From the Catacombs

[jhb171achill]

What to do on a rainy Sunday....but browse the October 1896 W L W R working timetable, which I came across while sorting some sort of vague order into the chaos that stalks this room forever.....

 

Three through goods trains per day traversed Limerick to Waterford, along with various short workings to the Junction. Passengers were catered for by trains leaving Limerick at 9.00am, 3.10pm and 5.45pm, with a mixed leaving at 11.00pm and arriving (passenger accommodation included) at 3.15 am. All four carried mails as well, apart from the 5.45pm; passenger services took typically three and a half hours, with 13 intermediate stops.

 

Thurles - Clonmel had two passenger trains, a mixed and a goods; journey time was an hour and ten minutes.

 

Limerick to Sligo had numerous short services such as a Tuam - Claremorris short passenger working, but the through trains were interesting. The day started with a goods trains departing for the whole length of the line at 2.30am. It had passenger accommodation as far as Ennis; one wonders how much patronage a train leaving at 2.30am from Limerick and dropping the drowsy passenger at Ennis at 4am might have had; all six intermediate stations were catered for too. Next, the 6.45am through passenger. Then came the down day mail at 10.40, which took until 7.15pm to reach Sligo, having (agonisingly?) called at all 29 intermediate stations, including a stop of an hour and 25 minutes at Athenry! Remember, this was mostly in six-wheelers with neither corridor or toilet.

 

The 3.20pm mixed Limerick - Tuam was last.

 

Reverse workings were much the same.

 

Limerick - Killaloe was a WLWR line - it was only from Birdhill to Ballybrophy that was GSWR. Two passenger trains and one mixed comprised the service on this line, the journey taking fifty minutes.

 

Foynes had one mixed and one passenger train per day. Both were connections from Limerick - Tralee trains. The Fenit line had a similar service, also with connections off the incoming trains from Limerick. The Limerick - Tralee line itself was the least busy of the WLWR's three main routes, with two passenger trains, a mixed and a goods in each direction. The journey took 2 hours and 17 minutes by the best service.

 

On all WLWR lines, all trains stopped at all stations.

 

Just picture those elegant 4.4.0s with their immaculately kept, but even then basic accommodation.

 

For livery nerds (like me), locomotives and coaches were lined burgundy maroon, and goods stock was dark grey with white lettering.

 

After only a few years, the GSWR would take over, though little would change until GSR days, when gradual neglect would see the system reduced to what it is today: ghost lines from Waterford to Limerick Junction, and Limerick - Ballybrophy, with the only bits used to any effect being Junction - Limerick and Limerick - Athenry.

 

Hope that's of interest.

 

(Mods: would a "historical" section on IRM be useful?)

[jhb171achill]

MGWR Broadstone departures, 1st January 1920:

 

a.m.

 

4.30 Passenger / perishables to North Wall (LNWR)

 

5.45 Engine & Guard's Van to Amiens St (GNR)

 

7.25 Down Limited Mail - Galway (from Kingstown Pier 6.5am) Journey time 4 hrs. Connections to Westport, Killala & Achill.

 

9.00 Cavan passenger

 

9.25 Kingscourt passenger (connection to Athboy). This originated at the LNWR terminal at North Wall at 8.45.

 

9.45 Creosote wagons to Liffey junction

 

10.00 Passenger to North Wall (LNWR)

 

p.m.

 

1.10 Sligo passenger

 

1.30 Galway passenger with connections to Achill & Killala

 

1.50 Kingscourt passenger

 

2.00 Passenger to North Wall (LNWR)

 

3.00 Maynooth passenger

 

5.45 Kingscourt passenger

 

6.00 Cavan passenger

 

6.30 Mail train to Amiens St (GNR) & Kingstown Pier

 

6.40 Passenger to North Wall (LNWR)

 

7.30 Galway night mail with connection to Westport only

 

It should be noted that departures labelled "Galway" also had connections for the branches to Edenderry, Clara, Loughrea, Clifden, Achill and so on, and also from Athlone to Westport, Achill & Killala. MGWR practice was that one departure would have all sorts of sections to be jettisoned for different connecting lines at major junction stations.

 

In addition, goods trains operated from North Wall (Midland) at:

 

12.45 am Westport (all stations Athlone - Achill)

2.00 am Athlone (Clara, Mayo Branch)

3.30 am All stations to Mullingar

5.00 am Kingscourt & GNR stations either side of Navan

5.00 PM Most stations to Cavan branch and branches, also beyond to GNR destinations

8.15 pm Ballina, with connections to Killeshandra and Cavan lines

10.15 pm Galway (Clifden & Loughrea branches)

 

Other goods went by mixed trains.

