S and e wagon

[mphoey]

Here's a couple of pics of the converted ferts

[murphaph]

Id'd love a bit of background. I have no idea what these are but they look interesting.

[mphoey]

[jhb171achill]

How were these used?

[DJ Dangerous]

12 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

How were these used?

They were probably hauled along the rails by some sort of locomotive?

[flange lubricator]

They were part of the pole train in the mid nineties for removing disused telephone poles along the railway lines .

[jhb171achill]

I meant................What function did they have within this train? Did they put machinery of some sort in it or use it to carry chopped up poles, anyone know?

[flange lubricator]

3 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I meant................What function did they have within this train? Did they put machinery of some sort in it or use it to carry chopped up poles, anyone know?

If I remember correctly they put the chopped up  telegraph poles in the fert wagons 

[mphoey]

in one picture theres a rake of about 4 wagons in it

 

[DiveController]

On 26/10/2020 at 8:04 AM, mphoey said:

Here's a couple of pics of the converted ferts

Me no understandee. Converted how?, innards removed to accommodate P&T poles. What are the lights for?

[Mayner]

3 hours ago, DiveController said:

Me no understandee. Converted how?, innards removed to accommodate P&T poles. What are the lights for?

Lighting was required for working during night time possessions after scheduled passenger and freight services had cleared section. 

Pole lines became redundant during 1990s with most signaling and communication cabling  transferred underground.

I think one train 10 wagons? was converted for S&E use initially removing telegraph lines between Dublin & Mullingar.

Fertiliser traffic dropped off during the 1990s due to reduced demand for chemical fertiliser.

At least one rake of fertiliser wagons was converted to carry container traffic during the mid 1990s by removing everything above the chassis!

Edited October 28, 2020 by Mayner

[murphaph]

How were the poles actually handled?

Can someone explain the steps of the process from standing pole to "chopped up pole"?

I mean I presume other machinery was involved or did they fell them with chainsaws, cutting up lineside and using manual labour to load into the wagons?

 

 

[Noel]

Poles with many phone wires, brackets and ceramic insulators were a feature of railway lines right up to the mid 1980s. Then new ISDN and the then modernisation of the P&T phone system did away with much of the over ground need for wires. Prior to that the railway lines were a highway for comms (old style), easy to get to, easy to erect beside the railway line, easy to maintain, hence so much telco cable was laid by the railways.  Now there are fibre trucks running under the motorways. Presumably the poles were hydraulically lifted by a dedicated wagon, cut, and chipped on site, with the shred blown into the old fertiliser wagons. There would have been the additional complication of removing the odd stay wire, climbing studs, etc, before chipping. Once removed there was little risk of storm damage dropping poles on the line even if they were redundant and had no wires on them, also easier for automated tree and hedge trimming. In the steam era no hedge rows were allowed grow near lines due to fire risk.

[Broithe]

14 minutes ago, Noel said:

Poles with many phone wires, brackets and ceramic insulators were a feature of railway lines right up to the mid 1980s. 

There was a truly monstrous pole by the signal cabin at Ballybrophy - with a good lot of wires along the line and a fairly large side-load, it was around 18" diameter at the base.

I was greatly disappointed when it disappeared.

http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304509

[Mayner]

11 hours ago, murphaph said:

How were the poles actually handled?

Can someone explain the steps of the process from standing pole to "chopped up pole"?

I mean I presume other machinery was involved or did they fell them with chainsaws, cutting up lineside and using manual labour to load into the wagons?

 

 

The use of a train of fertiliser wagons by the S&E department for removing telegraph poles was mentioned in the news section of the IRRS Journal during the mid 1990s, but there was no detail about the plant or removal methods. 

Its possible IE used excavators with grab attachments to drop the poles at the time IE used to hire excavators with a range of attachments for p.w. & S&E work and used grabs for handling rail which would also have been suitable for dropping poles.

There are also a grab attachment that incorporates a saw which are used for three felling, which would have eliminated the risk of people working close to plant and machinery in the dark with chainsaws.

 

 

 

there is also a tree felling attachment attachment which is basically a grab with a