thewanderer

Monday 29th August 2016: A lunchtime trip to Monasterevin to capture the Belmond Grand Hibernian Trial from Portarlington to Inchicore. Plus 218 was working the 1300 Heuston - Cork service. Click http://smu.gs/2bxzyYA to view.

Monday 29th August 2016: A lunchtime trip to Monasterevin to capture the Belmond Grand Hibernian Trial from Portarlington to Inchicore. Plus 218 was working the 1300 Heuston - Cork service. Click http://smu.gs/2bxzyYA to view.

Evening all, Pictures from a rather sunny weekend in Cork have just been uploaded to http://smu.gs/2bB0mck

Evening all, Some pictures from the past two days. Wednesday 24th August 2016: A visit to Carn Bridge, Ballykillane and Portarlington during the evening sunshine. Thursday 25th August 2016: A quick trip to Clonkeen to photo the Belmond Grand Hibernian which was working from Charleville to Galway via Portarlington. Plus a contributed photograph of the train crossing the River Shannon at Athlone. Click http://smu.gs/2blNiKs to view.

For the record this photo was taken from this photoblog from 2006: http://www.derg.ie/cruise06/part5.html Well worth a read (I read it myself last week). Always nice to credit the photographers out there!

Morning all, I've finally gotten around to uploading pictures from last Sunday's RPSI Radio Train railtour from Dublin to Kilkenny. What should have been a simple out and back tour with the steam engine No. 4 turned into a "spin and win" railtour after No. 4 set off the Hot Box Alarm at Straffan and the the train was stopped at Sallins for it to be examined. It was found that there was a lubrication issue with a coupling rod bearing on No.4. The temperature was too high for the locomotive to continue and the train was shunted onto the loop and No.4 went into the head shunt. Rescue came in the form of the Retro CIE livery 071 which was sent L.E. from Inchicore to Sallins to work the train forward to Kilkenny. At Kilkenny 076 on hand to shunt the train, originally to release No. 4 but as the tour was now diesel hauled 076 took over for the trip back to Dublin and shunt released 071 which then went L.E. from Kilkenny to Waterford. Despite the outward delay it was an excellent railtour and with the 071's taking over we had an early arrival at Connolly. The RPSI kept all the passengers informed during the delay with regular updates and nobody seemed to mind the extended stay at Sallins (80 mins). To see the images from the day click http://smu.gs/2bfBCas

Evening folks, Pictures from a weekend in the Dublin area. Locations include: - The Gullet for Retro 071 on the IWT and 216 on the Belmond Grand Hibernian. - Navan Road Parkway. - Pearse. - Blackrock. - Tara Street. Click http://smu.gs/2b6ER5L to view.

Evening folks, The photos from Wednesday are now online. Featuring: - Killarney - Mallow - Thurles. - The Belmond Grand Hibernian and Galway and Portarlington. Click http://smu.gs/2b3YrOd to view.

It was a little dusty this morning. 216 was allocated but not but on the train for some reason which I was disappointed with.

To clear up the dirty carriages comments. The train was washed last Friday at Heuston and was in great condition this morning. However in the Charleville area the train ran over freshly dropped ballast which had been done overnight. First train over it was the Belmond so it kicked up a lot of dust, also as some of the hopper windows were open it even set off the fire alarms which gave the crew on board some fright by all accounts. Hopefully it see Heuston wash again soon!

The Belmond Grand Hibernian visited Killarney on Tuesday 16th August while on a trial from Dublin. Click http://smu.gs/2aQJPna to view all the images.

The Belmond Grand Hibernian visited Killarney on Tuesday 16th August while on a trial from Dublin. Click http://smu.gs/2aQJPna to view all the images.

Evening folks, Tonight's update to http://www.thewandererphotos.com contains the following: Saturday: After the dash to Athlone to capture 071 on Saturday's IWT Liner to Athlone I stopped off Shannonbridge to see if any action was occurring. Sadly all was silent. Monday: Pictures of the Belmond Trial to Cork at Clonkeen. Then later that day I was Killarney bound myself with images from Portlaoise, Thurles, Cork (more Belmond), Mallow, Rathmore and Killarney. Click http://smu.gs/2aX7CAd to see all the images.

Afternoon all, Photos from the past two days include: Friday - Belmond Grand Hibernian at Mallow and Heuston. - LUAS 3001 at Jervis. Saturday - A trip on the Nenagh Branch to Nenagh. - A very unplanned last minute dash to Athlone to photograph #retrotrain 071 on the 0935 North Wall - Ballina IWT Liner. Click http://smu.gs/2aQMAjb to view.

