thewanderer

Evening all, Photos from the past two days have now been uploaded to the website. Wednesday 20th June 2016: A visit to Carn Bridge to see "raccoon" liveried 233 on the 1700 Heuston - Cork. Thursday 21st July 2016: A spin to Cabra in Dublin to view the Belmond MKIII transfer from North Wall to Inchicore. As an added bonus the weedspray train also transferred from North Wall to Heuston and locos 206 and 215 transferred from Inchicore to Connolly. Finally 22045 and 22018 were swapped between Connolly and Heuston. Click http://smu.gs/2a39gRq to view.

Evening folks, Some of the more mundane pictures from Tuesday while waiting for the heavily delayed RPSI diesel transfer from Inchicore to Connolly. Click http://smu.gs/29UAdDa to view.

On Tuesday 19th July, IE 071 in its retrotrain CIE livery was used to haul the RPSI diesels B141, 175 and 134 from Inchicore to the RPSI Shed at Connolly. Click the picture below to view all the images from the day.

Morning folks, Been a while since the last update due to having a rather busy weekend. The latest updates to the website are: - July Gallery features: Thursday 7th July 2016: A visit to Carn to see 077 on the Weedspray train from Claremorris to Portlaoise. Saturday 9th July 2016: A trip to Athlone and Woodlawn mainly to see the Green liveried 216 on its last run before repainting. Sunday 10th July 2016: Some pictures from Athlone, Ballinasloe and Portarlington while travelling to Dublin on board the RPSI Western Gateway railtour. Monday 11th July 2016: Pictures from Heuston and Athlone including a rather interesting incident at Derries Level Crossing. Wednesday 13th July 2016: Pictures from Cush, Kildare and the Curragh for the Timber and IWT trains. All of the July photos can be accessed at http://smu.gs/29FtgbB - The Old Rail Trail Mullingar to Athlone. I cycled the route on Saturday 9th July from Athlone to Mullingar, returning the following day back to Athlone. The entire route is well used by locals and visitors out walking and cycling. For more information on the "Old Rail Trail" as it is now know as, visit the Westmeath County Council website for further information http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/ourservices/tourismlibraryartsrecreation/greenway/oldrailtrail-routemap/ All of the photos from the Cycle can be viewed at http://smu.gs/2aaBabg - RPSI Western Gateway. The RPSI ran another of their Sunday excursions from Dublin to a destination down the country, this time to Athlone and Ballinasloe. I joined the train at Ballinasloe for the return to Dublin. Click http://smu.gs/29Iu00y to view. All of the above can also be accessed from the home page: http://thewandererphotos.com

Good evening all, Some photos from the past few days this week. Tuesday 5th July 2016: A few images around Portarlington featuring 234 on the 1900 Heuston - Cork and 22010 showing off its "Basking Shark" new skirting on 22310. Wednesday 6th July 2016: A trip to Dublin today turned up the nice bonus of 216 working the 1020 North Wall - Ballina IWT Liner. Click http://smu.gs/29PifTn to view.

On the move +55 after a visit from the Laois Depot rapid response team . 22014 was the naughty girl.

Evening all, The July gallery opens with: Friday: Green liveried 216 works the 1105 Ballina - Waterford Timber to Kildare. Pictured at Portarlington. Saturday: A trip down the Nenagh Branch from Portlaoise. Monday: Tamper 751 passing Portlaoise while enroute from Mallow to North Wall. Click http://smu.gs/29J8KVB to view the images.

Just to correct the above info. After the tour 071 was due a B Exam. On this exam wheel flats were found and the loco was sent to the wheel lathe. The wheels wouldn't take a turn. i.e. went below scrapping size so the loco was stopped until new wheelsets were available. The loco got a new set of bogies about two weeks ago. The new bogies were grey which looked very odd (I was sent a picture) against the black underframe. Thankfully Inchicore have since painted the bogies black. Some electrical gremlins seem to be in the new bogie(s) as the loco kept getting a wheelslip indicator when trying to move in the shed. This was repaired and the loco was available for service over the weekend and was nominated for service today to take over the Waterford - Ballina DFDS at Kildare. But, while going LE from Inchicore to Heuston the loco got ground relays so was failed and sent back to Inchicore. Fault finding planned for tomorrow. She seems to be a lit shy these last few weeks The Wanderer.

