Any hope for the West Clare?

[Mol_PMB]

Hmm, so the ideal Irish heritage railway would be a horse-drawn one… Several options available. 

[Horsetan]

3 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Hmm, so the ideal Irish heritage railway would be a horse-drawn one… Several options available. 

Fintona, anyone?

[GSWR 90]

The MGWR six-wheelers eg at Downpatrick and Whitehead have hooks on the side for horse shunting

[Broithe]

29 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Hmm, so the ideal Irish heritage railway would be a horse-drawn one… Several options available. 

Having had to nurse a good few dodgy draughtsmen in my time, I'm not sure I would get on a train that had been drawn by a horse.

[Horsetan]

4 hours ago, Broithe said:

Having had to nurse a good few dodgy draughtsmen in my time, I'm not sure I would get on a train that had been drawn by a horse.

What's not to like?

https://youtu.be/0R5nAokvGSQ?is=_SZsyJ9I8xhse6Ew

[Brendan8056]

I feel Mayner has summed the situation up very well. I am happy to add my experiences of "preserved" Irish Railways. The Tralee-Blennerville, perhaps the least impressive steam railway ever. A steam loco and a couple of Spanish coaches, not much about the heritage of the line. I am sure I read an original railway building was demolised to make a run round loop? It ended at a windmill, which had an identical visitor exhibition,words and pictures, to one at Cobh I had already visited.

  I joined the society that was campaigning to reopen the Youghal branch, despite living in England, and back then there was no instant news or internet, and the group was poor at communicating . Suddenly they gathered loads of old coaches at Mallow and had started to restore them for use on a branch in another part of Ireland. Then just as suddenly they had re-imported a steam loco from America (see above?). I gave up after that.

   I would suggest comparing Ireland to Norway,I went there a few years back, which has an even sparser population but has a nice National Railway Museum with opearting trains on the site. There is a line at Bergen that uses part of an old standard gauge line, a couple of narrow gauge lines, a long way from each other, and a lovely narrow gauge electric railway with beautiful old locos and coaches. Not forgetting the line that goes into a mountain where silver was mined for the Royal Mint, the only line I have visited that issues ear plugs to passengers. The one at Bergen was the only one near a major population centre. 

  A quick search shows Ireland has a higher GDP per head than Norway. The latter is of course North Sea oil and gas while the former is mainly due to offshore,US,corporations using Irish tax laws. According to Irish Times figures,and a quick bit of maths, it seems each Google employee in Ireland earns the US company e17.5 millions per annum in 2024. 

Perhaps instead of searching Google we should all ask Google for a bung of cash?

   

   

[cheesy_peas]

2 hours ago, Brendan8056 said:

.   I would suggest comparing Ireland to Norway,I went there a few years back, which has an even sparser population but has a nice National Railway Museum with opearting trains on the site.

   

I've always wondered about countries you wouldn't think would have an affinity with railways like the English do, having loads of restored and static old locos and railway museums.

The Scandi, as mentioned, and Iberian countries come to mind. They were as poor as Ireland was at one time.

[Horsetan]

2 hours ago, Brendan8056 said:

....There is a line at Bergen that uses part of an old standard gauge line, a couple of narrow gauge lines, a long way from each other, and a lovely narrow gauge electric railway with beautiful old locos and coaches. Not forgetting the line that goes into a mountain where silver was mined for the Royal Mint, the only line I have visited that issues ear plugs to passengers. The one at Bergen was the only one near a major population centre. ...

Bergen also has the Fløjbanen, but that's a funicular rather than a branchline.

As far as asking Google for a bung goes, good luck with that. 

Edited Monday at 11:03 by Horsetan

[Mayner]

22 hours ago, cheesy_peas said:

I've always wondered about countries you wouldn't think would have an affinity with railways like the English do, having loads of restored and static old locos and railway museums.

The Scandi, as mentioned, and Iberian countries come to mind. They were as poor as Ireland was at one time.

