Niles

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

The IE catering staff were almost all foreign, mostly Polish. I knew quite a few of them and I’m aware many went home during the covid. I daresay this is what’s afflicting the caterers.

Indeed, the hospitality sector in general has been affected like this. I deal with a few hotels in work and there's been a sudden spike in recruitment drives.

We've had some queries asking if we'd do a Kildare pickup/set down. It's something we're enquiring with IÉ about, but we wanted to get a gauge as to whether many would be interested in joining the tour there? 

As a guestimate, you'd be looking at around the 10:30/40 mark and then back sometime after 21:00. The fare would be the same as ex-Dublin/Portlaoise.

Sometimes associated with being 'studentey' but well worth doing. I did one in early 2020 (just before, well, 'it' happened) and was a great way to spend a few weeks exploring at my leisure. Wasn't meant as a gricing trip per se but got in plenty of nice electrics and some GMs in Norway. 

Particularly like 071's name... now if we could have a Dublin South Eastern, Midland Great Western, Cork Bandon & South Coast...  

19 minutes ago, ttc0169 said:

112 hauling B141 and a black looking steam locomotive 85 from Connolly loco shed to Inchicore works pass through Tara junction. 
All ready for the open day at Inchicore. 
 

Perchance an alternate timeline where a Woolwich was saved instead, now there's a dream...

On 4/5/2022 at 12:53 AM, Sean said:

I would recommend taking a look at google docs, its a fully fledged word processor that lives in the cloud and autosaves, even if the computer ye are writing one spontaneously combusts the work will be in the "cloud" and retrieve-able from anywhere.

 

theres also the advantage of ye both being able to log into the document at once from seperate computers anywhere on the planet and make edits. 

its literally all i used through 4 years of college and super helpful considering i was a long distance commuter, and then lockdowns happened so it became even more heavily used.

Great for colab work too... I do a bit of content writing work and it's ideal for multi-person edits, comments etc.

This article here takes a look at the Irish heritage railway groups we're hoping to support with the tour... https://www.tailtetours.com/post/irish-railway-preservation-groups-our-railtour-is-supporting

Didn't 184 operate in a Pseudo GSWR(?) lined green in the 1950s, I think to do with some event in Inchicore but someone will know for sure. (Kinda like how 071 is in 'retro' CIE orange at the moment).

17 minutes ago, KMCE said:

What about a nice DSER Loco?  That's around the island too!!

And some got to West Cork too, which won't help @Westcorkrailway's pending debt problem... 

1 hour ago, StevieB said:

I know there’s another at the National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire, so how many survived the cutter’s torch?

Stephen

I think 4? No.9 is in Howth Transport Museum and I think there's one in Cultra...

25 minutes ago, Mike Beckett said:

Actually we somehow got three. Imagine.

New build 178 is half way there so.

Really quite excellent stuff! Shepherd and Beesley's volume on the DSER was one of the first railway books I was given and it's great seeing all these tank engine shapes realised in model form.

On 23/4/2022 at 2:12 PM, Niles said:

So there is now literally a single 1st Class ticket (and complimentary gift pack) available now... https://www.tailtetours.com/events/the-premier-rose-railtour

 

 

 

 

And... First Class is now officially sold out. Standard seats still available (from Connolly, Portarlington, Portlaoise or Mallow). If you've any particular seating requests (milepost side, etc) we'll do our best to accommodate you if you email us after booking (ideally earlier rather than later for planning reasons).

The latest Irish Railways Present, Past & Other Interesting Railways Zoom talk takes place Tuesday 26th April at 20:00.

@jhb171achillof this parish will be speaking to us about a passion of his; writing railway books, along with sharing a few anecdotes along the way.

In addition to that, we will have a  railway news round-up from all over the land and our usual open discussion afterward.

All very welcome, here's the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3040263673

So there is now literally a single 1st Class ticket (and complimentary gift pack) available now... https://www.tailtetours.com/events/the-premier-rose-railtour

Interesting, any details as to what sort of workings they were on? 

Pretty certain that section was originally double and singled during the GSR rationalisation era, so the land should be there (much like Clonsilla-Maynooth was re-doubled 20 years ago or so).

On 7/4/2022 at 8:00 AM, Irishswissernie said:

Mullingar 8 June 1961, 3 views taken during the RCTS/SLS/IRRS Joint Irish Tour.

 

Beautiful stuff... there's something very handsome and sturdy looking about the MGWR locos, more is the pity one didn't survive.

1 hour ago, skinner75 said:

Never been myself - I tried to go years ago to one, but missed the tour start time as I couldn't find the entrance to the Works in time!

 

I believe that, I was volunteering there about two years before I realised that there was a shortcut from Sarsfield Road by staying on the bus one stop longer...

Just a quick update on this, we've had a spike in First Class sales this week with only a limited number of First Class tickets left.

In addition to seats in a 'City Gold' coach with extra legroom and reclining seats, First Class passengers will also receive a complimentary gift pack.

Tickets (for all classes) can be booked now at https://www.tailtetours.com/events/the-premier-rose-railtour

Many thanks to all of you who have supported us so far, hopefully, we'll be able to raise quite a bit for the various heritage railways this tour is aiming to help.

Some nice little details in there, for whatever reason you don't often come across shots showing Macmine Junction's context in relation to the Slaney.

14 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

Hi Niles,

Well done in setting this up and for good causes,  but just wondering your E85 from Dublin seems to match the IR Fare but the Mallow return of €55 is way over the normal €37.50.

Seems a bit on the heavy side for the lads joining down south? Any reason for that?

 

Hi Georgeconna,

We've set the fares as is to cover our charter costs, while also allowing for a decent margin to donate to the groups. Roughly half the journey time takes place from Mallow onward. We did an analysis against fares for enthusiast tours in the UK, most of which start around the £110 mark for Standard Class alone. 

In contrast regular service trains enjoy economies of scale and don't have the fundraising element attached. We're also offering a unique experience on the Tralee line that you wouldn't get on a service train.

I hope this explains our fare structure, at the end of the day this is entirely a volunteer-run event and we can't afford to discount in the same way an operator with their own rolling stock can.

Niall/Niles

15 hours ago, Wexford70 said:

How will this change the turn around time in Tralee?

Don't worry, it won't. As it stands the tour was scheduled to wait in Mallow a bit anyway for a service train to clear the section.

While I'm updating, incidentally, tickets for the City Gold/1st Class carriage are proving very popular so we recommend that anyone interested in this option books sooner rather than later. The 1st Class fare includes a gift pack with some collectables, one of which is a clothing item but I won't spoil the rest. 

On 11/3/2022 at 4:18 PM, murphaph said:

Transfers applied. A mix of SSM and Railtec.

 

Class job, almost too nice given the state the real ones ended up towards the end.