What closed lines have people been on?

[ei6jf]

21 hours ago, Lowco said:

Hi Derailed,

would you or any fellow members  have any record of the final activity  (possibly weeding or inspection) on the Tralee to Fenit line.

Ye may be aware that work has commenced in converting it to a public Greenway.

Unfortunately there is a 'business' claiming adverse possession on the line at Bawnboy near Tralee and there is a plan to detour around it.

This will mean the loss of the first stretch of line where it parts company with the Listowel line and the consequent loss of the line integrity and all that goes with it.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Friends of Tralee-Fenit Greenway.

 

https://www.facebook.com/TraleeFenitGreenway/

I was on the GSRPS inspection car trip on 28/1/1987.

BTW, I'm not happy that you've lifted a photo of mine, without permission, from somewhere showing that inspection car at Edward St http://www.traleefenitgreenway.com/history/attachment/1987/

Here's an image from that day at the divergence from the North Kerry line near Bawnboy. Not sure how this trip is relevant to the current issue though?

 

[DERAILED]

I note that a photograph of mine - 175 at Newcastle West - has also been used without permission or credit on the Tralee/Fenit Greenway website.

[Mallow Junction]

On 1/1/2017 at 3:16 PM, DERAILED said:

Other long gone lines that I was luck enough to travel over include

 

Tuam Bfs

 

Thurles Bfs

 

Mallow Bfs

 

 

 

Have you any more Photos of Mallow BFS or the factory itself?

 

I intend on traveling the Foynes and Burma Road before Christmas this year but the only closed lines i have been on so far are the Mallow BFS, Wellington Bridge and Mallow Mills. I do remember working in Barrys Cash and Carry back in 2000 and being in Foynes delivering and seeing 2 black tankers at the station. Not sure was the line closed then?

 

Now that i think of it, i did have a wander around Kingscourt station when i was doing electrical inspections at the Gypsum plant down the road. i took no photos tho.

 

Myself and a dear departed friend used explore the back of Mallow station as young teenagers before it became a car park. It was impossible to enter the rail stock as they were full of brambles!

Edited August 20, 2021 by Mallow Junction

[jhb171achill]

I had forgotten about this thread - I omitted to mention I got as far as Foynes too, on a few IRRS & RPSI trips..... and Mullingar to Athlone a number of times on both RPSI and service trains......

If old age and creaking bits permit, Barry Carse & I are thinking of doing the Waterford greenway at some stage soon.... and I've still to do the North Kerry one and Newport - Westport. Must learn how an electric bicycle works. Far cry from a scruffy 0.6.0 but it would have to do.

[Westcorkrailway]

38 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I had forgotten about this thread - I omitted to mention I got as far as Foynes too, on a few IRRS & RPSI trips..... and Mullingar to Athlone a number of times on both RPSI and service trains......

If old age and creaking bits permit, Barry Carse & I are thinking of doing the Waterford greenway at some stage soon.... and I've still to do the North Kerry one and Newport - Westport. Must learn how an electric bicycle works. Far cry from a scruffy 0.6.0 but it would have to do.

I did Newport-Westport and back recently. For me the worst section of the greenway (however I presume that because the much of the new road was built on the trackbed. 
 

A keen railway enthusiast can spot the alignment leading up to and where the tunnel is from the greenway. It’s so close yet so far being  locked behind a set of gates and a cattle crush.

[jhb171achill]

4 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

I did Newport-Westport and back recently. For me the worst section of the greenway (however I presume that because the much of the new road was built on the trackbed. 
 

A keen railway enthusiast can spot the alignment leading up to and where the tunnel is from the greenway. It’s so close yet so far being  locked behind a set of gates and a cattle crush.

I'd say so. It's the least scenic stretch, but also the most "interfered with" by development. I guess that no more than 50 / 60% of it is on (or even near) the old railway line.

I did Mulrany to Newport & back with Barry when it opened, and we also did Mulrany to Achill and back, then I did that bit again with Madam another time. Both highly scenic. My favourite bit would have to be west of Mulrany for the first 2 miles, above Bellacragher Bay. Stunning.

