thewanderer

Evening all, I took a spin to Galway and Limerick today to sample the 2800 class over the WRC route. Pictures from Portarlington, Athlone, Galway, Athenry, Ennis and Limerick. http://smu.gs/SOo0Rf The Wanderer.

I've never seen them on a liner, either in the UK or Ireland.

Evening all, Just a few snaps of Heuston and Portarlington from last Thursday while travelling to Dublin for Brian Solomon's talk at the Irish Railway Records Society. http://smu.gs/SLLjLs The Wanderer.

Morning Heir, I was keeping an eye on her progress en route down. I had hoped to go to Carn Bridge to get her but a busy spell in work meant when I looked again she was passing Monastervin and not being looped into Portarlington as she was booked to do. So I settled for the Dublin end of Portlaoise Station and then scooted off to Coniberry LC for some more photos. As for hiding in bushes? I could ask the same of you as I didn't see anybody else taking photos in the station of her arrival! A wonderful two days of something different. Will be hard to beat that for a long time. But the main thing is, talking to the crew the Loco seems to be back in great form. So hopefully the trouble that has blighted her for the past year is well and truly gone. The Wanderer.

Evening all, Another varied and interesting day in the Laois area. It has turned into a very interesting week! - On the 3rd and final day of out road trials for the RPSI's 461 it visited Portlaoise for the 2nd day in a row. This time, due to a brake fault with two carriages, the formation was a light load of One Craven + BR Van. Unlike yesterday when the loco ran around in the Down Station Loop, today the train ran into the Portlaoise Per-Way for the loco to be watered and run around its small train. It made for some very interesting and rare pictures. It is believed to be the first time since 1975 a steam locomotive has visited Coniberry Yard in Portlaoise. The previous occasion was when 186 took a railtour to Coolnamona Bord na Mona works. Sadly not possible today as the route is blocked by the M7 Portlaoise By-Pass. - While all the action was ongoing in Portlaoise with the RPSI, 088 was going from Kildare to Limerick with a trial train of 10 wagons. It was pictured at Clonkeen. - Finally, after the sucessful trial of 22011 on Tuesday night, tonight it was the turn of 22010 to be put through its paces with a return run from Heuston to Portarlington. The return leg, 2050 Portarlington - Heuston was filmed passing Monastervin. Both units should start day light trials to Mallow / Cork in the coming days. All the photos from today are now online at: http://smu.gs/SCynHE Enjoy! The Wanderer.

Evening all, 461 headed to Portlaoise for the 2nd day in a row, this time with only 1 Craven + BR Van. Pictures of her in Portlaoise today. http://smu.gs/SCynHE To recap yesterday pictures start at: http://smu.gs/Sz4EPR The Wanderer.

Morning all, Yesterday was an interesting day in the Laois / Kildare area. - After its Light Engine Trial on Monday to Sallins, 461 took 3 Cravens + BR Van from Inchicore to Portlaoise. The trial was pictured at Ratheven and Portlaoise Stations. The Trial is also expected to run to Portlaoise on Wednesday morning. - 3 X 3 ICR (22003 + 22004 + 22030) 1343 Laois Depot - Heuston passing Portlaoise. - Video of 22060 passing Monastervin Station. - Video of 1730 Cork - Heuston passing Monastervin Station. - One half of the infamous pairing of units which went back to S. Korea to be rebuilt, 22011 made its first outroad trial from Heuston to Portarlington this evening. The trial was videod passing Monastervin and Kildare. - 22032 at Monastervin with the 1805 Galway - Heuston. - 22063 at Kildare waiting to depart with the 2045 Kildare - Heuston. - Brand new 22059 made its entry to service today on the 0735 Heuston - Kildare. The unit was pictured at Kildare with the 2010 Heuston - Carlow. - Video of MPV 790 departing Kildare with the Sandite run around the Dublin Suburban system. All the pictures and videos from today are now at http://smu.gs/Sz4EPR The Wanderer

I believe that the processes can be combined (looking at the UK RHTT's). In the case of 790 today it was just Water Jetting.

