Ennis to Waterford Timber

[IrishModelRail]

Hi everyone,

 

I was wondering if anyone had any information on the timber traffic from Ennis to Waterford. I was unaware of this traffic until I saw a picture in the 'Rails through the West' book. The picture is from Limerick Check and shows 123 and 131 with 9/10 laden bogie timbers. The caption indicated that it departed Ennis at 17:00. The date is Saturday 13th of June, 1998. on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland 'Mapviewer', the satellite image from 2000 of Ennis shows a timber train in the yard so the flow ran at least until then. Does anyone know when it ceased? Why it ceased? How frequent was it?

 

An help will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks!

IMR.

[Eiretrains]

The original timber flows which began in 1994 used a lot more locations for the source of timber than in later years, such as Ennis. Other locations included Killarney and Galway, as well as obscurer places such as Millstreet, Gorey and a once-off operation from Kingscourt. It was an interesting time and the routes were flexible, with a flow serving Clonmel (a very regular destination then) been recorded operating from Ballina via Tuam. There was also a brief period when Donegal timber destined for Waterford saw trains starting in Derry but this was subsequently transferred to the Sligo route. The original contract for conveying timber by rail from all these places ceased in October 2001, with the last trains finishing in November or so.

 

In 2003, a renewed contract saw the timber trains return to Irish Rail but featuring trains from Sligo, Ballina/Westport to Waterford only. Unfortunately none of the other previous locations/routes featured and the smaller four-wheel timber wagons were scrapped, leaving just the bogey types left, and even some places like Killarney would no longer be able to handle such traffic. Every so often a rumour surfaces about a Derry timber but seems unlikely since the Sligo flow has also since ceased. You will find some info of the early flows in the 1990s Irish Railway News and the older IRRS Journals.

[josefstadt]

There were at one time ambitious plans to build an industrial siding from the former New Ross line into the Louisiana Pacific plant, The junction would have been close to where the N29 Belview Port access road crosses the alignment of the New Ross line.

Edited August 3, 2014 by josefstadt

[IrishModelRail]

The original timber flows which began in 1994 used a lot more locations for the source of timber than in later years, such as Ennis. Other locations included Killarney and Galway, as well as obscurer places such as Millstreet, Gorey and a once-off operation from Kingscourt. It was an interesting time and the routes were flexible, with a flow serving Clonmel (a very regular destination then) been recorded operating from Ballina via Tuam. There was also a brief period when Donegal timber destined for Waterford saw trains starting in Derry but this was subsequently transferred to the Sligo route. The original contract for conveying timber by rail from all these places ceased in October 2001, with the last trains finishing in November or so.

 

In 2003, a renewed contract saw the timber trains return to Irish Rail but featuring trains from Sligo, Ballina/Westport to Waterford only. Unfortunately none of the other previous locations/routes featured and the smaller four-wheel timber wagons were scrapped, leaving just the bogey types left, and even some places like Killarney would no longer be able to handle such traffic. Every so often a rumour surfaces about a Derry timber but seems unlikely since the Sligo flow has also since ceased. You will find some info of the early flows in the 1990s Irish Railway News and the older IRRS Journals.

 

 

Thanks! When you say the timber returned to Irish Rail do you mean it had stopped at some point? The February 1999 IRRS JOURNAL states that 'on average, two trains per day are being operated to Waterford to service the Louisiana Pacific factory;' I wish there were that many nowadays! Why did the Galway, Ennis and Sligo timber traffic cease? And of course all of the other timber flows?

[Eiretrains]

Thanks! When you say the timber returned to Irish Rail do you mean it had stopped at some point? The February 1999 IRRS JOURNAL states that 'on average, two trains per day are being operated to Waterford to service the Louisiana Pacific factory;' I wish there were that many nowadays! Why did the Galway, Ennis and Sligo timber traffic cease? And of course all of the other timber flows?

Yes between November 2001 to 2003 there were no timber trains at all. There was sort of a rethink when it came back and it might have been deemed uneconomical to operate so many trains on so many different routes, particularly when taking into the levels of crew manning and maintenance (CTC plans were rationalising as many sidings and track.), for instance the Derry trains was an incredibly long roundabout trip requiring NIR staff, it was a time when freight was been scaled back year by year with more emphasis on long-distance point-to-point freight services.

[IrishModelRail]

Yes between November 2001 to 2003 there were no timber trains at all. There was sort of a rethink when it came back and it might have been deemed uneconomical to operate so many trains on so many different routes, particularly when taking into the levels of crew manning and maintenance (CTC plans were rationalising as many sidings and track.), for instance the Derry trains was an incredibly long roundabout trip requiring NIR staff, it was a time when freight was been scaled back year by year with more emphasis on long-distance point-to-point freight services.

 

So there were flows form Galway, Ennis, Westport, Ballina, Sligo, Killarney, Millstreet and Gorey? Were these all regular?