thewanderer

Evening all, The backlog of photos has been cleared and the website has been updated with the end of January and the start of February. The January gallery can be viewed at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/January-2024/i-TMHxfJm and contains: * Pictures from Portlaoise on Monday 29th January. * Pictures from Cork on Tuesday 30th January. The February gallery contains images from Killarney, the closed stations at Clonakilty and Bandon plus two visits to Thurles. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/February-2024/i-rv6BdMD to view. All the images can also be accessed from the 2024 folder at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos

After receiving an invite to attend the event at London Waterloo for the return of 4VEP 3417 "Gordon Pettitt" to the terminus for the first time in 18 years, I made a flying visit to London on the Friday night to attend the event on Saturday before returning back to Ireland on Saturday night. I have to say it was a fantastic day out and full of emotion for me as well. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see "Gordon" at heritage railways and eventually mainline running before too long. All the photos from the visit, including the event at London Waterloo can be viewed at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2024/A-night-in-London-26th-27th-January-2024

Good evening all, Photos from Nenagh, Ballybrophy and various locations in the Dublin area from Monday and Tuesday. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/January-2024/i-2DMKW3n to view.

A rather hastily arranged trip to England was put together for early January as I needed to head to Norfolk for a family event. As is usual with me, I extended the trip a few days either side and managed to fit in a few more bits I had wanted to tick off. * Belfast to Birkenhead Ferry. * Merseryrail 507001 in its BR Blue & Grey Retro Livery. * Newcastle Tyne and Wear Metro * South Western Railway Class 455's. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2024/UK-Trip-8th-14th-January-2024 to view all the individual galleries.

The January 2024 gallery kicks off with: Thursday 4th January 2024: Pictures from Nenagh of 3ICR 22060 working the evening branch service. Friday 5th January 2024: Pictures from between Nenagh and Belfast. Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th January 2024: A weekend in Belfast with visits to Derry, Portrush, Coleraine, Bangor, Lisburn, City Hospital and Titanic Quarter. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/January-2024/i-6WL5J8C to view.

My 2023 Year in Review Gallery has now been published. Containing over 500 photos from throughout 2023. The highlights from the year in review contain: * Limerick station refurbishment and new bus station. * Views of NIR. * Visit to Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway for their diesel gala * Trials and re-entry to service of MTU stage v powerpack and ZF transmission set 22063. * Connemara Railway at Maam Cross. * Tegral Branch at Athy being converted into the Athy bypass. * ICR B2 car trials. * Loco hauled ICR B Car transfers. * RPSI, IRRS and Talite Railtours in 2024. * IRRS visits to the new National Train Control Centre & ICR B2 vehicles. * Railtours Ireland Emerald Isle Express charter. * MKIV coach 4114 dumped at Mallow after suffering a seized axle. * Loco 218 running on HVO fuel. * DART+ mockup at Inchicore. * Foynes line rebuilding. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/FeaturedGallery/2023-A-year-in-Review/ to view.

Afternoon all, Two updates to the website this afternoon. The main one concerns the Foynes Line rebuilding in Co. Limerick and features photos from between Ballingrane and Patrickswell showing the latest progress on the work to reopen the railway for Freight to Foynes Port. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/Officialevents/2023/Foynes-Line-Reconstruction-/i-ThN4SZF The 2nd update is in the December gallery with two pictures from Killarney during a visit to the station to drop a person off. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/December-2023/i-VQ9FDMB

Evening all, Pictures from around Dublin and Thurles during an overnight trip to the capital city. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/December-2023/i-mTR68BC to view.

The December gallery has been updated with: Wednesday 6th and 12th December 2023: Views of Laois Depot where a trio of the new ICR B2 cars have visited for modification work to be carried out on the vehicles. To shunt the vehicles in the yard, an 071 class locomotive was provided, an unusual sight in a DMU depot. Saturday 16th December 2023: A day spent in Dublin to photograph and travel on the RPSI Santa Specials between Connolly and Maynooth. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/December-2023/i-bkR4r6p to view.

The November gallery comes to an close with images around Nenagh and a 3 day visit to Dublin. Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th November: Images around Nenagh. Monday 27th - Wednesday 29th November 2023: November comes to an end with 3 days in Dublin. Photos come from: * Thurles * Inchicore * Heuston * LUAS * Pearse * Tara Street * Clontarf Road & Fairview * Bray Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-mDDdrHG Also while at Inchicore I took a look at the DART+ mockup. The new DART+ fleet is being built by Alstom in Poland to the X'trapolis design. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/Officialevents/2023/DART-mockup-at-Inchicore/

Latest photos from the week so far are now online at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-RBkZqR3 Tuesday 21st November 2023: Pictures come from Ballybrophy, Portlaoise, Limerick Jct. and Limerick. Wednesday 22nd Novemeber 2023: Pictures today come from Thurles, Portlaoise, Heuston and Abbey Street.

The November gallery has been updated with: Friday 17th November 2023: While in Galway for the night, I stopped off at Oranmore to see the 1305 Galway - Heuston passing through non-stop. Saturday 18th November 2023: After a lovely evening in Leenan in the wilds of Connemara, we decided to head over to Westport to spend a few hours in the town and at Westport House which I had never been to before. Later in the afternoon while heading back to North Tipperary, I stopped off at Manulla Jct. and Balla to view the 1245 Heuston - Westport passing. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-wxJTdHC to view all the images.

