Tractionman Posted March 15 Posted March 15 I'm struggling to find many track plans for stations and yards, some useful ones in the excellent "Rails of..." series of books, and it's possible to work out approx running arrangements from some photos of stations, but are there somewhere published track plans for the 1970s-90s? I'm looking for some inspiration! Seeing the 1982 photo of Portarlington in the recent vol of IRR has got me thinking... Perhaps if folks have got track plans on file, photos etc, that they wouldn't mind posting and sharing, this thread could be a place for them Cheers, Keith
Mol_PMB Posted March 15 Posted March 15 There are over 300 here in the IRRS Flickr archive, covering a variety of eras. The older ones mostly wouldn't have changed much until the 1970s (except where stations/lines closed of course) https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/albums/72157713849028667/ You'll need to be an IRRS member to see them. Old large-scale maps are a good source of info too. 1
Tractionman Posted March 15 Author Posted March 15 Very many thanks, that's good to know, I'd better join! The old OS maps are useful for earlier periods, especially the historic 25" scale maps, but the large scale maps for later periods are harder to find online, I'd need a trip to an archive or library probably, to get a look at paper copies. Cheers, Keith 1
Tractionman Posted March 15 Author Posted March 15 Let's see if this works, this is the 25" for Portarlington 2
Antony Posted March 16 Posted March 16 I have the track plans drawn by Des Coakham, list attached, and I will upload any that you would like. There may be a few missing, it looks as if there are about 5 more listed than on file! dgc track plans list.pdf 1 1 2
Tractionman Posted March 16 Author Posted March 16 52 minutes ago, Antony said: I will upload any that you would like That's terrific, thank you very much for this, I'm having a good look through the list cheers, Keith
Horsetan Posted March 16 Posted March 16 2 hours ago, Antony said: I have the track plans drawn by Des Coakham, list attached, and I will upload any that you would like. There may be a few missing, it looks as if there are about 5 more listed than on file! dgc track plans list.pdf 141.64 kB · 15 downloads If Foxrock and also Ennis/Lahinch are available, would it be possible to view them, please?
snapper Posted March 17 Posted March 17 (edited) If you can find a copy of it, "Ireland (No. 6) (Railway Track Diagrams)" by quail is a good source. I think there are two versions, 1995 and 2003 Edited March 17 by snapper 1
Tractionman Posted March 17 Author Posted March 17 I see a few past topics have also covered prototype track plans, eg and I'm still looking at @Antony 's list
Tractionman Posted March 25 Author Posted March 25 Well a pleasant bit of research through looking at the great photos in various books including those by Michael McMahon has led me to Athlone Midland station, I like the look of this: http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway Stations A/Athlone Midland/IrishRailwayStations.html 4
skinner75 Posted March 25 Posted March 25 Such an impressive station building, though not shown in the selection of photos
Mol_PMB Posted March 25 Posted March 25 Quite a cramped site between the river and the canal, which always helps for a model railway layout. The main loco and goods facilities were elsewhere. Hopefully one or other of these links will work: https://arcg.is/0zXvzb0 Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer Ernie Shepherd's book on the MGWR includes an elevation drawing of the main station building, though it is not dimensioned. Plenty of photos in the IRRS Flickr archive, and of course a fair amount of it is still there including the ornate pump house by the Shannon as well as the station building and a few of the sheds. An interesting place, and would make a great model! 1 1
Tractionman Posted March 25 Author Posted March 25 47 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said: which always helps for a model railway layout yes, just doing some back of the envelope calculations, the OSi tool for the 25"-scale map gives 340m for the length from the overbridge in the west to the river bridge in the east, so that's 1116 feet, which in 4mm gives dimensions of 176" (about 14 and a half feet), or 4.48m, so manageable in the space I have (as scenic breaks, I'd substitute over bridges at each end...). food for thought I might mock this up in the loft with some track when I get the chance. cheers, Keith 1
