thewanderer

A few updates this evening: - The RPSI's 461 dumped at Newbridge Station. http://smu.gs/Pbaw06 - The return of 22010 and 22011 from South Korea to Ireland http://smu.gs/NDrsAC (a 2nd update will take place on Wednesday evening showing pictures of them being offloaded from the ship). - 226 on the IWT Liner at North Wall and LUAS 4002 at the Point Depot. http://smu.gs/NDrCrw The Wanderer.

Well that could have gone better (on both sides of the border). After finishing with the G.A.A. Special at Ballybrophy it was then off to Athy to photograph and chase the RPSI's Festival Express from Dublin Connolly to Kilkenny. Sadly the train was nearly two hours late by the time it reached Athy so it gave me time to explore the disused Tegral Branch in Athy. The RPSI Special was also photographed in Kilkenny and on the return leg at Cush in Co. Kildare with diesel loco 082 piloting a problematic 461. Due to further problems with 461 it was removed at Newbridge at dumped into the Bay platform at the station. See the gallery description on smugmug for the full run down of the days events with the RPSI. For the RPSI Festival Express click on: http://smu.gs/P7K3k0 A very bad day for the folks in the RPSI. Keep the heads up guys. Things will get better. The Wanderer.

Oh what an insane day, on many fronts. I drove 264 miles around the country today to photograph two seperate special services: - The G.A.A. Special from Birdhill to Heuston which was worked by 3ICR 22016. Like the special which operated for the Hurling final last year it was well loaded and the Junior Minister, Alan Kelly T.D. was also reported to be onboard. The special was photographed at Birdhill, Cappadine, Nenagh, Ballygibbon, Kylenaheskeragh, Quakers Road L.C., Grange Beg and Ballybrophy. After finishing with the G.A.A. Special at Ballybrophy it was then off to Athy to photograph and chase the RPSI's Festival Express from Dublin Connolly to Kilkenny. Sadly the train was nearly two hours late by the time it reached Athy so it gave me time to explore the disused Tegral Branch in Athy. The RPSI Special was also photographed in Kilkenny and on the return leg at Cush in Co. Kildare with diesel loco 082 piloting a problematic 461. Due to further problems with 461 it was removed at Newbridge at dumped into the Bay platform at the station. See the gallery description on smugmug for the full run down of the days events with the RPSI. For the G.A.A. Special / Tegral Branch and other ods and sods from the day click on: http://smu.gs/NzradR For the RPSI Festival Express click on: http://smu.gs/P7K3k0 The Wanderer.

It would be very very rare. There has only been one passenger working of a 9 car set on a Cork working and that didn't go to plan as the 6 car set developed a problem and the service terminated ar Thurles. You're best bet would be north of Laois Depot.

Camp yourself out on the Cork line between Portlaoise and Dublin for a couple of days and chances are you will see one. There is a some extra 9ICR's transfers planned this weekend. PM me if anybody wants the info.

Ever hear a train passing with a banging sound as it passes by? That's a wheel flat. Bascially one spot on the surface of the wheel has skidded on the railhead thus wearing some of the wheel surface away. Thus the wheel isn't round anymore and has a flat spot on it. Take a look ar this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT2DXO_xcU8

9 car ICR's are permitted to operate Dublin Heuston / Connolly - Cork and Tralee in passenger service, stopping only at certain stations. In addition they can operate as 9 vehicles empty passenger Connolly - Drogheda (and I think to Dundalk, not 100% on that). 9 car transfers to/from Laois Train Care are common at weekend periods, for example the 0555 Laois Depot - Heuston on Saturday is booked 3x3ICR and the 2145 + 2200 Heuston - Laois Depot on Sunday are booked 3ICR+6ICR PC and 3X3ICR respectively. At other times, weekdays etc you may sometimes see a 9 car transfer to/from the depot. While not booked to occur in the standard diagram plan you may often need to place a 3 car unit in Dublin to swap out with another 3 car unit that is needed back in Laois Depot for whatever reason and they use the regular 6 car transfers to "piggyback" the unit to/from Dublin. I believe the train filmed in the above video (shortly after 0930hrs?) was a special additional empty movement to Heuston to swap out sets which were needed back in Laois Depot. Heirflick, The Weedspray Tanks operate with the Sperry to provide brake force for the train. After one of its first trips on the system the Sperry had to take a trip to the lathe in Inchicore to reprofile the wheels after it got flats when it was used with just a loco. After this incident it was decided to use the Wheel Spray Tank wagons as brake force. The Wanderer.