Good evening folks, The first update for November features: 1/11/12: - 22031 at Rosskelton with the 1130 Cork - Heuston. 2/11/12: - The one that got away finally succumbed to standardisation. Unit 22007 finally got the five digit number system after somehow escaping for a four year period with the obsolete cue-ball numbering system. The day after it was applied it is seen at Heuston after arriving with the 1315 from Westport. 3/11/12: - A morning trip to Galway with photos from Portarlington, Athlone, Woodlawn, Athenry, Galway, Ballinasloe and Tullamore with 22023 + 22019 and 22055. A 4 car 2800, 2811 + 2812 + 2813 + 2814 were noted at Athenry with the 0940 Galway - Limerick. Later on in the day I went to Carn Bridge to photograph the elusive MPV 790 which was on Water Jetting run from Kildare to Charleville. Photos are now online at: http://smu.gs/QdTIei The Wanderer.

22007 at Heuston this evening after working the 1315 Westport - Heuston with 22054. http://smu.gs/QbrwIU

Well I would rather have a high frequency, cheap to operate (in terms of staffing) than the low frequency, high cost loco hauled trains of yesterday. DMU operation has allowed IE to increase the frequency of several routes across the country. How can this be bad? Take the Kerry line. Loco hauled days : 4 up trains. 5 down trains. Current Dmu etable: 8 trains a day in each direction at regular intervals. Some of you may consider it a bland railway today but at the end of the day the passenger experience has improved considerably since the days of avelling in cold and and dark Cravens. Do you want to go back to that? The Wanderer.

Care to expand on this?

The one that got away finally succumbed to standardisation today at Laois Depot. Unit 22007 finally got the five digit number system after somehow escaping for a four year period with the obsolete cue-ball numbering system. Here it is outside Killarney in happier times http://smu.gs/wvnjvQ The Wanderer.

Your welcome. And we can thank Mr. Doyle for allowing me to use them. 1998, it seems like yesterday Where does the time go? But to steal a good quote "Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives, but I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived."

Evening folks, Pictures from the Drumcondra area showing some of the altered arrangements in place for the North Strand Engineering Work. Also pictures from Connolly and Heuston. http://smu.gs/ScDVIH LUAS Red Line Pictures at Busaras: http://smu.gs/Q59tEc The Wanderer.

