One of the things on my bucket list is to travel in a boat through the Ardnacrusha dam. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is own a boat suitable for the trip, or know someone who does who is willing to take you on such a trip.
The video below is of a trip through the Ardnacrusha Lock:
The Railway Accident Investigation Unit (RAIU) has released a brief report on an incident that occurred in January 2025 at Navan Road Parkway Station in Dublin.
To cut a long story short (full report linked to above), the gates on Platform 2 (citybound platform) at Navan Road Parkway were left locked on the morning of 31st January 2025, resulting in a number of passengers crossing the tracks to exit the station from Platform 1, where the access gates were not locked.
Interestingly, the RAIU report notes that in such instances, those on the line are not trespassers in the legal sense of the term.
I recently had a letter published in the local media, accusing Irish Rail of incompetence, basing this assertion on 35 years of experience of criticising same. It looks like the RAIU agree.
The redevelopment of the North Quays in Waterford is underway. Technically, such a project would be worthy of comment on this site, due to port environments falling under the definition of IH.
I specifically link to this article in the Waterford News and Star as it contains a timeline for the opening of the new railway station in Waterford being built as part of this project and information about the current station.
It is noted that the transport hub will be substantially complete by Q2 2026 but signaling work on the railway will not be complete until Q2 2027. Given the light use of this section of line east of the current Waterford station (freight traffic to Belview), I am at a loss to understand why Irish Rail cannot realign the track and install the associated signalling now.
The article notes that the canopies at the present Waterford station are protected structures and therefore, CIE will be required to keep these (having said that, the ‘care and maintenance’ practiced by Irish Rail/CIE is not something to shout about).
Could I suggest that the present Limerick/Dublin facing bay platform be leased to the Irish Traction Group as an alternative to their present isolated facility at Carrick on Suir? Having their locomotives in Waterford would be a tourist attraction and an appropriate re-use of the platform facilities.
Thanks to a Youtube video, I became aware of this building in Oslo, Norway, which is student accommodation in a converted grain silo.
I reported previously on the Factory Girls memorial in Derry. As with most Government initiatives (“Government” includes all levels of authority and control), it would appear that TPTB went ahead and came up with an idea that did not have the support of those directly connected to the subject matter.
Ireland Live reports on a protest by members of a group called “Friends of the Factories” about the memorial, which, although on site and revealed, is due to have its official “unveiling” on 22 May 2025.
Well known historian Rob Goodbody will be giving a talk on the Bridges of Wicklow to the Roundwood Historical Society on 20th May 2025 at 20:00 in the Roundwood Parish Hall.
There is a charge of €5 for non members of the Society, reduced to €3 for Roundwood Historical Society members.
I was in Dresden over the bank holiday weekend, for the express purpose of visiting the Dresden Danglebahn, sorry, Schwebebahn.
Schwebebahn are suspension railway, of which there are a few in Germany. There is the more famous Wuppertal Schwebebahn, which I visited in 2023 and there is the Dresden Schwebebahn, which is, in some ways, more interesting, being a suspension funicular railway (i.e. there are two lines with the carriage ascending being raised by the weight of the carriage descending).
One aspect of the system caught my eye, more on the basis of ‘that would never work in Ireland’. Shortly after leaving the lower station, the line crosses over a road. With no warning signs or gates, the carriage crosses this road at a height that would enable an accident in the form of a large road vehicle running into it.
Were such a system in use in Ireland, I could see it being closed regularly due to vehicular strikes.
The Newry & Armagh Railway (originally planned to be the Newry & Enniskillen Railway) built a line between the two locations in its name. This included the 1,759 yard long Lissummon Tunnel just west of Newry and the Dublin – Belfast Railway.
The tunnel is now on private property and access not officially permitted (I have never been in, but if the owner sees this post, I’d be happy to pay a visit with permission).
Youtuber Stephen Reid has a video on his channel of a recent visit to Lissummon tunnel.
As mentioned previously, the long awaited memorial to the Factory Girls in Derry has been installed. I visited Derry at the end of March and took a photo of the new memorial.
Nationwide is a thrice weekly TV programme on RTE1, covering local interest stories not covered in mainstream news reports.
The three editions in the week commencing 28th April 2025 (Monday 28th April, Wednesday 30th April and Friday 2nd May) are devoted to Dublin Port and may be of interest.