hurricanemk1c

Looks can be deceiving

Originally work was planned Malahide-Dundalk but this was pulled. For the weekend there's Belfast and Drogheda services, plus Connolly-Howth Jctn and Connolly-Malahide DART services

A wander around Paris on a spring morning And a wander around from the city centre to Paris Orly airport Regards, Kieran

Continuing my April trip, a day between London and Paris on a classic Eurostar, plus spins to Bedford and Arras in between. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

March 2026 was a very quite month, with only a few photos taken. Click on the photo below to view them all In April, I did a UK/France trip for non-enthusiast reasons, but was able to do a bit of travelling around the place. On the first day, I travelled from Newcastle to Nottingham, via Doncaster, Leeds, London and Birmingham. Click on the photo below to view them all Day 2 was Carlton to London via Crewe. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

You'd be surprised where demand comes from. For the record, there were two Westport-Heuston-Westport specials plus a Ballina-Heuston-Ballina special, on top of the regular services. Many also chose to go via Galway, Sligo and the Maynooth line for train services (an estimated 8-10,000 on the Maynooth line alone)

Day 6 of my Dutch trip was getting from my hotel in Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA to Amsterdam Schiphol, about 15km. So I went via Den Haag and Amersfoort Centraal, because why go the straight line route? Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

Day 5 of my Dutch February trip was mainly a trip around Amsterdam, including trips on the Metro and a walk around the city. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

Day 4 of my Dutch adventure in February was a simple transfer from Amersfoort to Amsterdam, to be in the capital for an incredible evening of music from Epica, Amaranthe and Charlotte Wessels. Of course, I could hop on any of the direct services and be in Amsterdam in half an hour or so, but instead I went via Rotterdam and Breda. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

Day 3 of my February Dutch trip had a German flavour, visiting Mönchengladbach on a long round trip from Amersfoort. The plan was to see if there was any Br101 hauled services covering for Eurobahn (as I had noticed photos of them on this route in the last couple of months). Alas FLIRTs operated both ways, but a welcome bonus was a Partyzug from Germany to Rotterdam, something I was completely unaware of until I saw some local enthusiasts gathering in Venlo. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

Day 2 in the Netherlands saw me ride on the current hire-in Mat64 set between Amersfoort Centraal and Barneveld Zuid, along with a quick trip to Railpro Crailoo before a jaunt up to Leeuwarden, sneaking in a couple of trips on the unique Stadler WINK units before getting train IC666 back to Amersfoort. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

Which itself is 3 years old ("back in April we got permission for an Irish Rail crew to operate No.131 light engine to Dundalk from Whitehead", which was 2023). So costs have only gone one way since then

February 2026 saw me in the Netherlands, as a birthday present to see Epica, Amaranthe and Charlotte Wessels play in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. Plus plenty of rail travel across the country! Day 1 commenced with Schiphol-Amersfoort-Rotterdam-Amsersfoort, staying in Amersfoort for a few nights. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

5 years ago the OTMR equipment for Deltic 55019 alone was estimated at £18,000, and that has older TPWS already installed. So that'd be £36,000 for both locos without any ongoing certification work. For operating in Northern Ireland there'd be AWS and TPWS installation and certifications, plus train radio. In the Republic, requires a train radio (if it hasn't been removed) and ETCS Level 1 will be coming and that's something to be determined but is a very expensive bit of kit. I'd say £70,000 per loco is the bottom end estimate!

The end of December 2025 saw me visit family, but with a brief opportunity to go out around the East Midlands area, sampling the new Class 810 sets entering service with East Midlands Railway January 2026 was also a quiet month, with a few unusual moves As always, click on the photos to view them all Regards, Kieran