Irish Railway Rover Part 2 by TransportTreasuryPublishing

Irish Railway Rover Part 2 Irish Railway Rover Part 2 Michael McMahon

Michael presents ninety more pictures from his extensive personal archive of images taken in a twenty year period ending in 1995. The introduction of push-pull trains and railcars (as multiple unit sets are known in Ireland) led to the withdrawal of locomotive hauled trains, also the rationalisation of facilities associated with their everyday operations. The change to passenger train working came at the same time as a gradual withdrawal from freight services, which was mostly beyond the control of the railway companies. The result was a cull of locomotive classes and rolling stock, the images in this book represent the closing years of the traditional railway in Ireland. Michael was well placed to observe these changes, the rare privilege of all Ireland footplate passes led to an estimated 80,000 miles of footplate travel between 1982 and 1995 when he was able to closely observe railways at work in all parts of Ireland.

£17.50

Michael McMahon

Irish Railway Rover Part 2

1 Michael McMahon

© Images and text Michael McMahon. Design The Transport Treasury 2024. ISBN 978-1-913893-42-2 First Published in 2024 by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd. 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ Totem Publishing, an imprint of Transport Treasury Publishing. The copyright holders hereby give notice that all rights to this work are reserved. Aside from brief passages for the purpose of review, no part of this work may be reproduced, copied by electronic or other means, or otherwise stored in any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the Publisher. This includes the illustrations herein which shall remain the copyright of the copyright holder. www.ttpublishing.co.uk Printed in Taxien, Malta by Guttenberg Press Ltd. Front cover - The driver of No. 086 has the Electric Train Staff ready to give up to the signalman at Galway as he brings the 14.00 hrs from Dublin Heuston across Lough Atalia bridge on Thursday 13 August 1987. The bridge was built with construction of the line in 1851 and originally had an opening central span for tall-masted ships which was seldom, if ever, used. Frontispiece - No. 121 heads the 11.35 hrs Adelaide Yard, Belfast-Dundalk liner train across Craigmore Viaduct on Monday 30 August 1993. The three fertiliser wagons at the front of the train are from Richardson’s factory in Belfast Harbour estate, while the empty cement wagons will go to the Platin factory, Drogheda at 15.00 hrs. This locomotive had double-headed that morning’s 06.10 hrs Dundalk-Adelaide Yard liner together with No. 133. The latter engine remained to shunt the yard before double-heading with No.146 on the 15.10 hrs liner to Dundalk. Rear cover - On 30 August 1993, Nos. 146 & 133 head the 15.10 hrs liner from Adelaide Yard to Dundalk which was always a predictable train to observe. Here it is rounding the curve at Poyntzpass with the then traditional pallets of Richardson’s fertiliser loaded next to the engine. The Bell containers were for Waterford and the cement wagons for Platin. The twenty-foot container on the tail is for Dundalk Barrack Street and was used to carry mail and newspapers from Dundalk on the 07.30 hrs liner to Portadown. Opposite - The Frank Cassin Wharf at Waterford is busy on 26 June 1992 as No. 172 shunts a train of mostly Bell containers under the gantry cranes. The signal cabin at Abbey Junction, known locally as the Wharf Cabin, is behind the airport style control tower on the right. Lorries were known to drive slowly and remarkably close together over the level crossing if the signalman at the cabin-controlled access to the yard was trying to close the gates. This yard closed in September 1993 with traffic transferred to Belview port further downriver. ‘Irish Rail Rover Part 2’ is one of a series of books on specialist transport subjects published in strictly limited numbers and produced under the Totem Publishing imprint using material only available at The Transport Treasury.

Contents 1.

Accent on Signalling

The Border Area 20

Goods Trains 27

Junctions 59

Shunting 65

Railtours 70

Accent on Signalling

Signalmen on Irish Rail were generally hospitable and happy to talk to interested observers if time allowed. Regular visits to Limerick Check Cabin for example would produce a mug of tea which more resembled the colour of Guinness! Cabins were private but a warm welcome was nearly always assured except at Mallow North one crisp morning when the signalman shouted, ‘don’t open the door.’ The cabin’s cat had recently given birth to a fleet of kittens which were scampering all around the seventy-four lever frame! (A Check Cabin was the point at which tickets were checked or collected, before the train arrived at a main station. This facility dated from GS&WR days.)

In Limerick Check Cabin with its fifty-lever frame, signalman Martin McNamara writes in the register as the signal fitter does his crossword on Tuesday 2 July 1985. The double line block instrument to Killonan (with loo rolls on top) can be seen at the far end of the cabin. On the right stands one of the two red Electric Train Staff (ETS) machines. That in view covered Ennis Junction to Ennis while the other the section to Foynes. The red box below the telephone was a hand wound generator from the 19th Century and was used to warn crossing keepers that a train was on the way.

The driver of No. 058 with the 09.30 hrs from Limerick keeps a watching eye on me as he takes up the ETS in the hoop from the signalman at Dromkeen for the section to Limerick Junction on Saturday 9 May 1987. This was the last day of ETS working on the Killonan-Limerick Junction section as the electric track circuit block system was commissioned in the evening.

No. 080 departs Mallow for Cork with a clean Mark 3 set working the 13.00 hrs from Heuston on Tuesday 4 August 1987. The left signal on the bracket is for Down trains to Cork leaving the Up main line or the back of the island platform, for example Tralee to Cork services or liner trains from the yard. The signal to the right was for the ‘Kerry Road’ and interlocked with the ETS issued from Mallow South cabin. It was marked ‘Killarney Junction for Mallow-Banteer.’ Killarney Junction was situated on the southern side of the River Blackwater viaduct and worked remotely from Mallow South cabin.

Signalman’s view at Killucan as No. 033 departs with the 08.25 hrs from Dublin Connolly to Sligo on Wednesday 12 August 1987. This train made a special stop here to cross a slightly late No. 165 on a special from Sligo to Connolly. The large wheel in the foreground operated the level crossing gates, and the new large windows allowed an unobstructed view of both road and rail traffic.

