thewanderer

Evening folks, Several updates to the website have been made over the past few days: First up is the September gallery which features: Tuesday 4th September 2018: A stroll from Heuston into the City Centre photographing some Red Line Trams along the way. Wednesday 5th September 2018: A few images from Killarney of the Just Go holiday charter to Westport. Sunday 9th September 2018: Pictures from Heuston Guinness Yard including Belmond Grand Hibernian Loco 216. Wednesday 12th September 2018: I needed to make a trip to Dublin today so today's round up of images comes from: - Thurles: Pictures of the new crossover TS747 which will be installed on Saturday. - Heuston. - Connolly. - Pearse: Features pictures of the new trial signage. - LUAS Tram at College Green. - Portlaoise. Click https://goo.gl/UPMbY8 to view these. All the photos from my recent UK trip to Manchester and York have been uploaded to https://goo.gl/NPKzEE Split into two gallery covering the pictures from Manchester and York plus a second gallery for a visit to the National Railway Museum.

The first batch of pictures from my long weekend trip to Manchester and York have now been uploaded to the website. Featuring: - Aircraft at Dublin. - Manchester Airport Station. - Trams in Manchester including on the new city line. - Manchester Victoria (my first time to board a train there actually). - York. - The Sidings Hotel in York which is right beside the East Coast Main Line. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2018/UK-Trip-6th-to-the-9th-September-2018 to view all the pictures.

Evening folks, Photos from the past week have now been uploaded to the website in both the August and September galleries. August: Wednesday 29th August 2018: Just a single image from Nenagh of the 0630 Limerick - Ballybrophy arriving into the station. Friday 31st August 2018: A few images of Portlaoise station on Friday morning when the Electric Picnic crowds were arriving into the town. Click https://goo.gl/QXL16W to view. September: Monday 3rd September 2018: The RPSI are operating a private charter this week on behalf of "Just Go Railtours". On Monday the tour departed Connolly at 1045 bound for Killarney. 85 Merlin was pictured in fine form passing Rosskelton south of Portlaoise. Click https://goo.gl/mbsj5w to view.

A round of images from the past 9 days have now been uploaded to the website featuring: Tuesday 21st August 2018: Pictures from Nenagh and Carn Bridge to see a mixed pair of 2600's and 2800's heading to Inchicore. Wednesday 22nd August 2018: A visit to Ashberry Level Crossing outside Roscrea to photo the 1655 Limerick - Ballybrophy. Friday 24th August 2018: Pictures from Portlaoise and Limerick. Saturday 25th August 2018: A couple of images from Portlaoise showing the morning Limerick to Ballybrophy train at the station plus an evening time visit to Dromineer on the shores of Lough Derg. Sunday 26th AUgust 2018: A few pictures of regular scheduled services passing Portlaoise. See "The Papal Visit 2018" for details of special services which operated for the visit of The Pope to Ireland. Tuesday 28th August 2018: Two pictures from Limerick and Portlaoise today in the August gallery. Click https://goo.gl/HvYGm2 to view.

On Tuesday 28th August 2018, Iarnrod Eireann in conjunction with Castleconnell Tidy Towns and Love Castleconnell celebrated the 160th anniversary of the Killonan Jct. to Castleconnell railway with a special service from Limerick to Castleconnell and Birdhill. About 300 to 400 people attended the event at the statiion with speeches given by the District Manager Limerick Noreen Clohessy, Mayor of Limerick City & County James Collins and local railway historian Joe Coleman. Castleconnell station opened on the 28th August 1858 and was the terminus of the route for two years before an extension to Birdhill was opened in July 1860. The station was closed was closed in 1963, along with several others on the Nenagh branch, but was reopened on the 15th May 1989 after the formation of Iarnrod Eireann in 1987. The station is served Monday to Friday by three trains a day to Limerick and two trains a day to Ballybrophy, with two each way on Saturday and a single return trip on Sunday's. Click the https://goo.gl/un7qES to see the pictures from the event.

