RPSI Steam Cancelled

[B141]

According to their eventbrite link and Facebook page, steam haulage has been cancelled for the RPSI’s upcoming Cú Chulainn railtour and has been replaced by an 071 due to fire risk. I assume this is in light of the fires caused by 131 last Sunday.
 

Irish rail have cancelled the steam train three weeks in advance, even though they don’t know what the weather is going to be like, and it’s only going to get hotter as we move closer to the summer. Does this mean that we’re going to have a blanket ban on steam on Irish rail during the spring and summer months? If so, very disappointing!

Edited April 26 by B141

[hurricanemk1c]

Or, it's giving everyone concerned time to look at the incident and come up with solutions (if required) properly rather than rushed out. Not everything is a conspiracy or the end of the world

[B141]

8 minutes ago, hurricanemk1c said:

Not everything is a conspiracy or the end of the world

You say that as if there wasn’t a coordinated mass arson attack against Irish rail’s infrastructure last Sunday 

[hurricanemk1c]

1 hour ago, B141 said:

You say that as if there wasn’t a coordinated mass arson attack against Irish rail’s infrastructure last Sunday 

I say that having seen numerous theories, all currently just that. You made a blanket comment about a steam ban in spring/summer too, completely unsubstantiated 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

I presume it's safer to call off the next one to avoid the same issue happening and in the meantime see if a simple solution can be found, I think it will be grand.

[Mike Beckett]

1 hour ago, B141 said:

You say that as if there wasn’t a coordinated mass arson attack against Irish rail’s infrastructure last Sunday 

I sense sarcasm.

[DJ Dangerous]

3 hours ago, Mike Beckett said:

I sense sarcasm.

 

Broke my sarcasometer, too.

I'll have to buy another next time I'm down at the Angry Old Clown store.

I suspect that @B141 was humorously referring to @Noel's posts here and here, implying that it was more likely a coordinated arson attack due to the lack of photos of signal damage in the RTE article.

 

On 22/4/2024 at 3:39 PM, Noel said:

Bad luck and disappointing I'm sure for all on board and the RPSI.

1. Were the line side fires actually caused by the passing of the steam loco, or was that media speculation, or other causes. April is a bit early in the year for ultra dry line side foliage, especially after all the rain these past 8 weeks.
2. Has H&S gone totaly bezerk. The amount of times we're driven the car across the wicklow mountains while there were gorse fires burning on the road side that posed no risk to the car.

Hope the H&S lunatics don't ruin rail tours and limit steam loco operations in the future.

 

 

On 22/4/2024 at 4:03 PM, B141 said:

1. Up to half a dozen fires were found where the loco travelled shortly after it passed as per photo. It’s reasonable to assume that at least some of those fires were caused by the loco – sparks from locos causing fires is a well known phenomenon. If a machine which emits sparks leaves a trail of fires in its wake, then that machine probably caused the fires. It’s also been very hot the last few days, drying lineside brush out. We don’t need a forensic investigation to establish this on the balance of probabilities.

2. H&S gone totally berserk? I’m not sure you read what I wrote. The fires damaged cabling and signalling equipment, as per RTE. Are you seriously suggesting Irish rail should run trains without safety equipment? This incident likely cost tens of thousands of euro.

 

On 24/4/2024 at 7:05 AM, Noel said:

That photo show lush green grass not brown dry hay, one might be forgiven for thinking that one in the photo was started deliberately given its proximity to the fence and that’s its upwind. Sparkes and cinders don’t blow against the wind. Might sound crazy, but the photo tells a story. I cannot imagine why anybody would light 5 or six small fires using accelerants. Are there any photos of damaged cabling or signalling equipment? 

 

 

 

[Mike Beckett]

There’s madder than that, someone on the official page saying it was deliberate fires started by some sort of activists in a campaign to get 85 back on the mainline.

It’s hard to tell satire from tinfoil hattery these days.

[MOGUL]

16 hours ago, Mike Beckett said:

There’s madder than that, someone on the official page saying it was deliberate fires started by some sort of activists in a campaign to get 85 back on the mainline.

It’s hard to tell satire from tinfoil hattery these days.

The continuity RPSI is alive and well it seems