thewanderer

Thursday 22nd June 2023: 085 returned with the Kirow Crane from Waterford to Portlaoise on Thursday 22nd June 2023 and I managed to photograph it passing Clonkeen on the approach to Portlaoise running about 45 minutes early. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/June-2023/i-LB4ztTc to view.

Wednesday 21st June 2023: The Kirow Crane No. 900 was out for trials again today. Instead of the planned trip from North Wall to Wexford it operated a 1055 Portlaoise - Waterford via Limerick Jct. trial. To round up the day, pictures from Grange LC of the 1200 Heuston - Cork and 1225 Cork - Heuston passing. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/June-2023/i-xvG5Dq5 to view.

The June gallery has been updated with: Tuesday 20th June 2023: A lunchtime trip to the Curragh and Kildare today which produced plenty of interest. First up was 215 passing the Curragh Mainline Station with the Ballina - North Wall IWT Liner, then it was back to Kildare to view 076 departing with the 1130 Waterford - Westport Ety. Timber. As soon as that left, its place on the middle road was taken by 085 hauling the new Kirow Crane No. 900 on its first outing on the IE network. It had earlier operated a 1030 trial from Portlaoise to North Wall and returned at 1320. A final nice surprise was seeing MPV 790 departing Kildare on a retimed Weedspray run to Waterford. All in all a productive 45 minutes or so. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/June-2023/i-Q5NSkpn to view.

Afternoon all, The new updates to the website contain: Saturday 17th June 2023: Pictures from Thurles and Heuston while heading up to Dublin for an Irish Railway Record Society Outing. Also an unexpected visit to Templemore rounds out the day. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/June-2023/i-7Br8Sn5 to view. A visit was arranged by the Irish Railway Record Society to the new National Train Control Centre and Heuston Valeting Plant, on Saturday 17th June 2023 to view the new Control Centre for the Iarnród Éireann network and the new ICR “B2 cars” at the Heuston Valeting Plant. Also on display at Heuston V.P. was 3ICR 22001 which is the head of series for the European Train Control System (ETCS) fitment. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/Officialevents/2023/IRRS-visit-NTCC-HNVP/ to view.

A long weekend? It was a week The June Gallery has been updated with images from last Wednesday with pictures from Thurles, Limerick Jct. and Portlaoise. It proved an interesting 45 minutes at Limerick Jct. as services were delayed due to the earlier failure of the 0745 Thurles - Limerick at Dromkeen. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/June-2023/i-LVXGQKP to view.

Another update to the June gallery. Wednesday 7th June 2023: Pictures courtesy of Matthew Wilson of 22003 in Belfast Great Victoria Street on the Railtours Ireland Charter. Thursday 8th June 2023: A lunchtime at Ratheven outside Portlaoise produced 072 on the Limerick Works Wagon Transfer which today consisted of 4 Tara Mines wagons and a short while later 084 on a PWD Materials train from North Wall to Portlaoise. Plus the usual passenger traffic with MKIV's and 22000's. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/June-2023/i-bgWzvsX to view.

There have been numerous updates to the website over the past week: May 2023 gallery: Photos from Dublin of the LUAS system and at Heuston Station on the last day of May. https://tinyurl.com/26p248jy June 2023 gallery: Saturday 3rd June 2023: A ramble on the Tralee line from Killarney to Banteer onboard the Railtours Ireland Emerald Pullman and then into Tralee on the 0900 from Cork, returning to Killarney on the 1105 from Tralee. All the passenger trains were at near capacity between Killarney and Mallow. Later in the day we see the 1505 Tralee - Mallow at Killarney. Sunday 4th June 2023: A visit to Quagmire Viaduct situated at the 31½ MP near the former station of Headford Jct. on the Tralee Line. Monday 5th June 2023: While visiting Foynes to see the latest work on the reconstruction, we see Bus Eireann's LF444 passing by on the 1350 Limerick - Ballybunion Route 314. To see the Foynes pictures go to the Network improvements 2023 section. Tuesday 6th June 2023: A few evening time pictures at The Gullet outside Heuston. Click https://tinyurl.com/yckr23hv to view Foynes Line reconstruction: A visit to Foynes to see the start of work on the rebuilding of the railway. The contractor is on site and some track lifting has occurred between Foynes and Robertstown Viaduct. Click https://tinyurl.com/yx26xd2e to view All the images can also be viewed from the home page at www.thewandererphotos.com

The May 2023 gallery has been updated with a bunch of new photos from the past week. Thursday 25th May 2023: Pictures from Thurles and Heuston while on a day trip to Dublin. Highlights include a visit to the Valeting Plant at Heuston to view the new ICR B2 intermediate vehicles and some pictures from the roof of the NTCC building during an escorted tour. Saturday 27th May 2023: While in the Banagher area on Saturday, I ventured over to Clonfert to see the famous railway through a canal lock, a Bord na Mona narrow gauge railway running through the former lock chamber at Kylemore on the disused Grand Canal to Ballinasloe. Sunday 28th May 2023: Pictures from around the Limerick and Limerick Jct. areas on this fine sunny day. Click https://tinyurl.com/3md6fzbw to view all the images.