Good evening all, Long term stopped 22033 has recently returned to service following repairs at Inchicore and Laois Train Care Depot after suffering an engine fire in vehicle 22633 at Athenry in September 2011. Separate to repairs to 22033, there has been a long term aspiration since the ICR's entered service to improve the First Class Accommodation on the Premier Class sets (22031 - 22040) following negative customer feedback. With 22033 being stopped for several months the opportunity was taken to trial the new first class interior on the "A1" vehicle 22133, plus carry out modifications to the gallery area of the vehicle. The vehicle retains its existing Premier Class branding on the external and internal doors. First Class / Premier Class Branding will be retrofitted to the rest of the vehicle at a later date. The remaining 9 "A1" type vehicles were be dealt with over the coming months. Pictures of 22033's new look: http://smu.gs/P1fs7D While the start of a new era begins for the 6 car Premier Class 22000 fleet, the end of an era occured after the August Bank Holiday for the Limerick based 2700 Class fleet. The final members of the class were withrawn from traffic after they were retained for the Volvo Ocean Boat Race and Galway Race Festival in July and early August 2012. To commemorate this occasion I have put together a selction of my photos of the 2700 Class from between 2006 & 2012, which showcases their time allocated to Cork and Limerick Depots, following displacement from Drogheda Depot by the 29000 Class. Thanks must go to Oliver Doyle, Stephen Hirsch & Brian Solomon for providing several images of the class at work in the Dublin Suburban area in their original Orange & Black "ARROW" Livery and to Noel Enright for images of the class at work on the Ballina Branch. Click here: http://smu.gs/P1g7Gd Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Afternoon folks, Cleared out a bit of a backlog of photos awaiting uploading since last week. Thursday 09th August The Wanderer, Finnyus and Csalem all joined forces for a visit to Gormanston to photograph the evening Tara mines trains which were operated by 082 and 086. Sunday 12th August 22036 at Galway waiting to depart with the 1305 to Dublin Heuston. Monday 13th August 2012 A visit to Clara to photograph the IWT liners (222 and 226), along with the frequent passenger service on this busy single line. All photos are in the August 2012 collection: http://smu.gs/OUHz8u Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Afternoon all, The first update for August 2012 has some aerial photos on Tuesday morning while flying into Dublin from JFK onboard EI-DUZ "St. Aofie" of Co. Mayo plus Balbriggan, Skerries and Portmarnock in Co. Dublin. Photos from Wednesday are from Co. Kildare of the two IWT liners from Ballina to North Wall (226 & 073), plus the usual MKIV's and ICR's. 209 was on the 1500 Cork. All of the August photos can be found at http://smu.gs/ONxx97 All of the USA photos are now up on the website. These may be found at and feature photos from the following Cities: -Chicago -San Francisco -Phoenix -Los Angeles -Las Vegas Plus Amtrak's California Zephyr which operates between Chicago and San Francisco and the Cajon Pass which is about 70 miles outside Los Angeles. Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Morning all, Two batches from the USA Trip have now been uploaded. The Los Angeles collection features photos from Hollywood, Downtown, Santa Monica and Universal Studios. There is only one rail related photo in this collection. L.A. doesn't really do rail transit but it is trying to slowly address this. http://smu.gs/NfWgC1 The 2nd collection is from the famous Cajon Pass area which is about 70 miles from L.A. on the I-15 road to Las Vegas. 35 minutes spent on Hill 582 saw six freights pass. http://smu.gs/NfWnxb The Wanderer.

