Rails through the west

[heirflick]

hi lads, just got a copy of 'rails through the west' by j beaumont and b carse. great read with some fantastic pics of freight from a bygone era. an 'illustrated journey on the western rail corridor' is what it says on trhe cover and thats what you get! goes from the early 70's to the present day. there is one great shot of sulzer 103 on the weedsprayer on the burma road. thanks to enniscorthy man for the tip on the book. available from easons for 20 smackers with free postage . ( great to take your mind off the mother-in-law!!)

[enniscorthyman]

Glad you like it Seamus and yes its a cracker and great for modelling

Purposes as well.

[Garfield]

hi lads, just got a copy of 'rails through the west' by j beaumont and b carse. great read with some fantastic pics of freight from a bygone era. an 'illustrated journey on the western rail corridor' is what it says on trhe cover and thats what you get! goes from the early 70's to the present day. there is one great shot of sulzer 103 on the weedsprayer on the burma road. thanks to enniscorthy man for the tip on the book. available from easons for 20 smackers with free postage . ( great to take your mind off the mother-in-law!!)

 

J Beaumont is none other than JHBAchill171, who should be here in due course.

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

I hope to get a copy of this book Enniscorthyman says its great

[ttc0169]

Morning lads,

I'd highly recommend this book if you intend to model the 1970-1990s era of CIE/IR,

I like the photos of the single 121 in Athenry and Oranmore,

The track plans at the back pages of the book is also very useful,

The Knock specials at Claremorris along with the line up of M and C class buses are also interesting.

[enniscorthyman]

Another book I picked up at the Wexford show-Railways in Ireland part 4-Great Southern and Western

by Martin Bairstow.Great photos and ideal for model reference.

Also the two dvds of the West Cork Railways come highly

recommended.

[Weshty]

Got the book in O'Mahony's bookstore in Limerick two week ago. It is an absolute joy. Great colour photos that capture the heyday of diesel in that glorious period of the early to mid 70's (never thought I'd junxapoint 70's with glorious, but hey, that's nostalgia for you).

 

The site of cattle being unloaded at Ennis station in 1972 (Page 20) really makes the point that the past is another country.

[Mayner]

Got the book in O'Mahony's bookstore in Limerick two week ago. It is an absolute joy. Great colour photos that capture the heyday of diesel in that glorious period of the early to mid 70's (never thought I'd junxapoint 70's with glorious, but hey, that's nostalgia for you).

 

The site of cattle being unloaded at Ennis station in 1972 (Page 20) really makes the point that the past is another country.

 

 

Weshty you forgot to mention the best part was that the cattle were being loaded at the Down Passenger platform, a real bull in a china shop image with flower baskets, potted palms, the farmer looking on dressed in his 70s best brown suit.

 

There is/was a video from the same era of the Sligo-Limerick Goods shunting at Kiltimagh a B141 with a Lomac & a JCB setting back into the yard to pick up some vans, the shunter another 70s fashion victim wearing a suit with elephant flared pants and platform shoes. I wonder how long he survived.

 

John

[jhb171achill]

Ah Garfield ye have blown me cover! Thanks, folks, for your encouraging ansd complimentary comments. I hope you enjoy it and that it is of value to modellers.

 

I suppose I should declare my hand; I was a modeller once and never lost interest. I am astounded by the quality of the models and layouts shown on this forum, which is why I keep coming back. At some stage in the future, if time permits, I would be back at it again. I had a layout loosely based on a CDRJC - sized system under CIE ownership in an imaginary part of the west, with a terminus in somewhere like Westport. It ran for some years in my attic until an issue with an overheated central heating system put paid to it. I never took any photos... It would never have aspired to the standards shown here so often, nowadays. And, of course, there was nothing ready to run...

 

To the book; we did a London launch at the IRRS London area meeting the other night and it all went well. Barry and I have a follow up project planned, though neither of us have time to pursue it probably till next year.

 

That goods train shown several times in the book, and which is on the cover, was the last train over the Burma Road, way back in '75. As Barry was taking these photos, I was busy gricing Loughrea with only two days to go until it closed.

 

Thanks, indeed, to a colleague who has just sent me a load of unssen photos of G's all over Loughrea station and branch... there's a project for ANOTHER day!

[Garfield]

Ah Garfield ye have blown me cover! Thanks, folks, for your encouraging ansd complimentary comments. I hope you enjoy it and that it is of value to modellers.

 

I suppose I should declare my hand; I was a modeller once and never lost interest. I am astounded by the quality of the models and layouts shown on this forum, which is why I keep coming back. At some stage in the future, if time permits, I would be back at it again. I had a layout loosely based on a CDRJC - sized system under CIE ownership in an imaginary part of the west, with a terminus in somewhere like Westport. It ran for some years in my attic until an issue with an overheated central heating system put paid to it. I never took any photos... It would never have aspired to the standards shown here so often, nowadays. And, of course, there was nothing ready to run...