Above - Claremorris signal cabin with the signalman on the platform exchanging the ETS with the driver of No. 072 working the 11.15 hrs from Athlone on Sunday 16 August 1987. This was the return working of the 09.00 hrs from Westport that morning and gave connections from the Mayo line at Athlone into Up and Down Dublin-Galway trains. There was a pilot locomotive stabled at Claremorris, and on this day it was No. 151 which is just visible through the windows above the lever frame to the left. Opposite - No. 071 and its train under the watchful eye of the ghostly shunter at Cork Glanmire on Saturday 30 July 1988 as the semaphore signal changes for the 23.00 hrs departure to Cobh. Michael Jackson was performing on stage in Cork and the station was fairly quiet as trains were prepared for the surge of returning fans. No. 071 later worked an 01.25 special to Limerick calling only at Rathluirc and Limerick Junction.

Above - The driver of No. 001 takes up the ETS for the section to Killarney from the signalman at Farranfore while working the 17.35 hrs Tralee-Cork on Monday 19 June 1989. The ETS for the section from Tralee can be seen on the ground beside the fence with the signalman keeping a close eye on where it landed. The train at the other platform is the late running 15.15 hrs from Cork which should have arrived in Tralee 10 minutes before No. 001’s departure. Opposite - The Limerick-based driver of No. 146 leans well out of his cab while working the 19.55 hrs linermail and takes the ETS for Carrick on Suir from the signalman at Waterford West Cabin on Thursday 22 June 1989. The signalman holds a yellow flag as a warning that a crossing keeper has not acknowledged his phone ringing that a train is on the way. Part of the equipment at Waterford West was a long pole with a hook for fishing out stray ETS hoops from the muddy River Suir. At the time of writing, No. 146 is preserved in running order by the Irish Traction Group at Downpatrick, Co. Down.

No. E428 approaches the fine array of starting signals at Athenry with the 12.30 hrs from Tuam on Saturday 1 July 1989. The Tuam-based erstwhile Westrail preservation group operated two return trains from there to Athenry on Saturdays in June, July, and August. All trains called at Ballyglunin which at the time was renamed Castletown after its role in ‘The Quiet Man’ film starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara which was filmed there in Autumn 1951.

The driver of No. 048 on the 15.00 hrs from Heuston has the ETS for the section from Carlow ready for the signalman at Muine Bheag (Bagenalstown) on Wednesday 13 June 1990. The crossing train in the Up platform is the 15.20 hrs from Waterford worked by No. 081. ETS working here ceased in August 1995 when track circuit block working was introduced between here, Kilkenny and Thomastown. No. 048 and its train of vacuum-braked Mark 2s will later form the 18.20 hrs service from Waterford to Dublin.

The Gaelic Athletic Association all-Ireland Senior Hurling Semi-Final at Croke Park in Dublin between Galway and Offaly on Sunday 5 August 1990 required three passenger specials from Galway carrying 1,600 supporters over the little-used Mullingar to Athlone section. Nos. 144 & 167 pass Moate cabin with the return 17.25 hrs special from Connolly to Galway. The next special ran non-stop at 17.50 hrs and the last stopped at all stations between Ballinasloe and Galway. The signalman at Moate is watching where the ETS will land. There was no need for the driver to collect an ETS for the section to Athlone as Moate was then a fringe box to CTC in Dublin.

Viewed from the rear cab, the signalman at Killonan reaches out the ETS for the Birdhill section to the driver of No. 172 on Monday 24 June 1991 while working the 17.25 hrs empty shale train to Kilmastulla. The signalman’s yellow flag indicates that the Scart level crossing gate keeper had not acknowledged that a train was on the way and for the driver to closely observe signals.

This view of Limerick Junction’s signals was taken from the footplate of No. 167 as it reverses out towards Keane’s points with the 16.00 hrs from Limerick to Rosslare on Saturday 3 July 1993, the train guard keeping a good lookout. Immediately behind the ‘off’ signal for No. 167, the rear of the signals controlling the approach to Limerick Junction can be seen, the one to our left is for the Waterford bay at the Cork end of the station (the back road), the other for the line to the Limerick Bay and to the Up main platform, both at the north end.

The Mosney signalman (on the left) has just authorised the driver of extremely late running Nos. 154 & 129 to pass a sticking signal with empty carriages from Drogheda to Heuston on Saturday 28 August 1993. The train had earlier formed an 08.50 hrs Community Games special from Galway to Mosney and had run round at Drogheda. There were three specials to Mosney that day, one each from Galway, Ennis and Cork conveying over 1,000 passengers. The Belfast-Dublin line was already remarkably busy as the U2 band were playing at a concert in Dublin, requiring three specials from Belfast as well as strengthened regular cross-Border trains.

The ETS is ready for delivery to the Waterford West signalman as No. 079 arrives with the 11.40 hrs from Heuston on Friday 18 August 1995. The signal gantry once carried three semaphore signals left to right: - to Mallow via Dungarvan, to Limerick via Tipperary and to Dublin via Kilkenny. In the sidings on the left are stored some empty beet wagons. A span that had been removed from the nearby River Suir Viaduct was also stored in the yard, beside the wagons. This structure had originally carried the Waterford-Dungarvan line. Removal of the span in 1996 allowed shipping to pass without the need to have a ‘bridge lift’ operated by ageing machinery.

The driver of No. 078 collects the ETS for the eleven-mile Muine Bheag-Carlow section on Saturday 13 April 1996 while working the 10.55 hrs from Waterford to Heuston. The train in the Down platform is a special headed by No. 228 from Dublin Connolly to Thomastown and return, organised by Irish Rail as the first passenger train over the recently completed Lavistown Loop at Kilkenny. This eliminated the need for reversal and running round at Kilkenny which speeded up the liner trains service whose usage by then was in decline because of Irish Rail’s withdrawal from general container services.

The Border Area

The area in South Armagh overshadowed by Slieve Gullion is a truly special place as far as the railway is concerned. Long ignored by most railway enthusiasts for understandable reasons, I always enjoyed my visits to the area. When I had time to spare and travelled by road cross-Border I would take the long way round via Kilnasaggart bridge (No. 162). There were spectacular sights and sounds of trains working hard up the steep gradients in both directions to be relished but these days, alas, the much quieter Class 201 hauling the ‘Enterprise’ is virtually all that there is to see.

