Author: ewan.duffy

Disused Stations website

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 9th July 2023

My attention was brought to the website http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/ – not having a specific interest in the railways of Britain, I didn’t reckon that there would anything of interest thereon but I always wondered how you would go about doing something similar to my Gazetteer for Britain (the concentration of railways was greater than Ireland and the larger landmass results in a massive number of current and former railway stations). The site has a small number of Irish stations (both NI and RoI) but nothing compared to my own Gazetteer.

One I did note was Foynes – what drew my attention to it was the un-permissioned use of one of my photos on their site. Given the paucity of Irish stations on their site, I don’t see the point in following up on this – however, I do have issues with my intellectual property being used elsewhere without my consent.

The majority of photos on this site are taken by me. For the small number of exceptions (Castlecaldwell being the standout as well as some of the photos of Castleconnell and other stations in that area being taken by the late Brian J Goggin), these photos are reused here with the express consent of the takers/owners of said photos.

Events

Ardnacrusha Tours

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 3rd July 2023

The ESB are running tours of Ardnacrusha power station outside Limerick from 3rd July to 8th September 2023.

Prebooking is required.

Events

Heritage Week 2023

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 3rd July 2023

I have reviewed the listing of Heritage Week events for 2023 and the list of IH related events can be found here.

Some counties have no events of any nature on the Heritage Week site – I may do an update to the list at the start of August to see if any late events of interest are added.

IH News 2023

The Four Pots restored

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 30th June 2023

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.

IH News 2023

Derry Railway Museum

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 30th June 2023

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.

Site Updates

Rosslare railway stations

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 27th June 2023

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.

IH News 2023 Locations

9th Lock House, Grand Canal, Dublin

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 27th June 2023

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.

History

How many railway stations?

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 17th June 2023

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

IH News 2023

Own goal

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 12th June 2023

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.

IH News 2023

Flax spinning crowd funder

Post author By ewan.duffy
Post date 5th June 2023

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.