Over the weekend of Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th August the Pope visited Ireland. For this event a number of special services operated for Events in Croke Park, Knock (near Claremorris) and the Phoenix Park in Dublin. In contrast to the visit of Pope John Paul to Ireland in 1979, the majority of scheduled services continued to operate, whereas in 1979 all scheduled bus and rail services were cancelled with all resources used in providing special train & buses to the events in Dublin and elsewhere. Notwithstanding the changing times in Ireland over the last 39 years the railway company still provided several Intercity Specials to Dublin for the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park on the Sunday in addition to the regular scheduled morning services. In Dublin area itself, the Kildare/Portlaoise commuter service had additional capacity with 3 specials each from Portlaoise and Kildare to supplement the regular scheduled service, which was strengthened from the usual 3ICR to 2X3ICR. On the Connolly side special timetables operated all day on the DART, Northern, Maynooth & M3 Parkway Commuter routes, the highlight being a 10 minute frequency between Connolly and Clonsilla on the Maynooth/M3 Parkway route as Ashtown Station is only a few minutes’ walk from the Phoenix Park. Listed below are the services which operated for the events across the country. Specials on Sunday for the DART, Northern, Maynooth & M3 Parkway Commuter routes are not listed as a special timetable was in force on these routes. Saturday 25th August 2018: FESTIVAL OF FAMILIES @ CROKE PARK 23.00 DUBLIN HEUSTON/GALWAY 3 ICR 23.15 DUBLIN HEUSTON/CORK 8 MKIV 00.50 LIMERICK JCTN./LIMERICK 3 ICR 23.20 DUBLIN CONNOLLY/BELFAST CENTRAL 6 x C3K 15.10 MAYNOOTH/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 8 x 29000 21.00 DRUMCONDRA/MAYNOOTH 8 x 29000 12.55 LONGFORD/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 8 x 29000 21.50 DRUMCONDRA/LONGFORD 4 x 29000 16.15 MAYNOOTH/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 4 x 29000 21.10 DRUMCONDRA/MAYNOOTH 8 x 29000 21.35 DRUMCONDRA/MAYNOOTH 8 x 29000 22.05 DRUMCONDRA/MAYNOOTH 8 x 29000 Sunday 26th August 2018: THE PAPAL VISIT 2018 @ KNOCK 06.00 ATHLONE/CLAREMORRIS 4 ICR 13.35 CLAREMORRIS/ATHLONE 4 ICR 06.10 WESTPORT/CLAREMORRIS 3&4 ICR 14.00 CLAREMORRIS/WESTPORT 3&4 ICR 06.00 BALLINA/MANULLA JCTN. 2 x 2800 THE PAPAL VISIT 2018 @ THE PHOENIX PARK Heuston services 07.15 CORK/DUBLIN HEUSTON 8 MKIV 19.25 DUBLIN HEUSTON/CORK 8 MKIV 07.25 LIMERICK/DUBLIN HEUSTON 5&3 ICR 20.00 DUBLIN HEUSTON/LIMERICK 3 ICR 07.15 WATERFORD/DUBLIN HEUSTON 2X3 ICR 19.40 DUBLIN HEUSTON/WATERFORD 2X3 ICR 07.10 GALWAY/DUBLIN HEUSTON 3&4 ICR 19.15 DUBLIN HEUSTON/GALWAY 3&4 ICR 07.40 GALWAY/DUBLIN HEUSTON 5 ICR 19.50 DUBLIN HEUSTON/GALWAY 4 ICR 21.30 DUBLIN HEUSTON/ATHLONE 4 ICR 07.57 PORTLAOISE/DUBLIN HEUSTON 3&4 ICR 18.10 DUBLIN HEUSTON/PORTLAOISE 3&4 ICR 08.20 PORTLAOISE/DUBLIN HEUSTON 2X3 ICR 19.35 DUBLIN HEUSTON/PORTLAOISE 4 ICR 10.18 PORTLAOISE/DUBLIN HEUSTON 3&4 ICR 20.10 DUBLIN HEUSTON/PORTLAOISE 5 ICR 20.45 DUBLIN HEUSTON/PORTLAOISE 3&4 ICR 21.45 DUBLIN HEUSTON/PORTLAOISE 5 ICR 07.45 KILDARE/DUBLIN HEUSTON 5 ICR 09.20 KILDARE/DUBLIN HEUSTON 5 ICR 18.50 DUBLIN HEUSTON/KILDARE 5 ICR 10.55 KILDARE/DUBLIN HEUSTON 5 ICR 07.10 TRALEE/CORK 5 ICR is extended through to Heuston Connolly Services 06.05 BELFAST CENTRAL/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 6 x C3K 20.55 DUBLIN CONNOLLY/BELFAST CENTRAL 6 x C3K 06.20 BELFAST CENTRAL/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 6 x C3K 22.10 DUBLIN CONNOLLY/BELFAST CENTRAL 6 x C3K 05.40 DERRY/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 6 C3K 21.50 DUBLIN CONNOLLY/DERRY 6 C3K 06.55 SLIGO/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 4 ICR 18.30 DUBLIN CONNOLLY/SLIGO 4 ICR 07.20 ROSSLARE EUROPORT/DUBLIN CONNOLLY 4 x 29000 19.42 DUBLIN CONNOLLY/ROSSLARE EUROPORT 4 x 29000 For the weekend, I was in the Portlaoise area and popped over to the station on Sunday morning to see the 3 additional special services depart from the station, plus photographing the Limerick, Cork and Tralee specials passing through. Click https://goo.gl/Xxpd8w to view.

