an extended visit to Limerick Jct. to observe the latest progress on the new platform and see the shunting moves required for the Waterford train to depart the station while the new footbridge is built. Images also come from Portlaoise and Limerick. Click https://bit.ly/2FOI8DV to view them all.

Evening folks, The final update for June has just been uploaded to the gallery with photos from a weekend in Dublin. Featuring: Nenagh - Ballybrophy - Heuston with 080 shunting the Belmond Grand Hibernian. - Busaras - Connolly - Sandymount - Dun-Laoghaire. - Grand Canal Dock - Abbey Street - Dawson - St. Stephen's Green (the LUAS opened 15th years ago today between here and Sandyford). Click https://bit.ly/2LtNbxg to view.

Morning folks, It's been over a week since the last update to the June gallery but I have been busy out and about getting some images on my travels. The latest photo update starts at https://bit.ly/2NvjXR8 and includes: Tuesday 25th June 2019: A lunchtime visit to Portarlington to see 081 passing with the 1005 Ballina - North Wall IWT Liner and later in the day we caught 2815 + 2816 departing Nenagh for Ballybrophy. Wednesday 26th June 2019: This afternoon, I was bound for Cork to meet up with Finnyus and head to the Gate Cinema in Cork for a documentary which was a one night only affair. Pictures from the trip come from Portlaoise, Mallow, Cork, Rusbrook and at Dromaneen between Mallow and Banteer. Thursday 27th June 2019: After an overnight in Cork, today's photos come from Cork Station on the Thursday morning plus Heuston and Portlaoise later in the day. Friday 28th June 2019: An unusual site greeted me at Ballybrophy this morning in the form of 217 on top of MKIV set 4008 after its loco (223) had failed the previous day on the 1625 Cork - Heuston. Later in the day, images come from Portlaoise and Limerick.

Evening folks, A selection of images from the past week have now been uploaded to the June gallery. Friday 14th June 2019: Today's images come from Portlaoise, Limerick Jct., Limerick and Farranfore. We also see the latest works on the new platform and footbridge at Limerick Jct. Sunday 17th June 2019: A stop off at Farranfore while passing through the village to photograph the 1510 Tralee - Mallow. Thursday 20th June 2019: Today's images come from Thurles, Portlaoise and Portarlington with the highlight being 226 working the Belmond Grand Hibernian. Click https://bit.ly/2WR0x92 to view all the images.

Evening folks, We start off the June gallery with a selection of photos from: - Thurles, - Heuston, - Busaras, - Connolly, - Hazelhatch, - Portarlington. Click https://bit.ly/2ICdPRr to view.

On Saturday 8th June 2019, Virgin Trains, Locomotive Services and The Railway Magazine held an open day at Crewe Diesel Depot. Despite the weather being utterly miserable, it didn't detour the crowds from flocking to the venue to see an exciting line up of exhibits from across the UK Rail Industry. With 43 exhibits on view, from steam engines to the latest diesel / electric locomotives (Class 88) there was plenty to see across the complex with several items of rolling stock being open for inspection by the public, including one of the Network Rail Test Trains. Despite the weather, it was a great day out and my first UK Open Day since Eastleigh in 2009! Let's hope I don't leave it another 10 years before my next one. Click https://bit.ly/2X0ppiC to view.

To position myself into the UK for the Crewe Diesel Depot Open Day, I flew into Bristol, a new airport for me. After a painless bus transfer to Bristol Temple Meads, I photographed around the station for a little over 60 minutes before catching the 1225 Plymouth - Glasgow Cross Country service which was formed of a HST set. A change of train at Birmingham New Street saw me board the 1443 London Euston to Edinburgh as far as Crewe where I meet up with some other Irish enthusiasts who were also over for the open day on Saturday. Click https://bit.ly/2Xutj0a to view.

Over the Irish June Bank Holiday weekend, a group of us travelled to Manchester for two nights to soak up the atmosphere in the city. On the Saturday, a smaller group of us visited Liverpool to experience the atmosphere in the city in the run up to the Champions League Final later that day in Madrid between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. On the Sunday we headed back to Holyhead to catch the ferry back to Ireland. Click https://bit.ly/2QSRMts to view all the pictures.