 

Cattle trains could load to 45 wagons LADEN!

[Old Blarney]

Buses from the Catacombs.

 

The Stilltime Collection

 

I found this site whilst searching the Internet. Wonderful photographs of buses from the past in Dublin. Double Deckers including the Daimler "DR" as well a single deck AECs of Class "A". The Garaiste boys will love this site. Hope others view and like it too. This link is not from the start of " Dublin" photographs - I have started it here because this photograph show one of the sic elusive CIE Daimler Double Deckers of Class "DR".

 

http://www.stilltimecollection.co.uk/detail/15892-tpt-transport-truck-lorry-wagon-roadstone-dublin-ireland-place-area-scene-scenery-destination-venue.html#13535

 

There are many, many photographs (132) of CIE's Buses, Lorries, Trains, Garages - Inside Donnybrook when it was brand new and Broadsrone with new "P" Class Touring Coaches.

 

http://www.stilltimecollection.co.uk/detail/15892-tpt-transport-truck-lorry-wagon-roadstone-dublin-ireland-place-area-scene-scenery-destination-venue.html#13614

 

Enjoy

Edited May 1, 2017 by Old Blarney

[PJR]

Buses from the Catacombs.

 

The Stilltime Collection

 

I found this site whilst searching the Internet. Wonderful photographs of buses from the past in Dublin. Double Deckers including the Daimler "DR" as well a single deck AECs of Class "A". The Garaiste boys will love this site. Hope others view and like it too. This link is not from the start of " Dublin" photographs - I have started it here because this photograph show one of the sic elusive CIE Daimler Double Deckers of Class "DR".

http://www.stilltimecollection.co.uk/detail/15892-tpt-transport-truck-lorry-wagon-roadstone-dublin-ireland-place-area-scene-scenery-destination-venue.html#13614

 

Could not help and notice that the wall alongside the liffey is very high. Don't ever remember it that high. Any idea when photo was taken?

Edited May 3, 2017 by PJR
Fixing link address

[Old Blarney]

PJR,

 

Are you referring to the photograph which has the CIE Daimler bus in it? Route 72. If so the apparent high wall is in-fact a shelter with a roof that protected passengers from the rain and wind. This shelter along the Quays remained in place until the Country Bus Services were transferred from the Quays to Busarus. I remember the shelter well, I also remember the six Daimler and the Eleven AEC Double Deckers belonging to CIE, Class AR. I lived at, The Hill, Palmerstown as a youngster until going to Boarding School in Dublin in 1951. The 25, 26 and 72 all left from this location along with a variety of routes for the Country.

Do hope I have answered your question! Oh, when was it built, late 1940s and lasted until Busarus opened.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Old Blarney

[jhb171achill]

Housebound by the Coronavirus (or is it Brexit? I'm getting senile here in the Catacombs...) I was having a rummage today for something that I was asked about. As usual, I still haven't found what I was looking for, á la U2.

But I did find a few odds and ends, as follows.

Quiz question: the pranged 70-class; where & when? (Colin McL, I know that you know!! )

Edited March 15, 2020 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

CARRIAGE ALLOCATIONS 1949/50

This gives an idea of train consists seventy years ago. Sounds a long time, but only a few years ago, nobody was modelling anything much before 1975.

Then we got well into the black’n’tan era. Now, with J15s, A, C, B101,121,141,181, E & G classes, laminates, Park Royals, Tom vans, various loose-coupled goods vehicles, we’re into the “grey’n’green” era.

One step more and this stuff’s of use.

Now - the carriage allocations are of interest to anyone wanting to create a 1950s / early 60s branch line scene, as perusal of the attached lists show what trains were typically made up of. I say "typically"; on days like fair days, and extra coach might be added. If the normal branch set was taken away for maintenance, gawd knows what they might put in there instead. Senior told of a jaunt down some branch in the 1950s with a quite new CIE "Bredin-design" coach, probably only a few years old, with an absolutely ancient, clapped out MGWR 6-wheel brake third behind it.

For anyone interested. I have this list to cover THE WHOLE CIE SYSTEM FOR 1949 / 50, main lines an'all. So if anyone wants to know what was on any specific line, ping me privately and I'll send it to you.

The GNR's perusals of running costs for AEC cars crept in here too.....

Edited March 15, 2020 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

It’s 1961, and IRM have been given a tour of both Inchicore and Limerick works, on the STRICT condition that they bring out models of wagons to be built in the next 20 years, and an A class.

Sit back and visualise what we’re seeing around us;

 

And..... Linerick has four steam in hand.

[jhb171achill]

A few photos to stave off cabin fever. The CIE notice may be of interest to some modellers for lineside scenery. I despair about the punctuation and grammatical skills of the writer!

