jhb171achill

Why, what did the oul pigs do to deserve that?

Awful. Considering that I advocate snipers and electric fences for graffiti vandalism, it’s best not to print how I would deal with people like this.

Truly awful news, was actually thinking of him this morning. A great loss to all here as well as his family, and an absolute gentleman. May he rest in peace.

Anyone know which services this week and next are railcars and which DDs?

Good news, that!

A very well preserved colour slide from summer 1958 sees the afternoon local from Castletown West arriving at Dugort Harbour.

Call in the sock livery experts….

He's lost. He got to Ardglass, ran through the buffers, down the pier and into the sea. The train floated up at Greenore, was winched ashore, but someomne had left the brakes off, so - boom! She's off to Amiens Street. It seems that a quick-thinking signalman at Clogherhead Junction switched the points, thus avoiding a little bit of a mess at Amiens Street.

Cat 1 says he eats his at 01:51; Cat 2 says she eats hers between 4 and 5 a.m., while Cat 3 says that she eats hers at 22:15. However, Cat 2 once ate hers at 02:00. So it's a yes.

So it was in Belfast a mere four minutes??

I have texted my daughter's cats on instagram to see if they agree.

I’m totally with you on predictive elephant algebra Napoleon Moscow noodle

What is the fremo concept?

One of Barry Carse's photos shows two of these at Thurles BFS. It is during the "campaign", so there were no less than three G class there at the same time; i think G613 and G611 were among them. The livery of one is indeterminate, as it is so filthy it may as well have been painted black, brown or pink and tartan for all anyone could see; buffers and all. Just wall-to-wall filth. The other one is plain unlined green, with black underframe, red buffers and red handrails.

Indeed. Probably somewhere in Dublin or Cork, well outside actual railway premises.

The font style in the English version is also highly unusual.

Took the Enterprise yesterday afternoon to Belfast (16:50). It pulled into Platform 4 at central - never seen it do that before. A zebra up front - dunno which one. 10:35 this morning was a 6-ICR.

Dang!!! I wanted that 0.6.0 but I’m out with tourists so haven’t had time to book it….

An ICR to Achill - nice THERE’S an idea! I would be somewhat inclined to think that if Achill was open now we’d probably have a two car 28 on it, though! In general, though, the big issue with lines like these - Achill, Clifden and Valentia especially - is that they are too remote for generation of a financially self-supporting market.

I hear ya, but I’m afraid I’m still with the snipers!

Bottom line - if I ever see someone relieving themself on a Dart+, I will just look the other way. I won’t ring Joe Duffy or complain to IE!

I must say it’s a pet hate of mine, to put it mildly; if I was to describe the measures I would apply to perpetrators, I’d be chucked off every online platform I am on with immediate effect!

Agreed. They are needed. I have a free travel pass now - but, in all seriousness, while I'm OK for now, many my age and older NEED regular visits to such cubicles. In all reality, if you're caught short, you're caught short. It would be fine if the maximum journey on these things was ten minutes, but with increasing congestion and ever slower speeds, journey times are increasing. Lately, on a couple of occasions, I have had the misfortune to travel from Malahide to the DSER several times. I am going to Bray in the morning. I will be driving. Dublin commuter routes, especially Drogheda - Wicklow, is painfully, and unacceptably slow. Every trains stops at every hole in the hedge, and they crawl between them at walking pace. It's an absolute ordeal. On NIR, even the stopping trains seem to get a bit of a move on, as do those in Cork; and yes, i do accept that one may not be comparing like with like there. As from later this year, I will be regularly visiting a relative who is moving to the outskirts of Wicklow. Two hours of stop-starting, and no toilet? And the government wants me to use public transport? Sorry, lads, you're having an absolute laugh.

Malahide to Wicklow will be TWO hours! Well, now I sympathise with certain members of society who have been known to relieve themselves in or near seats....

Tomorrow, Great Victoria Street Station in Belfast closes - for the second time. Opened by the Ulster Railway Company in 1839, to connect Belfast with Lisburn, Portadown, Armagh, Monaghan and Cavan, it thrived as the rail link between the two largest cities in Ireland. Despite the vehement anti-rail policy of the 1950s and 1960s Stormont governments in Belfast, decades of under-investment, and finally bombs during the "Troubles", it struggled on to 1976, when it was closed, the track lifted as shown here later that year, and the site given over to a shopping mall and hotel. It was replaced by "Central" Station; which was very far from being central to anything other than a long-abandoned cattle siding complex at Maysfields in East Belfast. Our political lords and masters aren't always quick off the ball; it took them until 1995 to work out that a city centre site was, after all, better; so a dumbed-down version of Great Victoria Street was reinstated, though the longer-distance Dublin expresses still served Central but not here. Lately, they've devised a new station, to be called "Belfast Grand Central Station". It is to the right of this picture, and the old (new!) Gt Vic St station will be demolished instead. It is LESS central than Gt Vic St; but more central - not that this would be difficult - than "Central Station" - which has now been renamed "Lanyon Place". Confused? Well, at least the "Enterprise" expresses from Dublin will return to here, to a site somewhat closer to the city centre. The new station will also have all (I think) the longer-distance buses, and I suppose taxis too. I can overlook the external appearance of the new station which is akin to a 1965-built cardboard or cigarette factory. This was taken by Snr. just after the original Gt Vic St was being dismantled in 1976. While an impressive array of traditional semaphore signalling remains, track has gone. Below, an earlier picture in the very run-down nearby Adelaide yard about 1962, under the UTA's depressing watch. (H C A Beaumont)