Good morning folks! Updates from the past few days have now been uploaded to the website. The June Gallery comes to a close with: Wednesday 29th June 2016: A visit to Straboe to see 231 working the 1700 Heuston - Cork and 22033 on the 1705 Heuston - Tralee. Thursday 30th June 2016: Pictures from: - Portlaoise. - Portarlington. - Inchicore. - Heuston. - Tara Street. - Grand Canal Dock. Click http://smu.gs/29znZk6 to view. Also on Thursday evening tram 4003 was used for testing on the Red Line between the temporary turnback at Abbey Street and The Point / Connolly. This section has been closed since the 21st May while LUAS Cross City construction works took place on O'Connell Street and Marlborough Street. The tram was used to make sure the new crossovers and turnouts were all within gauge and also to prove the route along the rest of the line. Some interesting obstructions were found upon along the way! Click the link to find out more! http://smu.gs/29c1nsG Most of the images in this update to the LUAS Red Line Gallery have also been copied over to the LUAS Cross City Gallery for the sake of completeness of those construction works.

Evening all, Photos from the past few days have now been uploaded to the June gallery. Includes: - General liveried 231 and 233 both working Heuston - Charleville services last Saturday. - Photos of Limerick - Ennis services around Cratloe. - Scart Level Crossing on the Nenagh Branch. - Limerick Station with a 4ICR using the train wash at the depot. - Some more views of passing passenger trains at Stacumny Bridge on Monday night. - Green liveried 216 at Kildare on Tuesday with the Waterford to Ballina Timber. Click http://smu.gs/29lIznI to view.

The project to extend freight train lengths continued on Monday 27th June when a 27 bogie (54 TEU's) liner wagon trial operated from North Wall to Ballina. NI Railways Locomotive (8)209 was allocated to the Liner and it departed from North Wall ontime at 2045. I photographed the train at Stacumny Bridge on the Dublin / Kildare border and also at Monasterevin Station. Click to see the pictures and videos of the freight train trial. I must say it was a very impressive sight and hopefully will become a common feature on the Irish Railway Network.

A visit to Cherryville Jct. in the evening time while en route to Newbridge. Click http://smu.gs/28SYrQc to view.

Wait to the finished product! In 5 years time people will say do you have any pictures of 216 in green?

Photos from yesterday and today have now been uploaded to the June gallery. Wednesday 22nd June 2016: A trip to Killenard in the late afternoon to photo 215 working the 1140 Ballina - North Wall IWT Liner plus various passenger train services. Thursday 23rd June 2016: Just before lunch time I got a tip off that 216 was being scrambled from Inchicore to Kildare to replace 088 which was having trouble on the 1130 Waterford - Westport Timber. A last minute trip to Kildare ensured to see 216 arrive and be shunted onto the timber train. It left 30 minutes late at 1445 for Portarlington and onwards to Westport. Click http://smu.gs/290hWF1 to view.

Tuesday 21st June 2016: Delays through Portlaoise due to a trespasser and Belmond nominated 216 finally runs on the main line with a short trial to Hazelhatch. Clixk http://smu.gs/28QvhiW to view.

Evening folks, A collection of general pictures from last Thursday to Monday while out and about for the Emerald Isle Explorer. - Connolly - Recent track alterations at Grand Canal Dock. - Rosslare Europort. - Enniscorthy - Portarlington - Limerick - Charleville - Cork - Killarney - Mallow - Lisduff - Laois Train Care - Portlaoise - Connolly - Dromod - Longford Click http://smu.gs/28M5nNp to view.

