Eiretrains

That's right, was there until the mid 1960s. There were also ones on the NCC, at York Road, and a much smaller one at back of Coleraine station.

Just to clarify, I wasn't the one who took all the juicy photos of the trains to Barrack St, I, unfortunately, was too young for any of that.

It was 1972 when the Supertrain livery appeared, along with the introduction of the Mk2 AC coaching stock.

You're right in saying a lot has changed since Kevin Cronin walked those routes back in the mid 1990s, the last ten years in particular has led to a lot of new construction on the former trackbeds. But there has been some positive developments, for example, much of the North Kerry route has since been developed as the GST, and Newcastle West station has been stored and is nowadays immersed in a new housing estate, unlike its derelict state in 1996. Newport to Achill has since been restored as The Great Western Greenway. The section of the Aughrim line has also been restored as you mentioned, and the W&SVR nowadays runs trains on the trackbed between Kilmeadan and Waterford on the Dungarvan line. However, Upton to Waterfall on the CBSCR is no longer walkable due to recent private housing built on the route. Elsewhere, stations I've discovered have been developed and expanded it fully private residences and nowadays I would see it not possible to simply walk through them. Some routes are also virtually impassable due to the overgrown nature of some trackbeds, for instance it is not so easy to walk the Killeagh section of the Youghal since some track was lifted in the mid 1990s.

I think you will find some pictures here in the D&M Models section.

I was complacent, never getting around to capturing the orange cue-balls.

I believe there were a number of these hopper containers, used for bulk gain traffic or similar produce, which as can be seen could be loaded on and off standard flat wagons. They were constructed in the 1970s along with other types of (experimental) containers as part of the Rail Plan 80 for modernising CIE freight traffic. Photos suggest that they were not utilised much(!) and did not see traffic from the 1980s onwards.

I haven't properly watched that one in ages, so many things have changed, the T&D Railway being now effectively defunct, the clip onboard the excecutive Mk3 is so incredibly dated now.

That's right, Nos.8106 and 8306, was there anymore I'm not sure.

All of Telerail's Irish productions are very good, all filmed in professional quality. They were produced in the 1990s before the railways got boring! Irish Railfreight Today (1991) - everyone should have this DVD, it's excellent. New Horizons: Ireland (1993) Loco Hauled: Ireland (1995)

Thanks guys Yes nothing at all left of the station, one of those disappointments when tracing an old line to come to the terminus and nothing to be seen! There are a few photos, and a very interesting and detailed history of the line by J.P O'Dea in one of older IRRS journals (will have to check the number).

Another small update to Eiretrains, featuring photos taken towards the end of August/early September: The Clara & Banagher Railway (1884 - 1963) is now featured, stations include: Banagher Belmont Ferbane Photos featuring Tara Mines trains, as well as Irish Rail's Sperry train: Beauparc Drogheda Gormanston A few photos featuring Irish Rail auto-ballaster, RPSI Steam/Diesel specials, and delivery of ICRs : Islandbridge Junction And another video: Thanks for looking!

Think they already have, as seen on their website.

Thanks for those excellent links, the photos are good quality, must have been shot on kodachrome film. Colourpoint's The Warrenpoint Branch by Des Fitzgerald (ISBN 1898392145) has a lot of similar colour photos taken in the 1960s, and includes track diagrams and early history of the line. Unfortunately it's no longer in print but you can still occasional pick it up from book stalls at the shows or online book sellers such as ABE books.

Basically 233 failed at Clongriffin on the 16:50 Connolly-Belfast, causing major disruption north of Howth Jct. 076 hauled the entire train back into Connolly, where 206 then hauled the train out into the wash road as seen in the picture, which is nice, as you can see 074 on the Tara too!

As h.gricer mentions in the other thread, these are indeed the same containers and wagons. After been used on the Tara ore traffic to Arklow, they ended up been used for the grain traffic from Foynes/Portlaoise/Waterford. The caption in the video posted in this thread is incorrect, it is a grain train for Waterford and not a fertilizer, yes confusing!

Thought I might post this here too; had this obscure link saved from a few years back. Features passenger and freight mostly on the Waterford line in the mid 1990s. http://blip.tv/irish-rail-video-footage This particular video shows motive power used on the Bell Liners, which included a 201 in its final years.

Thanks for posting that location Eamonn. I didn't have the time visit the location myself when I was last in the area, it was probably one of the most scenic level crossings on the network. Here's as link to the crossing when the gates and track were still in situ, but derelict.

Yes I had seen them earlier in the day, but my flash video on the laptop isn't up to date so couldn't watch until later, just had to see what they're were like!

I discovered this website via link that was posted on Broadsheet earlier today, has some vintage films from RTE, including a few on transport. I had seen these on TV years back but it's nice to see it again online. Preparing a Dublin - Cork train 1979, too bad loco 084 doesn't look as good nowadays as she did back then! Behind Scenes of the Railway 1979, featuring all random stuff including signalling and snatchers. There are other much shorter clips, but not as interesting as the above. Might be of interest as we near the release of the Supertrain 071s.

Hi all, Following galleries have been updated to Eiretrains; Mullingar - Athlone: Castletown Moate Streamstown Navan Branch: Duleek Lougher Main lines: North Wall Hazelhatch Also two new videos: Hope they are of interest!

It's the derailment at the 46 Mile Box, just east of Mullingar. There is a similar O'Dea photo of the accident on Flickr. This is the extract I posted, from the then Irish Railway News. "Crash at 46 Mile Box On 12th February a number of wagons on the 19:30 goods (Sligo - ex North Wall) were derailed. They piled up just on the Mullingar side of the signal cabin completely blocking the line. It appears that a wagon in the middle of the train was derailed some distance on the Dublin side of the cabin and that the following wagons came off the road at the level crossing. Trains were diverted via Portarlington and buses were called in until the following evening, when the siding was slewed into the running line to allow trains to pass the accident scene. Loco A44r went down with the Inchicore crane, leaving North Wall around 3:00 on the 13th. A51r attended with 2M, the Athlone crane. Three oil tankers - nos. 1720, 1726 and 1732 had run down the embankment on the down side and two were upside down in a stream. The line was eventually cleared by the evening of the 14th, when A44r etc.. returned to Dublin around 21:00. Irish Railway News (May, 1971, Vol 17/2)"

Yeah that is actually a mistaken assumption I used to also make until a couple years ago when I started to compare old photos of the 071s. When delivered the headlight surrounds were orange, only in the 1980s, around the time with the introduction of the Mk3s, did they get painted white. Regarding shade of orange, it is close enough, the original might have been a little less saturated.

Fascinating, never seen that before.

When the Belfast (Whiteabbey) to Antrim line was reopened in 2001, NIR ran a publicity train which was formed of an Enterprise DD set, so it may have been that, not sure whether it reached Ballymena though, or if a DD set ever traversed the Lisburn-Antrim branch.