Morning all, A couple of photos from Phoenix, AZ over the course of the weekend. http://smu.gs/N2ZkRJ The Wanderer.

Cheers Richie. The final batch of photos from my visit to San Francisco are now at http://smu.gs/N1WrAE . These photos are from my trip on the BART out to San Francisco International Airport. The Wanderer.

Morning all, Some more photos from San Francisco showing the various rail based transit systems in the city. http://smu.gs/PLr9SH The Wanderer.

Good morning, Here are a selection of photos from San Francisco featuring some of the various attractions of the City. http://smu.gs/PGzlDM The Wanderer.

I've now uploaded the final batch of photos from Chicago featuring the Central Loop on the L System. http://smu.gs/MTfey9 Plus a video of a fast Metra service overtaking a slow Metra service at Stone Ave. http://smu.gs/PCgzgW Between Friday and Sunday I travelled from Chicago to San Francisco onboard Amtrak's California Zephyr. The 2nd longest rail trip possible in the USA it is scheduled to take a little over 52 hours to cover the 2438 miles between Chicago and Emeryville (Oakland). Pictures from the trip are now available at: http://smu.gs/PChnlX Enjoy! The Wanderer.

It was a internal decision to keep the new sets close to "home" in case of problems with them.

Afternoon all, Here are the first upload of pictures from Chicago. Highlights: - Flight EI125 from DUB to ORD. - Downtown Chicago - The Chicago L System. - A trip out the BNSF Triple Track mainline to La Grange Stone Ave. Pictures start at: http://smu.gs/Pq2PFN There will be more USA updates over the coming weeks. The Wanderer.

The last of the weekend pictures with 22020 at Killarney and Mallow along with 4005 on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday I popped down to Tara Street to see the RPSI's 461 passing through on the Special from Dublin Connolly to Wicklow before heading to Heuston for the final pictures of the weekend. http://smu.gs/NqQn5d The Wanderer.

Good morning all, A couple of pictures from Mallow and various locations in Kerry from Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. http://smu.gs/NoapgH The Wanderer.

Tuesday evening at Portarlington with 22051 + 22058 1725 Heuston - Limerick and E Car Ireland charging points which have been recently installed at the station car park. http://smu.gs/OvvTrI The Wanderer.

Good evening all, Some pictures taken on Thursday of North Wall and Heuston, featuring an Enterprise theme. After 208 worked the IWT ex Ballina on Wednesday, it was the turn of classmate 230 to work the 0930 North Wall - Ballina IWT on Thursday morning. Meanwhile in Heuston 209 was allocated to the 1100 Heuston - Cork. http://smu.gs/NcUdAN Plus a small LUAS Update from Connolly and Heuston: http://smu.gs/NcUinU The Wanderer.

It shows the quality of nothing. The only reason the 2700's are being withdrawn is due to the economic downturn and the delivery of the additional 22000 units. If the country hadn't gone down the pan things would be very different. The Wanderer.

Evening all, For the month of July the railway between Limerick and Limerick Junction is closed due to engineering works. Most Limerick - Dublin Heuston services will start / terminate at Limerick Junction but one service, the 1340 Heuston - Limerick is diverted by the Ballybrophy - Limerick line via Nenagh. This is required as the set is needed back in Limerick to form the following morning 0505 Limerick - Heuston via Nenagh service. Today the 1340 Heuston - Limerick was formed of 22052 and I photographed the train at several locations on the branch between Ballybrophy and Limerick. Also, the evening 1605 & 1705 Limerick - Ballybrophy services were both worked by 2700 Class DMU's. It is rumoured the last remaining sets of 2700's will be withdrawn by the end of this week. The photos start at: http://smu.gs/O1Mtzh Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Good morning all, On Monday 2nd July I paid a visit to the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway. http://smu.gs/N59uDE The Wanderer.