With Slieve Gullion and Meigh village to the right, NIR No. 111 Great Northern is just north of Aghayalloge bridge on Saturday 5 September 1992, working the 11.00 hrs from Connolly to Belfast Central. The coach next to the locomotive is one of the two first class, brake generator vans, Nos. 912 or 913, the second vehicle is also ex-BR, former Mark 2F FO No. 3367 now running as NIR 904.

An unidentified Irish Rail 071 class is pictured from Moyry Castle on Slievebolea, just above Kilnasaggart bridge, working the 11.00 hrs from Belfast Central to Dublin Connolly on Monday 30 August 1993. The seven-piece Mark 2D train is formed of the usual four standards at the Dublin end, a dining car and an all first with a generating van at the Belfast end. The British Army observation post which can be seen on the top of Foughhill Etra kept watch on the railway on this side of the hill and the Belfast-Dublin main road down below on the other side.

Irish Rail No. 082 slacks off the notch eight power at Newtown as it works the 18.00 hrs from Belfast Central to Connolly over the top of the bank on Friday 8 July 1994. The high bridge in the background carried the Belfast-Dublin main road over the summit cutting. The motorway now crosses the railway at approximately the spot where No. 082 is pictured.

Irish Rail No. 080 approaches the southern end of the platforms at Adavoyle station (closed 1933) with the 15.00 hrs from Connolly to Belfast on Friday 24 March 1995. The gradient profile changes just on the approach from Dublin, from a climb of 1 in 109 to a half-mile descent to Meigh level crossing before a final two-mile climb to the summit bridge at Milepost 65½.

Top - NIR No. 112 approaches Moore’s bridge on the Jonesborough to Forkhill road between Adavoyle and Mountpleasant on the 17.00 hrs from Central to Connolly on Wednesday 21 June 1995. Unusually, the set lacks a catering vehicle, not even the normally rostered micro buffet car No. 548. The Portadown-based driver will work the return service from Connolly at 20.15 hrs to Portadown. This 17.00 hrs turn and the 09.00 hrs working were the only cross-Border rosters that Portadown drivers had at that time. Bottom - Irish Rail No. 233 River Clare is at the same location on 25 July 1995 working the 15.10 goods from Adelaide yard to Dundalk. This locomotive had earlier worked the 09.20 hrs liner from North Wall, pausing at Dundalk and arriving in Adelaide at 13.20 hrs just before the 11.00 hrs from Connolly was due. After some shunting at Adelaide No. 233 worked back to Dundalk at 15.10 hrs for more of the same before taking the 20.30 hrs to North Wall. This was a long working day that involved moderate aggregate mileage but all at a maximum speed of 40 mph. Opposite - Irish Rail No. 229 River Maine crosses Kilnasaggart bridge below the 1601-built castle on the 07.55 hrs from Connolly to Belfast Central on Wednesday 26 July 1995. NIR 450 class railcar No. 453 was named Moyry Castle after this remote edifice. Built by Mountjoy, a ruthless General of Queen Elizabeth the First’s army, it once guarded ‘The Gap of the North.’

Irish Rail No. 222 River Dargle speeds down the 1 in 100 under Plaster bridge towards Mountpleasant with the 11.00 hrs from Belfast Central to Connolly on Saturday 28 June 1997. The 8-piece set had an unusual formation with a composite coach (third vehicle from the rear) inserted between the dining car and the all-first, doubtless to cater for extra first-class traffic.

Goods trains There was always plenty of variety in the freight sector, from the crawling Limerick-Roscrea liner to a leisurely run along the Foynes branch with barytes, molasses, grain, or the weekly delivery of coal and oil. The first sign of decline in the core freight business came in October 2001 when the movement of gypsum by rail from Kingscourt ceased, largely resulting from a ten-week dispute between Irish Rail and the Irish Locomotive Drivers Association in the summer of 2000. The shock closure announcement of the Irish Fertiliser Industries plant at Shelton Abbey led to the termination of carriage of ammonia and fertiliser in October 2002. General container traffic ended in July 2005 and closure of the Mallow sugar beet factory in 2006 saw cessation of that seasonal traffic. The transport of beer kegs traffic ended in May 2006. Most significant was withdrawal of once system-wide cement shipments in December 2009. The dependable Tara Mines traffic ceased in September 2023 and at the time of writing regular goods traffic has been reduced to just block liner trains in both directions between Dublin and Ballina. Hopefully, future traffic volumes will expand from this ridiculously small base. A grimy No. 005 propels loaded barytes wagons to the discharge point at Foynes on Thursday 4 July 1985. The empty train had left Limerick that morning at 07.15 hrs, arriving at the Silvermines loading bank around an hour later. A further hour was allowed for shunting (the all-important tea break), and placement of other empty wagons at the loading bank to be filled from lorries during the day. Arrival in Foynes was around 11.30 hrs, leaving ample time for lunch and exploration of the remarkably busy harbour. The signal cabin appears to be in a state of near collapse and by then was out of use. The ETS instruments were housed in the station master’s office.

Opposite - Athlone Midland was the crew change point for the 18.50 hrs Asahi acrylonitrile train from Dublin Alexandra Road to Ballina via Mullingar on Saturday 9 May 1987. No. 153 was working as ‘taxi’ to convey crews to and from the newly re-opened ‘Southern’ station on the other side of the River Shannon. This train required a host of special safety regulations and the fleet of twenty-three four-wheeled flat wagons had special composite brake blocks to avoid sparks. Additionally, only ‘A’ class locomotives with all six traction motors operating could be used as the Asahi tanks each held 4,000 gallons of acrylonitrile and resulted in a heavy train. Top - The driver of No. 018 awaits the guard’s return after closing the first set of gates on the 1¼ mile long Silvermines branch on Monday 10 August 1987. The train, which comprised the 07.15 hrs empty barytes from Limerick, crawled up to the loading bank. On the return working, about one-third of the wagons had their brakes pinned down for the 1 in 50 descent to the junction near milepost 35 between Killonan and Nenagh, and close to the one-time Shalee halt. Bottom - The driver of No. 009 with the 09.05 hrs laden barytes train on Tuesday 5 June 1990 waits while the guard opens the level crossing gate on the Silvermines branch. The guard then held the trap point closed while the train progressed to Silvermines Junction. The large piles of rock high up on the mountain are tailings of spoil extracted from the huge deep quarry, now closed, and flooded.

