josefstadt

A great record of a wonderful day out. Thanks to Shane Roberts and the IRRS for organising it, to all the IÉ staff for putting it together and operating the trains on the day and to the Wanderer, and others, for the pics and videos of it.

Fantastic work Patrick. The layout just oozes atmosphere!

Wunderbar! Looks fantastic. Well done.

Really enjoying seeing this layout, as i am nowhere near old enough to remember the era depicted, and it is a real history lesson as well as a fabulous model! I never knew they had customs at GVS, was it the same at Connolly?

As far as I remember, there were customs checks at both GVS and Amiens St / Connolly for the non-stop 'Enterprise' services, while the stopping services were examined at Dundalk and Goraghwood. After Goraghwood closed in the mid-1960s I presume that the customs was moved to Portadown and then back to Newry when that station re-opened in 1984.

I travelled to and from Belfast quite often in the late 70s / early 80s. For passengers leaving Up stopping trains at Dundalk the customs officers had tables set up un the platform. The up platform was separated from the rest of the station by a fence and after clearing customs and immigration, one exited 'into the Republic' through the gate at the foot of the footbridge ramp.

However, for passengers travelling on to points further south the check, more often than not, consisted of a cursory walk through the train by one of the customs officers. Sometimes, usually around Christmas, or if someone had a lot of shopping bags, there might be a quick examination of the goods but people were adept at stashing the majorty of their dutiable purchases! I, on the other hand have no great recollection of the Northern customs. Presumably as most people travelled north to shop the were much fewer items to be checked.

A Tale Of Two Trams: RTÉ ONE Tuesday July 9th @ 21.35 hrs

Documentary about life on the two Luas lines.

Indeed, our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy.

However the handling of the atermath of this terrible event raises some questions:

Why did it take over twelve hours for the Gardai to release the scene?

Why did they deem it necessary to take control of all four tracks for the whole time?

If the Gardai had released the Down lines earlier could a limited service have been provided over them?

If it is not currently possible to operate such a service, should consideration be given to providing some form of bi-directional signalling on the slow lines?

The real viaduct stands out and is more dramatic in Rich's photos, whereas in Anhony's ones it is largely lost in the surrounding scenery. I'd agree with Hunslet and Rich. Keep the hills / high ground behind the tracks on either side of your viaduct with clear sky behind the viaduct itself. Dave's excellent work deserves to stand out. Something like

The valley behind the viaduct could, as has been suggested, swwep down to the sea or a lake or to hills in the far distance.

Josefstadt

The Athlone Midland station photo is also back to front, the main station building is on the upside on the western side of the viaduct, it had me puzzled as its the other way round, maybe try and fix it

Your wish is command! Looking more closely, there are three Athlone photos back to front:

Absolutely brilliant! The railway then had so much more variety and interest than today's plastic version. So much more modelling potential.

The photo of Portarlington had me puzzled for a while - it is back to front and should look like

To date, my quest for photos of Manulla Junction pre re-opening has produced five:

Lawrence Marshall (undated) Branch Line Album

HC Casserley (1955) Irish Railways in Pictures MGWR & Irish Railways in the Heyday of Steam

NJ McAdams (1960) Journal of IRRS June 1977

Barry Carse (1975) Rails Through The West

Anon (1985) Wikipeda

Has anyone got details of who holds the copyright of these photos so that I can get copies and also explore whether they have any more of interest.

Also, has anyone come across a book called Railway Stations in County Mayo:| Claremorris, Manulla Junction, Foxford and Ballyhaunis, published by LLC Books in 2010?

Stephen

Stephen,

The copyright for the NJ McAdams pic would be with the IRRS. Barry Carse would be the copyright owner for his picture. Both can be contacted through the society.

As a closet railway modeller I have greatly enjoyed the web site. In particular, it is great to see so many Irish creations, such as Eoin Murray's new Dart Models. I wish I could model as well as he does!

 

What I don't understand, however, is the astonishing mealy-mouthed begrudgery and super criticism from some of the modelling community that has greeted his work.

 

Reading these comments confirms my decision to remain in my closet.

 

On another point, I have a collection of the US magazine Trains, covering a number of years, which I now want to dispose of. As I hate the though of just dumping them, would anyone know of a new home for them.

 

Closetmodeller.

