Interesting not-so-early Irish Railway photos

[Mol_PMB]

Looking at the Early Irish Railway Photos thread and the NLI collection, I have fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole. In fact I was looking for photos of mills in the NLI collection in the hope of finding some more photos of Quartertown, when I stumbled across this super aerial view of the flour mills in Cork. With Glanmire Road station, goods yard and shed in the background. I wouldn't have found this when searching for a railway-related image, but there's so much of interest in this photo I thought I'd share it here. The date is April 1955:

https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000733522

 

You know how much I like wagons and there's plenty of them to love here, including three different types of 6-wheel goods brake van. There's a lot of containerised freight in CIE (pre-ISO) containers - they're easy to spot as the snail is in the middle of the side, rather than at one end on the goods vans.

There's also a nice view of 'Pat' working on the elevated coal gantry, showing how this served the quays and the sheds. 

On the turntable is one of the 'Queens', contrasting with an AEC railcar set in the station.

But to me the most interesting loco in this shot is a 1000 class shunter, apparently busy at work in the yard. I knew that a D class had once hauled a trial train to Cork, but I didn't realise that one was based here prior to the arrival of the E class.

This is a cruel zoom in to a tiny portion of the whole photo:

 

 

 

 

[Westcorkrailway]

I didn’t know the D class ever got to cork either….interesting! 

[Mol_PMB]

15 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

I didn’t know the D class ever got to cork either….interesting! 

There was a trial on 7 March 1948, when 1000 hauled a goods train of 25 wagons, non-stop from Kingsbridge to Cork. It took nearly 9 hours so I hope the crew took some refreshments! Must have been tedious at that speed.

But this photo is the first mention or evidence I've seen of a D class working in Cork, and being dated 1955 it's well after the trials period for these locos.

[Flying Snail]

This thread is starting off as more of a slow burner than the 'Early Irish Railway Photos', but that's definitely an interesting find to kick things off @Mol_PMB

In my mind, not-so-early Irish Railway photos might be more the place for stuff after the formation of the GSR, so here's a photo from GSR days of a mixed train in Mountmellick about to depart back down the branch around 1939.  The interesting thing is the carriages have two loose coupled wagons between them and the loco.

Mountmellick was the only stop on a short, very lightly trafficked (and flat) 7-mile branch that trains from Portlaoise (Maryborough) entered through the rather awkwardly configured Conniberry Junction (requiring the loco to run around its train) - which is most likely the reason why.

* I can't recall where this picture came from: I think it could be 'Lost Railways of Co. Dublin and the South East' by Stephen Johnson

Edited Tuesday at 21:31 by Flying Snail

[Mol_PMB]

Good idea. GSR period and early CIE (say pre-1955 ish) would fit well here. 
Photos become much more common from the mid-50s and the railway changed dramatically with the influx of diesels and the closure of branch lines and smaller stations in the late 50s and early 60s. 
 

[jhb171achill]

A couple of not-so-old ones from the late 1960s in Waterford, copyright Barry Carse…

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks JHB! I do like the stealth black livery and if IRM were to produce either of those locos I would have to buy them!

 

[jhb171achill]

3 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Thanks JHB! I do like the stealth black livery and if IRM were to produce either of those locos I would have to buy them!

 

There was a model A in the less common variant of this livery, with a large number on the side where the snail is, but no small cabside numbers. Both A & C classes had both variants. Not sure about the 101s.

Edited Tuesday at 22:41 by jhb171achill

[Westcorkrailway]

1 hour ago, Mol_PMB said:

Good idea. GSR period and early CIE (say pre-1955 ish) would fit well here. 
Photos become much more common from the mid-50s and the railway changed dramatically with the influx of diesels and the closure of branch lines and smaller stations in the late 50s and early 60s. 
 

Photos post ww2 become much easier to come by. But the introduction of colour during that time is brilliant. Particularly of the earliest years of CIE. 
 

https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/monsignor-reid-collection-castlerea-train-station/
 

1947 Colour footage of an oil burning loco with GSR liveried Coaches 

[Mol_PMB]

8 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Photos post ww2 become much easier to come by. But the introduction of colour during that time is brilliant. Particularly of the earliest years of CIE. 
 

https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/monsignor-reid-collection-castlerea-train-station/
 

1947 Colour footage of an oil burning loco with GSR liveried Coaches 

That's super - thanks for sharing! One or two of the first CIE repaints in the train too.

 

[Westcorkrailway]

Another mix of liveries at Cobh around 1947 

Edited Wednesday at 08:13 by Westcorkrailway

[Westcorkrailway]

Saw this on on Facebook too. It’s a shame the green livery didn’t last a bit longer, it was super 

[Mol_PMB]

I do love these late 1950s colour shots. That lighter green livery did look great.

