jhb171achill

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)

Disgraceful putting a 29 on it. A rake of GNR ballast wagons would be more comfortable. Doubtless not even a tea trolley, let alone charging points or first class..........

They REALLY need to do something about that graffiti. Very high voltage live fences come to mind, though take second place to snipers. Same with Connolly station area.

If it was, it was coincidental. Where I live is 20 mins walk from where I can view the Quarry Siding - and as I type this, I'm watching a Dart pass by outside. The train was heading towards Malahide from Dublin. I was about to leave the house anyway to go into Malahide, so i'm getting to the railway bridge about 20m later. These days, the QS is rarely if ever used for turn-backs; they use the down platform or up platform before they go back into town, depending on whether there's an up non-stop or not. So, I can't actually remember when I last saw anything other than those yellow ballast indigestor / gloopdecisor / sperry leaf sorter things in that siding. So, in terms of timing, when I was walking over the bridge, the timing was about right for a Dart that had passed my window 20 mins earlier being reversed in there. Can't be certain about it, of course, but there ye are; and a northbound Enterprise has just rolled past this second (19:18)....

2 days ago, I saw a 29 hauling a 4-car Dart into Malahide. It seems the Dart then set back under its own power into the Quarry Siding while the 29 went on, presumably to Drogheda. Anyone got any idea what was going on? This was midday.

OK, so largely freelance - in which case, anything at all can go! If it is meant to be semi-suburban-ish, AEC railcars for 1950s / 60s (Silverfox); if 2000s, the much awaited IRM ICRs!

Especially if it's in the wrong livery. (I'll get me coat...) Sure yer man's away with the birdies.....

Today; farewell to GVS!

May 1957, and a summer Sunday excursion caught from the roadside between Castletown West and Dugort Harbour…. “Let’s get this loaded before the rain starts - and remember, absolutely everything has to be done EXACTLY by the book with that fella I was tellin’ ye about, ok? Never tell him anything that Gallagher tells ye, got that?”

Where is Royal Park meant to be and what era?

From Dublin.

…..and it is.

Is the 11:20 ex-Connolly a DD or a railcar this week?

Is the 11:20 ex-Connolly a DD or a railcar this week?

Forgot about those indeed! Yes, great for templates though from memory all of the printed ones carry incorrect livery.

Carrying newspapers, i believe. I think they were known to appear in Derry too, though probably not often. The wagon is grey - but as you suggest, weathered with brake dust. The brown livery didn't appear until 1970, and thus woul;dn't have carried a "snail" in any event, as that was replaced seven years earlier. Interesting that the next two H vans are in the earlier darker grey, whereas the one beyond them is in the slightly lighter shade which appears to date from about 1962-ish.

Should have added, with regard to carriages, the reason I'm focussing on ex-GSWR types is that neither in ready to run, nor in kit form - plastic, brass or anything else - is there any variety of MGWR passenger vehicle. Given that many of their six-wheelers lasted until 1963*, and a small number of their bogie coaches lasted a few years longer, another omission from the model world. But the thing is - MGWR coaching design was so unlike that of any other company, that no conversion or kitbashing can produce anything remotely like any MGWR coach of any design at all - so until or unless that happens, we need ex-GSWR, GSR or CIE types! To have MGWR coaches would require complete scratchbuild at the moment. (* The very last passenger-carrying six-wheelers were withdrawn the same time as the very last steam engines - early 1963).