I agree it could do with a little relief. I wonder hows the paint shop still have any White Stripes in stock?

Afternoon folks, The latest update features photos of the Belmond Grand Hibernian on trial from Inchicore to Mallow and back to Heuston this morning with 216 and 7 MKIII carriages. Click http://smu.gs/2b7OPQF to view all the photos.

The Belmond Grand Hibernian train took to the rails during the early hours of Wednesday 10th August when it worked a 0025 Heuston - Mallow & 0330 Mallow - Inchicore Trial Train with 216 providing the power. The outward trial passed Portarlington at 0246, 86 minutes late. The train was delayed due to a late departure from Inchicore to Heuston. Click http://smu.gs/2b1BwBf to watch the video.

Evening folks, I've just updated several galleries of the website featuring photos from the past few days. August Gallery: - DART EMU at Dun-Laoghaire on Sunday. - 075 passing Shanderry with the 1526 Waterford - Ballina Ety. Timber on Monday, Click http://smu.gs/2aHtijw to view. On Sunday 7th August 2016 the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland operated another of their popular Dublin Riveria Specials from Dublin to Greystones. Click http://smu.gs/2aWBBGi to view. Before the morning "Dublin Riveria" Steam Spl. from Connolly to Greystones, the RPSI had arranged with IE to line up their three Diesel Locomotives outside the Shed at Connolly for a photo shoot. Click http://smu.gs/2aHvl7h to view. All of the above galleries can also be accessed from the home page at http://www.thewandererphotos.com

Afternoon folks, On Saturday Belmond Grand Hibernian liveried 216 was used on the 0935 North Wall - Ballina IWT Liner. This was the first run of the loco on the mainline since repainting into Belmond livery. It still requires branding to be applied. Also pictured were the two Mayo Specials to Heuston for the Mayo - Tyrone Match in Croke Park, Dublin. Click http://smu.gs/2aC9r5a to view. Also the latest batch of photos from my recent UK trip have now been uploaded. These are from Tuesday 2nd August. After arriving in Edinburgh off the Sleeper from London I took an out and back spin to Tweedbank on the recently reopened Borders Railway. Once back in Edinburgh it was time for some sightseeing of the City before taking a trip out to North Queensferry to view the Forth Bridge. Taking 68002 out and back of course on the Scotrail loco hauled turn. Click http://smu.gs/2aCa9zE to view.

Evening all, Last Monday I took a trip to the Spa town of Bath for an afternoon of sightseeing. To get to Bath I took a slight detour catching the 1045 Paddington to Swansea as far as Bristol Parkway to enable me to sample the Pullman Restaurant Car on board the service. At Bristol Parkway after a short wait I caught a Class 158 on a Great Malvern to Brighton service to Bath Spa. Once the sighseeing was completed I got a London bound HST as far as Reading where I alighted to see the Retroliveried HST Power Car 43002 in its original HST livery from 1976. I then took the slow route back to London via Staines before heading to Scotland on board the Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh. Click http://smu.gs/2aAxTDY to view the images.

The latest pictures from my UK trip have now been uploaded to http://smu.gs/2ao53DO Friday: First day of a UK trip which features images from around the Birmingham area. Saturday: A day trip from Birmingham to Cheltenham Spa to see this delightful town. Returned to Birmingham via Swindon and Bristol Parkway and lucky enough to briefly see retrotrain 43002 in its BR Blue and Grey livery at Bristol Parkway. Sunday: - The Shakespeare Express at Birmingham Moor Street. - London Euston after travelling down from Birmingham on a Virgin Trains service.

First batch of photos from a UK trip have now been uploaded. Click http://smu.gs/2akqB3V to view.

071 was released into general freight traffic on Friday when it took over the Ballina to Waterford Timber at Kildare. After spending the weekend in Waterford it was allocated to the 1130 Waterford - Ballina DFDS Liner on Monday. I caught a few pictures of it at Kyle Bridge (Kildare) and at the station itself. Also in this update are a few 22000 Class units and Ballast Regulator 703 heading down road from Kildare. Click http://smu.gs/2a9sK5y to view.

Evening folks, Latest update includes: Friday 22nd July 2016: While heading for Kerry I got a few photos of 22017 at Limerick Jct. during its turnaround on the 1350 Heuston - Limerick Jct. Spl. Sunday 24th July 2016: Photos from Killarney, Farranfore, Limerick. Plus Skerries for the RPSI Trains out today. Click http://smu.gs/2a5WxsF to view.