 

To the book; we did a London launch at the IRRS London area meeting the other night and it all went well. Barry and I have a follow up project planned, though neither of us have time to pursue it probably till next year.

 

That goods train shown several times in the book, and which is on the cover, was the last train over the Burma Road, way back in '75. As Barry was taking these photos, I was busy gricing Loughrea with only two days to go until it closed.

 

Thanks, indeed, to a colleague who has just sent me a load of unssen photos of G's all over Loughrea station and branch... there's a project for ANOTHER day!

 

 

Welcome aboard, JB... hope to see you soon!

[jhb171achill]

Thanks, Pat - much appreciated. Couldn't make the 171 for 171 today but the May Tour is heading down the line towards us.... as is another summer season at the Downs of Patrick. Anyone fancy doing a model of a DCDR O&K!!

 

Talking of which, expect to see sister loco to no 3, O&K No.1, make its debut this summer fresh from Whitehead.

[enniscorthyman]

A truely fantastic book Jonathan,and one of my fav photos

is B103 at Charlestown and the photo opposite of the bike

race having to jump over LC gates when closed across road.

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Thanks Eamonn for the heads up on this absolutely fantastic book picked up a copy at Bangor yesterday and had a great read on the sofa last night

[jhb171achill]

Many thanks enniscorthyman, that was one of my favourites too! I think of all of them, (and it's hard to pick a "best" out of barry's very high quality stuff!), my overall favourite is the goods trains crossing at Swinford and the trains crossing at Ballycar. All very workaday stuff, in the Indian Summer of the "Black'n'Tan" era.

 

And here a story. As a mere nipper, I was taken by my dad to Kildare signal cabin. He knew the signal man and probably wanted a break from a family gathering in my grandmother's in Athy. While we were there, a train came rustling through, and the conversation went like this between Senior and the signalman...

 

Snr: "Oh, is that one of the new engines?" (a grey 121)

Signalman: "Yes"

(Train whishes past - all coaches green bar the very last one in freshly painted orange and black)

"Oh, and that's the new carriage colours"

"Yeah... ye'd think we'd seen the last of the black'n'tans....."

 

Good oul dry wit!

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Many thanks enniscorthyman, that was one of my favourites too! I think of all of them, (and it's hard to pick a "best" out of barry's very high quality stuff!), my overall favourite is the goods trains crossing at Swinford and the trains crossing at Ballycar. All very workaday stuff, in the Indian Summer of the "Black'n'Tan" era.

 

And here a story. As a mere nipper, I was taken by my dad to Kildare signal cabin. He knew the signal man and probably wanted a break from a family gathering in my grandmother's in Athy. While we were there, a train came rustling through, and the conversation went like this between Senior and the signalman...

 

Snr: "Oh, is that one of the new engines?" (a grey 121)

Signalman: "Yes"

(Train whishes past - all coaches green bar the very last one in freshly painted orange and black)

"Oh, and that's the new carriage colours"

"Yeah... ye'd think we'd seen the last of the black'n'tans....."

 

Good oul dry wit!

 

 

 

 

Brilliant book mate brilliant book.

 

On another note I hope you would be the man to ask would you have any info or pictures of Gorawood just north of Newry. I have trawled the net but I only come up with very Limited information or photos

[jhb171achill]

Anthony - yes, Goraghwood does seem to have been ignored more than it should. There is a pic of it in a book published by the IRRS some years ago, though it's a small black'n'white. Some of the Colourpoint and Midland Publishing (Tom ferris) books have pics of it too.

 

Track plans etc might be avaliable in the IRRS archives in Dublin, if you are an IRRS member. If not, i would very much recommend joining, as the photographic collections they have are invaluable to modellers. I had a quicklook just now on the internet and right enough, can't see a lot there...

 

If you are an RPSI member, there are some other members who have photographic collections andif you were to ask for somthing specific they might be able to help. I will keepwhat you say in mind and ask one particular member on the May Tour. But do remind me afterwards!!!

 

And thank you again for your comments re the book... I'll relay all this to Barry, whose ears must be burning by now!

