ERNIE's Irish Railway Archive, photos from ca 1900 to the 2000's

[Irishswissernie]

This is the new home for future postings of photos, negatives videos & slides etc in my Collection. Items already posted to IRM are in the old Topic started by Glenderg way back in May 2012.https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/312-ernies-massive-irish-1930s-to-2005-photo-archive/page/84/#comment-261835

GNRI 1964-05-27 Mount Pleasant WT 54 JGD640316.

CIE 1982-03-15 Thurles 080 yj154

CDRJC 1958-05-18 Raphoe, Railcar 16 JGD580125.

CIE 1955 ca Cork Shed coaling line. 'Pat'co print   25j+066a

 

[airfixfan]

Raphoe.photo shows the railcars crossing using the goods siding after the loop was lifted here

Edited April 26 by airfixfan

[David Holman]

Great picture of Pat. Diorama anyone?

[Irishswissernie]

CIE 1961-06-05 Kilmessan yj310.

CIE 1961-06-06 Ballyduff 461 yj312.

CIE 1961-06-xx Birdhill B109 yj311

 

[Signal Post]

I love the photo of Kilmessan station, nowadays it is a (quite nice) hotel and restaurant (The Station House) which is housed largely in the station building, the signal cabin is still extant and is used (as far as I remember as a bedroom, the goods shed is also still there. They have some black and white photos of the station on display but this is the first colour photo that I have seen. Thank you Ernie for posting this.

[Irishswissernie]

I've been down to Oxford for a few days this week, officially to see my son & family at Didcot but spending much of the time at Kinsey Yard south of Oxford to video the huge numbers of container and stone trains which pass through daily. I also brought back about 400 negatives etc mainly covering the ex CBSC, SLNCR & CDRJC in the fifties but also some glass negatives from 1929 - 1937 of lines in the West (Clifden) Killarney SLNC & Fintona. I havn't sorted out others but there are more pre-war CBSC, D&BST , ex D&SER in the heap.

Meanwhile todays offerings are:

UTA319 1964-05-12  Londonderry Foyle Rd Goods sta. 35 shunts vans off 11.17 arrival from GVS.

UTA304 1964-05-11 Lisburn 171, 2pm to GVS.

UTA328 1964-05-12 Coleraine WT 5.

 

[Galteemore]

Great stuff Ernie. And you were just down the road from me in west Oxfordshire ! 

[Irishswissernie]

CIE 1981-06-05 Heuston 085 yj176.

CIE 1982-06-28 Athlone, Shannon Bridge 086 yj178.

CIE 1982-06-28 Ballinasloe 160 yj177.

 

 

[Irishswissernie]

Time to roll back the years! I am working through the latest acquisitions so here are a few 'tasters' These ones are from H C Casserley and may well have been published elsewhere.

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co  Larne 2 HCC13997 Cas25044.

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co  Larne 2 HCC 13998 Cas25042.

DB&ST 1932-06-05 Blessington. HCC8730 Cas25131.

DB&ST 1932-06-05  from tram HCC8728 Cas25129.

GNRI 1950-05-18 Enniskillen 46 with blue tender HCC72986a Cas25056.

SLNC 1929-09-19 Manorhamilton 'Enniskillen . HCC Glass 6315 Cas25002. I have another 9 glass negs from 1929 of the SLNCR in the pipeline.

 

[Patrick Davey]

More gems Ernie!

[Galteemore]

Fascinating stuff Ernie! The PP looks so odd with that tender. Enniskillen has her old BP chimney - and was the last of the large tanks to retain it. She lost it in favour of a GN one c1950. Note too the faint remains of the lettering on her tanks. 

Edited May 19 by Galteemore

[Paul 34F]

I’ve seen a similar image of PP no. 46 towing the blue tender.  Also interesting to see the locomotive is fitted with a shorter chimney than normal.  Useful dating material.  
 

Paul

[Irishswissernie]

The only Tralee & Dingle negative is this one which was just stuffed into one of the envelopes and has no Ref number due to it being double exposed. It does show some interesting details however of the turntable area and the cottage next to the gated Pier extension at Dingle.  The date would have been 14 July 1934, loco 5T

[Irishswissernie]

Possibly of interest to students of old photos of railwaymen HCC took this one at Cork, Rocksavage on 9 July 1934; entitle Mr or M Johnson and Clerk. I am thinking 'clerk' is the chap on the photo's right with a pencil in his top pocket rather than the name of the dog. 91 years ago so I don't think anyone still around will remember them.

[Westcorkrailway]

17 minutes ago, Irishswissernie said:

Possibly of interest to students of old photos of railwaymen HCC took this one at Cork, Rocksavage on 9 July 1934; entitle Mr or M Johnson and Clerk. I am thinking 'clerk' is the chap on the photo's right with a pencil in his top pocket rather than the name of the dog. 91 years ago so I don't think anyone still around will remember them.