west_clare_wanderer Posted March 25 Posted March 25 Another thumbs up for the OSI website https://osi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d5bdc7daef3e4537b67caa31dfcc42d5. It's an amazing resource. I do warn you though, you'll lose hours and hours of your life to it just exploring! 4
west_clare_wanderer Posted March 25 Posted March 25 (edited) 1 hour ago, west_clare_wanderer said: Another thumbs up for the OSI website https://osi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d5bdc7daef3e4537b67caa31dfcc42d5. It's an amazing resource. I do warn you though, you'll lose hours and hours of your life to it just exploring! Removed due to my idiocy!! Edited March 25 by west_clare_wanderer 1
skinner75 Posted March 25 Posted March 25 12 minutes ago, west_clare_wanderer said: PS- it's the 'MapGenie 6 Inch First Edition Black & White' you want to be using for trackplans. I can't find any trace of railway on that one! No sign of Amiens/Connolly Station as far as I can see. The 25 Inch map has plenty of detail of the layout of Amiens St 1
leslie10646 Posted March 25 Posted March 25 47 minutes ago, west_clare_wanderer said: Another thumbs up for the OSI website https://osi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d5bdc7daef3e4537b67caa31dfcc42d5. It's an amazing resource. I do warn you though, you'll lose hours and hours of your life to it just exploring! I have to back up @west_clare_wanderer's comment. It's a great resource. Thank you to you tax payers in the Republic for underwriting a great resource! When I was cataloguing the late David Soggee's superb slides, I found a sequence around Palace East and could not work out what was happening. Off to OSI maps, where I blew the map section up and up until I could nearly count the sleepers, could see the exact layout and work out a solution. Better, I think, than ours over here! Honestly never tried the UK one! 1
Tractionman Posted March 25 Author Posted March 25 (edited) 6 hours ago, skinner75 said: 25 Inch map yes it's the 25" scale OS that has the details on the track layouts, there's some debate (among map historians) on how reliably the 25" sheets show actual track configurations, whether there was some simplification of layouts in certain cases, but on the whole this map scale is the best for plotting out track-plans and taking dimensions for model railways , compared to the 6", which is too small in scale compared to the 25" plus the first edition OS 6" in Ireland is from the 1830s, so too early, whereas the 25" sheets come later, so railways have appeared! the National Library of Scotland has something similar online: https://maps.nls.uk/os/ and their available historic OS sheets are increasingly now covering Ireland: https://maps.nls.uk/os/#ireland the NLS maps available now for GB include later large-scale series, from the 1960s/1970s (https://maps.nls.uk/os/national-grid/), but OSi at the mo does not include these online. cheers, Keith Edited March 25 by Tractionman 4
west_clare_wanderer Posted March 25 Posted March 25 29 minutes ago, skinner75 said: I can't find any trace of railway on that one! No sign of Amiens/Connolly Station as far as I can see. The 25 Inch map has plenty of detail of the layout of Amiens St Sorry, what a goon I am. I typed that jn a rush and was completely wrong! You've correctly identified the right one. Sorry 2
ttc0169 Posted March 25 Posted March 25 2 hours ago, Tractionman said: yes, just doing some back of the envelope calculations, the OSi tool for the 25"-scale map gives 340m for the length from the overbridge in the west to the river bridge in the east, so that's 1116 feet, which in 4mm gives dimensions of 176" (about 14 and a half feet), or 4.48m, so manageable in the space I have (as scenic breaks, I'd substitute over bridges at each end...). food for thought I might mock this up in the loft with some track when I get the chance. cheers, Keith It would be an ideal project-lots of traffic potential from Galway/Mayo lines at the west end and Mullingar/Portarlington at the east end -the Shannon bridge would be an impressive sight-good luck if you progress with it. 8 1
