Lambeg man

Yes Eiretrains, you are correct. It is Navan. I've just cross referenced with other photos and that is definitely the Navan water tower. Well done you and thank you for solving my question. There was no such tower at Drogheda. Can we now consider this matter closed?

Thanks Jon, I'm happy it is Drogheda. It was the large goods shed that was puzzling me until I realized the angle it was taken at.

Ah, Drogheda makes sense now, south end of the down platform. The train would have just arrived back from Kingscourt, hence the way the engine is facing. A 'WT' would shortly whip the train away to Belfast. Thank you all for your responses.

Is this of any help Galteemore?

I was having a sort through this afternoon and came across this. I did not take it, I can't remember where I got it and there is nothing on the back of the photo to indicate a source.

A. Where is the location &

B. If it is your photograph, apologies for any copyright breach.

Given the very clean state of the locomotive, I am guessing this was taken during the "Province of Leinster" Railtour in 1966.

LOL!...... Brilliant!

Railway Magazine used to do an occasional 'April' story. One memorable one was just after the privatization of Railtrack. The story was that CIE were going to introduce a London-Galway (via Dublin) through service using 5' 3" gauge trains between the two places and a new train ferry to carry the trains between Dublin to Holyhead. At a press briefing the CIE spokesman was asked how was the 5' 3" gauge trains would be able to run between Holyhead and London given the track gauge of 4' 8 1/2". "No problem" said the spokesman. "Under the terms of the new Railtrack operation, THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE THE INFRASTRUCTURE for the operator using the route. Railtrack will just have to lay a third rail between Holyhead and London for our trains."   

New 'FLIRTS' is something Greater Anglia are generally keeping stum about. They have had lots of problems with them, the key being Swiss railway features causing problems on East Anglia lines, one example being flange lubricators. They have failed to activate track circuits at AHB crossings (which they are quite a lot around here), so approach all at 20 mph! For me personally the biggest problem is the loud 'whine' noise they make when accelerating out of Norwich past where I live. The old Sprinters never made the racket the new trains do. Rant over, back to the topic! 

2 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

This is about 1974, the first year that the first batch entered traffic, and remaining AEC cars were set aside to be de-engined for a very short career as loco-hauled stock.

Nice shets of pictures Jon. However shurely BUT cars etc.... Only two AEC cars shurvived post 1973 as converted Parcel Vans.... Regards, Admiral Remus

There are several published photo's of WT's working to Omagh (at least) in 1964.

2 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Unique tricompo brake No. 19, built by the GNR in Dundalk (about 1910, I think), as a slip coach. It was slipped as it came into Dublin so that it would trundle down to the LNWR station for ferries. a remarkable survivor. Withdrawn in 1959 by the UTA, it was still in GNR livery when I found it in a field near Banbridge in 1985. It had “U T” still stencilled on its end. It had a corridor connection at one end only and was still good structurally.

Hi Jon,

Yep, built 1910 as a classification 'I 1'. The corridor connections are shown to have been removed between 1922 and 1928, by which year it had been reclassified as 'J 7'. It was withdrawn in August of 1959.  Are you saying that it had a corridor connection fitted when you saw it in 1985? Further, where does your information come that it was 'Slip Fitted'? I ask as it is not shown as such in any of the GNR 'Classification of Coaching Stock' books. Furthermore, Norman McAdams in his Journal article on the subject, stated that the two through carriages for the North Wall service were latterly No. 39 and No. 40.

All the same, great photo's and thank you for posting. You're doing a great service in keeping spirits up.

Are those narrow gauge goods vans in the background? I ask given their height relative to that of the man standing on the right. However, I think Galteemore's suggestion is very hard to argue against.

The snow plough engine appears to be a class 'V' 0-6-0 (either of the No's 13-15) prior to their rebuilding in 1951.

Hi Jon,

Not so much "those sets" as that type of Composite full cab BUT Railcar numbered '90x'. There is an E. M. Patterson photograph on page 126 of Diesel Dawn dated 23rd July 1958 showing BUT Railcar No. 902, describing it as "brand new" and on the 10.30 up 'Enterprise'. My guess is that "Brand new" No. 901 (as shown in your photograpgh) was on the other end of the same train.

BUT Railcars (the initial '700' series power cars) first entered service in June 1957.

The following is a short table of details for the '900' series BUT Railcars showing dates of introduction:

Information courtesy of Martin Baumann.

As you correctly stated, the last two came out of Dundalk Works after the dissolution of the GNR(B). No. 907 which was already destined for the UTA came out in GNR 'Railcar' livery, while No. 908 came out painted in the then current CIE 'green' livery. 

45 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

 “It’s just a diesel”, as Snr. Might have commented - yet it didn’t stop him taking a picture of it! An AEC set in Amiens St., ready to go to Belfast. Evidently this was within weeks, or possibly days, of their introduction (1950?).

Hi Jon,

It is not an AEC set, it is a BUT set. The date is July/August 1958 and despite the absence of a nameboard MAY be the 17.30 down "Enterprise". No. 901 is probably on the other end with two '700' cars tucked behind it. The carriage next to No. 901 is an All First 'C 2', next to which appears to a Brake/Second.

