thewanderer

Branch Line Society: Emerald Isle Explorer After a two year break thanks to Covid enforced travel restrictions the Branch Line Society returns to Ireland for one of their tours covering unusual routes in Ireland. The tour started at 0730 from Connolly and over the course of the day would visit Dundalk, Dromod, Grand Canal Dock, Adamstown, Heuston and returning to Connolly at 1737. Highlights of the trip included: - Connolly Wash Road - Skerries Loop and the Bi-directional working between Skerries and Balbriggan. - Dromod Siding. - Killucan Loop - Maynooth Siding. - Newcomen Jct. to Connolly. - Operates in the down direction over the up line between Connolly and Grand Canal Dock. - Heuston Platform 10 - Adamstown Bay Platform - Heuston Wash Road. - Heuston Carriage Siding 2 Click https://bit.ly/3PGminq to view all the images from the day.

The August gallery continues with pictures from: Wednesday 10th August 2022: Pictures from Ballybrophy and Portlaoise. Sunday 14th August 2022: Pictures from between Roscommon and Athlone on Sunday evening of Westport services. Wednesday 17th August 2022: Pictures from Ballybrophy, Portlaoise, Limerick Jct, and Limerick. Friday 19th August 2022: Pictures from Nenagh, Limerick, Limerick Jct., Mallow and Killarney. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2022-Photos/August-2022/i-96ZhHDd to view.

Last Saturday I paid a visit to the Connemara Railway at Maam Cross which is aiming to reopen a section of the former Clifden to Galway railway which closed in 1935. Since my last visit in November 2021, progress has been made on laying 5ft 3in gauge track alongside the temporary 3ft gauge track and a replica of the signal cabin is nearing completion. Also during this week the railway received its first standard gauge rolling stock with the delivery of 3 ballast wagons and a plough van which will greatly assist future developments at the railway. More rolling stock is due to be delivered in the coming days. Click https://bit.ly/3AgWQ3c to view all the images from the visit.

For the final part of the UK trip, I spent two days in Liverpool to travel and photograph the Class 507 & 508 EMU's operated by Merseyrail. These are shortly to be replaced by new Class 777's built by Stadler. While the main day to explore was to be Monday, it also turned out to be the hottest day of the year with temps in Liverpool topping 35+ degrees. The Wirral's West Kirby branch got suspended due to a points failure at Bidston East Jct. and I had to avail of the 407 bus back to Liverpool. Due to the heat and delays to the service I called it a day early. The following day, was also very hot and Merseyrail operated a curtailed and amended service, which meant the last part of the network I needed to explore, Ellesmere Port will have to wait for another day. On Tuesday, I decided not to take any chances and heading to Manchester mid-morning for my flight back to Dublin at 1610. Click https://bit.ly/3AcBl3I to view the 150+ images from the trip.

The August collection begins with the return of trains to the Nenagh Branch, which reopened on Thursday following a 12 week closure for track relaying. Click https://bit.ly/3P15KpU to view.

Cheers Skinner Must take a look at that video! The London and South East gallery has been completed from my recent UK trip to visit the Mid Hants railway. Pictures in this gallery include: * Sleeper train at Paddington. * Selhurst Depot from the air. * South Western Mainline services. * Final day of Class 317's out of Liverpool Street. All the pictures can be viewed at: https://bit.ly/3JwOBmw

Photos from the recent Mid Hants Diesel Gala in July have just been uploaded to the website. Over 160 pictures from the Friday and Saturday can be found at https://bit.ly/3BD7m63

Sunday 24th July 2022: Pictures from a damp Kerry on Sunday morning to view the GAA Specials from Tralee to Dublin for the All Ireland Football Final. The 0710 Tralee - Cork was diverted to Heuston and increased from 2 x 2600 to 7 x 22000 and a special 0745 Tralee - Heuston also operated, again formed of 7 x 22000. Click the image below to view all the pictures.

The July gallery has been updated with images of the Nenagh Branch relaying project. Train services have been suspended since the middle of May until the 31st July to allow the section between Cloughjordan and Roscrea to be fully relaid with CWR. Later in the year, between Monday 26th September to Sunday 20th November the last two sections of jointed track between Roscrea and Ballybrophy will be tackled. Click https://bit.ly/3ylB4JA to view.

IE IM Showcase event 2022 On Tuesday 28th June 2022, the Iarnrod Eireann Infrastructure Manager (IEIM) held a showcase event at Portlaoise Permanent Way Depot. The purpose of the event was to demonstrate the IEIM capabilities in the areas of infrastructure maintenance and renewal, including the utilisation of new and emerging technologies to deliver a cost effective, safe and reliable infrastructure. The event also gave an insight into the application of the signalling systems in the control of train operations. Click https://bit.ly/3nzF7wJ to view all the images from the day.

Afternoon all, The June gallery has been updated with pictures from a trip to Cork and Cobh this week. Click https://bit.ly/3zv8sQ5 to view all.