I'd have to agree with BosKonay. The majority of the critisim levelled at the DART models was constructive. This is evidenced by the at that Eoin has taken it on board and what has evolved is a much more attractive model. Don't forget that this is a commercial venture and that those buying a model for a not inconsequential sum deserve to get the best that can be achieved. I spoke in person to Eoin at the Kilbarrack show last year and I think that he appreciated my comments.

I still have some issues regarding the model, the 'face' of the model and the new pantograph. On the real thing the curve of the roof is not continuous. There is a tight radius curve on each side where the roof starts and a more gentle curve in the middle. On the model the curve seems to be one radius all the way across. This may be just an optical illusion in the photos - I hope it is. Another issue on the model is where the small grey section intrudes into the front of the cab. This does not occur in the prototype.

A more serious issue, to my mind, is the shape of the pantograph head. In the model this appears to be flat whereas in the prototype the outer ends bend down. The downward bend is vital for smooth operatio[/i]n through places such as turnouts and crossovers. I feel that the flat head will be likely to snag sections of catenary where they merge. A more pedantic comment would be that the pantograph arm should be red, not toned down silver.

I too would agree with most of the comments already posted. While sound may be attractive in the short term, after a while it gets tedious and, to my ears, it doesn’t sound realistic in most cases. A better option, which I’d like to see added, would be the ability to configure the marker lights for shunting - one white and one red light at each end of the locomotive at the same time.

The maroon livery really looked the business on them when new, as did the maroon and blue livery. Personally, I thought the later liveries - especially the grey and light blue on carriages - looked a bit watery.....

I'd have to agree JHB. The full set with a maroon liveried Hunslet at each end looked the biz! The later liveries didn't have the same impact.

Hi guys. There were some pictures on one of the old sites featuring a layout with Arklow Station modelled. Anyone able to tell me more about it? I think it may have been a club layout, just wondering if it is still in existance? Can't find pictures on the old site, but the layout may not have had 'Arklow' in its name. Any help appreciated!

Hi Dave,

I think the site you are looking for is http://www.freewebs.com/2810gricer/apps/photos/album?albumid=4749177

I would tend to agree with this. It did appear to be quiet short sighted pulling the Mk3s half way through their lifespan only to end up parked up in marshalling yards up and down the country. I have no problem with the 22Ks, the business case for DMU's on commuter and intercity routes is pretty water tight, less staff needed to operate a service, quick turnaround between services etc... Plus, for someone from Waterford, the 22K's are heaps better than the antiquated stock that used to operate the Dublin route.

 

What I dont get is the CAF Cork train? Well apart from the ugly coulour scheme... wouldnt Mk3's operating exclusively on this route (freed up by DMU's on other routes) be able to offer the clockface time table that IE moved to? Was there not enough of them to cover the schedule? Was a cost benifit analysis of refurbished Mk3's + DVTs versus brand spanking new CAFs ever undertaken? It seems such a waste especially when you see these still in everyday service in the UK.

 

Any one have any thoughts on this? Im sure its been covered before at great length over the years on other forums. But I am new to the Rail scene and would be interested to find out. Never got to travel on the Mk3's in Ireland, pass the rake parked in Waterford West every so often and it makes a sad sight Speaking of which, has anyone tried modelling a 'withdrawn' Mk3?

 

Cheers, Tom

Tom, the MkIV (CAF) sets were not ordered to replace the MkIII stock, but to allow for the withdrawal of the Cravens and some of the worst examples of the MkII fleets. The MkIVs were to take over all services on the Cork line with the displaced MkIIIs being cascaded to other lines. This would have allowed the withdrawal of the Cravens, along with some improvement in frequencies on these lines.

It wasn't until later that the decision was taken to replace all loco-hauled services, except for the Cork and Belfast ones, with railcars. Indeed, Dick Fearn is reported to have stated that if he had been in charge when the new stock for the Cork line was being ordered then it would also have been railcars and not the MkIVs.

Another great scene and story from Tara Jct. Fantastic work Noel!

Thanks for the kind words lads, glad you liked the photos. From the state of 125 it is clear why it was never quite the same again!

Some photos of the aftermath of the Roscommon crash. Sorry that they aren't of great quality, I only had a Kodak 'Instamatic' camera at the time. The photos were taken on Saturday 23 February, a week after the crash.

