josefstadt

Have to agree with the lads Noel. It looks like a job well done, especially the white line. Put the weight in the coach and run it with your other stock - it will look great.

Couldn't agree more. Congratulations and a big thank you !! A fantastic resource.

On a dismal (or indeed any) Friday night there would be lots of passengers who would be 'elephants' on the last Luas, bus and DART followed by ! Of course those on the DART would be customers not passengers.

Yes, but what about those lovely 1950s AEC and BUT railcars? Not to mention the earlier articulated GNR(I) railcars and even the Drumm battery railcars - electrification without the knitting!

Of course! I'd forgotten about the doors on one side only tradition of the W&T. That probably explains it. Thanks John. I remember these in service on the Dublin suburban during the early 70s, operating as normal stock with the driving controls disconnected. Great fun for the schoolkids of the time to play with the controls As far as I know, passengers couldn't see forward through the driving trailer's cab window. I'd suggest that you were probably travelling in the leading compartment of the rear AEC railcar in a two-unit set. When the train split in Athlone Midland you would have got the forward view through the driver's cab.

One strange feature is that the driving cab is on the 'wrong' side of the coach. Facing the direction of travel, the driving position is normally on the left-hand side, but in the case of 1407 it is on the right-hand side. This is all the more strange given that the platforms at both Waterford and Tramore were on the left-hand side for trains proceding towards Waterford, so the driver would have been sitting on the side away from the platforms.

That brings to mind the story of an incident involving the Dublin to Cork night mail during the ‘Emergency’. The driver had to stop the train at one of the then many small wayside halts to ‘bail out’ the fire (i.e. to remove the clinker which had formed in the firebox due to the poor quality of the coal). To explain the delay to head office in Dublin, the local station master sent a telegram to the Running Superintendant in Inchicore stating in effect that the ‘Driver of night mail bailed out here last night’. Unfortunately this communication was intercepted by military intelligence and considerable explanation was required before the authorities were satisfied of the innocuous nature of the message!

The two newly painted Cravens look marvelous. As do the interior views. Hardly seems the same train that I travelled on during the IRRS outing to Limerick recently!

Lovely job - much better than the blue on the other Cravens. The inclusion of the RPSI crest is a nice touch. And the EVN has been correctly applied on the solebar, with the 4-digit running number it its usual positions under the windows

The two repainted Cravens (see post #10 above) have been turned out in GNR(I) blue & cream livery.

Amazing work Paul!

As ei6jf says (1) this is an ecs move over an engineer's siding and as such only the IÉ train crew will be permitted on board. Even the RPSI personnel travelling with the train will not be allowed to travel on this move; and (2) there is now way that the general public / wider enthusiast fraternity will be allowed travel in the train during the tour given the time and effort spent getting it ready for the tour participants each day.

It is indeed to be diesel hauled - no steam. The tour is aimed at mainstream tourists, rather than at railway enthusiasts. The hot news is that Railtours / RPSI have received clearance for the empty stock to use the Rosslare Strand to Waterford line, instead of having to run via Dublin. No word yet on times, but get the cameras ready, especially all of you in the south east, I'll expect loads of photos on the site.

I understand that two of the, presumably, orange & black Cravens have been repainted into a different livery and that the whole train is receiving a deep clean. The train is due to be moved from Inchicore to Connolly on Sunday evening (the 28th) at 20:10. The tour will depart Connolly at 11:05 on the Monday. As noted in Snapper's post above it will travel to Wexford, from where the participants will be bussed to Waterford. The train will be worked empty from Wexford back to Dublin and down to Waterford, in preparation for Tuesday's programme

A fascinating photo of North Wall Quay - a great find and thanks for posting it. The photographer (do we know who it was?) appears to have been standing on the lifting bridge over the Royal Canal, beside the old Midland goods yard (now the site of the Convention Centre). I never realised that there were two lines of sidings on the roadway running parallel to the river and that they were used for loading / unloading wagons. I had always assumed that the rail wagons went into the sheds for these purposes. Notice also the wagon standing on Guild Street, which would have been the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company's line linking the MGWR's Sheriff St yard, on the western side of the canal, to the riverside. Certainly looking forward to seeing this layout develop.

