Waterford mixed train at Wexford 1945

[Wexford70]

Great old photo from Facebook.

What type of loco?

 

[Galteemore]

4 minutes ago, Wexford70 said:

Great old photo from Facebook.

What type of loco?

 

Saturated J15

[Killian Keane]

appears to be flipped left to right too, Ive never seen a 101/J15 with the smokebox hinges on the left

[Wexford70]

10 hours ago, Killian Keane said:

appears to be flipped left to right too, Ive never seen a 101/J15 with the smokebox hinges on the left

I think you are right as it looks to be be going south but should be going north to Macmine junction.

[jhb171achill]

6 hours ago, Wexford70 said:

I think you are right as it looks to be be going south but should be going north to Macmine junction.

I don’t think the North Wexford trains ran straight into Wexford, but if the had gone, they’d have gone to the north station, thus not on the tramway. 

Instead, they turned back at Macmine. 

The loco is a J15 - most local workings in the south-east were handled by these at that time. 

Given the rolling stock, this train is almost certainly a Wexford - Rosslare working, not Waterford. 

[StevieB]

The original is a John Macartney Robbins photo in Classic Irish Steam published by the IRRS.

Stehen

[jhb171achill]

25 minutes ago, StevieB said:

The original is a John Macartney Robbins photo in Classic Irish Steam published by the IRRS.

Stehen

Was that his caption? Can’t see him making a mistake like that.

However, given the rolling stock and the fact that it’s on the quays, and it’s GSR (not GSWR) days, and it’s a string of six-wheelers, I would assume there are only two possibilities.

1. It’s a Rosslare - Wexford local, as I said, and which I think most likely. 

2. it’s a special of some sort. 

Felthouse Junction to Killinick was disused after 1912. 

However, when I get home I’ll peruse the WTTs for the 1925-45 period to see if there were passenger trains which reversed at Rosslare Strand. If so, that’s a possibility. There certainly WERE goods workings, well into modern diesel days between Waterford & Wexford, reversing at the Strand. Barry C and myself covered these in one of our books. 


 

 

Edited yesterday at 13:20 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

On 8/11/2026 at 8:52 AM, Wexford70 said:

Great old photo from Facebook.

What type of loco?

 

The right way round….

Just thinking too - J M Robbins’ photos didn’t always have captions. I copied two some years ago (for the Achill book) which had nothing written on the back… I wasn’t even aware until later whose photos they were. 

[StevieB]

A September 1944 scene on the quayside at Wexford sees J15 Class 0-6-0 No 133 making its way to Wexford North with a mixed train of passenger and goods stock from Rosslare Harbour. All of the 6-wheel carriages are in the Great Southern Railway’s maroon livery and the first vehicle is a TPO van. Just visible beside No 133’s tender is a ground frame which controlled access to a parallel siding on the quay, enabling cargo to be transferred between ships and wagons. Apart from a donkey cart there is a distinct lack of road vehicles, unlike tiday.

[jhb171achill]

56 minutes ago, StevieB said:

A September 1944 scene on the quayside at Wexford sees J15 Class 0-6-0 No 133 making its way to Wexford North with a mixed train of passenger and goods stock from Rosslare Harbour. All of the 6-wheel carriages are in the Great Southern Railway’s maroon livery and the first vehicle is a TPO van. Just visible beside No 133’s tender is a ground frame which controlled access to a parallel siding on the quay, enabling cargo to be transferred between ships and wagons. Apart from a donkey cart there is a distinct lack of road vehicles, unlike today.

Excellent - precisely as I thought; not Waterford to Wexford. Interesting that it's a mixed train. Had a look at the 1944 WTT - This train started the day as the 08:00 mixed from Rosslare Harbour (not "Europort"!) to Wexford. It left Wexford as a mixed at 06:50, arriving at the harbour at 07:30. Stops were at Wexford South (passenger only), Rosslare Strand (passenger and goods0, Kilrane (passenger only) and the harbour (both). It left again at 08:00 after shunting the goods siding at the harbour, then proceeded back (again serving Rosslare Strand for goods), arriving Wexford at 08:34.

It did a return trip from Wexford to the Strand (only) again at 14:00, returning back to Wexford at 15:15, arriving where it is seen at 15:45. This is likely to be the working in the photo as there are no long shadows. The same set did an third return trip at 18:00, again only to Rosslare Strand, before arriving back at Wexford at 19:35.

Throughout the life of these Wexford to Rosslare local workings, right up into black'n'tan days, the passenger rolling stock used tended to be among the most ancient a decrepit on the system.

It's hard to make out exactly, but I think the leading van is ex-MGWR. The next two carriages, and possibly the third, are ex-DSER. Two of them are very badly faded - if the paintwork has faded, as it has, to a nondescript salmony-pink colour, it's likely the interiors are also quite shabby. The GSR, and later CIE, seems to have had an aversion to maintaining ex-DSE stock as well as ex-Midland and ex-southern stock. Senior recalled that by the 1930s, there were at least as many "foreign" carriages on the DSER as "native ones". The locomotive position was similar, with (as seen here) many J15s especially on the southern end of the line (they were regulars on the North Wexford line until the end of steam. In addition, Wexford shed for years had a WLWR G3 2.4.0, and the Shillelagh branch had a MGWR "E" class 0.6.0 tank engine fopr a while, as well as J15s appearing there, chiefly on fair days. Bray had J15s too, seen often on local trains, and of copurse the northern end of the line even had a "Bandon Tank".

Anyway; plenty there to inspire any modeller. The late KMCE (Ken McElhinney) of this parish was at the forefront of reviving interest in this most fascinating of all our railway companies. I am delighted to have several of his 3D printed ex-DWWR wagons, and his first "print" of a DSER six-wheeler, currently "in the shops" awaiting repainting into CIE plain green.     

Here’s the WTT, with Mitchelstown included too, as (a) it’s on the same page, (b) I don’t charge extra for it, and (c) for the craic. 

[jhb171achill]

While we’re at it, a few more random pages from the same WTT. These may be of interest to anyone planning a layout based on rural lines in the past. 

Should anyone else be interested in historical timetable details, always feel free to ping me publicly here, or privately. I can look it up - I’ve details from most lines. Disclaimer; not so much since the 1980s, as the modern era holds little interest to me. 

Last pic is an 1877-era GSWR passenger brake, STILL in GSWR “crimson lake” in the 1950s, as a departmental vehicle. Photo by Cyril Fry.