Personally I don't buy the 'poor as Irish" narrative Ireland had begun to become quite prosperous during the era the railway preservation movement had begun to emerge in the United Kingdom. Some people become good at making "an béal bocht" to gain sympathy and use it to our advantage (including the business sector) but Ireland entered an era of prosperity from the late 50s until the 73 oil crisis with improved living conditions and falling emigration, as a people we just wern't really interested in trains, the unreliable Crossley diesels with their frequent breakdowns didn't help.

In my extended family country cousins who remained on the land expanded their holdings and became prosperous farmers and those that left the land established businesses in Dublin one family from Co Cavan established a successful housebuilding company, another cousin and her husband established a chain of electrical appliance and TV stores. The Dublin branch of the family all had steady employment during this period in the trade and service sectors, thier children all continuing into secondary education, trade or tertiary during the 60s & 70s a first within our extended family.

"An béal bocht" kicked in again after the 1st oil crisis this time from the housebuilding sector, with lobbying for grants and an easing of lending restrictions to encourage 1st time home buyers. These incentives introduced late contributed to a late 70s property boom during which it became necessary to recruit trades (particularly bricklayers) from the UK to keep up with demand and inflation with rapidly increasing house prices (housebuilders simply increased house prices by the value of the grant (initially £1000 later £3000) avg price 3bed Tce we were building increasing for £13.5-17.5k in 3 years and a shift to larger higher priced houses as lending restrictions were eased I completed my first £100k home (for a surgeon) in 1980. The whole applecart collapsed with a Government debt crisis and a credit squeeze as the chickens came home to roost in 1982, tax cuts (motor tax & domestic rates abolished 77 and the second oil crisis did not help.

Early-Mid 80s was not a good time for railway preservation or for that matter anything in Ireland. I was made redundant 83 company just about survived, signs of revival cut short by Vat increase on new homes June 85, contractor I was working for casually decided to re-locate to the USA in 86 and I headed for Hollyhead and did well during the Lawson Boom. 

Best to keep to model trains these day, no longer have the time or physically able to volunteer on our local line, though sometimes a good escape from everyday reality

[Broithe]

A lot of it as about what people are really interested in and prepared to make some genuine effort about. Not about what they talk about.

I'm back to living in Rathdowney, mostly. Amongst the people I know, who have lived their whole lives here, well over 50% have never been to the Rock of Dunamase.

The Slieve Bloom mountains, clearly visible on the northern horizon, might as well be on the Moon. Someone decided to start a walking group and, with no idea where anywhere was, quickly decided that I was the local expert. We did a good few and usually, nobody else in the group had ever been to the places we went to - often not even having heard of them.

When I was away for a few weeks, the onus fell on the next most knowledgeable person. She's a German who had not been living here for even a full year at that point.

We have a decent museum in the old workhouse in Donaghmore. Most people have never been there, but would be up in arms if "they" decided to close it.
 

Etc...

[cheesy_peas]

6 minutes ago, Broithe said:

A lot of it as about what people are really interested in and prepared to make some genuine effort about. Not about what they talk about.

Like talk about how people say they love Irish and wanting to learn it when they have no intention of doing so.

Real genuine interest is probably the "secret sauce" we lack.

[GSWR 90]

1 hour ago, Broithe said:

A lot of it as about what people are really interested in and prepared to make some genuine effort about. Not about what they talk about.

As I have said elsewhere on this forum, everyone wants a Severn Valley Railway in their back garden, but very few are willing to do anything about it. Unfortunately from my experience, it is often left to a small number of people to put their money where their mouth is and actually donate/volunteer. This stunts the preservation scene in Ireland and puts an excessive strain on the people who actually do the work. 

1 hour ago, Broithe said:

The Slieve Bloom mountains, clearly visible on the northern horizon, might as well be on the Moon.

I am always amazed by the number of people who say that they can't volunteer at Downpatrick because they live half an hour away, or they can't visit because it's two hours up the road. Compare with the number of volunteers we have who come up from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Derry, Kildare, etc. and keep coming back because they enjoy themselves. The most difficult part is putting in the effort to make the jump and come down the first time – if you're interested in volunteering with DCDR, even online, send me a PM.