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

I did a lot of train spotting there in my days but you can't get access to it now as NIR have fenced it off. The other reason for the interest is my Farther tells me a lot of stories about Goraghwood and it would be nice to see pictures of this once quite busy and important but forgotten station on the Dublin/Belfast line. I will of course remind you in May and thanks for your help. I have the complete Irish Railways collection on DVD and there a few little clips of Goraghwood in them but that just wets my appetite for more info and photos on the station

Edited April 22, 2012 by Anthony

[enniscorthyman]

I did a lot of train spotting there in my days but you can't get access to it now as NIR have fenced it off. The other reason for the interest is my Farther tells me a lot of stories about Goraghwood and it would be nice to see pictures of this once quite busy and important but forgotten station on the Dublin/Belfast line. I will of course remind you in May and thanks for your help. I have the complete Irish Railways collection on DVD and there a few little clips of Goraghwood in them but that just wets my appetite for more info and photos on the station

The IRRS seems your best bet Ant,as I remember Rev Norman Gamble is/was a expert on GNR

aspects and done a good few articals in the journal.You could PM Ciaran-Eiretrains who is a IRRS member and

could let you know what photos are in the society.As Jonathan said worth joining IRRS.

[jhb171achill]

The RPSI's Charlie Friel is also an expert (probably the leading one) on all matters GNR. He has done many talks on such things, most recently a fascinating one in Belfast about Portadown and environs. Check out the RPSI's annual "winter meeting" season for monthly meetings in Belfast. The next lot will start probably in September.

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Thanks lads for the heads up

[heirflick]

johnathan, the more i go through the book , i realise that the C.I.E black and tan era was in my humble opinion the best! the pictures taken were great showing the whole relaxed athmosphere of railway operations in those days...unlike now with health and safety! galway station must have been some sight when in full swing and emagine seeing 30 locos stabled in claremorris-every enthuesests dream! i espically like the pic of the burma road showing good rails being replaced with worn ones! i hope the book will be a best seller for you and barry. i look forward to picking your brains on livery and detail matters in the future...... and now that we know who you are, you had better keep the books comming! seamus

[jhb171achill]

Seamus - very many thanks, and I will endeavour to live up to future expectations! Barry and I will be doing one follow up to this, and there are a few more ideas in the pipeline, several involving (I agree) the golden age of black'n'tan....

 

My own earliest forays out into the main network away from base, as it were, would have been in those now far-off days....

 

One for the livery / weathering specialists to model - a GNR covered van (as I once saw in Rock St, Tralee), in CIE grey livery, CIE broken wheel on it, and a standard cast numberplate with "N" after the number... and a large "G N" beginning to show clearly through well worn CIE grey paint....

[Guest hidden-agenda]

Great book Jnb i got a look at it at Bangor and i look forward to getting my copy and may be some day Barry and you would consider doing a book devoted to the freight scene.

Will you tell Barry that Garry was asking for him?

[aclass007]

Seamus - very many thanks, and I will endeavour to live up to future expectations! Barry and I will be doing one follow up to this, and there are a few more ideas in the pipeline, several involving (I agree) the golden age of black'n'tan....

 

My own earliest forays out into the main network away from base, as it were, would have been in those now far-off days....

 

One for the livery / weathering specialists to model - a GNR covered van (as I once saw in Rock St, Tralee), in CIE grey livery, CIE broken wheel on it, and a standard cast numberplate with "N" after the number... and a large "G N" beginning to show clearly through well worn CIE grey paint....

 

 

I also have Rails through the west, and would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate you on producing it! I'm delighted to hear that there's more in the pipeline. For me, the black'n'tan era was the golden age too.

I'd love to see a similar book on the Mallow - Waterford line....*hint hint*

[Mayner]

To me the most striking thing is the well maintained look of the locos stock and infrastructure in the late 1960s early 1970s compared with the more recent photos.

 

Maybe its something to do with the relatively new rolling stock the Bo Bos were practically new, most of the coaching and wagons stock has less than 20 years service.

 

Maybe the clean carriages, well maintined track and station gardens was more to do with staffing levels than anything else, expensive the sort of jobs that disappeared with mechanised track maintenance and the rationalisation of freight operation.

 

The re-railing of the Burma Road where 60' rails were taken out and replaced with shorter worn rail lengths is doubly ironic fitting in with the stories of lines being re-laid prior to closure and the temporary closure of the line North of Ennis 20 years later when track panels were used from the WRC were swapped with worn panels from elsewhere to keep the Ballina Branch and other lines open.

 

JHB

 

You mentioned the Loughrea Branch in its final days and the G Class. I understand that at one time CIE tried to use double headed Gs on a goods train rather than mixed train operation.

 

There has been some discussion on another forum whether with One Engine in Steam or Manual Staff working whether you could have a loco in a yard at the end of the single line section while the section was occupied.

 

Loughrea was worked under Manual Staff opertion in its final years, there was a piece in one of the old IRRS journals that when double heading one engine apparently G611or 617 was usually stabled in the goods shed when the Passenger was operating.

 

After arriving with the Passenger the Branch loco would then couple on to the engine in the shed and depart double headed with the goods to Attymon.

 

Do you know whether this was carried out with the Manual Staff or did they have to revert to ETS? The only reason I could see to using ETS was if you needed to run trains consecutively through the section. Once the second loco was in the loop or yard at Loughrea the single line would have been clear for one train operation.