No. 191 rattles through Limerick Junction with a long train of bogie palletised fertiliser wagons and palletised cement wagons (blues) on Thursday 9 June 1988. No. 191 was later involved in a mysterious light engine runaway from Dublin North Wall on 17 August 1991, eventually coming to an abrupt halt against buffer stops in the headshunt at Clonsilla, seven miles away. The resultant fire led to the first 181 Class withdrawal and the remains were used for spare parts to help keep its classmates running.

The evening sun casts long shadows towards the signal cabin at Farranfore as No. 181 brings the 18.25 hrs linermail from Tralee into the platform on Tuesday 20 June 1989. This train collected mail from here, Killarney and Banteer and arrived in Mallow at 21.25 hrs. On arrival, the mails were taken immediately to the sorting office on the Down platform for sorting onto the Up and Down Dublin-Cork Night TPOs. The overgrown platform on the left was once used by trains on the 39-mile steeply graded branch to Valentia Harbour (Europe’s most westerly railhead) which closed on 1 February 1960.

Opposite - Bagged fertiliser is the order of the day beside the cement silo at Waterford Sallypark yard on Thursday 22 June 1989. No. 017 shunts a recently arrived train of fertiliser wagons for the forklift to unload and stack on the ground, releasing the wagons to return to either Shelton Abbey near Arklow or Marino Point near Cobh. There were ninety of these forty-two foot, 22-ton tare weight, unroofed bogie wagons and each was capable of carrying 40 tons of palletised fertiliser. Some were later used on block trains of peat briquettes from Thurles to Dublin. Top - Sligo driver Jimmy O’Grady eases No. 021 with the 14.50 hrs loaded oil train from Dublin North Wall down the last few yards of the Sligo harbour branch on the evening of Wednesday 22 June 1988. This train regularly operated from Dublin on Mondays and Wednesdays, returning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the winter months with higher demand for home heating oil, the train sometimes worked the same cycle on Fridays and Saturdays. Failed locomotive No. 181 on a ballast train can be seen above in the station yard beside the signal cabin. Bottom - In brilliant sunshine, No. 021 pauses at Ballymote with the slightly delayed 09.40 hrs oil empties from Sligo to cross the 08.15 hrs from Connolly on Wednesday 23 June 1988. (The timetabled crossing point for these services was Boyle which is 14 miles south.) A yellow permanent way machine has tucked itself in behind No. 021’s train, it will follow the passenger train from Dublin into the section for work near MP 126. That day the oil train suffered further delay and followed the 13.35 hrs from Sligo from Mostrim.

Top - The driver and guard of No. 042 pass the time as the once weekly coal and oil train to Ballina is loaded with oil on the 500-yard (or so) siding alongside the oil storage tanks at Foynes on Monday 26 June 1989. The coal was loaded by mechanical shovel into open topped container wagons on the main line to Ballingrane. The quantities of coal and oil shipped depended on the current market price and prevailing stock levels at the Killala factory. Departure was at 12.15 hrs for the 153-mile journey to Ballina via Limerick Check, Ennis, Athenry, Tuam, Claremorris and Manulla. Bottom - The ‘tea’ was usually taken at Tuam around 16.30 hrs, here No. 042 is stopped under the footbridge while the Ballina-based crew relax. A Limerick crew worked as far as Athenry where the Ballina men took over, both crews travelling to/ from that point by bus. As the handover happened in the car park at Athenry, I was left in charge of the train, not that there was much minding to do! As a regular footplate passenger, I was asked whether I intended to connect into the Up 18.15 hrs from Westport at Claremorris. If not, the tea break at Tuam invariably turned into an even more leisurely affair! Opposite - No. 190 shunts the previous day’s arrival of the coal and oil train from Foynes at Ballina on Tuesday 27 June 1989. The yard was extensively modernised in 1975 to reduce fire risks with the new Asahi traffic. This locomotive had worked branch trains between here and Claremorris, and also shunted the yard as required. No. 042 was substituted for the branch trains as it was more comfortable and steadier than the bouncing ride of No.190! The road freight department conveyed the coal and oil to the Asahi factory at Killala some 10 miles away.

The signal cabin at Rathduff is switched out as No. 052 noisily climbs the 1 in 178 gradient with the loaded 14.50 hrs ammonia train from Marino Point to Shelton Abbey on Wednesday 23 August 1989. This cabin closed on 12 May 1990 following completion of CTC towards Rathpeacon and it was then just ‘plain’ track through Rathduff. The green-painted tank on the bogie wagon immediately behind the locomotive was a water-filled barrier vehicle (known as the ‘sacrificial’ wagon in the event of a collision); there was one at each end of the train.

Tipperary on a misty Saturday 4 November 1989 when No. 177 passes with the 11.30 hrs Limerick-Waterford liner. Around then there was a surge in railborne container traffic to Waterford, mostly for Bell Lines. The year 1989 also saw return of beet trains to Mallow rather than Thurles and the extra liner train from Limerick was a welcome addition for photographers.

The Dublin Port Company operated a fleet of tractors to work wagons along Alexander Road to the CIE exchange sidings at East Wall Yard. Here a tractor was drawing wagons of fuel oil from the Esso siding onto the ‘tramway’ as it was known, on Monday 6 November 1989. A steel hawser was attached between the tractor and the draw hook of the first wagon. The wagon brakes had been leaked off to enable the tractor to pull them slowly along the tramway. When the ‘train’ arrived on CIE metals the tractor would push the wagons together using the buffer beam on its front.

There are quite a few spectators in the stand for the Ireland v. Wales soccer international at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday 28 March 1990 as No. 027 rumbles past with a special train of empty fertiliser wagons bound for Shelton Abbey. The former signal cabin at Lansdowne Road was retained and repainted for use as a local control panel, mainly for the manual operation of the adjacent level crossing on match days.

