CIE 1950s train

[GSR 800]

Work done tonight, sides soldered on, doorways soldered in also.

And now a question. I was reading through one of the Irish railway rover books, which had a photo of a Night Up Galway mail train at Mullingar.

The book mentioned that it was waiting for the Up Sligo mail, which in turn would then wait for the Down Mail before returning to Sligo. Am I right then in thinking that the Sligo Mail was pretty much a Shuttle from Mullingar to Sligo, first going up to Mullingar, meeting the Up Galway there and having its Mail transferred to that train, then waiting for the Down Galway Mail, having mail transferred to it, then heading back to Sligo.

OR was it the case that the trains were simply split and joined as per other trains at Mullingar? There's a photo of a Cattle Engine shunting a TPO tin van at Mullingar somewhere..

Edited 4 hours ago by GSR 800

[Mol_PMB]

I probably have a suitable WTT to answer your question, but I’m now away from home for a couple of days. Someone else might get there first. 
 

The van is looking excellent. 

[GSR 800]

5 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

I probably have a suitable WTT to answer your question, but I’m now away from home for a couple of days. Someone else might get there first. 
 

The van is looking excellent. 

Many thanks Mol

[jhb171achill]

30 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

Work done tonight, sides soldered on, doorways soldered in also.

And now a question. I was reading through one of the Irish railway rover books, which had a photo of a Night Up Galway mail train at Mullingar.

The book mentioned that it was waiting for the Up Sligo mail, which in turn would then wait for the Down Mail before returning to Sligo. Am I right then in thinking that the Sligo Mail was pretty much a Shuttle from Mullingar to Sligo, first going up to Mullingar, meeting the Up Galway there and having its Mail transferred to that train, then waiting for the Down Galway Mail, having mail transferred to it, then heading back to Sligo.

OR was it the case that the trains were simply split and joined as per other trains at Mullingar? There's a photo of a Cattle Engine shunting a TPO tin van at Mullingar somewhere..

Yes, that seemed to be what it was the several times I travelled on it in the 1970s. You had to change at Mullingar and wait the guts of an hour.

[GSR 800]

7 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Yes, that seemed to be what it was the several times I travelled on it in the 1970s. You had to change at Mullingar and wait the guts of an hour.

Interesting, I wonder if this went back into the steam era. Many thanks, JB.

I also presume that, given the Jail Siding was almost always full of coaches in every photo I've seen of it (admittedly, later on it was RPSI stock), that trains that were split at Mullingar would've been strengthened with extra coaches. 

 

[jhb171achill]

36 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

Interesting, I wonder if this went back into the steam era. Many thanks, JB.

I also presume that, given the Jail Siding was almost always full of coaches in every photo I've seen of it (admittedly, later on it was RPSI stock), that trains that were split at Mullingar would've been strengthened with extra coaches. 

 

In steam times, yes! But - see my post below for 1973.

Edited 3 hours ago by jhb171achill

[Galteemore]

Would have been a fairly efficient way of doing business, saving Sligo crew a lodging turn to Dublin.

[jhb171achill]

In the 1973 WTT, for example, when mullingar - Athlone was still fully functional, the Galway mails were as follows:

Down Day Mail

08:20 ex Connolly

09:29 - 09:36 Mullingar

11:30 Galway

Down night Mail

Pearse 20:05

Connolly d 20:15

Mullingar 21:24 - 21:31

Galway 23:34

No up day mail working   

Up Night Mail

Galway d. 20:15

Mullingar 23:32 - 23:45

Connolly 01:00 next morning

Pearse 01:30

 

The Sligo services were:

Down Day Mail

Connolly 09:05

Mullingar 10:22 - 10:26   Described leaving Dublin as "Passenger", but leaving Mullingar as "PAS MAIL"; they possibly switched the bags from the earlier Galway Mail here? Or, it left Dublin with the mail?

Sligo 12:40

Down Night Mail

Leaves Mullingar as a connection off the Galway at 23:40

Sligo 02:05 next morning

No Up Day Mail

Up Night Mail

Sligo 20:25   (This is the one I travelled on several times, in all cases with a pair of 121s up front).

Mullingar 23:21

Await Galway train. Returns to Sligo at 23:40 as above.

 

So - in summary - the morning ones went through, possibly; the evening one was a Galway - Dublin one, and a Sligo - Mullingar one.

 

 

[GSR 800]

18 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

In both cases, yes, almost certainly!

 

6 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Would have been a fairly efficient way of doing business, saving Sligo crew a lodging turn to Dublin.

Very much unfortunately for me modelling Mullingar, I was not around for any of the interesting junction operations!

[GSR 800]

8 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

In the 1973 WTT, for example, when mullingar - Athlone was still fully functional, the Galway mails were as follows:

Down Day Mail

08:20 ex Connolly

09:29 - 09:36 Mullingar

11:30 Galway

Down night Mail

Pearse 20:05

Connolly d 20:15

Mullingar 21:24 - 21:31

Galway 23:34

No up day mail working   

Up Night Mail

Galway d. 20:15

Mullingar 23:32 - 23:45

Connolly 01:00 next morning

Pearse 01:30

 

The Sligo services were:

Down Day Mail

Connolly 09:05

Mullingar 10:22 - 10:26   Described leaving Dublin as "Passenger", but leaving Mullingar as "PAS MAIL"; they possibly switched the bags from the earlier Galway Mail here? Or, it left Dublin with the mail?

Sligo 12:40

Down Night Mail

Leaves Mullingar as a connection off the Galway at 23:40

Sligo 02:05 next morning

No Up Day Mail

Up Night Mail

Sligo 20:25   (This is the one I travelled on several times, in all cases with a pair of 121s up front).

Mullingar 23:21

Await Galway train. Returns to Sligo at 23:40 as above.

 

So - in summary - the morning ones went through, possibly; the evening one was a Galway - Dublin one, and a Sligo - Mullingar one.

 

 

Many thanks for this JB, greatly appreciated. Regarding the down Sligo Day Mail, is there a Galway/Westport-bound PAS service leaving Mullingar around the same time? I wonder if the Sligo Mail was ever left overnight at Mullingar, awaiting a Galway bound train before heading for Sligo as the Day Mail?

[jhb171achill]

19 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

Many thanks for this JB, greatly appreciated. Regarding the down Sligo Day Mail, is there a Galway/Westport-bound PAS service leaving Mullingar around the same time? I wonder if the Sligo Mail was ever left overnight at Mullingar, awaiting a Galway bound train before heading for Sligo as the Day Mail?

10:22 was when the down day Sligo got to Mullingar. The Westport table shows nothing going via Mullingar by then - all via Portarlington and Athlone. However the 03:10 Dublin to Ballina Newspaper train arrived via Mullingar in Athlone at 04:54, and Ballina by 06.57.