1 hour ago, cheesy_peas said:

Like talk about how people say they love Irish and wanting to learn it when they have no intention of doing so.

Real genuine interest is probably the "secret sauce" we lack.

The secret sauce has two ingredients: genuine interest and a willingness to make an effort. 

It's appalling that we have such a rich culture – language, music, dance, sport, history, mythology, on top of our unique railway history – that so many neglect and take for granted. I appreciate that we can't all contribute to all of them, but if we all played our part in one or two it would make a massive difference.

Edited 17 hours ago by GSWR 90

[Westcorkrailway]

I think in a few places in the country, your right to be “annoyed” at a lack of a nearby volunteer base. 
 

in Cork the nearest is either Listowel, Carrick on suir or the WSVR. All of which are quite a 3-4 hour round trip! There is probably a few other blind spots. As well.

 

but at the end of the Day. Most willing to volounteer don’t just give up. One man I know does 12 hours a week on public transport to volunteer with the RPSI. Quite a number did a 9 hour round trip to go to maam cross. myself and a few others stay a night in the north every so often to volunteer at Downpatrick ect. overall there is very few down here who don’t have there thumb in a pie somehere hours and hours up the road. 
 

I was in West Clare myself 2 weeks ago. Moyasta has been badly damaged by vandals since the he last visit I made. But there has also been quite a lot of work done to make the area safe. Such as removing all broken glass (see above) which could have caused some injuries 

[Broithe]

8 minutes ago, GSWR 90 said:

As I have said elsewhere on this forum, everyone wants a Severn Valley Railway in their back garden, but very few are willing to do anything about it. Unfortunately from my experience, it is often left to a small number of people to put their money where their mouth is and actually donate/volunteer. This stunts the preservation scene in Ireland and puts an excessive strain on the people who actually do the work. 

Few people are 100% innocent. I lived about an hour from the SVR for 40+ years and I've never been there...       (Yet?)

If it was further away, I might have made the effort, but I could "always go next week".

I could see the Wrekin from my house - "I must go up that one day!" - I only finally did it at the end of last year, because, otherwise I might never do it.

It is fairly standard in all aspects of life that 10% of the people create 90% of the output. And vice versa.

 

23 minutes ago, GSWR 90 said:

It's appalling that we have such a rich culture – language, music, dance, sport, history, mythology, on top of our unique railway history – that so many neglect and take for granted. I appreciate that we can't all contribute to all of them, but if we all played our part in one or two it would make a massive difference.

During the lockdown, on my cycling trips within the expanding radius, I started noticing there were far more roadside pumps around than I had previously realised. I started recording the locations and photographing them.

One of them was this cosmetically restored deep pump.

That picture is from 2021 and the mechanism down the well had collapsed long before, but it was a nice pictorial relic. However, the wooden structure was destroyed in the Big Storm 18 months ago.

The metal parts were saved and a few locals have decided that it should be rebuilt into a fully functional form. Parts from another similar pump, where the top parts were stolen, are available for the subterranean mechanism, apparently.

The recording of the pumps around the area, plus having a (distant) engineering background, has elevated me the the position of Senior Roadside Pump Expert for the local area. I was summoned to inspect the project the other day and we looked into the well, finding the remains of the the old mechanism.

Personally, I think another cosmetic rebuild would be best, but I'll go along with the prevailing view towards a fully functional recreation. But this will involve some serious work and a bit of expenditure, if it ever actually happens.

If we do get it working, we'll end up with 'Don't drink the water' signs plastered around it, etc.

The concrete cap is not in the best condition - replacing it with a new one will make it look a bit less 'heritage' for many years.

 

[Horsetan]

11 hours ago, cheesy_peas said:

Like talk about how people say they love Irish and wanting to learn it when they have no intention of doing so...

One of the most common phrases I used to hear was "I will, yeah..."