Evening all, The website has got new pictures into the May gallery and Connemara Railway. May: Some drone photos of the evening Nenagh branch trains at Nenagh and Southill in Co. Tipperary on the 16th May. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/May-2023/i-rm5Q6p8 Connemara Gallery: I paid a visit to Maam Cross last Saturday which has had some new arrivals of rolling stock, including a former Caledonian MK3 Sleeper carriage 10598. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/RailtoursPreservedRailways/2023/Connemara-Railway/i-RzX8XfR www.thewandererphotos.com

The May gallery has been updated with new photos from the past few days. Thursday 11th & Friday 12th May 2023: One turn on the 72 bus route between Limerick and Athlone is now booked to be LF operated, which are double decker coaches. Sunday 14th May 2023: While in Dundrum, Co. Tipperary for the afternoon, I launched the drone to get some photos of passing Cork trains. Click https://bit.ly/3IcgCka to view all the pictures.

Over the end of April and start of May, I've spent a total of 10 days in the UK on two separate trips. I've finally finished going through over the 650 photos from the two trips and they are all available to view at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2023 The photos cover many areas of the UK, as far as Stirling in the north to Brighton in the south, Newport in the West and Barking Riverside in the east (I didn't venture too far east!). Some of the highlights from the trips: - BREL trains around Glasgow. - The former Belmond Grand Hibernian train which operated in Ireland is now stored at the Belmond Depot at Hamilton West. - New Meseryrail Class 777's. - The Class 313 farewell tour by GR and the Branch Line Society. - London Transport Museum 1938 tube stock. - GWR Pullman Dining. I was only going to Swindon, but ventured as far as Newport so as not to rush things. - The retro liveried Class 323, 323221. - The Coronation in London with over 5000 troops travelling by train into Waterloo. - A trip over the North Downs railway between Guildford and Redhill.

The May gallery kicks off with: Tuesday 9th & Wednesday 10th May 2023: Due to other commitments and spending most of last week in the UK, I missed most of the RPSI / Steam Dreams Emerald Isle Explorer 8 day tour of Ireland. However I managed to get 85 "Merlin" passing Portlaoise L.E. on Tuesday and ventured up to Kildare the following day to see the tour heading from Muine Bheag to Wexford via Connolly. A few other bits and bobs also feature including the IWT liner. Click https://bit.ly/42FEGUR to view.

Photos from last Saturday's RPSI Diesel Railtour from Dublin Connolly to M3 Parkway, Sligo and Grand Canal Dock have now been posted to the website at https://bit.ly/3Nf6qKO The tour featured a number of 1st times, with the first 201 class locomotive hauled passenger train to Sligo, M3 Parkway and Grand Canal Dock. Haul backs were carried out by an 071 class loco from M3 Parkway and Grand Canal Dock to Connolly. The tour had been scheduled to visit Docklands but operational issues arose with the shunting of the train at this location and the tour was diverted to Connolly. Overall a very enjoyable day out with a lot of hard work by IE and RPSI staff to ensure the tour operated to the revised plan.

The April gallery has been updated with: Saturday 15th April 2023: A few pictures from Limerick Jct. and Cork while travelling to Cork to travel on the Tailte Tours "Suir Lee Knot" railtour from Cork to Waterford. Monday 17th April 2023: Pictures from Portlaoise in the afternoon. Click https://bit.ly/3UXDokP

The Táilte Tours: The Suit Lee Knot Railtour 15th April 2023 gallery has now been uploaded to the website at https://bit.ly/43R29TY The 2nd mainline tour operated by Táilte Tours was on Saturday 15th April 2023 with the Suir Lee Knot railtour from Cork to Waterford operated by a pair of 2600 Class DMU's offering the rare chance to travel north of Mallow on a 2600 Class DMU and onwards to Waterford.

Evening folks, The April gallery has been updated with: Friday 7th April 2023: A visit to Killarney Station to view a private charter for Odyssey International from Dublin Heuston arrive with a group of tourists who would be staying in the Co. Kerry area. Saturday 8th April 2023: While en-route to Tralee and the Dingle Peninsula, a stop off at Currans to view the 1310 Tralee - Mallow passing with 22018. Click https://bit.ly/3ZTHtas to view.