Here is one more and probably the most interesting. Most published photographs of an AEC set working on the Bundoran Branch cite the service being an excursion from Dublin. A relatively simple operation if the train ran non-stop between Clones and Bundoran (no Customs inspections required). However this little trip from Belfast would have entailed Customs inspections at Kesh (H.M.) and Ballyshannon (ROI). Although there were some BUT Railcars around in August 1957, this working was surely an AEC set? I assume the date in question was a Bank Holiday? Arrival back in Belfast would have been around 23.00.

Dromin Junction, Saturday 18th May 1963, IRRS outing to Ardee. Not sure why the 'A' class is running around the two coach train here as it then worked through to Ardee from here. Has the special been to Dundalk before traversing the Branch?

Hi Jon,

Thought some of these may be of interest to watchers of this thread.

Many thanks for that Galteemore.

For me personally the weakest point of the Bachman "K 1" model is the absence of a smoke box wheel. It has the English handles arrangement. Anyone how to source smoke box wheels, a feature of many Irish locomotives?

The above photo of No. 84 at Dundalk is also of interest in that it is finally on its way to the morgue sidings for scrapping, having been in use for some time as a stationary boiler for the Works. Hence all the strange pipework on the front and the steam outlet pipe on the top right of the smokebox door.

Note also the two ex-GNR engines (a 4-4-2T and a 4-4-0) behind ex-GNR No. 91 (2-4-2T) in one of the Broadstone pictures.

Any more on the way Ernie?  

Hi All,

Going back to the Railbus photo above, it is without doubt No. 2. No's 1 & 4 became departmental inspection vehicles and No. 3 was scrapped in 1955. Only No. 2 remained as a Railbus, going to CIE in 1958. It is not the SLNCR vehicle as they kept their Howden/Meredith wheels on the front to the end, whereas the GNR fitted theirs with the solid type front axle seen in the photo. For a comparison picture of No. 2 in earlier better health, see page 42 of 'Diesel Dawn'. What is equally interesting is the Brake vehicle behind still apparently in GNR livery. It appears to be the classification 'L 13' No. c114n.

No John, not an AEC Railcar. The still grab is from a Rolling Stones 1965 documentary footage of their Irish tour. They are on a morning 'Enterprise' service of CIE stock to Belfast. From the original film it was pi**ing with rain when they left Dublin. Apart from his identity, why was a UTA driver travelling 'on the cushions' on a morning CIE down service? Oh by the way, our man is engaged in getting Charlie Watts autograph............. 

Can anyone identify this person? He was a UTA train driver and was photographed in September 1965

A man tees off for a go around his local golf course by himself on a Sunday morning.

Seeing this, St. Peter goes to God.

"God, have you seen what that man is doing on the holy sabbath morning. He is playing golf."

"Yes, I can see that." says God.

"So what are you going to do to punish him God?" says St. Peter.

"Watch this." says God.

The man tees off from the 4th and by divine intervention his ball goes straight into the 4th hole - a "hole in one"..........

"Was that supposed to punish him?" asks St. Peter.

God rubbed his bread and smiled at St. Peter................

"Who is going to believe him?"

A young army recruit fresh from basic training gets posted to a base way out in the desert. As he approaches the main gate, it suddenly swings open and a large crowd of soldiers come running out, shouting "The camels are coming! Hurrah! The camels are coming!"

Placing his kit bag on the ground, the young recruit watches this melee run past him. In their midst, he spies the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) to whom he shouts -

"Private Smith reporting Sir!"

The RSM pauses momentarily and looks at the recruit.

"Any orders Sir?" asks the recruit.

"Get in here with the rest and start running."

"Why Sir? Why should I run?"

The RSM shouted as he himself resumed running - "Look son, you don't want to end up with an ugly one....."

King Harold was inspecting his troops on the eve of the Battle of Hastings.

He came to a man holding a large broadsword. "Is that your weapon soldier?"

"Yes sire." replied the man.

"Are you any good with it?" asked the king.

"See that daisy sire?" said the man pointing to the ground in front of him. At that the man stepped back, drew the sword high above his head, then brought it swiftly down and split the daisy head.

Harold looked at his Aide-de-camp. "He's good, make sure he is on my right side in the battle tomorrow."

Moving on, King Harold came to another man holding a large Battle-ax. "Is that your weapon soldier?"

"Yes sire." replied the man.

"Are you any good with it?" asked the king.

"Do you see that bee above your head sire?" As Harold looked up the man swung the ax swiftly above the king's head and split the bee in two.

Again Harold looked at his Aide-de-camp. "He's good, make sure he is on my left side in the battle tomorrow."

Reaching a man at the end of the line, who was holding a bow and arrow, Harold asked him "Is that your weapon soldier?"

"No sire, I borrowed it." replied the man.

"Are you any good with it?" asked the king.

"I'm not sure, I've never really used it before" replied the man.

"Look" said Harold, "There is a barn door over there, must be only 20 yards or so. See if you can fire an arrow at it."

The man fumbled with the bow and arrow, eventually releasing the arrow which went off at 90 degrees to where he should have been aiming.

Again Harold looked at his Aide-de-camp. "Keep him as far away from me as possible in the battle tomorrow. He's going to have someone's eye out with that thing."

Received mine this morning. I am very, very pleased with the product. Well done to all concerned.