No. 005 has just arrived at Dundalk with the 11.25 hrs liner from Adelaide yard on Monday 23 April 1990. There was an hour’s shunting for No. 005 before departure at 15.55 hrs for Holyhead yard in Dublin. The first seven containers went on to Dublin, the tail wagons with empty beer kegs were for the nearby Harp brewery. The container wagon at the back went to Dundalk Barrack Street yard later that evening.

The train guard and shunter chat as they walk in front of No. 015 working the loaded Asahi train for Ballina along the Alexandra Road tramway on Monday 23 April 1990. Because of safety regulations, the loaded tank cars were ‘walked’ for the one-and-a-half-mile length of the tramway before a more conventional departure at 19.05 hrs via Portarlington. The Asahi trains were limited to 40 mph (35 mph on the Ballina Branch) and the journey from North Wall took almost six hours.

Opposite - An exceptionally clean No. 017 passes Killonan Junction with the 09.05 hrs laden barytes train from Silvermines to Foynes. The newlyballasted track in the foreground is the single line from Limerick Junction which joins the single line from Ballybrophy just beside the level crossing and runs as double track to Limerick. The tall radio mast above No. 017 is for the train radio facility which enabled drivers to contact CTC in Dublin. Killonan was then a ‘fringe’ box marking the edge of the area controlled by CTC. Top - The Sligo-based guard with the ETS for the section to Enfield round his right shoulder walks along the platform at Maynooth to join his slightly late running oil train on Thursday 7 June 1990. The Sligo crew had travelled from Sligo on the 13.35 hrs as far as Maynooth to take over Nos. 165 & 151 which had been brought this far by a Dublin-based crew. The regular arrangement was for the Dublin men to work to the crossing point which was timetabled for Enfield. The 13.35 hrs train was scheduled to stop there specially for the crew exchange. Bottom - The guard of the Roscrea liner holds on tight to a keg wagon during a shunt there while working the 10.40 hrs liner from Limerick on Tuesday 18 June 1991. This train was always lightly loaded, and No. 051 has run round. Tea will be taken before departure for Limerick at 13.27 hrs. Following a review of liner trains in September 1991, the Roscrea, Ennis and Westport liner services were cancelled.

The guard on the left must have his earplugs in as he shows no signs of waking up on the footplate of Nos. 129 & 146 as they power away from a signal check at Kilbarrack while working the 11.25 hrs from Adelaide to North Wall on Friday 22 May 1992. This train’s schedule was later altered to allow shunting at Dundalk between 13.10 hrs and 15.00 hrs. If there was enough traffic offering, the train would run to North Wall from Dundalk at 13.20 hrs without shunting, pausing only for a crew change.

Dunleer signal cabin is switched in as No. 016 heads a well-loaded Adelaide to North Wall liner on Wednesday 10 June 1992. This cabin was finally closed on Sunday 18 May 1997 when CTC was extended northwards to Dundalk. Prior to closure it was occasionally switched in to divide the 22-mile DroghedaDundalk section to speed up the running of special trains or to allow the loading of ballast trains in the yard opposite the cabin.

The driver of No. 186 gives me a wave as he notches up while crossing the points at Cherryville Junction with a special liner working from Dublin on Sunday 28 June 1992. The line to Waterford via Kilkenny diverges to the right and the original Great Southern & Western Railway cut stone milepost on the right is measured from the buffer stops at Heuston.

No. 018 works a transfer train of containers from the Sally yard at Waterford through the station to the Frank Cassin Wharf on Tuesday 30 June 1992. No. 173, standing at the platform under Mount Misery with the weed spray train, was due to spray the New Ross branch the next day.

Opposite - Heavy exhaust fumes are in evidence as No. 019 restarts a special liner train for the North Wall after gently passing Islandbridge Junction on Saturday 5 September 1992. The signal cabin which controls Heuston Yard, and Islandbridge Junction, can be seen behind the train. The loops on the left just beyond the bridge over the River Liffey are where platform 10 was constructed in 2002 to ease congestion during a major upgrade of Heuston Station. Top - No. 015 shunts tanks of molasses under the station roof at Foynes on Tuesday 22 June 1993. Departure from Limerick was early at 07.00 hrs in the path of the coal & oil train, with just four empty wagons. Return from Foynes was at 13.15 hrs with four different loaded molasses wagons and fourteen wagons of grain. The grain was worked to the Coolnamona siding at Conniberry, Portlaoise for Avonmore Co-op while the molasses was worked as required by liner trains from Limerick. Bottom - Ballingrane Junction: No. 015 lifts the heavy train as shown in the photograph above across the guard-operated level crossing. The train had to stop short of the crossing to set the guard down, pull the train through the crossing until clear, wait for the guard to lock the gates and return to the locomotive. The lifted North Kerry line junction was approximately under the seventh wagon of No. 015’s train and curved out behind the train towards Newcastle West and Tralee.

For a limited time in 1992-3, bulk grain trains operated from Foynes to Portlaoise. Here No. 015 with its train of tarpaulin covered 20-foot containers is standing at the Avonmore Co-op beside the former line to Abbeyleix on Tuesday 22 June 1993. The train ran from Foynes Junction beside the Check Cabin at Limerick, via the direct curve at Limerick Junction to the Down loop at Portlaoise before reversing past the permanent way depot to Conniberry where forklifts lifted the containers for discharge.

The Monday only coal and oil train from Foynes to Ballina was diverted to run via the direct curve at Limerick Junction and Portarlington with introduction of a new timetable on 18 May 1992. No. 035, having run round its train in the Up loop at Portarlington, is crossing from the Up to Down main before taking the branch to Athlone and the Mayo line on Monday 5 July 1993. Its train is the 12.15 hrs from Foynes, due into Ballina at 20.30 hrs.

