H/T to Ron Cox of the IHAI for bringing this to my attention.
The Little Museum of Dublin are hosting a series of talks and that being held on Thursday 15th April 2021 will cover an exploration of archive material from Dublin and Liverpool ports.
The talk takes place at 18:00 and can be accessed here.
Ports, Past and Present is a project that will consist of eight short documentary films and one feature-length film, primarily about the west coast of Wales but which will also feature Dublin Port and Rosslare Harbour. The films will be part of a wider campaign to raise awareness of the rich coastal and maritime heritage of these communities.
To get involved contact the team by emailing Rita Singer ris32@aber.ac.uk or message on Twitter @PortsPastPres or Facebook @portspastandpresent.
Every so often, the RTE website throws up an archive feature of interest.
Today, it gave me this piece – an archive section from 1987 noting the opening of an exhibition of railway memorabilia in Fivemiletown, Co. Tyrone.
Nothing to do with railways (there were very few round houses in Ireland – I have only identified 6 in the history of railways in Ireland) but a house built by Bord na Mona in its housing complex in Lanesborough, Co. Roscommon.
The house has been on the market since 2018 (it would appear to be an executor sale as I also found a death notice from 2018 stating that the deceased was “formerly of The Round House, Lanesboro”) and was on the market then at €117k.
I became aware of the property’s IH connection last year (in fact, if it wasn’t for COVID and the inability to travel, I may have put in an offer) when it was advertised as for sale at €120k. In the last few weeks, the asking price has now increased to €125k.
Normally, if a property hasn’t sold in 3 years, it is because the price is too high, in which case, the thing to do is reduce the price, not increase it.
The CDRRL are hosting another online talk – this time a history of the three railways in Donegal and a behind the scenes tour of the railway museum in Donegal Town.
It can be viewed on YouTube at 19:00 on Easter Sunday (4th April 2021).
Initial plans for extending the DART to Hazelhatch and Celbridge are being prepared. Early drafts of this plan included a station on the Kylemore Road in Ballyfermot but, according to the Dublin Inquirer, this will not now happen.*
With trains terminating in Heuston Station, a station at Kylemore Road probably does not make sense, however, with DART running through the Phoenix Park Tunnel to Grand Canal Dock or even a new Spencer Dock station beside the existing LUAS station of that name, this would work as part of an overall network.
I will declare an interest here – I live on the Kylemore Road – about 500m from the bridge over the railway. A DART station on my doorstep would work wonders for property values.
However, I am currently considering moving home – likely to be to somewhere along the Maynooth Line in advance of the price rises that will follow commencement of DART construction work on that line.
* Ever conscious of the date, the Dublin Inquirer article is dated 31st March 2021.
Now 1 year into the “new normal” of ‘flatten the curve’, our benevolent overlords are spaffing more money on projects that the majority of the population cannot use as Ireland continues to be an open air prison.
This time, the regime has announced the Royal Canal Greenway from Maynooth, Co. Kildare to Clondara in Co. Longford. Interestingly, as the majority of tax revenue is generated in Dublin, the people of Dublin are paying for this project but will not benefit from it as it is more than 5km away from Dublin.
YouTube directed me to this video of a rather ingenious individual living in the West of Ireland, who has started building his own farmyard railway on his property!
There is a second video on his channel showing the process of making fishplates for the track (these are used to join two sections of rail together) and a set of points!
CDRRL are hosting the above titled talk on Friday 19th March at 19:00. The talk will be livestreamed on both Facebook and Youtube – further details of the talk and links to both Facebook and Youtube can be found on the Donegal Daily website.