[Westcorkrailway]

Similar to before. Some views of Colm’s records to give a taste to encourage even a brisk viewing 

 

wedgeheads bullied AEC railcar under construction at Inchicore 

Colm made Christmas cards during this time! The west cork lines had a fan base! 

D class at work in the Quays of cork. (He’s gonna have lots of fun running around his train by the looks of things 

the only photo of an A class in the West cork lines as part of 1 of 2 trials that took place. It’s too bad that time has Hammered this photo, though the negative may still exist.

[Flying Snail]

16 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Similar to before. Some views of Colm’s records to give a taste to encourage even a brisk viewing 

Just a note for future readers of this thread - links to Colm's records are in the first post of the 'Colm Creedon Archive' thread, where's also a link to the Dermot McCarthy's collection of almost 250 photos of Cork railways from the middle part of the 20th century too: 

A little further down the thread @Westcorkrailway has provided a breakdown of the contents of each of the records, as well as some background on Colm himself.

Edited Wednesday at 16:00 by Flying Snail

[jhb171achill]

That’s an E401 in silver on the quays, not a D….

[Mol_PMB]

6 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

That’s an E401 in silver on the quays, not a D….

Indeed, it’s E410, the one I’ve modelled. I really like that sequence of photos on the quays. 
E407 also features in the photos, which is the other one I have half-finished, though my model of that will be in black. 
 

I’ve also seen photos of E403 and E414 in Cork in the silver era. 
 

But we do have a D in Cork here, in 1955 before the E’s arrived. Strictly it was a 1000 class then:

 

[jhb171achill]

9 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Indeed, it’s E410, the one I’ve modelled. I really like that sequence of photos on the quays. 
E407 also features in the photos, which is the other one I have half-finished, though my model of that will be in black. 
 

I’ve also seen photos of E403 and E414 in Cork in the silver era. 
 

But we do have a D in Cork here, in 1955 before the E’s arrived. Strictly it was a 1000 class then:

 

Yes, a very rare foray away from Dublin for one of those!

In later years, I saw E421s in Cork and Limerick as well as Dublin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jhb171achill]

11 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Another mix of liveries at Cobh around 1947 

One of, from memory, only three images I have ever seen showing GSR maroon in colour, and in use. One is this; other then the second coach (a MGWR ex-first), I think all are still maroon. The second was that video clip at Castlerea. The other is of a LRTL or IRRS special on the Arigna branch in the late 1950s when the very decrepit regular brake compo was joined by another tatterd old relic, in very badly faded GSR livery, possibly the latest date anything in GSR guise was still ever to be seen in use.

Edited Wednesday at 19:13 by jhb171achill

[Mol_PMB]

I was having a look through the Dermot McCarthy collection (Cork Local Studies Library) and found this slightly gloomy shot dated 20/06/1953:

https://corkdigitalarchive.ie/items/show/1796

Of interest to the wagon nerd like me is the Gunpowder Van half in shot. Note the very low roof, sheet sides, cast plate on the door. These were rare beasts.

Here is a preserved GB equivalent which is similar in style and construction:

The fancy lettering on the side of the Irish one (we can read 'VAN' and perhaps make out the last few letters of 'GUNPOWDER'), may be the remnants of GSR livery. 

The 1975 CIE WTT includes them in the list of wagon types, with 8 ton tare, 7 ton capacity, and number series 15355/15444 [not continuous in that range, there were just a few converted from normal goods vans].

 

Sorry I'm a day late with this post...

[Westcorkrailway]

They needed that gunpowder to deliver Guinness to cork…all the protection was needed

[Mol_PMB]

5 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

They needed that gunpowder to deliver Guinness to cork…all the protection was needed

All those Rebels causing trouble…

[jhb171achill]

On 5/11/2025 at 3:43 PM, Westcorkrailway said:

Similar to before. Some views of Colm’s records to give a taste to encourage even a brisk viewing 

 

wedgeheads bullied AEC railcar under construction at Inchicore 

Colm made Christmas cards during this time! The west cork lines had a fan base! 

D class at work in the Quays of cork. (He’s gonna have lots of fun running around his train by the looks of things 

the only photo of an A class in the West cork lines as part of 1 of 2 trials that took place. It’s too bad that time has Hammered this photo, though the negative may still exist.

Awful negative, though - so blurred that even a new print wouldn't be any better - but of massive historical interest! Looks like the main line, of course, any idea where? And, I wonder, do we know who took it? Sounds like the type of thing that someone like Joe St Leger would suss out....

5 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

All those Rebels causing trouble…

Up da rebels!!!!