Cork and Waterford Railway

[StevieB]

My particular interest is in the Cork and Waterford Railway that could have been built in the middle of the 19th century if only.....

As far as I can see, the principal freight flows in the 70s and 80s would have been Bell Line container traffic and the Quigley factory at Ballinacoury. Many years ago there was a good article about Bell Line traffic in the IRRS journal, but to date I can't find too much about Ballinacourty traffic. There were dolomite trains from Thomastown and magnesite/oil traffic to and from Cork. However, when first proposed, there was the possibility of dolomite extraction near to Mallow as well, which would have introduced some interesting extra train. Does anyone have details of the number and timings of trains into/out of Ballinacourty? I know that trains from Cork were empty magnesite and loaded oil, but were the trains to Cork loaded magnesite and empty oil or were they run as separate trains?

Wagons for the dolomite and oil traffic are already available and it is nice to see that our friends at Irish Freight Models are producing magnesite wagons, the first ones being available on eBay.

Many thanks.

 

Stephen

[patrick]

Hi Stephen. According to the working timetables I have on hand for april 1973, november 1975 and may 1980 the frequency of the Ballinacourty trains seems to have been two dolomite trains and one magnesite oil train daily monday to friday although occasionally one of the dolomite trains was scheduled to run tuesday to saturday. The 1975 timetable also shows an extra path for an oil magnesite train. The 1973 and 1975 WTT's also specify 001 class on the Tivoly trains and 2 x 1210/141 on the dolomite. If you would like copies of the schedule from the WTT's please PM me.

[aclass007]

I have fond memories of the Ballinacourty traffic. Just a shame I was quite young at the time, and photography or video equipment wasn't as everyday as it is now. The dolomite trains ran from Bennetsbridge, and consisted of a pair of 141/181's with approx 19 or 20 hoppers. 121's probably appeared on these trains too, but I personally never saw them. The oil/magnesite trains ran to Cork, as you say, loaded with oil into Ballinacourty and magnesite to Cork. They were the one train, with the loaded wagons running at the front of the rake. These were always hauled by 001's.

[patrick]

None of the WTT I have show a scheduled meet at Kilmacthomas but this photo from the Waterford County Museum shows one. Notice the twin 141's on the loaded dolomite.

[enniscorthyman]

None of the WTT I have show a scheduled meet at Kilmacthomas but this photo from the Waterford County Museum shows one. Notice the twin 141's on the loaded dolomite.

 

Patrick,what looks like a oil train in the loop at Kilmacthomas

Station is in fact the weed killer train hauled by a C class,as the

Water tanks had not been painted yellow at this stage.I think this

photo was taken in 1978,and there is more photos of it on the site.

[aclass007]

Here's a slide that is currently for sale on eBay. I'm almost certain it's a dolomite train. The interesting thing is that it's being hauled by a 121 and a 141.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35mm-Slide-CIE-Irish-Railways-Diesel-Loco-B121-B146-Waterford-1974-original-/271156240182?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D5688616912428718626%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D271156240182%26