Chris_w Posted March 26 Posted March 26 For Tractionman… This is from another thread…. I have now ‘finished’ coverage of the CDRJC and predecessors, plus the atlas of NW Ireland. They are now hosted by: UCD (University College Dublin), link below https://libguides.ucd.ie/findingmaps/mapstheme CIE (Irish Railways Archive online), link below https://www.cie.ie/who-we-are/heritage-and-archives/cie-group-archives/archives-blogs-and-links/atlas-of-the-railways-of-north-west-ireland Hope these are useful to you. I have not updated my Flickr collection. So much easier with these hosts, to whom I am very grateful. Still 2 missing from Derry. I have the OSNI plans for 1933. I’m still trying to find the original 1848 OS plan of Derry. The Corporation paid the OS to produce a manuscript large scale map (plan) at a scale of 1:2640 (24 inches to the mile). It should show the original terminus of the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway, known as ‘Gallows Strand’ in the location of what later became the loco depot after Foyle Road was opened in 1850. This will save you going to my Flickr selection. See comment above as to why. I have asked similar question about Strabane GNRI goods yard. The NLI has some railway photos. One I found was taken from the CDRJC bridge over the GNRI line looking towards the station. It’s very hazy so not immediately much use. I took a small section of the photo and significantly enlarged and edited it for more clarity. I have recently discovered Google Gemini AI and been experimenting with it. Needs careful ‘handling’ (ie instructions you give it, because it can produce some very strange results). A few days ago I happened to see what it would do with this very corner of the NLI image. Apologies for copyright, but this is substantially edited…. I can’t guarantee it doesn’t contain changes made by the AI, but it is a startling result. Below is an infographic I when doing Strabane. Don’t know if any of this helps. 1 1 3
Tractionman Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 21 minutes ago, Chris_w said: For Tractionman… very much appreciated, thank you for this, those examples look great! all the best, Keith
airfixfan Posted March 26 Posted March 26 53 minutes ago, Chris_w said: For Tractionman… This is from another thread…. I have now ‘finished’ coverage of the CDRJC and predecessors, plus the atlas of NW Ireland. They are now hosted by: UCD (University College Dublin), link below https://libguides.ucd.ie/findingmaps/mapstheme CIE (Irish Railways Archive online), link below https://www.cie.ie/who-we-are/heritage-and-archives/cie-group-archives/archives-blogs-and-links/atlas-of-the-railways-of-north-west-ireland Hope these are useful to you. I have not updated my Flickr collection. So much easier with these hosts, to whom I am very grateful. Still 2 missing from Derry. I have the OSNI plans for 1933. I’m still trying to find the original 1848 OS plan of Derry. The Corporation paid the OS to produce a manuscript large scale map (plan) at a scale of 1:2640 (24 inches to the mile). It should show the original terminus of the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway, known as ‘Gallows Strand’ in the location of what later became the loco depot after Foyle Road was opened in 1850. This will save you going to my Flickr selection. See comment above as to why. I have asked similar question about Strabane GNRI goods yard. The NLI has some railway photos. One I found was taken from the CDRJC bridge over the GNRI line looking towards the station. It’s very hazy so not immediately much use. I took a small section of the photo and significantly enlarged and edited it for more clarity. I have recently discovered Google Gemini AI and been experimenting with it. Needs careful ‘handling’ (ie instructions you give it, because it can produce some very strange results). A few days ago I happened to see what it would do with this very corner of the NLI image. Apologies for copyright, but this is substantially edited…. I can’t guarantee it doesn’t contain changes made by the AI, but it is a startling result. Below is an infographic I when doing Strabane. Don’t know if any of this helps. Photos of GNR original goods shed in Strabane are scarce as gold dust or an honest politician!
west_clare_wanderer Posted March 26 Posted March 26 6 hours ago, Chris_w said: I have now ‘finished’ coverage of the CDRJC and predecessors, plus the atlas of NW Ireland. They are now hosted by: UCD (University College Dublin), link below https://libguides.ucd.ie/findingmaps/mapstheme CIE (Irish Railways Archive online), link below https://www.cie.ie/who-we-are/heritage-and-archives/cie-group-archives/archives-blogs-and-links/atlas-of-the-railways-of-north-west-ireland Hope these are useful to you. Thank you!!
Chris_w Posted March 27 Posted March 27 More information for Tractionman from another thread. Here is link… This might be more helpful. 1
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