Good evening all, A update to my 2700 Class gallery farewell which was orginlly published in August 2012. Oliver Doyle, retired Operations Schemes Development Manager has kindly supplied me with several photographs from a photographic run in 1998 between Dundalk and Dublin, plus one photo from the GEC Alsthom factory in Santa Perpetua de Mogoda, Barcelona. The first of the photos are at: http://smu.gs/Q2uTlw Two photos from last Saturday: 22004 + 22050 at Portarlington with the 1505 Galway - Heuston. http://smu.gs/Q2v404 3022 crosses Sean Heuston Bridge. http://smu.gs/Q2prir Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Good evening all, The final part of my UK Trip covering Sunday to Tuesday which covers London to Aberdeen and several points in between. Sunday Day 5 of the UK Trip: Being based in London for the weekend and having a spare day today I travelled to various places on the London Underground & National Rail networks giving "Finnyus" a history lesson in the process. The route we took: Charing Cross - Kennington Loop - Clapham Common - Clapham North - Elephant & Castle - London Road Depot - Lambeth North - Piccadilly Circus - Queens Park - Willesden Jct - West Hampstead (NLL & Jubilee) - East Finchley - Wembley Park - Stanmore - Bus 142 - Edgware - Golders Green - Bus 240 - Mill Hill East - Finchley Central - East Finchley - Highgate - London Bridge - South London Line (soon to be withdrawn and replaced by the new ELL extension) - Victoria. Photos: http://smu.gs/PR5xHf Monday Day 6 of the UK Trip: This day hadn't been fully fleshed out in the planning process of this trip, but I had an aspiration to travel on the Open Access Operators from Kings Cross and do the Sleeper train from Aberdeen. Therefore it was an early alarm clock call from my hotel in SW London to get to Kings Cross for the 0720 Kings Cross - Hull, Hull Trains service formed of 180109. The 180 lived up the dire performance of the class and was failed in Hull upon arrival. Grand Central 180101 was on hand to replace it for the 1030 back to London. Decision time on what to do for the rest of the day and where to spend the night. Aberdeen looked a good option and I went to the Travel Centre to book a berth for the Sleeper to London. The people of Hull mustn’t book many sleeping car berths as it took about 10 minutes to find and complete the booking, unlike in Birmingham NS on Wednesday where the booking was completed in a matter of minutes. Sleeping Car booked and RAIL and Rail Express purchased from WH Smith I boarded a busy 170302 for the sprint to Selby. From Selby to York I got a rather shabby (interior) Northern 158 to York to await the arrival of Grand Central's 1123 London - Sunderland. A surprise sight was 60009 Union of South Africa making an appearance not long after I arrived. Waiting on platform 9 at York I was delighted to see the GC was an HST. Never being to Sunderland before I had heard many stories about the station. They weren't wrong. It is a bad as Birmingham New Street. I got the next Metro to Newcastle for a 91 to Edinburgh and a busy peak hour 3 car 170 to Aberdeen. The sleeper was already in the platform when I arrived with 67007 at the helm. After a walk around the town I boarded the sleeper and settled down for the evening with the alarm set for 0710 to get ready for the London arrival at 0743. Little did I know at the time at 0710 I would only be at Shap Summit. More of that in Tuesday's gallery. Photos: http://smu.gs/PR4S8N Tuesday Day 7 of the UK Trip: The day begins with a knock on my cabin door at 0640 from the sleeping car attendant to be informed of a fatal incident on the line overnight at Oxenholme involving a freight train (4M48) and that we are currently at Shap. So with that good news there was nothing to do but to go back to sleep. I awoke at 0900 to find us arriving at Preston, 267 minutes late. A 58 mile section of the journey, schedule for 58 minutes had taken about 2hours and 10 minutes to get through due to the congestion and Single Line Working. So with nothing much else to do I retired to the lounge car, which gradually got busier as the morning wore on and enjoyed a late breakfast and free refreshments from Scotrail. We lost a couple of more minutes between Preston & Crewe but managed to regain them by the Crewe stop. After Crewe and just when you can think nothing more can go wrong the brakes come on hard and we come to a stop at Whitehouse Jct. Initially thinking it was to allow some faster Pendolinos past it soon became clear that something was amiss when 66301 trundled past with the W.H. Malcolm Liner. Another 60 minute delay while the points were fixed. Arrival in Euston was at 1311, 324 minutes late. With the plans for the day thrown out the window there was nothing else to do but make my way out to Gatwick for the plane home. It was unfortunate that the 7 day trip had ended with such a massive delay, as all trains I had travelled on during the week had been on time or within +5 minutes of time. A full run down of the sleeper train for that night can be found at: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/schedule/G60507/2012-10-22/ Photos: http://smu.gs/RWhE1P For the first part of the trip and you’re looking for the link it may be found at Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Good evening all, I have spent the last couple of days in the UK, Photos from Connolly and Rosslare en route to the Ferry. http://smu.gs/RNYtHt Wednesday Day 1 of the UK Trip. After travelling overnight from Fishguard I arrived in London Paddington on time at 0732. From here I took the short journey on the Bakerloo Line to Marylebone to travel to Birmingham on Chiltern's Mainline Loco hauled service. After that I made my way north to Glasgow via the East Coast and the new Airdale line for the sleeper train to London. http://smu.gs/RNXBT8 Thursday Day 2 of the UK Trip: After travelling overnight on the Sleeper Train from Glasgow to London I headed across to Liverpool Street to travel to Norwich on Greater Angila's loco hauled mainline service with a brief stop at Ipswich to view the Freightliner's locomotive stabling yard. From Norwich, I headed North to Sheringham along the Bittern Line to visit the North Norfolk Railway. Later in the day I retraced my steps to Norwich and boarded what would be considered the longest non-intercity cross-country service in the UK, East Midlands Trains Norwich - Liverpool Lime Street service. Changing trains at Peterborough for an East Coast service to Leeds. My intended route from Leeds to Manchester had been to go via Halifax but the sight of a Class 142 Pacer for the 95 minute journey didn't appeal to me so I opted for a TPE Class 185 to cross the Pennines (in comfort). http://smu.gs/RNXRBp Day 3: Friday 19th October 2012: A day which didn't go exactly to plan. A couple of lunchtime photos of Trams in Manchester City Center before getting the Virgin Trains service to London. Day 4: Saturday 20th October 2012: Just two pictures from this day. Charing Cross and the disused Connaught Tunnel. Friday and Saturday Pictures: http://smu.gs/PKXT0R Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Thanks heirflick. IE have three sandite capable vehicles. Sandite 728 Sandite 734 MPV 790 Despite being in Ireland for 3 years I've yet to get a decent picture of the bloody thing! I *believe* (and tbc) 790 is being used as the Dublin Sandite machine for this season. I'm not sure which of the other machines is based in Limerick Jct. for this season. The Wanderer.