Evening all, The November gallery has been updated with: Wednesday 15th November 2023: The new Track Recording Vehicle 701 travelled on the Nenagh Branch on Tuesday and Wednesday and I photographed it passing Nenagh on Wednesday morning. Thursday 16th November 2023: Loco 218 has been converted to run on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as part of a trial to reduce carbon emissions and after a number of trials on non-passenger work it was released to work passenger trains from Thursday 16th November 2023 where I managed to catch up with it at Thurles in the afternoon. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-KHMDsj5 to view all the images.

Monday 13th & Tuesday 14th November 2023: A busy two days of travelling to Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Travel plans on the Monday were somewhat disrupted by Storm Debi but the highlight was seeing Ballast Cleaner 781 leaving Limerick Jct. for Kildare. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-q8Fvgvv

Saturday 11th November 2023: A Saturday afternoon spent in the Cratloe area which afforded some pictures of Western Rail Corridor services between Limerick and Ennis at Cratloe and Sixmilebridge. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-JF4pt4r to view.

Evening all, Photos from the past week have now been uploaded to the website at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/i-xNMfZ5d Saturday 4th November 2023: During the first week of November the Nenagh Branch received the new NTA funded wayfinding signage. I popped into Nenagh Station on Saturday to view the new improved signage. Wednesday 8th November 2023: Pictures from Thurles and Portlaoise. Thursday 9th November 2023:L Pictures today come from Ballybrophy, Portlaoise, Heuston, LUAS Red Line at Rialto, plus Blackrock.

The November Gallery kicks off with: Wednesday 1st November 2023: A trip down to Cork to meet up with Tony Miles and explore some of the East Cork Commuter routes before heading back to Dublin. Thursday 2nd November 2023: The more was spent at Inchicore Works for the CME Strategy Day before returning to Thurles later in the afternoon. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/November-2023/ to view.

The October gallery comes to a close with: Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd October 2023: Some general shots ftom the RPSI Liffey Leesider railtour weekend. See the 2023 Railtour section for all the pictures. Tuesday 24th October 2023: 081 and 084 pass Nenagh with a HOBS train to drop ballast on the branch. Wednesday 25th October 2023: Pictures from Portlaoise of 075 hauling new Inspection Car 725 and later that day images from Limerick Station. Thursday 26th October 2023: Pictures today come from Ballybrophy and Portloaise. Includes 075 and 220 leaving the Perway Yard bound for North Wall and Athy respectively. Saturday 28th October 2023: The Linmag Rail Milling Machine at Nenagh after completing work south of the station at the 36MP. Sunday 29th October 2023: One photo from today of Whitegate while attending the funeral of enthusiast Fred Dean. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/October-2023/i-sLG8G3X

Evening all, Photos from the two day RPSI The Liffey Leesider railtour on 21/22nd October have now been uploaded to https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/RailtoursPreservedRailways/2023/RPSI-The-Liffey-Leesider/ This ambitious tour delivered 666.5 miles of top-class action over two days behind four different locomotives. Over 200 passengers were booked on the tour over the weekend. More of the same please RPSI! Read the website page for the full tour description.

Pictures from this so far this week cover: Tuesday 17th October 2023: A single picture from Portlaoise on this day of a 5ICR covering for a 3ICR on a Portlaoise - Heuston service. Thursday 19th October 2023: Pictures today come from: - Nenagh - Ballybrophy - Heuston - LUAS in Dublin City Centre. - Broombridge. - Clonsilla - M3 Parkway - Connolly. Click into the October gallery at: https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/October-2023/i-ZmQnk5m

Pictures from around Farranfore and Killarney from the weekend just gone. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/October-2023/i-f8Gb2WX to view.

The October gallery has been updated today with photos from the past week featuring: Friday 6th October 2023: Pictures & video's of trains and buses in Nenagh while out for a walk. Saturday 7th October 2023: Some views of the disused Cement Branch Siding in Limerick near the Crescent Shopping Centre. Tuesday 10th October 2023: Photos from various locations between Charleville and Glounthaune in Cork while travelling down to the city to attend an Irish Railway Record Society meeting. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/October-2023/i-84G8WS8 to view all the images.

The website has been updated with: Saturday 30th September 2023: Pictures from Portlaoise and Borris-in-Ossory plus contributor pictures from Maynooth. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/September-2023/i-BZJkxCb to view. Tuesday 3rd October 2023: Pictures from Lexilip Confey and Maynooth while out to photograph the MPV 790 on railhead treatment run. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/October-2023/i-56qZLmH

Afternoon all, A few photos from my travels this week. Monday 25th September 2023: Pictures from Nenagh, Ballybrophy and Thurles. Tuesday 26th September 2023: Pictures today come from Thurles, Connolly, Clontarf Road and Drogheda. Friday 29th September 2023: Due to a shortage of 2800 Class, a pair of 2600 Class units covered the morning Bally service. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/September-2023/i-z9QxBrL to view

Photos from the Irish Railway Record Society "The Token Exchange" railtour on Saturday 23rd September are now online at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/RailtoursPreservedRailways/2023/IRRS-The-Token-Exchange-Saturday-23rd-September-2023/ The railtour operated from Dublin Heuston to Waterford and Limerick formed of an IE 22000 Class 3ICR set 22007. The purpose of the tour was to travel over the last two remaining routes on the Iarnród Éireann (IE) network that retain traditional railway signalling using the Electric Train Staff signalling regulations. As organiser on behalf of the IRRS, I'll like to thank everyone who travelled with us yesterday and made the tour such an outstanding success.