Meanwhile this evening I estimate about 50 odd people got off the 1750 Galway - Limerick at Ennis which was a 2 car set (85 seats). The train still had a healthy load into Limerick. No reason why a Galway to Tuam (or beyond) service couldn't do the same. But to a lot of commentators on the East Coast (I include the Dublin based media and keyboard warriors in that statement) the line only carries a handful of passengers a day.

There was only one train to catch today and that was the 1530 Heuston - Limerick which had the 2018 All Ireland Hurling Final winners onboard, returning to Limerick to a stunning reception from fans at Limerick Colbert Station. After that I took a spin out to Ennis and once again the Western Rail Corridor trains had very healthy passenger loads, particularly the 1750 Galway - Limerick Jct. service. Click https://goo.gl/TbfPXR to view the images.

Thanks Jason. On Sunday 19th August the All Ireland Hurling Final took place at Croke Park in Dublin. The minor final featured Galway and Kilkenny, while the senior final featured Limerick and Galway. Limerick are looking to win their first All Ireland since 1973. For the event Iarnrod Eireann operated eight specials from Limerick, Limerick Jct., Charleville and Galway as well as the regular scheduled service. The specials operated as under: 0730 Galway - Dublin Heuston 3+4ICR 1920 Dublin Heuston - Galway 3+4ICR 0745 Galway - Dublin Heuston 5ICR 2005 Dublin Heuston - Galway 4ICR 0845 Galway - Dublin Heuston 2x3ICR 1950 Dublin Heuston - Galway 2x3ICR 0940 Galway - Dublin Heuston 4ICR 1820 Dublin Heuston - Galway 4ICR 0910 Limerick - Dublin Heuston 2x3ICR 1850 Dublin Heuston - Limerick 2x4ICR 0940 Limerick - Dublin Heuston 2x4ICR 1924 Dublin Heuston - Limerick 2x3ICR (note the regular 1925 Heuston - Limerick was deferred to 1935). 1000 Limerick Jct.- Dublin Heuston 3+4ICR 1910 Dublin Heuston - Limerick Jct. 3+4ICR 0815 Charleville - Dublin Heuston 5ICR 1930 Dublin Heuston - Charleville 8MKIV I took an early morning trip into Limerick to see the 0910 and 0940 Specials to Heuston. The 0940 was notable in being the first 8ICR formation to depart from the station since the remodelling in 2017. Previously the maximum size that could operate to Limerick was 7ICR. Click the picture below to view all the images.

Evening folks, A round of up of pictures from the past week include: Tuesday 14th August 2018: I had to visit Tullamore this morning and once my business there was concluded, the Up and Down IWT Liners were shortly due to pass through the town. I headed out Clonminch Road Bridge to photograph both workings, both hauled by 201 Class locomotives. Thursday 17th August 2017: Images from around the Portlaoise area including 083 hauling the Sperry train on test to Portarlington. Friday 17th August 2018: Pictures today come from Heuston, Busaras and Connolly. Saturday 18th August 2018: Pictures from St. Stephens Green, Dawson Street, Heuston, Portlaoise and Grange More (near Ballybrophy). Click https://goo.gl/KXCGWY to view.

Evening folks, Two updates have been uploaded to the website this evening: - Monday 13th August 2018: Pictures from Limerick and Portlaoise have been uploaded to the August gallery. Click https://goo.gl/33npqe to view. - The next railway to feature in my forgotten railway series is the Western Rail Corridor between Claremorris to Athenry. Click thehttps://goo.gl/GrCSRY to see the gallery.