Excellent photo! 

[airfixfan]

9 hours ago, Irishswissernie said:

Time to roll back the years! I am working through the latest acquisitions so here are a few 'tasters' These ones are from H C Casserley and may well have been published elsewhere.

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co  Larne 2 HCC13997 Cas25044.

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co  Larne 2 HCC 13998 Cas25042.

DB&ST 1932-06-05 Blessington. HCC8730 Cas25131.

DB&ST 1932-06-05  from tram HCC8728 Cas25129.

GNRI 1950-05-18 Enniskillen 46 with blue tender HCC72986a Cas25056.

SLNC 1929-09-19 Manorhamilton 'Enniskillen . HCC Glass 6315 Cas25002. I have another 9 glass negs from 1929 of the SLNCR in the pipeline.

 

Like the two BAC Larne photos 

[Mol_PMB]

27 minutes ago, airfixfan said:

Like the two BAC Larne photos 

Accurascale's entry to the NG7 market?

[Irishswissernie]

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co Larne 1 HCC13995 Cas25043

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co Larne 1 HCC13996 Cas25041

I also have a photo of No 3 but it had a few vital bits missing.

BAC 1958-09-06 BAC Larne works 3 P1357'14 z110

Apparently No 1 is preserved whilst no. 3 Peckett 1357/1914 was the first to go.

The locos must have been built to a general Peckett design rather than one offs, no doubt if my son Alan (Brack on here) sees this he will be digging this info out.

 

 

[Galteemore]

46 minutes ago, Irishswissernie said:

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co Larne 1 HCC13995 Cas25043

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co Larne 1 HCC13996 Cas25041

I also have a photo of No 3 but it had a few vital bits missing.

BAC 1958-09-06 BAC Larne works 3 P1357'14 z110

Apparently No 1 is preserved whilst no. 3 Peckett 1357/1914 was the first to go.

The locos must have been built to a general Peckett design rather than one offs, no doubt if my son Alan (Brack on here) sees this he will be digging this info out.

 

 

1 and 2 both survive. 1 was at Shane’s Castle and Giants causeway. 2 is at Cultra. If memory serves, 3s boiler was used in a stationary capacity for some time after. 

Edited May 20 by Galteemore

[airfixfan]

Correct David have a photo somewhere of No 3 being used as a stationery boiler

[west_clare_wanderer]

15 hours ago, Irishswissernie said:

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co Larne 1 HCC13995 Cas25043

Ind 1937-06-22 British Aluminium Co Larne 1 HCC13996 Cas25041

I also have a photo of No 3 but it had a few vital bits missing.

BAC 1958-09-06 BAC Larne works 3 P1357'14 z110

Apparently No 1 is preserved whilst no. 3 Peckett 1357/1914 was the first to go.

The locos must have been built to a general Peckett design rather than one offs, no doubt if my son Alan (Brack on here) sees this he will be digging this info out.

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing, those photos of Larne are absolutely fantastic. A bit of a counter to all those who think that the only narrow gauge in Ireland was 3' common carriers. Industrial systems are not what most normally think of. 

[Mol_PMB]

24 minutes ago, west_clare_wanderer said:

 

Thanks for sharing, those photos of Larne are absolutely fantastic. A bit of a counter to all those who think that the only narrow gauge in Ireland was 3' common carriers. Industrial systems are not what most normally think of. 

Wasn't the first railway in Ulster a narrow-gauge industrial line? That's a snippet from memory, hope I'm not wildly wrong.

Guinness as well of course, and later the vast BnM networks which grew up around the time that the common carriers were closing. Lesser-known were the lines associated with major construction schemes and sometimes remaining in use later, such as Ardnacrusha PS and Marconi Clifden. I'm sure there were many more.

 

[Flying Snail]

59 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Wasn't the first railway in Ulster a narrow-gauge industrial line? That's a snippet from memory, hope I'm not wildly wrong.

Guinness as well of course, and later the vast BnM networks which grew up around the time that the common carriers were closing. Lesser-known were the lines associated with major construction schemes and sometimes remaining in use later, such as Ardnacrusha PS and Marconi Clifden. I'm sure there were many more.

 

Agree that its nice to be reminded that Ireland had narrow gauges other than 3'. In fact, despite it being another 3' gauge, I think the BnM railways are an excellent example that there's also more to industrial systems than the sterotypical urban factory setting so many of us associate industrial railways with. At least one author has claimed that Guinness had the largest industrial railway in Ireland. In fact that title goes to the BnM network - its network even dwarfed the County Donegal which is often referred to as being the largest narrow gauge railway in these islands.