 

John

[jhb171achill]

I'll try to reply to all. First, to Hidden agenda and A class 007, many thanks for your comments. I will tell BC that you were asking for him. (I'm on phone to him tonight). Freight and Mallow-Waterford... yes, we have discussed both of these, as well as three other long term potential projects, though the main thing I'm trying to get finished now is one on Galway - Clifden. As far as freight is concerned, the follow up to "Rails Through the West", while not specifically aimed at freignt, will feature a lot of it 1965 - 1985.

 

Yes, trains, lines and stations WERE much better kept in those days; I remember an English enthusiast remarking to me once on a May RPSI 3-Day Tour about 1980 "You nevere ever seem to see a dirty loco in this country". This surprised me as I had assumed that British Rail would be the same, but apparently it was anything but. Moving on to Mallow and Waterford, Barry's collection doesn't really cover this route at all, though I would not rule that out for a future date, using other collections if I could get the right stuff, and the right locations.

 

Finally, to Loughrea. I never heard of double heading "G"'s and I doubt if it happened. It might have been tried as a one-off, as indeed it has been at Downpatrick, but it is not satisfactory and runs a great risk of broken couplings. I could imagine one towing another dead, running light, but that would hardly be a common occurrence. Mayner, you were right in saying one was regularly stabled in the shed at Loughrea, but there was rarely a goods train as such; the timetable provided for one mixed train and two passenger trains per day - a long standing "standard" on many branch oines to such an extent it can be taken as a standard type of operation for a typical fictitious Irish branch line layout based in any period from the start of railways to the branch line pogroms from the '50's to 1975.

 

Correspondents of mine, and my own observations on the only occasion I ever went by train to Loughrea, suggested that the spare G at Loughrea fulfilled three functions: (a) literally that, a spare loco. (b) Shunting. © The occasional "overload" goods, as allowed loads for G class locos were understandably small. When any heavy traffic was called for, e.g. a fair day cattle trains, what usually happened was that an A or C came in. I have seen a single pic, and only quite recently, of a 141 with a 2-coach passenger train in Loughrea. The one time I went, in the closing days of October 1975, the train was a re-engined "C" class and the usual single coach. The upholstery in it was the then-current mock-leather light brown plastic bus seat type, and someone had written on one of the seats in black biro "Farewell to the Dunsandle Express".

[Guest hidden-agenda]

Many thanks Johnathan and i look forward to more books from you and Barry and I look forward to meeting you in person at Downpatrick some day.

Kindest regards,

Gareth.

[jhb171achill]

Gareth - I'll be working on the RPSI May tour the whole time, if you're on that. I know several people here are planning to go on the Friday diesel run to Portrush anyway. And thanks for your comments which I have also relayed to Barry! We are hoping to get a follow-up to "Rails through the west" in about a year's time. This will also cover the "Black'n'Tan Era" and on up to the present day.

[heirflick]

Gareth - I'll be working on the RPSI May tour the whole time, if you're on that. I know several people here are planning to go on the Friday diesel run to Portrush anyway. And thanks for your comments which I have also relayed to Barry! We are hoping to get a follow-up to "Rails through the west" in about a year's time. This will also cover the "Black'n'Tan Era" and on up to the present day.

 

any possibility that you might considder the midlands at some point? i know there must be some facinating pics and stories of mullingar station in that era......heres hoping! seamus

[Warbonnet]

Picked up the book yesterday, cracking piece of work! Is there a similar book about the Dublin area during a similar time period? When it comes to Irish railway books I've lived a very sheltered life...

[enniscorthyman]

Picked up the book yesterday, cracking piece of work! Is there a similar book about the Dublin area during a similar time period? When it comes to Irish railway books I've lived a very sheltered life...

 

There is a similar book by Michael H C Baker-The railways

Of Ireland past and present-Dublin.

Also another book is Rails around Dublin-a Irish railway

Pictorial by Donal Murray.

[Warbonnet]

Thanks Eamon, know anywhere good where I could pick these up?

[Garfield]

Thanks Eamon, know anywhere good where I could pick these up?

 

Should be able to find them on Amazon, Fran. If not, try Martin Bott Books: http://www.bottbooks.com.

 

Guys like Des McGlynn and Clifton Flewitt may also have them on their stalls at model shows, etc.

[Warbonnet]

Cheers dude!

[enniscorthyman]

Thanks Eamon, know anywhere good where I could pick these up?

Garfield has mentioned where to get these books,and if you are in

Dublin you could pop down to the IRRS premisses at Heuston Station.

Head down the road at the right of the station and just at the entrance

To the car park on the right is the IRRS building.It has a plaque on the

door,and from what I remember it's Tuesday nights is the libary night.

Check the web site though to be sure.