thewanderer

Afternoon all, I spent last weekend in London for the London Underground A Stock Farewell Railtour. After a career spanning 52 years the A60/A62 stock was given a sendoff by London Underground with a farewell railtour to all destinations on the Metropolitan Line on Saturday 29th September 2012. The railtour left Moorgate at 0955 and travelled to Watford, after a reversal at Watford the tour proceeded around the Watford North Curve to Rickmansworth and onwards to Chesham where a quick photostop was permitted. After Chesham the tour headed to Harrow-on-the-Hill to reverse and return to Amersham where a 45 minute break was taken. From Amersham we headed back to Harrow-on-the-Hill yet again to reverse and travel down the Uxbridge Branch of the Met. Another quick turnaround and the tour headed to Aldgate for one last visit with another quick reversal before a storming run to Wembley Park where the tour terminated. At Wembley Park the train reversed and went empty to Neasden Depot. Opportunities for photographs during the day were limited with photographs only permitted at Moorgate, Chesham, Harrow-on-the-Hill (once), Amersham and Wembley Park due to the very tight timetable for the tour. Photos from the tour are now online at: http://smu.gs/P4OPni The rest of the weekend pictures from Friday and Saturday are now online at http://smu.gs/QRMIiw featuring: - Heathrow 1,2 & 3. - Finchley Road. - Wembley Park - Class 20's at Neasden Depot. - Liverpool Street and Stratford - Moorgate - Docklands Light Railway. Plus on Saturday afternoon I took a "flight" on the Emirates airline cable car across the River Thames. The route only opened in the Summer of 2012 and offers spectacular views of East London. There will be a 2nd batch of photos from Sunday uploaded tomorrow (Tuesday) which will feature a procession of Ballast Trains returning to Ruislip Depot after weekend engineering works. Enjoy, The Wanderer.

Evening all, It was an early start this morning to head to Drumcondra to photograph 082 on the 0930 North Wall - Ballina IWT Liner. Later that morning 084 worked L.E. between Connolly and Howth to pass out a Portlaoise PWD Driver so the Sperry Train can visit the branch. Along with Drumcondra and Howth there are photos from Kildare, Heuston and Connolly. http://smu.gs/OFh5N4 The Wanderer.

29007 hauled stored 8200 Class vehicles 8401 + 8201 + 8405 + 8203 from Fairview to Inchicore today. For export or further storage? Time will tell... http://smu.gs/QjFNhQ

An early evening visit to Carn Bridge, between Portarlington and Portlaoise. 22034 1625 Heuston - Limerick 22037 1530 Cork - Heuston vice MKIV set. 22031 1705 Heuston - Tralee. 220 1700 Heuston - Cork. Pictures available at http://smu.gs/Oqy05V The Wanderer.

Tram 4010 working an outbound service on the Red Line ploughed into a Skip Truck which had crossed its path at the Junction of Benburb Street and Temple Street West. The tram sustained severe front end damage and it was reported that six people were taken to Hospital. Pictures of the incident scene are now available to view at: http://smu.gs/OlNOHc The Wanderer.

Jesus Gentleman! Shall I employ you to do the rest of my plugging on the website! I'm a bit tired after the 0430 alarm clock call this morning! All of this mornings pictures are at: http://smu.gs/PX19Bx Mr. RSI was spotted on platform 4 in Connolly this morning so I'm sure he will be along with his pictures in due course. The Wanderer.

Good evening all, MKIII EGV 89604 (old number 7604) entered service, as planned, on the 0650 Belfast Central - Dublin Connolly service on Monday 10th September 2012 with DD set 9003 and loco 209. The set was scheduled to work the full diagram for the day consisting of: 06:50 Belfast Connolly 09:35 Connolly Belfast 12:35 Belfast Connolly 15:20 Connolly Belfast 18:10 Belfast Connolly 20:50 Connolly Belfast I went to Drogheda early this morning to travel on the 0650 service into Connolly. Pictures of the van at Drogheda and Connolly, along with early morning Connolly odds and sods can be found at; http://smu.gs/PX19Bx It was a busy morning in Dublin as on the way back from Drogheda I received word that there had been a serious incident involving a tram and a truck on Benburb Street, near the Ashling Hotel. Tram 4010 working an outbound service on the Red Line ploughed into a Skip Truck which had crossed its path at the Junction of Benburb Street and Temple Street West. The tram sustained severe front end damage and it was reported that six people were taken to Hospital. Pictures of the incident scene are now available to view at: http://smu.gs/OlNOHc The Wanderer.

Good evening all, The final batch of pictures from Kerry earlier today. - 22029 passing XT102 Minish at speed. - Killarney Station. - 22033 1345 Tralee - Heuston at Killarney. Later on that evening I camped out at Kildare to photograph the G.A.A. All Ireland Hurling Final Specials returning to Waterford (Kilkenny) and Galway. All the photos from the day may be found at: http://smu.gs/Ok6ya3 The Wanderer.

Good evening all, Some pictures from the Mallow - Tralee line this afternoon featuring 22009 and 22029 working the Mallow - Tralee service. Plus, user worked level crossing misuse at XT88 Stagmount. The misuse of these user worked crossings was in the news yet again earlier in the week following an incident at XN125 Cappadine, near Birdhill when an eldery motorist was lucky to escape with her life after her car was hit by 2805 + 2806. Also featured is a detour to Mallow and Limerick Jct with 22055 on the "Junction Shuttles" and 234 working the 0900 Heuston - Cork along with 088 at Mallow on an Autoballaster Train. Pictures begin at: http://smu.gs/OimARQ The Wanderer.

Evening all, A couple of pictures from Westport Station on a very wet and dull Saturday 1st September. http://smu.gs/PJwt6z The Wanderer.

Late 1999 was the year and I was in my first year at college in Dublin. When 072 arrived down from Inchicore to work the F.O. 133X Heuston - Tralee I got a surprise to see it with its new addition.

Good evening, Photos from this week are from Portlaoise, Portarlington and Heuston, including the Sperry Train hauled by 079 which operated from Limerick to Heuston. http://smu.gs/NXpkUw The Wanderer.

Good evening, The latest photos from this weekend: - General ods and sods from Heuston, Portarlington, Docklands and Ranelagh. http://smu.gs/PnB5PP - Photos from the Dublin Tall Ships Festival on Saturday 25th August. http://smu.gs/NSrnJm The Wanderer.

Good evening folks, The additional Wednesday only IWT liner hauled by 071 failed at Geashill Loop this afternoon. 088 was dispatched from Inchicore to rescue the failed train and it departed Geashill Loop at 1815 and hauled the complete train throughout to North Wall. The Sperry Train with 079 is also stabled in Portarlington for the night during its journey from Waterford to Westport (via Kildare). There are some close up photos of the Sperry and these have been uploaded as hi rez versions to assist the Modellers out there. Click here for photos: http://smu.gs/NFThrS Finally, as promised some more pictures of 22010 & 22011 being off loaded from the MV Faust: http://smu.gs/PdkTAr The Wanderer.

Despite popular belief these sets are the ORIGINAL 22010 and 22011. The bodyshells were reused plus internal fittings. Most of the equipment below the solebar is new.

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.