The Claremorris photos were taken in 1989.

The wagon chassis at Downpatrick are, of course, Australian.....

A nice MGWR footbridge at Claremorris, and the Ballina branch train.

[jhb171achill]

A few more at Downpatrick (Loop Platform) in 1990.

Don't start me on “E” class liveries!

The two young ladies on the platform await their turn in the cab. The smaller would end up driving a “G” and O & K No. 3 during a short stint 16 years later.....

Get ‘em young, indoctrinate ‘em young.....!

The doorpost is off the ex-BCDR Golfers’ Saloon, and shows authentic UTA dark green and BCDR maroon paints.

[Midland Man]

is the canopy at downpatrick gone or am i thinking of something else.

 

[jhb171achill]

At the loop platform? No, it's still there but had to have some restoration work done to it.

The canopy at Downpatrick station is not original. It was originally attached to the goods shed at Maghera, Co Derry. The original BCDR station in the town was completely levelled in the 1970s. The canopy and platform at the Loop Platform junction station are the solitary original structures on the whole railway.

[David Holman]

Gold dust! Pure gold dust - all of it!

[jhb171achill]

To distract from cabin fever, I was delving through Senior’s photos today.

Let’s go Northwest in the late 1930s, when he made his only foray to Burtonport just before it closed.

No. 12 was out that day, though I’ve an idea he came back on one of the big 4.8.4T tanks the next morning. Footplate ride both ways!

View from the tender looking back on one.

[Dhu Varren]

A current view of the bridge over the N56 in photo 3 looking North taken from the road below where the train is. The train is heading towards Letterkenny having traversed the infamous Owencarrow viaduct a few minutes earlier.  Not much has changed except that the bridge steelwork and the two central pillars have been removed. The yellow line on the road is from the Google Earth image.

[jhb171achill]

Staying north, here’s the Giants Causeway station, about 1944/5.

And staying narrow-gauge, here’s a convertible road / rail wagon on the Bessbrook & Newry Tramway the same year.

And I got them ALL the right way up!

[jhb171achill]

Today, we’re off to 1956, and heavy rain has resulted in an embankment being washed away near Castlecaldwell on the Bundoran branch.

Edited March 22, 2020 by jhb171achill

[jhb171achill]

Dublin trams, undated but I believe about 1936-39.

In the top picture, the vehicle on the right is a wagon for inspecting overhead wires.

 

[jhb171achill]

Up the glens.....

Senior managed to poke his way through the weeds up as far Rathkenny on the Ballymena, Cushendall & Red Bay Railway about 1940 in the cab of a light engine which went off to find a wagon somewhere. The line was as good as closed but still saw an occasional goods working.

He explored the rest by bicycle and Shanks’ Mare....

 

[jhb171achill]

Today’s visit takes us to the the wild and lonely Tooban Junction for the Case of the Strange Signal; mind you, many of the Lough Swilly’s signals were odd one-offs.....

....and back to the Shelbourne Road tram depot, DUTC, Dublin.

Edited March 25, 2020 by jhb171achill

[NIR]

Now that's a proper junction!

[leslie10646]

JHB

Interesting pic of Tooban - pretty remarkable for an impecunious narrow gauge affair.

Looking at those signals, it's as well the Swilly didn't run too many trains at night (mad thoughts of the 11pm Derry to Burtonport Sleeping Car Express?).

 

[jhb171achill]

Re both those pics - I’ve never seen a layout based on the Lough Swilly, though several CDR ones exist. 

I always thought something based on Tooban would make a great layout. Heavy goods trains and eight-coupled engines..... and a compact but interesting station Junction.

And that tram depot - perfect architectural size for a city-type small terminus building,  like a ground-level Harcourt St.

 

[Galteemore]

Alan Gee’s ‘Burtonport’? 
 

 

[NIR]

In the back of my mind there lurks a layout set on the Carndonagh extension. It had a ghost train apparently, after closure...

[jhb171achill]

Wasn't aware of Alan Gee's! Superb.

There was indeed a ghost on the Carndonagh branch; the same identical one to be found at a crossing somewhere between Donegal and Killybegs.

In each case, just after the line closed and the track was lifted, the gatekeeper heard a whistle for the gates. He went out without thinking to open the gates, then realised there was no track and no train. And, of course, his wife heard the engine whistle too....

In the Donegal version, he sees the train pass, closes the gates and ambles back into his cottage, then tells the wife "that's the 6:35 through...." She says "what are you talking about? The railway's gone!".

[jhb171achill]

jhb171Senior was out with a PW gang one foggy night between Dundalk and Goraghwood, at the Wellington Cutting. Minor track maintenance was in progress. This is about 1951 or 2.