You'd want to have a word with the forklift driver in the PW depot. He's put the container on the wagon upside down!

From the right: a 21xx Composite (not a 100% sure of the number but looks like it could 2132?), a 24xx Buffet Car, another (I think) Composite and then three Cravens. The first three coaches are Bredin derived stock dating from the 1950s/early 60s.

Scannal! RTE1 19:30, 22 September 2014 Nicky Kelly Padraig O'Driscoll examines the case of Nicky Kelly, who with Osgur Breatnach and Brian McNally was jailed for the 1976 Sallins Mail train robbery - one of the biggest and most dramatic thefts ever committed. With the only evidence against the trio being statements made during interrogation in garda custody, his co-accused managed to restore their freedom within 18 months. However, after a period on the run, Kelly spent four years in prison, and did not receive a Presidential pardon until 16 years after the robbery, with no explanation given as to how such a miscarriage of justice could ever have happened. Duration: 30mins

The period you are looking at, mid-1970s to mid-1980s, was one of transition - the Mk IId AC stock and the BR vans had arrived in the early 1970s, the programme of converting orthodox (non-AC) stock to TL was progressing steadily and the 4-wheel and 6-wheel vans were being phased out. By November 1978 all the 4-wheel luggage vans had gone as had most of the 4-wheel SHVs - only 11 remaining in traffic. These, along with the four 6-wheel SHVs were by that time mainly employed in the Dublin suburban area. Also by this time all the Cravens, the main line Park Royals, the last series of Laminates (1497-1503), some catering vehicles and about 50% of the 19xx Brake Standard types had been converted to TL (excluding a number of vehicles which had already been withdrawn). The ‘Dutch’ vans had all been converted to TL by November 1978, while the 32xx GSVs/Brake Std GSVs were introduced between 1977 and 1980. On the other hand, the suburban Park Royals and the bulk of the Laminates (1429-96) retained their batteries and axle-driven dynamos. The bogie luggage vans (2548-91) also retained their batteries and axle-driven dynamos. By the end of 1980 all the 4-wheel vans were gone, while a start had been made on the conversion of further Park Royals and Laminates to TL. And, of course, by the end of the period you are looking at the Mk III stock had arrived leading to a further culling of earlier stock. So, I suggest that for Limerick Junction throughout the period in question, mid-1970s to mid-1980s, main line services would have generally been formed by either AC stock or TL fitted Cravens/Park Royals/Laminates operating with bogie GSVs or Brake Standard GSVs. Friday only services would have been composed of a variety of TL and non-TL stock carefully marshalled so that the TL vehicles were all able to be powered by the GSV. Pre-1977 there would have been 4-wheel or 6-wheel SHVs on the Limerick-Limerick Jct and Limerick-Waterford trains during the winter season. After 1977 the 4-wheel/6-wheel vans would, as BSGSV has shown, have been replaced by 32xx type GSVs, possibly operating with non-TL stock. At a later date the 32xx vans would themselves have been replaced by Dutch vans or BR vans as these were displaced from other duties. A trawl through the IRRS journal might throw up images of trains in the LJ area during the period you are interested in, or I'm sure that there would be people there who might be able to give you details of train formations.

The BR vans were delivered to CIÉ as GSV's. As you say they were equipped with a single 2000 lb/hour Spanner boiler and a diesel generator set provided the power for the running of the boiler. The earlier heating luggage vans, including the Dutch vans, were Steam vans only and had no electric generating capacity. Power for the operation of the boilers in these vans was provided by batteries charged by axle-driven dynamos. The BR vans were delivered in January 1972 and in April of that year, during ESB power cuts, they proved to be a great asset to the company when they were placed at strategic locations around the Dublin area to generate electric current which was used to keep signalling systems and track circuiting operating.

Nice pics Noel. Loco could do with a bit of weathering though, doesn't look realistic! Send her to Newry!

According to The Wanderer: 'Sadly due to operational issues between Limerick City of Culture 2014, Iarnrod Eireann & the RPSI. 461 wasn't used to haul the Grandmother Giant into Limerick'. I wonder what happened.