what a way to run a railway

[Junctionmad]

In my great quest to tie down the actual layout of the abandoned engine shed area at Limerick Junction, I formed an abiding view of the mess that irish railways are in.

 

The area must have been dug up about 4 times in 40 years , then let rot , then dug up then rot.

 

 

 

I mean

 

here it is in 64

 

 

 

 

Relatively nice and orderly , facing point lock covers etc, no weeds sidings usable

 

 

 

Then some bright spark in 69 churns up the engines sheds to weld continous rail

 

 

 

 

OK you think , investment , planning etc

 

 

And here it is a few years later !!!!

 

 

 

Then fast forward to today and they have changed it all again and under gone a refurbish to a PW department, even ballasting the siding beside the south cabin

 

 

 

 

This reminds me of the fiasco with the 201, etc and even mk3, IR engineers push for "favourite" projects, spend money , no real plan, then no money, all thrown to waste. This railway is just some engineers "latest toy " really ( like buying railcars that are capable of 125mph , yet not a screed of a budget to implement that , yet perfectly good locos left rusting )

 

And its no wonder Im bamboozled about the engine shed layout !!!

Edited September 9, 2014 by Junctionmad

[heirflick]

sure isnt it all part of the fun of irish railways! great pics there bty:tumbsup:

[Junctionmad]

Thanks

[DiveController]

Wht was the 201 fiasco? ... getting slightly off thread (but you brought it up)

[Noel]

Thanks

 

Not sure if this is what LJM was referring to but from memory when the 201s were first introduced their automatic 'fly by wire' control software was not ideally suited to the Irish climate and in the first year had reliablity issues. On some routes they may have even reverted back to 071s until the 201 software was changed. I remember chatting to a driver who explained the issue was highlighted by leaves on the rails, or severe ice, allowing wheel spin. I hope my memory is not failing me but I think he told me when this happened the 201s early fly by wire software sensed this and stopped drive to the wheels, whereas on the older GMs drivers had more manual control and knew how to keep the locos running. Resulting in false 'breakdown' events during the first year. If there are any CIE/IE drivers on here from that mid 1990s era they will be able to give a more accurate explanation of what the early 201 reliability problems were. LJM, is this what you were alluding to? There were some other mechanical reliability issues that had to be snagged out in early years.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Noel

[heirflick]

thanks for that info noel - made for interesting reading! can you remember what the other mrchanical issues were with the 201's?

[Junctionmad]

What I meant was the series of decisions, that lead to the purchase of 201 class, a loco good for 40-50 years of service, to then have it effectively mothballed, when IR suddenly dumped loco hauled mainline trains ( in general) . Looking at the modern railcar sets , what the point in buying 125mph capable sets when thats only a pipe dream ( and its not the solution to rail issues in Ireland)

 

You only have to look at the "progress" of CIE/IR to see its run by engineers ( and Im an engineer) who like jackdaws, want a shiny new toy. IN private companies , this exuberance is kept in check by the commercial capital issues, in public company, there is a desert of capital, followed by a blizzard, stuff is then bought for all the wrong reasons and then in a few years in all got "grass growing through it again"