The April gallery has been updated with pictures from: * Nenagh * Ballybrophy * Dundalk * Drogheda * Portlaoise * Limerick Includes pictures of the new 5ICR set 22041 which entered service as a 5 car set last Friday. Click https://bit.ly/3Mcka8C to view all the images.

A very enjoyable day out on Saturday, despite missing the outward leg of the RPSI The Phoenix railtour from Dublin Connolly to Dundalk due to my train to Dublin being 45 minutes late into Heuston. But thankfully despite the delay, I didn't miss an Irish railway preservation moment in history! Following many years of hard work behind the scenes fully restoring Q Class 4-4-0 No.131 from a static exhibition to mainline operation between 2003 and 2015, No.131 has now been cleared to operate on the Iarnród Éireann network for the first time since 1963. Previously the locomotive had only been cleared to operate on the Northern Ireland Railway network from 2018 to now. To position the locomotive into Dublin for the forthcoming Steam Dreams tour, the decision was taken to operate a railtour from Dundalk to Connolly with the locomotive coming light engine from the RPSI base at Whitehead. Appropriately the tour was given the name “The Phoenix” and the outward leg from Dublin was worked by an IE diesel locomotive, No. 074. Due to the untimely passing of NI Railways Driver Noel Playfair in January of this year, the movement from Whitehead was undertaken by an Iarnrod Eireann crew with an NIR Driver conducting as far as Dundalk. A slightly late departure occurred from Dundalk due to the amount of time it took to water the locomotive due to low water pressure. Water delayed us once again enroute to Drogheda as due to flooding on the railway around the 40 Milepost, there was a track circuit failure meaning signals had to be passed at danger. This resulted in the tour losing its path onwards to Dublin as it now followed the 1702 Drogheda – Connolly service. Nobody onboard minded however and arrival at Connolly was 57 minutes late. Despite the late running of the tour (and to the IE trains I travelled on), it was a very enjoyable day out and I look forward to future tours behind 131. Click https://bit.ly/3K7cHVW to view all the pictures.

It's not a MK3 though. It was a prototype coach for the European market.

Morning all, A 150+ picture update to the website this morning with pictures from the latter part of March from various locations in Ireland. Click https://bit.ly/3KoGPNN to view.

Just a handful of images from around the Killarney area over the Bank Holiday weekend. Click https://bit.ly/3LEY3rq to view.

The March gallery has new updates with: Monday 13th March 2023: Observations from around Cork during the start of the evening peak. Tuesday 14th March: Photos from Cork, Limerick Jct. and Portlaoise. Of note today was the first out road trial occurred with the new 22000 B cars. The driving cars of set 22009 (22209 & 22309) have become a "tractor set" for the commissioning of the 41 B cars. It's own B car 22409 has been removed from the set and new B cars 22511, 22512 & 22513 have been added to make up a 5 car formation. The trial paths were a 1010 Heuston - Limerick Jct. and 1340 return. On arrival the train returned to the Valeting Plant at Heuston , which is being used once again to commission 22000 class vehicles. The trials are also planned to run on Wednesday and Thursday. Click https://bit.ly/3mRs0dn to view

Saturday 11th March 2023: Pictures from Galway and Oranmore on a dull and dreary Saturday evening. Sunday 12th March 2023: The Tegral Branch in Athy, which has been disused for many years has finally been dismantled and the alignment is in the process of being transformed into the Athy Ring Road. While passing through Athy this afternoon, I visited the site of the Carlow Road Level Crossing. Click https://bit.ly/42ielwe to view.

Evening all, The March gallery has been updated with: Wednesday 8th March 2023: Pictures from Thurles and Portlaoise. Friday 10th March 2023: A rather unusual movement occurred on Friday 10th March when a 1820 Waterford - Limerick Ety. operated. Due to operational issues, Limerick were short a 3ICR for the weekend and with the 1615 Heuston - Waterford being spare in Waterford from tonight due to the temporary timetable in force on Saturday because of the engineering works between Hazelhatch and Sallins, the rolling stock controller requested that the 1615 Heuston - Waterford be sent empty to Limerick to cover the shortage. It also offered the rare opportunity to photograph two passenger trains crossing at Clonmel, which thanks the the sparse service is not a regular feature of the Limerick Jct. - Waterford route. Click https://bit.ly/3FeSEDs to view all the images.

Friday 3rd March 2023: Tamper 742 was working in a possession between Birdhill and Killonan Jct. between 27th February and 3rd March. After finishing work on Friday, the Tamper travelled to Roscrea to stable and I got several pictures of it on the Nenagh Branch. Click https://bit.ly/3ZopJod to view.