Evening folks, A few images from Templemore this evening with the 1650 Heuston - Cork Spl, 1700 Heuston - Cork and 1625 Cork - Heuston. Click https://bit.ly/2Xfiyin to view.

Evening folks, A few pictures from the past couple of days. Friday 24th May 2019: Two images from Portlaoise station today of 217 arriving with the 1400 Heuston - Cork. Monday 27th May 2019: Images of Tamper 743 passing Portlaoise and at Balllybrophy while changing to the Nenagh Branch train. Click https://bit.ly/2EF4OpJ to view.

Evening folks, Pictures from this week so far: Sunday 19th May 2019: Pictures from Cork and Tralee during the Branch Line Society "The Cork Stopper" tour. Wednesday 22nd May 2019: Today's pictures come from around the Belfast area with photos from Lanyon Place, Yorkgate and City Hospital. Click https://bit.ly/2VDH232 to view.

Branch Line Society: The Cork Stopper - Sunday 19th May 2019 On Sunday 19th May 2019, the Branch Line Society in conjunction with Iarnrod Eireann operated a charity railtour, raising money for the Railway Children charity. The railtour traversed crossovers, rarely used platforms and sidings with a lunch break at Tralee. Highlights of this tour include the Cork station avoiding line, the remains of the former line to Youghal at Midleton (and the rarely used non-preferred platform), Killarney avoiding line, engineer's sidings at Cobh / Banteer / Rathmore, and a number of other crossovers / little used platforms particularly Tralee P2. The Society is indebted to Jim Meade, Chief Executive and Brian O'Meara, Train Planning and Performance Manager of Irish Rail for their dedication in supporting this project. The train was formed by the mainstay of the Cork Commuter fleet, a 2600 Class unit formed of 2605 + 2616 which is recently ex-works. Click https://bit.ly/2YzVIlu to view all the images plus a full description of all the crossovers, rarely used platforms and sidings.

The highlight from today was the visit of the Belmond Grand Hibernian to the Western Rail Corridor between Limerick and Athenry. Pictures of the train come from Ballycar Lough and Ennis. At Ennis once the guests had disembarked the train was shunted to allow for the waste tanks to be discharged. While heading back to Limerick I popped into Sixmilebridge to view the 1230 Limerick - Ennis. Later in the afternoon features a few images from Limerick. Click https://bit.ly/2LRXkpv to view all the pictures.

Evening folks, A few images from the past few days: Monday 13th May 2019: Just two images from today at a sunny Portlaoise of the 1425 Cork - Heuston passing the station. Tuesday 14th May 2019: Pictures of 216 and the Belmond Grand Hibernian at Rosskelton and Thurles. Thursday 16th May 2019: A lunchtime trip to Clonkeen outside Portlaoise to photo the 1300 Heuston - Cork and 1225 Cork - Heuston. Click https://bit.ly/2W6aCmc to view.

Evening folks, The final batch of images from my weekend trip to London have now been uploaded to https://bit.ly/30gHsjy After Saturday's unexpected trip to Swindon and the Marston Vale line, Sunday was a more local affair with images from: - Carshalton Beeches. - Sutton - West Sutton. - Epsom. - Ashtead. - Gatwick Airport. - Shannon. To view the collection from the start take a look at https://bit.ly/2vT3Pxe Highlights include: My final run on a traditional length GWR HST from Swindon to London. Some sets are being retained for West of England operation in 2+4 format. Hastings DEMU 1001 on a railtour. Former London Underground D Stock train in its new life on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley.

Evening folks, Just under 100 photographs have just been uploaded to the website featuring Saturday's travels around London and the South East. Click https://bit.ly/2PYDXJL to view them all. The main event of my day was the IRO lecture in a hotel near Euston. But an early finish allowed for some extending travelling afterwards. Pictures from today feature: - Carshalton Beeches - Norwood Jct. - Penge West. - Penge East. - Sydenham Hill - to capture Hastings DEMU 1001 passing the station on a railtour. - London Victoria. - London Euston. - Great Portland Street. - Regents Park. - London Paddington. - Swindon - to travel back to London on one of the last long distance HST sets in service with GWR. End of an era. The last HST will leave Paddington on the 18th May. - St. Pancras. - Bedford. - Bletchley - travelled on the former London Underground D Stock in its new guise as a Class 230 on the National Network on the Marston Vale line. - Euston. - London Bridge. Click https://bit.ly/2PYDXJL to view them all.