Hi all, Two updates to the website this evening. The first is the August gallery which features: Tuesday 7th August 2018: While alighting from the 1530 Heuston - Limerick at Limerick, I noted 2814 on the 1805 to Galway showing the new digital destination displays. Wednesday 8th August 2018: The Nenagh Branch service was bus transfers on this day. It was reported that copper thieves stole 4 miles of ETS cable in the Cloughjordan area. Thursday 9th August 2018: Pictures from Portlaoise, Limerick, Limerick Jct. and Thurles this evening. The main reason for my trip was to travel on the 1750 Limerick - Limerick Jct. service which operates via the Pocket Loop at Limerick Jct. to cross the 1625 Heuston - Limerick via Limerick Jct. service. Click https://goo.gl/PMvZM6 to view. The second update is one from the forgotten railway series featuring pictures of the Connemara railway between Galway and Clifden. If exciting plans come to pass we may yet see a train in this part of the world once again. Click https://goo.gl/nPjRF5 to view.

Evening folks, The July gallery comes to a close with photos from Coolmine on Tuesday evening to capture some of the evening peak traffic passing the station. Click https://goo.gl/bi5cJk to view.

Evening all, The latest update to the July gallery has just been posted featuring: Wednesday 25th July 2018: Just a single picture from this day at Ballybrophy of the morning branch train from Limerick via Nenagh. Friday 27th July 2018: A Friday ramble visiting: - Portlaoise. - Portarlington. - Monasterevin. - Limerick Jct. - Thurles. Work has started at Limerick Jct. on the construction of the new Down Platform. As a result of this the Up and Down Lines are closed and all traffic must use the platform road at the station. Click https://goo.gl/5zhBXh to view all the images.

Tuesday 24th July 2018: A day trip to Dublin with images from: - Nenagh. - Heuston. - Connolly. - Busaras. - Drumcondra. - Ballybrophy. Includes the last silver and black liveried 071 (086) hauling the 1140 Ballina - North Wall Liner at Drumcondra. Click https://goo.gl/jzCtEp to view.

Evening all, A bunch of images from the weekend just gone have been uploaded to the website at https://goo.gl/dESe3n Saturday 21st July 2018: Pictures from a day out around Dublin. Mainly of the LUAS Cross City extension including my first sighting of one of the new 55 meter trams in service. Also included is the Belmond Grand Hibernian at Heuston and Connolly. Sunday 22nd July 2018: While heading to Dublin on Saturday I noticed 071 and 085 stabled at Lisduff. So I decided to take a chance on the Sunday and head over to Lisduff to see if they were still there. Thankfully they were.

A few images from earlier today at Minish outside Killarney and Farranfore. Click the picture below to view them.

RPSI: Sea Breeze. Sunday 8th July 2018 The RPSI Dublin Operations operated another of their Sea Breeze tours from Dublin to Wexford and Rosslare Strand on Sunday 8th July. Originally planned to feature No. 85 "Merlin" the RPSI later decided due to the extraordinarily hot weather, and in particular the lack of rain or any forecast for significant rainfall, they took the decision to operate the Sea Breeze excursion using a diesel locomotive. IE 071 Class No. 072 recently released from a body overhaul was rostered for the tour. Despite about 100 cancellations due to the use of a diesel locomotive, the train was still well loaded and everybody enjoyed their day out to the Sunny South East, which certainly lived up to its name on Sunday. Click https://goo.gl/SHJnXz to view.

Evening folks, Two LUAS updates this evening. The July gallery shows the new interchange between the IE and LUAS platforms at Broombridge. The last remaining element of this is for the footbridge to open which will happen once maintenance staff training (Transdev) has been completed on it. Click https://goo.gl/aYzy1C to view. The second update is a visit to the LUAS Depot at Broombridge as part of a visit by the Irish Railway Records Society Cork Branch. Broombridge is a light maintenance depot and driver sign on / rest point. The maintenance area consists of a two road shed with one road with lifting jacks / bogie wash and the second road has pit access. The depot also contains a sanding house and tramwash. Click https://goo.gl/PjPirG to view these.