The zinc ore traffic from Tara mines near Navan to the company’s discharge terminal at Alexander Road in Dublin via Drogheda was the most consistent heavy freight flow through boom and bust since it started in June 1977. Inchicore works built in that year a fleet of twenty-five bogie wagons specifically for this traffic. Each wagon is fitted with a cover that protects the cargo space when in transit as the load comprised lead and zinc ore. The cover is removed for loading at Navan and again for unloading by the tippler method at Dublin. Latterly the typical train weight comprised twelve wagons of all up weight of 75-80 tons each. Thus, a fully laden train weighed about 1000 tons excluding the 071 class locomotive, the maximum axle loading of about 19-20 tons necessitated the maintenance of the 18 mile line between Drogheda and Navan in first class condition. 026 is pictured stabled at Drogheda on Saturday 10 July 1993, with an eight wagon train, then the normal practice over the weekend with departure scheduled for Navan at 07.00hrs on Monday morning.

No. 146 rests between turns outside the drivers’ rooms at Dundalk on Saturday 11 September 1993 shortly after arrival with the 11.25 hrs liner from Adelaide yard. This train departed from Adelaide ten minutes earlier on Saturdays thereby providing an allowance for possible engineering works delays between Newry and Dundalk. The Dundalk pilot locomotive, on this occasion No. 039, idles beside the empty cement wagons. Both these locomotives survived for preservation by the Irish Traction Group at Downpatrick.

Above - For a limited time in 1994, trains of large boulders for coastal defence works near Rosslare Harbour were worked from Balleece between Rathdrum and Arklow to Killinick between Rosslare Strand and Bridgetown on the South Wexford line. The locomotive was based in Waterford and collected empty wagons from Wellingtonbridge where they were left from the previous day and the run-round was performed at Rathdrum. No. 145, on 18 August 1994, was pictured during the loading of the boulders into barytes wagons. Special protective measures (pinning down brakes) were applied during the loading process as the train was standing on the 1 in 90 gradient of Rathdrum bank. Opposite - The one mile Barrack Street branch in Dundalk was awkward to work as a reversal along the main line was required for all trains originating or returning to Dundalk station. Viewed on Friday 24 March 1995 from the overbridge on the main Dublin road, No. 157 was returning from Barrack Street towards the former ‘square crossing’ before swinging across marshland to Dundalk South Junction. The branch closed the following day with traffic transferred to a new purpose-built yard at Ardee Road which closed in 2005. The new gantry crane was cut up in the yard, its 10-year existence reflecting the speed of decline in rail-borne freight in those years.

Un-named No. 219, framed by the NIR ‘Freight Sector’ crane, stands with a train of fertiliser wagons at Adelaide yard on Friday 26 May 1995 prior to working five plus a tail of six cement wagons to Dundalk at 11.35 hrs. This locomotive had entered service on 2 March 1995 and was still fairly clean. It was later named River Tolka after the river which flows under the Dublin to Belfast main line just south of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) depot.

The evening sun casts long shadows as No. 160 does last-minute shunting to either the 20.30 hrs Waterford service or, more likely, the 21.00 hrs to Ballina at the Midland Yard in the North Wall on Monday 26 June 1995. To the right, No. 075 has just arrived from Inchicore and is still carrying its regulation yellow battery tail lamps as it couples up to the short Sligo liner train due to leave at 19.35 hrs. The tall brick chimneys on the skyline are of the former L&NWR Hotel, then the headquarters of Irish Rail’s freight division.

Nos. 135 & 177 get under way with the 18.50 hrs liner comprising a single bogie wagon from Adelaide yard past Musgrave Park Hospital in South Belfast’s leafy suburbs on Monday 24 July 1995. As the day’s last freight working from Adelaide, it took the Irish Rail crew home who had arrived at 18.16 hrs with the 16.20 hrs from Dundalk. This working cleared the yard of any remaining traffic on offer. Liner train speeds were limited to 40 mph, allowing the crew more comfort in bouncy No. 135 than experienced with the 45 mph restriction on light engine movements.

Timber trains commenced in July 1994, carrying cut logs mainly from the west to Clonmel and Waterford factories for manufacture of MDF-type boards. No. 071 has run round its train from Galway in the Sallypark yard, Waterford on Friday 18 August 1995. The fourth vehicle is a trial wagon while the rest are bogie pallet fertiliser wagons that have been adapted for timber traffic. A large manufacturing plant was constructed near the New Ross branch but initial plans for a rail connection so far remain unrealised.

Junctions Some junctions on Irish Rail were remote from significant settlements, for example Manulla, Cherryville, Lavistown and Rosslare Strand. Others like Limerick Junction, Mallow, Claremorris, and Athlone would spring to life for trains and then relapse into rural calm. Fortunately there was usually a signalman or crossing keeper on hand to provide information about what was due to happen. Quite often, they appreciated the company!

This night time view at Mullingar on Friday 1 February 1985 shows the extensive and expensive trackwork where the Sligo branch diverged to the right from the main line to Galway. The illuminated station awaits the arrival of the 19.35 hrs mail from Sligo and the 21.45 hrs Dublin Connolly-Galway passenger/ mail. The service from Sligo collected mail from all stations on that line to connect with the Up and Down Dublin-Galway night TPO trains which crossed in near total darkness at Moate in the 28-mile section between Mullingar and Athlone.

West Road cabin on Wednesday 5 June 1991 and No. 173 leads the 11.30 hrs Maynooth-Connolly over Ossory Road Junction. A total of 43 minutes was allowed for the seven stop, fifteen-mile run, leisurely to say the least! Unfortunately, West Road cabin was demolished on 2 August 1991 as part of the advance of CTC. The short section of track under No. 173 joined the main line to Belfast at Suburban Junction, the overhead ‘knitting’ follows that route for DART electric trains.

Glasnevin Junction: Nos. 171 & 154 bring the 09.20 hrs Connolly-Sligo train across the junction on Sunday 3 May 1992; these locomotives and the set will return as the 18.05 hrs service from Sligo. The lines to the left lead to Islandbridge Junction near Heuston, and those to the extreme right lead to Newcomen Junction and North Wall yards. North City Mills, whose profile can be seen on the skyline, was once served by a short branch that crossed the Royal Canal to deliver flour to the bakery. This stub could only be worked by locomotives with the lightest axle load.