Morning folks, I'm over in London for the weekend and the first batch of pictures have now been uploaded to https://bit.ly/2vT3Pxe Pictures come from: - Shannon Airport. - Gatwick Airport. - East and West Croydon. - Carshalton Beeches. - Clapham Jct. - Twickenham. - Whitton. - Winsdor and Eton Riverside, Central and the Castle. - Slough. - Paddington.

Thursday 9th May: While heading to Shannon Airport I took a detour to the Corbally Road in Limerick to photo the 1345 Galway - Limerick passing. Click the image below to view.

Evening folks, The latest update is one of my occasional features about disused railways, the latest update features the Silvermines Branch & Kilmastulla Siding in North Tipperary on the Limerick to Ballybrophy railway. The first to open was the 1 1/4 mile spur to Silvermines in 1966 to serve a barytes mine. The mine and branch closed in 1993. The second freight spur opened in October 1982 to serve a shale quarry at Kilmastulla. With the opening of the M7 motorway this traffic ended suddenly in December 2009 and the wagons are now stored at Limerick with Kilmastulla Siding now disused since that date. Click https://bit.ly/2H9Kmz1 to view all the images.

Afternoon folks, The latest update to the May gallery features: Saturday 4th May 2019: A varied selection of images today in the Limerick area with pictures from: - Nenagh. - Cappadine. - Lisnagry. - Limerick. - A tour of the LÉ Eithne (P31) in Limerick Docks and images of the River Shannon and Abbey River in the city. Click https://bit.ly/2VNHIXH to view.

The May gallery starts off with: Wednesday 1st May 2019: We start off the May gallery with pictures from: M3 Parkway, Kildare, Waterford, Limerick Jct., Thurles. Includes images of the refreshed set 22046. Thursday 2nd May: Today's images come from: Portlaoise, Heuston, Inchicore - 072 leaving Inchicore on a HOBS and the CME Golden Spanner Awards. Parkwest & Cherry Orchard, Drumcondra - 234 passing on the IWT Liner. Click the image below to view them all.

Noel, while 22000's will continue to work selected Cork services the bulk of services will be operated by MKIV's. For reference the following services are booked for 22000's, all others are MKIV operated. Weekdays: Ex Heuston: 1000, 1200 S.X., 1400 F.X. 1900 F.O. 2100 F.X. Ex Cork: 0550, 0615 S.X., 1325, 1525 S.X., 1725 F.X. Sunday: Ex Heuston: 1800, 2100. Ex Cork: 1425 All of the above are worked by 5ICR sets (with 1st class / buffet) except the 1900 FO (3+4ICR) 2100 FSX (3+4ICR) 0550 (4ICR) 0615 (3ICR) plus 1800 (3+4ICR) and 2100 (4ICR) on Sundays.

Evening folks, Pictures from Friday and Saturday have now been uploaded to the April gallery featuring the following locations: Cork line: * Portlaoise * Heuston * Milltown (Co. Tipperary) Nenagh Branch * Nenagh * Cappadine * Knockanpierce Click https://bit.ly/2PvPoby to view.

The first fully refreshed 22000 set was completed on Thursday 25th April 2019 at Connolly Valeting Plant with the set entering traffic on Friday 26th April 2019. While sets 22003 - 22010 and 22050 have gone through the refresh program since last October, they didn't receive the new leather seat covers. The first set to receive these is 22046 and this marks the first set to be fully completed in the project. The sets completed earlier in the program will be retrofitted with the new seat covers at a later date. The scope of work on refreshing the sets after 11 years of intensive use includes: • The lower panels underneath the windows have been replaced with lamigraf material. • The armrests have been changed to match the new leather seat covers. • The seat grabhandles have been repainted grey. • Fitting of USB Sockets on the train with two sockets for each pair of seats. • Fitting of new leather seat covers throughout the train. • Fitting of blue colour doors to the A3 vehicle with bicycle and wheelchair symbols. Click