It is with regret that I post to note the passing of William Hogg, author of Millers & the Mills of Ireland of about 1850 and other works and leading light in the Mills and Millers of Ireland society.
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Month: March 2024
At first glance, this news article, flagging a planning permission notice looks interesting. Upon digging deeper, it just becomes confusing.
The planning permission notice is No. 2450084 in Donegal Co. Council. What is being sought is, in fact, retention permission – i.e., the work is already done.
The permission notice suggests that the land on either side of the original railway line has been lowered, bringing the line’s route back to being on an embankment and the land owner is seeking permission to retain this arrangement.
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Update to the Gazetteer
The main feature of this site, that is a work in progress (due to the scale of what is required) is the Gazetteer. Currently, this is railway stations only but the long term plan is to cover all IH features.
One thing that has been holding me back is how to efficiently get information out of the master database I have developed over three decades of my interest in IH (stored in Microsoft Access). In the last week, I cracked this problem in relation to the creation of photo pages for the photos I have taken and placed online.
The other area I have been aware that my site was lacking in was presentation. The html pages are basic (largely hand coded html) without CSS and associated stylesheets.
I have now updated all stations (barring 2 minor stations) on the Dublin to Sligo line with a new format (using CSS) that I intend to roll out to all locations. The new photo gallery pages for each location are now a link to a separate page (see here for Mullingar as an example) for each photo, with a narrative explaining the image.
During the update of the pages for the Sligo line, I encountered a few errors in the data in my underlying database and these have also been corrected. This is a secondary benefit of this process.
It is my intention to continue the rollout of this new format across the site.
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Fear the high tide
Whether or not global warming/climate change is a thing, the maxim of the late Noel Carroll of Dublin Corporation about people who live near water should expect to get their feet wet occasionally applies.
The Irish Independent is reporting delays on the DART line today due to a high tide causing flooding on the line at Blackrock.
The Dublin & Kingstown Railway (from modern day Pearse Station to Dun Laoghaire) runs along/near the coast for about 60% of its length – from Merrion Gates to Dun Laoghaire.
This makes the line susceptible to such events and if rising sea levels become a thing, this line won’t be a thing. What is the State doing about this (apart from putting levies on drinks containers)? Nothing, from what I can see, but a State that plans to electrify a railway line and stop the electrification less than 1 mile from the next station is not one which displays competence in the area of planning.
Not everyone lives in the now – this site posted a series of posts three years ago on this very issue. I link to the post about the DART line south of Sydney Parade. The post is as relevant today as it was then.
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R&H Hall Silos, Cork
RTE have an article about the demolition of the former R&H Hall grain silos in Cork Docks.
Local politics is always a goldmine for crazy suggestions that will never see the light of day. This call, reported on the Kildare Now website is no exception, with a councillor calling for the LUAS to be extended to Blessington, Co. Wicklow.
I would suggest a far better use of State resources would be a 3km extension of the DART+ WEST plan from the depot at One Mile Short to a new station west of Kilcock, near to the Musgraves depot, where this would also serve as a park & ride for car traffic off the M4.