josefstadt

Beware when taking photos on Alexandra Road (or anywhere on Dublin Port Company land) as you will probably get hassle from the port police. All activities in the port area, i.e. everywhere to the east of East Wall Rd, are covered by port security legislation, which means that security is much tighter there than elsewhere. You could try applying for a photographic permit from the DPC - their head office is in the Port Centre, the square multi-storey building on the right-hand side at the start of Alexandra Rd. Phone 01-8876000 ; email: info@dublinport.ie ; Fax 01 8557400.

Notorious bandit Brown Paper Pete came riding into town on his brown paper horse with his brown paper hat, his brown paper boots and in his hand was his brown paper gun ... they hanged him for rustling.

I'd be more concerned with what looks like the tail of a sea monster in the second photo!!

Came across this interesting video about to London Underground's plans for the future: Food for thought for our transport providers and the Government / local authorities.

Fantastic work on the AR class. I'd agree with you that the white line looks a little bit too wide. The orange band along the side of the loco between the cab doors is more problematic. Barry Carse's excellent book 'Irish Metro-Vick Diesels' has a photo on the front cover showing A20R with the dipped orange band as described by Glenderg. However, inside the book there are photos of other members of the class, A39R and A51R, with the full width band as depicted on the model. Both these were rebuilt as GMs in 1969, while A20R was done the following year. I don't know if A20R originally had the full width band and this was later altered to the dipped version or whether it received the dipped version at re-building, but would suggest possibly the latter.

Seems to still be a mixture of 4-car ICRs, 3-car ICRs and 4-car 29000s at the moment.

The large numbers on the cab fronts and sides are a step in the right direction alright. However, the full 12-digit number (the European Vehicle Number - EVN) is only needed once on each side, not twice as IÉ have done. Putting the 3-digit number in black on the yellow panel on the cab front, in a larger font, would have improved readability even more. Also, having the 3-digit number, the full 12-digit EVN and the logo on the cab side at bot ends makes the whole appearance look cluttered. It would have looked far better if the 12-digit EVN had been positioned under the catwalk in the centre of the locomotive, with only the 3-digit number, again in a larger font, under the cab side windows at each end.

Stunning workmanship!

Hope you had a great day!

Belated congratulations!

Many happy returns

This French video pays tribute to an important 'new' geographical navigation device:

From the IÉ website: Enniscorthy Station will be 150 years old on Saturday 16th November and to celebrate Iarnród Éireann is hosting a family fun day at Enniscorthy Station from 12 noon. Local musicians and face painters will be on hand to entertain young and old alike. To mark this important occasion Iarnród Éireann will be offering special fares from €1.50 each way between Enniscorthy & Dublin for Sunday 17th November. These fares are available online and will sell out fast so Book Above Now.

It's great when a plan starts to come together! All the hard work planning is paying off - congratulations. Looking forward to seeing more updates as work progresses.

And the trains will be less frequent and shorter!

Or maybe they don't know why he is 'much-maligned' over here!

Looks fantastic Kieran.

Today is the 120th anniversary of the birth of the noted industrial designer Raymond Loewy (November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986). Born in France to a Jewish family, he spent most of his professional career in the United States where he chieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. Among Loewy's most iconic designs were the logos of Shell, Exxon, TWA and BP. He was also responsible for the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Lucky Strike cigarette package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery. In the railway field he designed the GG1 (http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=452363&nseq=5) and S-1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PRR_S1.jpg) locomotives for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Excellent footage Nelson. I certainly did enjoy it. The sound effects of the 80 accelerating away from the signal stop are so much better than those from the C4Ks! And, of course, thanks to 33lima for posting the details of how he built those superb models. A fantastic thread.

The one thing that surprises me is that in 1974 they still felt it necessary, in the Airport Coach ad, to include'(Kingsbridge)' after 'Heuston Station'. After all it was eight years or thereabouts since the stations had been renamed.

Thanks for all the kind comments lads.

The word on the street (or should be the tracks) is that the test was for a new livery for the 29000s.

Thanks guys. I have to credit the IRRS Journal No. 64 (June 1974) for refreshing my memories on certain points in relation to both the Roscommon and Longford derailments. Also the Railway Safety Commission for details of injuries and the numbers on the train in the Longford incident which were sourced in its report 'Railway Bridges in Ireland & Bridge Strike Trends' February 2009.

I took them myself. In those days before the invention of the 'Health & Safety' culture one could wander almost freely about sites like this. If you got hurt, you got hurt and it was probably your own fault. The only proviso was that you didn't interfere with the work or distract the workmen. If I remember there were quite a few interested members of the public wandering around the site. I was lucky that this derailment, and the one at Roscommon, happened when they did. In March 1974 I started working fulltime with CIÉ and, as that involved Saturday working, I wouldn't have been able to visit the sites so easily.