Evening folks, The second and final batch of images from my recent London visit have been uploaded to https://goo.gl/rJvoDM Featuring Saturday 30th June 2018: A circular trip around London using the North London & East London lines featuring: * Carshalton Beeches. * Clapham Jct. * Richmond * Kew Gardens. * Gospel Oak. * South Tottenham. * Barking. * Stratford. * Liverpool Street. * Shoreditch High Street. * West Croydon. My initial plan to travel Carshalton Beeches - Sutton - Wimbledon - Clapham Jct. had to be changed as GTR Thameslink decided to cancel the Wimbledon Loop service with little notice. Sunday 1st July: A few hours exploring SW London with pictures from: * Carshalton Beeches. * Epsom. * Motspur Park. * Raynes Park. * Wimbledon. * Dundonald Road. * Mitcham. Monday 2nd July: Another trip into Central London to meet a friend for lunch and after that I visited the London Transport Museum, the Hidden London tour in Highgate also gives 1/2 price admission into the Museum at Covent Garden. Pictures from: * Victoria. * Euston * Covent Garden. * Kings Cross St. Pancras. * London Bridge. Tuesday 3rd July: The last day in London but still managed to get out for a few hours photographing at: * Carshalton Beeches. * Norwood Jct. * Crystal Palace. * Beckenham Jct. * Birkbeck. * Sandilands. * Lloyd Park. * Gatwick Airport. To view the gallery from day 1 (Thursday 28th) click https://goo.gl/piJGBU

Evening folks, I'm in London for a few days and the first batches of images have now been uploaded to the International section of the website at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2018 The three galleries are: * UK Trip: 28th June to 3rd July containing all the general photos from around London during the visit. Click https://goo.gl/TtNCYh * UK Trip: Highgate - Wilderness Walkabout Hidden London tour. 29th June 2018. If you're a fan of the London Underground then make sure you check this gallery out. Discover a station reclaimed by nature. Redeveloped with Charles Holden architecture in 1940 Highgate was set to be a bustling interchange as part of the Northern Heights project. Find out why it now lies in a secluded vale as an urban wilderness home to protected species. Click https://goo.gl/ZEu3qB * UK Trip: Jenny Wren Canal Cruises. 29th June 2018. The "Jenny Wren" established in 1968, offers regular daily sightseeing tours, unique as they pass through the lock at Camden Market, before passing through London Zoo, Regent's Park, and the short Maida Hill canal tunnel, to emerge at "Little Venice". Click https://goo.gl/gt4G7W

A round up of photos from the week just gone. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2018-Photos/June-2018/i-qnSNN54 to view them. Monday 18th June 2018: A couple of images from Monday evening at Limerick. Tuesday 19th June 2018: Due to a signalling failure which required the use of a "Pilotman", the 0630 Limerick - Ballybrophy was only formed with a single unit this morning as the usual splitting off a unit for the 0745 Nenagh - Limerick could not take place. Thursday 21st June 2018: A few images of 201 Class +MKIV sets at Clonkeen outside Portlaoise during lunch time including Set 4002 on a trial working from Mallow to Inchicore. Friday 22nd June 2018: Just one image from today of 2815 + 2816 passing Glenahilty between Nenagh and Cloughjordan on the 1655 Limerick - Ballybrophy. Saturday 23rd June 2018: A trip over to Templemore Station to view the 1040 Cork - Heuston which was formed of a 9ICR, instead of a MKIV set on this day due to a concert in Dublin.

Evening folks, Two updates to the website this evening featuring: June 2018 gallery. Friday 8th June 2018: A few images from around Portlaoise, while I was meeting Finnyus who was changing trains on Friday evening in Portlaoise. Saturday 9th June 2018: While passing Dromkeen in the car, I stopped off the passing loop to photo the Limerick - Limerick Jct. shuttles passing at the former station. Tuesday 12th June 2018: Pictures from today come from Nenagh and Ballybrophy, showing the new destination displays being fitted to the 2800 Class fleet, Pictures from the June gallery can be seen at https://goo.gl/G9LUbu The second updates features Railtours Ireland's "Emerald Isle Express" which is travelling around Ireland this week visiting Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Galway and Westport. I was able to travel on the tour today from Limerick to Athlone via Galway. Pictures from the day can be seen at http://goo.gl/tBnLny

Thursday 7th June 2018: Images from yesterday come from Nenagh, Ballybrophy and the Commons Bridge at Portarlington. The highlight being retro liveried 071 on the Westport to Waterford Timber. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2018-Photos/June-2018/i-fwWrz5s to see all the images.

Evening folks, Photos from Limerick on the Wednesday evening showing 22025 and 2810 + 2809 in the station. Meanwhile earlier that day, occasional contributor "josefstadt" was in Co. Wexford to photograph the Iarnrod Eireann Weedspray train operate from Wexford to Waterford via the mothballed Rosslare Strand to Belview "South Wexford" railway line. Josefstadt has kindly allowed publication of the photographs on my website. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2018-Photos/June-2018/i-9XSGFTF to view all the images from today.