A busy scene at Claremorris on 11 October 1992 as three Knock specials for ‘Dominican Sunday’ await their return home, all via Portarlington. On the left, Nos. 135 & 121 will leave for Dundalk at 17.20 hrs, No. 078 in the centre will depart for Waterford at 17.40 hrs and, on the right, No. 080 for Cork at 19.05. The line to the left leads to Dublin via Athlone and Portarlington while the line to the right with the rusty rails was for Limerick via Athenry. Other specials on the same day to Dublin included a 17.15 hrs from Tralee and a ‘Showtime Express’ from Killarney - busy times!

The setting sun reflects off newly painted No. 083 with Driver Finbarr Masterson of Westport at Manulla Junction while working the 18.05 hrs HeustonWestport on Thursday 24 June 1993. To the left, No. 187 waits on the left to form the 21.22 hrs to Ballina while the guard and signalman are transferring the parcels and mails from the Mark 3 van to the branch set. No. 187 would later work the 22.20 hrs Ballina-North Wall liner train.

Full throttle at Howth Junction! Nos. 133 & 129 storm through, recovering from a check at signal No. HJ29 on the Down road protecting the junction while working the 11.00 hrs Belfast Central-Connolly on Monday 12 July 1993. Unusually, the Mark 2 set has been reduced to six coaches with the usual dining car excluded.

Shunting

Before the advent of the so-called railcar ‘flexibility’ on Irish Rail, there was a need for shunting engines at most terminus stations. For detachment or addition of a vehicle, a signalman and a shunter would be required plus permanent way personnel to maintain the trackwork. The drive towards economy has removed many of the traditional features of railway operations plus the staff responsible for them. The duty driver shunts the ‘Friday Only’ set from Connolly, stabled in the centre road at Sligo on Saturday 18 June 1988. The set of Park Royal carriages arrived the previous evening and will lay over to form the 05.00 hrs on Monday morning unless required for a special working elsewhere. To ensure that all would be in order for the early start on Monday, the duty driver would start the locomotive on both days and move the set up and down the middle road.

‘While you are spraying the middle road you can shunt that coach while you are at it’ was the instruction given to the crew of No. 168 on the weed spray train by the signalman at Sligo on Wednesday 6 June 1990, and that is exactly what happened. The Mark 2 coach had been detached from the rear of a regular departing train and retained to accommodate a special party later in the week. A similar arrangement happened at Westport with Mark 3 stock.

Top - NIR No. 113 Belfast & County Down rests mid-shunt at Belfast Central Service Depot (CSD) after working the 18.20 hrs from Connolly on Saturday 24 September 1988. The Mark 2C coach next to the engine is former push-pull driving trailer No. 813 (renumbered 917 in July 1990) from the Hunslet set of 1970. The red light above the locomotive’s cab is mounted on the spire of nearby St Matthews Church on Bryson Street to warn low flying pilots at the nearby Belfast City Airport. Bottom - Pilot No. 048 has been detached from train locomotive No. 149 on the regular 17.00 hrs Waterford-Rosslare Harbour service at Wellingtonbridge on Friday 3 November 1989. The seventeenmile section of single line between here and Abbey Junction was virtually continuously occupied during the Sugar Beet Campaign. No. 048 would now shunt at Wellingtonbridge until the 15.35 hrs service from Limerick had passed at 18.50 hrs and then make a dash at 19.00 hrs for Waterford with a loaded train. This was due to arrive there in advance of the 19.40 hrs Rosslare Harbour from Wellingtonbridge. Opposite - At the end of the half-mile ‘Deep Water extension’ siding in Sligo, Cold Chon had a road tar depot to which Irish Rail occasionally worked tankers of bitumen from the North Wall in Dublin. Here Nos. 166 & 132 are returning ‘light’ having left two wagons at the depot in the background. The track was in poor condition by then and the shunter can be seen on the left, walking the whole way back to the yard. Maybe he thought that mode was safer!

Opposite - The shunter and Dundalk Central signalman discuss their next move beside freshly-painted yet very oily No. 016 on Monday 18 June 1990. The visible oil indicated yet more broken pipework. Several of the A Class had a gutter fitted over the windows to prevent oil smears on the windscreen and resultant visibility problems. The effectiveness of the gutter over the cab door is clearly evident; the door is clean but not handrails, handles or steps. Top - Driver Finbarr Masterson on No. 086 talks with the guard over the train radio during a shunt and brake test at Westport on Friday 25 June 1993, prior to working the 13.30 hrs to Heuston. The Mark 3 coach next to the engine has just been shunted from the former cattle bank on the right and added to the eight coach set. Managing nine coaches at short platforms on the Mayo line took good co-ordination between driver and guard. The coach had been detached from a train earlier in the week and retained to accommodate a group travel booking. Bottom - No. 142’s driver listens for the shunter’s radio instructions during a shunt at Belview on Wednesday 24 November 1993. The yard had inadequate headshunt accommodation and required partial use of the single line between Wellingtonbridge and Abbey Junction for shunting purposes. The driver is attempting to shield his eyes from the sun’s glare by the widespread practice of adding the locomotive’s weekly mileage and maintenance record card to the sun visor. This locomotive is now preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.

Railtours I was lucky to take part in the planning and organisation of many railtours by both diesel and steam power all over Ireland. This work involved liaison with Irish Railway staff at different levels, all of whom gave their enthusiastic support. We sometimes asked for the impossible but we were often granted many interesting alternatives. Lasting relationships were made with many other enthusiast groups, including some from overseas who valued our experience with the railway companies.

NIR No.111 Great Northern arrives at Connolly with ‘Not the Steam Enterprise’ on Saturday 12 September 1987. This was a special working of three coaches owned by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (GSR No. 1142 [First Class Side Corridor], GS&WR No. 861 [Tri-composite Brake] & LMS(NCC) No. 68 [First & Second Composite Side Corridor]) from Whitehead via Antrim for a film contract. There was also a ‘Steam Enterprise’ from Belfast Central to Dublin on the same day, hence No. 111’s headboard!