Evening all, A bunch of photos from the weekend just gone has been uploaded to: Saturday 3rd June 2022: A view of the ongoing upgrade work to the Nenagh Branch Line between Roscrea and Cloughjordan and a visit to Portumna on the River Shannon. Sunday 5th June 2022: A visit to Limerick on Sunday evening and a trip to Ennis on a 4ICR 22012 which was an unusual working as normally only 3ICR sets can work over the route. Monday 6th June 2022: Pictures from various places between Clara and Athlone areas featuring the laden Timber from Ballina to Waterford and the XPO Liner in the other direction. Click https://bit.ly/3xnqm5T to view all.

Friday 3rd June 2022: A lunchtime visit to the Curragh to photo the special 1010 Waterford - Inchicore Container Pocket Wagon transfer and then later in the day we see 2614 + 2617 leaving Laois Train Care Depot for Cork. Click the https://bit.ly/3Man8qE to view all.

Between the 20th and 25th April I was in the UK, spending time in London to travel and photograph the Southern Class 455 fleet before their removal from service, travel on the Highland Sleeper from London to Aberdeen to try out the new MK5 stock and spend the remainder of the trip in Scotland, mainly exploring the suburban lines around Glasgow. Other highlights include a trip on the TPE MK5's from Manchester to Leeds and a Class 91 from Leeds to London Kings Cross. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2022 to view all the galleries which are sorted into each day.

Sunday 10th April 2022: A visit to Carn Bridge between Portlaoise & Portarlington to view the 1200 Heuston - Cork and the 1130 North Wall - Portlaoise empty CWR Train which was hauled by 088. Click the image below to view all the pictures. Click https://bit.ly/3KwaLFb to view.

The April gallery kicks off with a selection of images from the past week. Friday 1st April 2022: Photos today come from Nenagh, Ballybrophy and Heuston. Saturday 4th April 2022: Photos from various locations during the RPSI East West railtour. Sunday 3rd April 2022: Just a handful of images from Heuston while heading to Thurles on the 1400 to Cork. Thursday 7th April 2022: A lunchtime visit to Clonkeen to photo 2611 + 2612 heading from Cork to Laois Traincare Depot to visit the wheellathe. Friday 8th April 2022: Photos from Nenagh and Portlaoise including seeing retro-liveried 071 heading to Portarlington to collect a HOBS train for Limerick Jct. Click https://bit.ly/37uMKjc to view.

They could paint it bright pink with rainbow logos if they so wanted to!

Photos from the RPSI: East West Railtour on Saturday 1st April 2022. Another excellent diesel tour and great to catch up with so many folks after 2 years. As usual thanks to all the RPSI and IE staff involved for making sure the tour operated to plan throughout the day despite the delays encountered which were outside the control of the RPSI. Click https://bit.ly/3uPzhus to view all the photos and details from the day.

The Wanderers Photos has been updated with: - March 2022 gallery: Photos from Gorey, Killinick, Kilrane, Rosslare Europort, Wellington Bridge and Dunbrody Abbey of the Waterford - Rosslare railway. Click https://bit.ly/3iwz8Gw to view. The 2nd update is from a visit to the Waterford & Suir Valley Railway. Sadly train services don't resume until the 1st April, but their shop was open selling light refreshments, taking advantage of passing trade from the Waterford Greenway which runs alongside their formation. The MK2c carriage on site, 4106 has been repainted into a version of CIE livery since my previous visit to the railway. Click https://bit.ly/3DdpCld to view. Both galleries can also be accessed from the home page at www.thewandererphotos.com

Evening folks, The latest update to the website. Wednesday 16th March 2022: The morning starts off with images of the Dublin LUAS tram network, while the afternoon has images from Clonkeen outside Portlaoise. Click https://bit.ly/3IhwTkZ to view.

The March gallery kicks off with 80+ images from around Ireland. Click https://bit.ly/3I3wOBh to view.

This week sees images from Portlaoise, Templemore, Nenagh and Ballybrophy. Click https://bit.ly/3p1i8f8 to view.

Sunday 13th February 2022: The planned Sperry Train inspection of the Nenagh Branch for the 14th February was cancelled on Saturday with the train being repathed to operate as a 1000 Portlaoise PWD - Limerick transfer on the Sunday instead via Thurles. Pictures of the train arriving into Thurles and later on at Holycross. Click https://bit.ly/3sFPmBZ to view.

The February gallery kicks off with the following updates. Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd February 2022: Tom Walker of MKT transport photos spent two days in Dublin and kindly allowed me to use a selection of his images. Tuesday 8th February 2022: A trip into Limerick this morning meant I was able to capture some of the comings and goings at the station. Later in the day we see the latest progress of the relaying works on the Nenagh Branch. Wednesday 9th February 2022: Photos of the Sperry Train around Mullingar which was heading from Dublin's North Wall to Longford. The train is once again using the RPSI's Generating Steam Van (GSV) 3173 as IE's own van remains unavailable. Click https://bit.ly/3gR5uLz to view all the images.

Saturday 29th January 2021: Photos from the Killarney area on Saturday morning showing 2614 + 2617 covering one of the ICR diagrams after 22023 had failed the previous day in Killarney. The set had been repaired overnight and was awaiting a driver to bring it to Mallow to re enter service. Later in the morning I also photographed 22019 at Minish. Click https://bit.ly/3HdfJp1 to view.