[Mol_PMB]

12 minutes ago, Flying Snail said:

Agree that its nice to be reminded that Ireland had narrow gauges other than 3'. In fact, despite it being another 3' gauge, I think the BnM railways are an excellent example that there's also more to industrial systems than the sterotypical urban factory setting so many of us associate industrial railways with. At least one author has claimed that Guinness had the largest industrial railway in Ireland. In fact that title goes to the BnM network - its network even dwarfed the County Donegal which is often referred to as being the largest narrow gauge railway in these islands.

This is a very interesting topic worthy of further discussion. So we don't trample all over Ernie's photo thread I've created a fresh topic here:

 

[airfixfan]

First NG railway in Ireland at Ballycastle

Edited May 21 by airfixfan

[Mol_PMB]

53 minutes ago, airfixfan said:

First NG railway in Ireland at Ballycastle

Indeed, the birth of Irish 3' gauge was at Ballycastle around 1740, later extended in 1750.

Another early one was the Drumglass colliery railway opened in 1754. I think both these used horses and wooden rails.

The Kingstown harbour developments in 1816 used a railway which may have been the first in Ireland to use iron rails, though still animal power. Part of the trackbed is still the present railway alignment between Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey.

 

[Irishswissernie]

Freight traffic through Haltwhistle these days is about on a par with Ireland; a weekly DRS nuclear flask  and 3 loads of Gypsum for Kirkby Thore (the loads come through at midnight though!). On my trip south to Oxford to collect some 400 Casserley and other Irish negatives,  I spent the early mornings and evenings at Hinksey Yard and managed to video over 40 freights, the majoriy being containers but with stone , cars for export also evident.  Here are a few stills.

2025-05-06 Hinksey Yard 66728. Probably to Trafford Park.

2025-05-06 Hinksey Yard 66564.

2025-05-06 Hinksey  Yard 70806 Westbury Down TC - Cliff Hill Stud Farm.

2025-05-07 Hinksey Yard ,Cowley - Southampton cars 66121.

There are more in the 2025 Miscellany album on flickr, or just click on the photostream. 

 

[Irishswissernie]

To atone for my heresy in adding the last posting will these do! I'm still working on the latest acquisitions but here is a sample.

C&M 1934-07-09 Coachford Junction 5K 11.50 Coachford - Cork HCC11059 Cas25144.

PFF028 SLNC 1957-06-19 Manorhamilton .Parcels van no. 5.

PFF078 CB&SC 1958-06-05 Dunmanway 466 cattle special.

 

[David Holman]

Absolutely!

That is one enormous cattle train.

Edited Sunday at 07:45 by David Holman

[Irishswissernie]

3 Glass negatives today for SLNCR enthusiasts. Most of the latest batch of glass negatives acquired have appeared in print before, they include several taken at Clifden on 17 July 1934, Fintona 19 Sept 1929. They will all feature on here in due course.

SLNC 1929-09-19 Manorhamilton 'Hazlewood' HCC Glass 6318 Cas25003.

SLNC 1929-09-19 Manorhamilton 'Hazelwood' HCC Glass 6317 Cas25004

SLNC 1929-09-19 Manorhamilton Works 'Glencar' ex GNRI 31. HCC Glass 6319 Cas25009.  Note the GNRI 'A' rating still on the cab side.

 

[Irishswissernie]

4 more Casserley negatives from 1934.

GSR 1934-07-14 Tralee 106 HCC11152 Cas25156.

GSR 1934-07-14 Newcastle West 106, 5.20 Tralee -Limerick HCC11154 Cas25157.

GSR 1934-07-17 Clifden 589, 1.15 to Galway  HCC11193 Cas25162.

GSR 1934-07-17 Clifden 589 outside shed. HCC Glass 11192 Cas25018.

 

 

[airfixfan]

He certainly got around

[Paul 34F]

Some really nice images from before the Emergency!

Paul

[spudfan]

7 hours ago, airfixfan said:

He certainly got around

By train?

[Irishswissernie]

1 hour ago, spudfan said:

By train?

Usually but then you could in those days although you would need some time. I think he must have used the vehicle below to get from Waterford station to the Goods Yard. 

I think its Waterford Goods yard entrance , I have been up that lane over the road a few times in the 2000's and then climbed the hill to the Golf Course on the top which gave you a panoramic view of the yard and line west. The house is no longer there though. HCC didn'r record much information about this view so I'm left wondering what was the horse's name, and the driver's , what brand of cigarette is he smoking but most of all is that a light  on the horse's neck or is it a street lamp on the road

GSR 1929-09-14 Waterford Goods yard , Jaunting cart HCC glass 6189 Cas25024.

 

Edited Wednesday at 15:39 by Irishswissernie