Evening folks, Latest pictures from the week are now at http://smu.gs/RrXyfn'>http://smu.gs/RrXyfn Mostly from Dublin Heuston during the week and on Saturday from Heuston, Dun-Laoghaire and Blackrock. Also on Saturday Dublin Bus Staff operated a RV Volvo Olympian farewell tour taking in various parts of the city. Pictures from this tour are at http://smu.gs/RrXyfn The Wanderer.

That wasn't the Executive. That was the Citygold Class, most likely on the 1320 Heuston - Cork if I remember correctly. But dated...yes!

Morning all, Sunday was a busy day a trip from Kerry to the Midlands. We start off in Tralee and make our way to Farranfore to photograph the once a week crossing of trains on Sunday afternoon. Onwards from Farranfore we stop at Castleisland to view the former station, now a car park. After Abbeyfeale the N21 Road is close to the former North Kerry Line and there are photos of the Great Southern Cycle trail around the Templeglantine and Barnagh areas. I then paid a visit to Adare to see the mothballed Foynes Branch, no chance of a train running down the line in its current condition. On the far side of Limerick I photographed the 1740 Limerick - Ballybrophy service at several locations on the branch line. The pictures begin at: http://smu.gs/Pj1l2D The Wanderer.

Evening all, Friday night sunset at Newcastlewest and Saturday afternoon on the Kerry line with photos from Brewsterfield, Quagmire Viaduct, Mallow, Rathcoole, Millstreet, Farrenfore and Killarney. http://smu.gs/PgPVMM The Wanderer.

Evening all, This morning I had to be in Dublin so here are a few pictures from Heuston & Connolly. Highlights include a 9 car ICR transfer to Laois Depot and Inspection Car 721 departing Connolly bound for Sligo. http://smu.gs/QVyD3H LUAS Red Line pictures from Heuston and Abbey Street can be viewed at http://smu.gs/QVvG2Y. The Wanderer.

Good evening all, The final batch of London Photographs have been uploaded this evening. - Kennington - Oval. - Buckingham Palace - Euston Square - Edgware Road (sub surface station). - Earls Court - Turham Green - Acton Town. The two highlights of the day had to be travelling through the "Kennington Loop" on the Northern Line and later on in the day photographing three engineers trains at Turham Green and Acton Town returning to Ruislip Depot after weekend engineering works. The weekend photos begin at: http://smu.gs/QRMIiw while the A Stock Farewell Photos are at: http://smu.gs/P4OPni The Wanderer.