As he approached the gang they were running towards him, scared stiff, after two of them claimed to have seen a man on a white horse riding along the railway track in the gloom. This story has actually been reported way in the past by engine crews; I wonder if any modern NIR or IE drivers have ever seen or heard of it!

Senior wondered if they just wanted the night off, as it was a really heavy freezing fog, and that neck of the woods is not exactly known up there for tropical heat and sunbeds. But if they walked off the job they wouldn't be paid, and money was tight back then. There were about 6 or 7 of the men, and Senior recalled that he could tell that they genuinely WERE terrified, whatever they had seen. The work was postponed until daylight, when another possession was obtained.

As our good American friends might say, "Go figure"!

[jhb171achill]

We’re back to about 1936 for the next one, the morning Broadstone - Cavan train. It’s waaay out in rural wild remote culchie-land in a far off place like Blanchardstown or somewhere else “out there.....” 

This seems to be the only pic taken by Snr. of a Cavan train.    And the day he went to Broadstone to witness the last trains leaving and coming in, he didn’t have his camera.....!

Edited March 25, 2020 by jhb171achill

[Patrick Davey]

Rathkenny - wow........

The Wellington cutting horseman - wonder is it related to the attack on the troop train 1921......

[Patrick Davey]

JB any other photos from the bicycle & Shanks' mare part of your Dad's explorations?

Could be mouthwatering stuff in there......

[jhb171achill]

32 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

JB any other photos from the bicycle & Shanks' mare part of your Dad's explorations?

Could be mouthwatering stuff in there......

I'm going to post one or two a day for a while.

I'm thinking of putting together a talk for the IRRS based on them...... he got to some interesting places, like Burtonport, Rathkenny, Macroom, Killaloe (I think, as a small child), Castlecomer, Keady, Killeshandra, Edenderry, Banagher, Castlegregory, Courtmacsherry... but he didn't always have his camera and when young he only had a little cheap one, like the Cavan train above. The day he took that he was out cycling with his friends. It's a wonder he had a camera at all. On a two-day trip Kingsbridge - Mallow (on the footplate of a 400), to Tralee, to Castlegregory and back, overnight in "Benner's Hotel, Tralee" (B & B & dinner 5 shillings), next day to Dingle and back, and then back to Dublin - he took but four photos. Three at Castlegregory and one at Castlegregory Junction! He went another day to Galway and back (via Loughrea). He took one pic, at Loughrea, but watched the Clifden train leaving within its last weeks, so that was 1934, which means he was 16.......

He went another day from Amiens St. - Goraghwood - Warrenpoint - Newcastle (WP - NC by cycle!!), and then on the footplate to Belfast on the BCDR. No photographs. He went to Macroom and back twice; once in the van of a cattle special and once on the footplate of an engineer's special just before it closed. No photos.......... He lived 5 mins walk from the Harcourt St line and travelled to school on it from 1923 to 1930 - not one photo!

But I do have a good lot of stuff he DID take.

Edited March 25, 2020 by jhb171achill

[Patrick Davey]

Anticipating this with much enthusiasm!

[Midland Man]

2 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

We’re back to about 1936 for the next one, the morning Broadstone - Cavan train. It’s waaay out in rural wild remote culchie-land in a far off place like Blanchardstown or somewhere else “out there.....” 

This seems to be the only pic taken by Snr. of a Cavan train.    And the day he went to Broadstone to witness the last trains leaving and coming in, he didn’t have his camera.....!

Interesting 

The cavan line is a realy good line to model.Cavan station had loads of different engines working line a G2 class (above) on the midland line to a U2 and PP class on the GNRI side. There seems to only be 3 or 4 6 wheel carriges on that train as the GSR wanted and did close the line as there was little to no passanger traffic.Go back 15 years before engines of the C class the midlands last passanger engine class wprked that line regularly.

[jhb171achill]

Yes, it's probably a 6-wheel 1st / 3rd compo, a brake 3rd and several vans. And, as you say, a G2. An easy load for that engine.

[David Holman]

20 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

JHB

Interesting pic of Tooban - pretty remarkable for an impecunious narrow gauge affair.

Looking at those signals, it's as well the Swilly didn't run too many trains at night (mad thoughts of the 11pm Derry to Burtonport Sleeping Car Express?).

 

In the recent reprint of the Swilly history, seems that not only did their single line token system not work, but their vacuum brakes were often suspect too. There again, two trains a day reduced the chances of a collision between Burtonport and Letterkenny somewhat.

 Would love to do the Swilly. In my dreams it would be 10mm scale, as per Killybegs, to do justice to the big locos. Space, time, money just three of the problems!