Two steam cranes, the Limerick one on the left and the Inchicore one on the right, lifting 125 in the yard at Roscommon. When the loco had been recovered on the previous Sunday it was discovered that the bogies on which it had been placed for the journey back to Inchicore were the wrong way round. So, over the weekend of 23/24 February the two cranes returned to Roscommon to rectify this.

General view of Roscommon with work on rectifying 125's bogie problem going on on the right. The Up Westport is in the station, hauled by 176 and another Bo-Bo. Note also the orange coloured per-way van on the left and the complete absence of hi-visability clothing.

Another view of the two cranes lifting 125. The extent of the damage to the locomotive can be seen. The driver certainly had a fortunate escape, given the damage to the cab.

The damage to the cab meant that it was 'out of gauge' for the move to Inchicore, so part of it was cut away and can be seen dumped on the ground behind the loco. Note the man on the roof of the locomotive. He had just used the oxy acetylene torch to cut away the part of the cab roof. The locomotive was hauled to Inchicore on 1 March.

The scene at the crash site. Debris had been cleared from the running line and services had resumed past the site on the evening of the day of the crash (16 Feb). The bogie wagon had been immediately behing the locomotive and the remainder of the train, about 33 wagons, was composed of 4-wheel stock. The displaced heavy cast concrete buffer stop can be seen in front of the wagons. I can't imagine that if the same incident happened now that the line would, under the current H & S regime, be reopened with such speed.

It is also interesting to rember that just four days after these photos were taken there was another serious derailment of the CIÉ network at Longford. But that's a story for another thread.

One thing I remember about the aftermath of the crash was that the surrounding fields were littered with empty packaging from footballs which were en route from from a factory in, I think, Ballina (ttc will no doubt know who and where they were). Every child in the Roscommon area must have got a new football that day! I have pictures of the scene somewhere. Must dig them out and post them.

My condolences to Michael's family, friends and all at WMRC.

Wouldn't 92 60 0117 077-4 look a lot better with red cab fronts, as per the Southern Pacific examples?

I’d hazard a guess that the outer skin of the loco's bodywork has yet to be applied and what you can see are the structural members.

Stephen, I'd have to echo Heirflick's comments. Even though I'm currently 'between' layouts and when I finally do get goining again I'm likely to be modelling Austrian railways I find this site marvellous for all the reasons already mentioned. Well done on an excellent site!

The Irish Railway Record Society (IRRS) have arranged a diesel Railtour on Saturday 20th July 2013 using the RPSI Cravens set and a GM 071 class locomotive (subject to availability). The scheduled route is Dublin Heuston - Cork - Cobh - Cork - Midleton - Cork - Dublin Heuston. The tour will depart from Heuston at 10:05 (approx.) and arrive back to Heuston at 19:45 (approx.)

For more details and the booking form, please see the IRRS website at the following link:http://www.irrs.ie/

IRRS Programme Organiser

 

Freight returning to Cork would be great but my understanding is that there's a new road layout planned to go through the old freight yard with everything from the cement silo to the quay side loop being torn up. The planning office are expecting a submission in the next couple of weeks so all will be revealed then.

An application (File No. 1335599) for a new concourse / entrance buildng at Kent Station and changes to the adjacent road network was submitted to Cork City Council on 22 April. The development description reads:

'A new entrance building 310m2 with dual entrance and vertical access to a subsurface link 100m2 connected to the southern end of stations existing under pass. The entrance building will incorporate customer information systems, public address, ticket vending,seating, commercial advertising, provision for potential future retail vending. New bi-directional road linking Railway Street/Alfred Street and Horgans Quay serving the new entrance building which will include partial demolition of existing protected perimeter stone wall to form junction with Horgans Quay. New road will incorporate traffic lights, traffic calming features, pavements, bus stops with shelders, cycle parking with shelders. Street lighting,bollards,storm water drainage and perimeter railings. Carpark with 140 spaces with 'Pay & Display' and set-down area accessed from Horgans Quay. Repairs to the rear (Horgans Quay)side of station include demolition of the existing boiler room, removal of existing metal chimneys and redundant cables. Repairs to brickwork and repointing where necessary. Repairs to the Goods Depot's eastern and northern facade include removal of vegetation, removal of single storey outbuildings, removal of loading platforms, hacking of loose plaster and making good where necessary. Kent Station and the Goods Depot are protected structures'.

http://planenquiry.corkcity.ie/planningenquiry/MainFrames.aspx and enter the above reference no in the appropriate box.