Good evening folks, Here is my pictures from Sunday's Emerald Isle Explorer which traveled from Cork to Sligo via Connolly. RPSI's No. 4 was used from Mallow to Connolly. The leg from Cork to Mallow used the Cork Thunderbird 221, while 071 class 078 was used for the Connolly to Sligo leg. The loco and carriages then went empty to Longford to stable. This will be the last update from me on the Emerald Isle Explorer, I must say it was a wonderful few days and all the operations generally ran within a few minutes of time. The most late running we had was about 25 minutes on the Mallow - Connolly leg today. Click http://smu.gs/23kkyCR to view.

Evening folks, Pictures from day 4 of the Emerald Isle Explorer by Steam Dreams & the RPSI took passengers from Cork to Killarney on a short day outing to the busy tourist town. Pictures start at http://smu.gs/1YzatBx

Pictures from day 3 of the Emerald Isle Explorer which saw it travel from Waterford to Cork via Limeric. Photos from: - Limerick. - Limerick Jct. - Charlevile. - Mallow. - Cork. Click http://smu.gs/1Yykb73 to view.

The 2016 Emerald Isle Explorer started its first Irish leg yesterday afternoon with a trip from Connolly to Rosslare. The passengers had earlier arrived in Dublin on the ferry after leaving London on Wednesday by train which was also hauled by Flying Scotsman from Crewe to Holyhead. During their visit to Ireland passengers will visit Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Killarney, Sligo, Dublin, Derry and Belfast. Three steam locomotives from the RPSI’s fleet will be used over the course of the week with No. 461 doing the Connolly to Rosslare Strand Leg on Thursday. The rest of the operation will feature No. 4, with a few diesel legs thrown in to position stock, while No. 85 "Merlin" will undertake the Derry - Belfast - Dublin leg of the trip. Click http://smu.gs/1rt0oZb to see the pictures of the trip down to Rosslare. Sadly the Sunny South East name didn't live up to expectations yesterday!

Evening folks, Some photos taken over the past few days: Includes: - Limerick Jct. - Limerick. - Portarlington. Click http://smu.gs/1Q1O8e1 to view.

Evening all, 077 and 087 are in Portarlington this evening for the top and tailed HOBS train this weekend for the Ballast Cleaning between Sallins and Hazelhatch on Saturday. Click http://smu.gs/1XLRMvq to view.

Afternoon folks, There has been several updates to the website over the past couple of days. These include: - June Gallery with pictures from a very sunny Muckross House, Steam Enterprise from Whitehead to Dublin, Lispole Viaduct on the former Tralee and Dingle railway, 22035 at Farranfore on the South Kerry Line with the 1305 Tralee - Heuston and finally some images from the Laois and Kildare areas which includes an unusual MKIV formation currently operating. Click http://smu.gs/1PLgglu to view. - Update to the North Kerry Line. A visit to Barnagh Tunnel on Bank Holiday Monday, now part of the Great Southern Trail. Click http://smu.gs/219Zmha to view. The other galleries consist of photos from: - Killarney Bike Fest. - Dingle and Fungie the Dolphin. - Crag Cave in Castleisland. Click http://smu.gs/1ZzfsjH to view each of the above. All of the galleries can also easily be accessed by going to the home page at

Friday 3rd June 2016: The 1220 Cork - Heuston failed in Cork prior to departure this afternoon. The fault was first suspected to be locomotive related (232), but after a change of locomotive with the standby at Cork (231) the fault didn't clear and GC 4007 was were the defect was located. The MKIV set required hauling to Inchicore for repairs and departed Cork at 1530 being hauled by 231 and I managed to photograph it at Kilbride Bridge near Portarlington. Other photos from today include the delayed 1700 Heuston - Cork passing Ballybrophy and the 1655 Limerick - Ballybrophy via Nenagh at Borris-in-Ossory. Click http://smu.gs/24naesD to see all the images from the day.

Evening folks, As part of the strategy to increase the length of freight trains, Iarnrod Eireann operated a 18 wagon Timber Train from Waterford to Limerick on Wednesday 1st June hauled by 215. Currently the maximum length of Timber trains is 12 wagons, the next stage of the project is to operate a 27 wagon container train over the same route. Click http://smu.gs/1Pkgpft to view.