The Kildare Nationalist has reported that the restoration of the iconic Four Pots on the Grand Canal near Sallins is complete.
I hope Waterways Ireland will keep it free of overgrowth going forward in order that another restoration is not required in 5 years time.
The BBC reports that the erstwhile Foyle Valley Railway Museum in Derry has reopened under the management of the charity “Destined”, a charity which trains adults with learning disabilities.
I am, as advised previously, currently updating pages in the Gazetteer to add in latitude/longitude references. All open stations are now updated and I have started work on closed stations on open lines.
Whilst doing so, I was looking at the photo I have online for one of the many stations to have existed in the Rosslare Harbour area and I think it is of one of the other stations.
I will be carrying out an exercise to fix this in due course.
The former lockkeeper’s house at the 9th Lock on the Grand Canal in Dublin is for sale by Waterways Ireland (must be in need of some money for Thon Sheugh).
The fact that there is only an aerial photo of the site suggests that the interior is appalling and, in fact, the sales blurb declares the property to be “in need of a full renovation”. However, as the building is a protected structure, this will complicate any such renovation.
As I continue to update the Gazetteer, the question came to mind – which county had the most railway stations (current and former) and which had the least.
The county with the most stations (current and former) is Antrim at 128 and the least number of stations fell to Longford, with only 4. The full list is below:
| County | Stations |
| Antrim | 128 |
| Cork | 124 |
| Donegal | 101 |
| Dublin | 96 |
| Down | 83 |
| Kerry | 59 |
| Derry | 52 |
| Tyrone | 40 |
| Armagh | 37 |
| Meath | 32 |
| Clare | 31 |
| Wexford | 30 |
| Limerick | 29 |
| Wicklow | 29 |
| Tipperary | 28 |
| Galway | 25 |
| Leitrim | 24 |
| Mayo | 23 |
| Fermanagh | 22 |
| Kilkenny | 22 |
| Louth | 22 |
| Kildare | 21 |
| Cavan | 17 |
| Roscommon | 17 |
| Monaghan | 16 |
| Sligo | 15 |
| Waterford | 15 |
| Westmeath | 15 |
| Offaly | 12 |
| Carlow | 8 |
| Laois | 8 |
| Longford | 4 |
Irish Rail regularly warn about the impact that bridge strikes have on their network.
Today, the CIE Group went for an own goal, when a railway overbridge in Cork (on the Dublin – Cork line) was hit by a Bus Eireann bus.
One wonders how CIE, which is allowed to self insure*, will handle any costs associated with this.
* It is my belief that this provision of the Road Traffic Act is unconstitutional as the State is allowing one public transport operator to self insure and not others, thereby showing favourtism. Constitutionally, the State is not permitted to favour itself and must favour all equally or not at all.
H/T to Newry.ie for this story.
Mourne Textiles, based in Rostrevor, Co. Down, has launched a crowd funding campaign to “restore vintage flax processing and spinning equipment, to create a sustainable circular supply chain in Ireland.”
Further details of their plans and a link to the crowd funding page can be found here. The closing date for the crowd funding campaign is 30th June 2023.
I have just returned from a trip to Genoa (Italy) and Vienna (Austria). In the latter, I spotted this building on my travels.
Google translates the wording at the top of the building as “Insurance of the Austrian railways”.