NIR railbus No. RB3 is ready to start from Belfast York Road on Saturday 10 September 1988 with a Modern Railway Society of Ireland (MRSI) railtour to Larne Harbour, Whitehead (both stations) and Ballymena with many stops in between. The coach to the right is ex-GNR(I) No. 9 (later Ulster Transport Authority No. N586), a diagram K31 open third, former AEC driving trailer built April 1954 at Dundalk by GNR(I) and preserved by the RPSI. The railbus was built by BREL in Derby in 1981 as demonstrator vehicle No. RDB977020. It was purchased by NIR in August 1982 and re-gauged for use mainly on the Coleraine to Portrush branch. At the time of writing, it is preserved at Downpatrick, Co. Down.

The Irish Traction Group operated their first ever railtour, “The Bangor Belle” on Sunday 10 September 1989 using three ex LMS NCC carriages borrowed from the RPSI at Whitehead, Co. Antrim. The original plan was to have included NIR diesel hydraulic locomotive no 2, but it failed on a light engine working from Belfast York Road Works to Belfast Central Service Depot (via Antrim). NIR kindly offered locomotives no 101 and 104 instead. No 104 is pictured at Bangor Co. Down with the 15.55 departure to Belfast Central. NIR no 104 was formerly CIE no 216, built by Metropolitan-Vickers, entering service with CIE in July 1957, re-engined with a General Motors engine in November 1971, and purchased by NIR in February 1986 as one of a class of six ex-CIE (B) 201 class locomotives for mainly permanent way work. 104 was “stopped” in September 1994, withdrawn in August 1995, and scrapped at Belfast Harbour in September 1997 along with two other members of the “104 class”.

The ITG ran their second railtour, ’The Irish MV’, on Saturday 7 October 1989 using a set of Irish Rail Craven carriages originating in Bray, calling at Dun Laoghaire to pick up participants arriving by ferry from Holyhead. The train travelled via Lisburn to Antrim and then to Larne Harbour, by way of York Road. It returned via Ballymena and Lisburn to Belfast Central. Assorted motive power used on the day included NIR Nos. 106, 108 and 103. Pictured at Lisburn, No. 106 pilots No.103 en route to Belfast Central from Crumlin on the now closed Antrim branch.

The Branch Line Society (BLS) organised a weekend tour of NIR on 26 & 27 May 1990, to visit unusual sidings and yards, and to travel over almost the entire NIR system except between Lisburn and the Border. NIR 80 Class railcar No. 98 is in the former Cushendall platform at Ballymena on the 26th with enthusiasts ‘minding the gap’ at the low, former narrow gauge platform!

The BLS special continued on the 27th with a tour to Larne Harbour, then via the emergency crossover at Bleach Green and on to Antrim and the former ‘Showground siding’. Progress to Bangor was tortuous via Adelaide yard, Balmoral sidings, Central Services Depot, another emergency crossover at Rockport, and then the siding to the yet to be constructed ’Railway Gallery’ at Cultra. This view shows the special at the end of that branch beside the recently installed turntable which had been moved from Athenry, Co. Galway. Keen-eyed observers will observe the buffer stop!

NIR Railbus No. 3 in the unlikely setting of Kingscourt, Co. Cavan on Saturday 28 July 1990 while working Southern Railtours’ (SR) ‘Cavan Coup’ tour. Cork-based Joe St Leger can be seen stepping on to the platform – no railtour was complete without him! The railbus started from Belfast at 08.05 hrs via Drogheda and Navan. The distance from Navan to Kingscourt was 19½ miles with 13 guard-operated level crossings. The journey time for this leg was 2 hours with ten minutes allowed at the terminus before retracing the route to Belfast with arrival at 17.59 hrs, just in time for the 18.00 hrs southbound ‘Enterprise’. The railtour booking form advised that there would be no dining car or toilet facilities but that a suitable ‘P’ stop could be made on request at a convenient hedge!

The Modern Railway Society of Ireland (MRSI) operated an extraordinarily successful ‘International Thumper’ railtour from Belfast to Cork, Cobh and Limerick, returning via the direct curve at Limerick Junction on Saturday 13 October 1990. Departure from Belfast Central was at 06.30 hrs with return at 22.15 hrs. Fuel was taken at Cork and the train examiners in the shed at Glanmire Road voiced concerns about some wheel profiles during a walk-around check. Our skilful negotiations were to assure that all was in order and besides, NIR needed the set back for the businessmen’s express trains from Bangor on Monday morning! The ‘Foynes Phoenix’ railtour was a joint tour between the MRSI & SR and has just arrived at its destination on Saturday 18 May 1991. The train was also a joint inter-railway company affair, using six NIR vehicles and seven from IR. The two sets were combined at Connolly. The outward route was via Athenry, Gort, Ennis and Limerick with return by way of Thurles and Connolly. I was instructed that tour participants were forbidden to leave the train at Foynes. Let us just say that I did try but nobody listened!

No. 105 shunts its coaching stock at Belfast York Road on a wet Saturday 22 August 1992 with the ITG’s ‘Mini-MV’ railtour. This had started in Central station and visited the RPSI site at Whitehead and then Larne Harbour. The Craven coaches had been attached to the rear of the regular 08.00 hrs from Connolly to Central and returned attached to the rear of the 18.00 hrs service to Connolly. NIR No. 105, formerly CIE No. 218, entered service with NIR on 27 April 1991. It was ‘stopped’ on 6 November 1993, and after giving just two years seven months’ service was scrapped at Belfast in August 1997.

The honour of the first passenger train to visit Belfast Yorkgate was bestowed on the MRSI with their ‘Gate Opener’ railtour on Saturday 10 October 1992 (the station was scheduled to open to the public on 17 October). The railtour started in Central and ran to Yorkgate via Antrim and York Road, returning to Central via Ballymena and Dundalk! The MRSI special on the left is formed by 80 Class railcar No. 98. Adjacent 450 Class railcar No. 455 was in use on a driver training and route knowledge special. The former LMS NCC ‘Midland Hotel’ (since demolished) can be seen on the left.

Irish Railway Rover Part 2 Irish Railway Rover Part 2 Michael McMahon

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Michael McMahon