thewanderer

The Belmond Grand Hibernian at Heuston this morning after arriving from Roscommon. Passengers de-trained at Heuston with some going to the North Antrim Coast (Giant's Causeway etc) and others having a tour of Dublin before rejoining the train to head to Belfast for the afternoon. Well that was the plan. Instead the Dublin tour passengers had an extended stay at Drogheda due to a carriage fault on the train. Click the gallery below to see what happened. In the end the train only made it to Dundalk to stable for the night.

Saturday 3rd September 2016: I had imagined today being a nice Autumn Day and an afternoon chasing the Belmond Grand Hibernian. How wrong I was on both counts (mostly). Pictures from the day start off at Newbridge Ballast Pit with 223 on the IWT Liner from North Wall to Ballina. Onwards to Heuston and it was pleasing to see 226 still against the buffer stops of Platform 2 with the BGH set. Belmond Blue liveried 216 was waiting in the carriage sidings to shunt onto the train. I then popped over to Glasnevin to photo the train heading to Connolly and once that was done I headed north to Gormanston Viaduct to await the BGH heading North. What a long wait it turned out to be. See the pictures for the full story. Click http://smu.gs/2bNow4N to view.

Evening all, Friday 2nd September 2016: Pictures from Birdhill and Kishyquirk (Killonan Jct). Click http://smu.gs/2c0caZ8 to view.

I really don't get folks complaining about BGH and being so expensive (some comments earlier in the thread). - It's a top end of the market train. This is what Belmond do and do very well. - It's not aimed at the Irish Market. Aimed at US, UK and Europe tourists. Not us Irish folk. If I had the money I would do it so say I've done it. Then again I'll probably do the VSOE first! - It's full board. Once you step on board you won't spend a cent until you step off at the end of the tour. All tours, food and drink paid for. So you could say paying €7,700 per person for a week tour is actually good value when staying in a 5 star hotel and travelling around the country. While listening to Gary Franklin (Belmond MD) on the Anton Savage Show on Today FM last Tuesday the comments from listeners afterwards were mostly negative afterwards. "Why would you spend €7k to travel on a train around Ireland", "I could go to the Caribbean for that price". etc etc. It's not aimed at us FFS. It appears to me that us Irish are a bunch of whingers and the whole amount of negativity towards this venture astounds me. Now rant over. W.

Evening folks, A few updates this evening. August Gallery. - Some pictures of the Enterprise failure at Malahide last Saturday. Thanks to Barry Pickup for these. - New customer information desk at Heuston. The site of the old desk is to become a retail unit for a well known high street retailer. - Full house in the Engineering sidings at Portarlington with 229 passing on the 1700 Heuston to Cork. Click http://smu.gs/2bMusbg to start at the Malahide Photos from last Saturday or click http://smu.gs/2bHokDM to view the latest pictures from Heuston and Portarlington. September Gallery: Thursday 1st September 2016: A varied day today. - Belmond Grand Hibernian at Clonkeen while enroute to Galway. - Lunchtime trip to Monasterevin. All I got was 22009 on a local Portlaoise - Heuston trip. The main event (216 on a trial MKIV set) was cancelled and then reinstated to run about two hours later. - That disappointment was somewhat rectified by spotting 071 in the PWD yard at Portlaoise. Click http://smu.gs/2bX0Fld to view. Both galleries can also be accessed from the home page http://www.thewandererphotos.com

Thanks JB. I think it is. Even has its own Special Train ID now as well "Q" - Sleeping Car Train.

BELMOND GRAND HIBERNIAN carries first Guests on week long trip of Ireland. Photos from the launch of the Belmond Grand Hibernian at Heuston prior to its first departure for Cork. The train arrived from Inchicore shortly after 1030 with 226. 216 was then coupled onto the other end and the set was washed and placed back to Platform 2 for loading of catering supplies and for final preparations to take place. The first guests on board the train were a group from the USA based "The Society of International Railway Travelers". The group arrived from the Merrion Hotel in Dublin led down to Platform 2 by a Bag Pipe musician shortly before 1400. Once there a informal meet and greet took place with a Champagne reception and Irish Dancing. The train departed from Heuston at 1420 hours bound for Cork, its first stop on the week long tour. Over the course of the week the Guests will visit Killarney, Galway, Westport, Belfast & Waterford. The train was hauled by ex works 226, IE deciding not to risk the blue liveried 216 which has being giving some issues lately. Click http://smu.gs/2bD22R5 to view all the photos from today.

BELMOND GRAND HIBERNIAN carries first Guests on week long trip of Ireland. Photos from the launch of the Belmond Grand Hibernian at Heuston prior to its first departure for Cork. The train arrived from Inchicore shortly after 1030 with 226. 216 was then coupled onto the other end and the set was washed and placed back to Platform 2 for loading of catering supplies and for final preparations to take place. The first guests on board the train were a group from the USA based "The Society of International Railway Travelers". The group arrived from the Merrion Hotel in Dublin led down to Platform 2 by a Bag Pipe musician shortly before 1400. Once there a informal meet and greet took place with a Champagne reception and Irish Dancing. The train departed from Heuston at 1420 hours bound for Cork, its first stop on the week long tour. Over the course of the week the Guests will visit Killarney, Galway, Westport, Belfast & Waterford. The train was hauled by ex works 226, IE deciding not to risk the blue liveried 216 which has being giving some issues lately. Click http://smu.gs/2bD22R5 to view all the photos from today.

Evening all, 216 made another evening run to Portarlington tonight gathering some more data after its recent issues, departing Inchicore at 1955. Tomorrow is D Day with the first public run of the Belmond Grand Hibernian to fare paying passengers. Click http://smu.gs/2bEm2UT to view the photos.

Evening all, 216 made another evening run to Portarlington tonight gathering some more data after its recent issues, departing Inchicore at 1955. Tomorrow is D Day with the first public run of the Belmond Grand Hibernian to fare paying passengers. Click http://smu.gs/2bEm2UT to view the photos.

Thanks Noel.

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.