[Mallow Junction]

Last night i visited Blennerville in Tralee! Beautiful evening there. Such a shame about it.

[skinner75]

On 20/8/2021 at 3:43 PM, jhb171achill said:

I had forgotten about this thread - I omitted to mention I got as far as Foynes too, on a few IRRS & RPSI trips..... and Mullingar to Athlone a number of times on both RPSI and service trains......

If old age and creaking bits permit, Barry Carse & I are thinking of doing the Waterford greenway at some stage soon.... and I've still to do the North Kerry one and Newport - Westport. Must learn how an electric bicycle works. Far cry from a scruffy 0.6.0 but it would have to do.

Electric bikes are the business - takes all the effort out of climbing hills!

[jhb171achill]

31 minutes ago, skinner75 said:

Electric bikes are the business - takes all the effort out of climbing hills!

I'm glad to hear that, Skinner. Apart from that time I did those runs I mentioned, which was about 15 years ago, I haven't sat on a bicycle since I was about 15.

And the Waterford line is longer than the Achill line. I only got as far as Kilmacthomas by train, so it's one to do.

Then there's the North Kerry Greenway, or whatever it's called. (G S Trail). That's maybe a step too far for one of my worn-out and decrepit state.

[DoctorPan]

Another +1 for the ebikes. Did the Waterford greenway to Dungarvon under my own power with my partner this summer, which was easyish given the ruling gradient towards Dungarvon but wisely we opted for electric assistance on the following day's return to Waterford which made all the difference. 

[skinner75]

I've only done the Athlone-Moate section of the Athlone-Mullingar greenway, but that is handy to do, as there are only very very slight gradients on that section. It took me around 45 mins, with a stop for a water break, and that was on a non-electric downhill mountainbike (approx 18kg!)

[jhb171achill]

27 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Another +1 for the ebikes. Did the Waterford greenway to Dungarvon under my own power with my partner this summer, which was easyish given the ruling gradient towards Dungarvon but wisely we opted for electric assistance on the following day's return to Waterford which made all the difference. 

So there’s more downhill heading west?

[Midland Man]

Mullingar greenway is quite a nice cycle. The only incline is from Mullingar to Castletown witch is quite modest 

MM 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Midland Man

[DoctorPan]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

So there’s more downhill heading west?

Yeah, there's two climbs out of Waterford, between Kilmeaden and Killmacthomas and then from McGraths Cross to Durrow. Afterwards its downhill and once you hit the tunnel, you can pretty much freewheel the entire rest of the way into Dungraven if your bikes are freewheeling.

[johnfromoz]

Vivid memories of Rosslare harbour as a child in the sixties, with mine like many Irish families toing and froing to Britain for work/families. I remember seeing the two baby GMs stabled at the extreme end of the pier with the spray of the Irish sea pelting them occasionally.

Equally vivid memories of disembarking from trains at Fermoy station, with its little tank engine on display at the end of the platform.  Happy days indeed.  An old Mitchelstown boy.

John

[jhb171achill]

On 25/8/2021 at 4:11 PM, johnfromoz said:

Vivid memories of Rosslare harbour as a child in the sixties, with mine like many Irish families toing and froing to Britain for work/families. I remember seeing the two baby GMs stabled at the extreme end of the pier with the spray of the Irish sea pelting them occasionally.

Equally vivid memories of disembarking from trains at Fermoy station, with its little tank engine on display at the end of the platform.  Happy days indeed.  An old Mitchelstown boy.

John

Excellent memories - any photos?

[johnfromoz]

14 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Excellent memories - any photos?

Sadly not, memories from the age of about 10. Cameras were a luxury then anyway.  So many hours spent waiting at Limerick Junction too, with a few battered bulleid corrugated opens and ancient covered vans that seemed to sit forever on the middle roads. It seemed a languid unhurried atmosphere with nothing much happening for long periods of time.  Your current layout on here rekindles those memories for me.

John