Author: ewan.duffy

Categories
History

RTE Archive – getting it wrong

The RTE archive has a piece on the opening of 4 new stations on the Maynooth Line in 1990 (Broombridge, Castleknock, Coolmine and Leixlip Confey).

The blurb contains many errors, including:

Referring to the service as “A new Dublin suburban rail line”. The Maynooth Line service actually started in 1981.

Stated that the original railway along which the service ran dates back back to the 1870s. The line actually opened in 1847.

Stated the railway was originally known as the “Great Midland and Western Railway”. No. The railway was originally built/owned by the Midland Great Western Railway.

Categories
Events

From the Basin to the Bar

The above titled talk is a photographic journey on the waterways around Newry, which takes place on 22nd March 2025 at 14:00 in Newry & Mourne Museum in Newry. Tickets can be obtained here and cost £2.50.

Categories
IH News 2025

Elphin Windmill

A GoFundMe campaign to facilitate the repair of the damage caused to Elphin Windmill during Storm Eowyn has been setup and can be accessed here.

Categories
IH News 2025

St. John’s Point Lighthouse, Co. Down

Per the Belfast Telegraph, the on off saga of the Commissioners of Irish Lights proposals to modernise the lighting arrangements in St. John’s Point Lighthouse in Co. Down continues, with local residents objecting to the replacement of the fundamentally unsafe mercury based rotation mechanism and light with LED lights and a ball bearing based rotation mechanism, citing a range of spurious arguments against this.

There are many examples of former lighthouse lights preserved as static exhibits in adjacent (and non adjacent) areas and I would suggest that if the local community wish to have a known toxin in their community, they should be facilitated to have the mechanism preserved at a site in the community in the community/council ownership, with all the associated civil liability for same on the community/council if the mercury leaks.

Categories
IH News 2025

Want to live in a reservoir? Not in Armagh.

Armaghi.com reports on a refusal to grant planning permission to convert a former reservoir in Banbridge into a house.

The applicant had sought to construct a new build house above ground and incorporate the former reservoir into the structure as a basement.

Categories
Greenways IH News 2025

Newtownards to Bangor Greenway

Another day, another greenway. This time in Co. Down, from Newtownards to Bangor.

At first the headline on insidermedia.com had me confused, stating:

“Construction starts on £5.6m Newtownards to Bangor Greenway – will utilise former railway track”.

Was there a heretofore unrecorded railway line from Newtownards to Bangor? A quick look at my own gazetteer enlightened me. The plan is to use the trackbed from Newtownards to Conlig (also known as Whitespots) and head across country from there to Bangor.

Categories
Site Updates

Midleton – Youghal Greenway

I have finally updated the photos taken at the three stations on the former Midleton to Youghal railway, now a greenway (Mogeely, Killeagh and Youghal) and these are available to see via the Gazetteer.

Categories
History

Harcourt Street Railway accident – 14 February 1900

There is a well known image of a steam locomotive protruding through the end wall of Harcourt Street station, this being the end result of an accident on 14th February 1900. The 125th anniversary of this was 2 days ago and the YouTube algorithm recommended this video to me:

Dublin’s Valentine Train Crash – Harcourt Street Station Crash

It is reasonable enough in terms of the history, although I take issue with the narrative around how the locomotive was re-railed and left the following comment on YouTube:

Are you sure about how the locomotive was re-railed? My understanding is that the engine was lowered onto Hatch Street (the street that it protruded onto) where there was a tram line. Conveniently, the original tram network in Dublin used the same gauge as the railway, allowing it to be moved closer to Adelaide Road, where temporary track was laid to bring the engine up the goods area access road to be re-railed.

Co-incidentally, the locomotive in question had another off road excursion during the Irish Civil War and also had to be re-railed using temporary track.

Categories
Overseas

Railway carriages to bridges

Between 1920 and 1943, the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee had an enterprising general manager in the form of Henry Forbes, a man whose initiative probably kept the company in better nick than most narrow gauge railways and especially its northern neighbour, the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway.

One of the things he was known for was actively reusing life expired equipment for different purposes and were he around today, he would undoubtedly be impressed with this activity.

North Carolina, USA, suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Helene in September 2024, including the destruction of road bridges.

I came upon this news article which showcases an innovative use of withdrawn railway carriages (referred to as “railcars” in the article), in forming temporary road bridges, allowing for the quicker restoration of connections than would be the case if localities had to wait for a conventional bridge to be installed.

Categories
General Greenways

Westport train collision

I don’t normally comment on trains, not even railway accidents (although technically they do constitute railway history). However, this news item got me thinking about Westport and suggestions for a change.

TLDR, there is actually freight handled at Westport station, specifically timber trains. These are loaded in the old goods area. Not a large area to start with, it was inevitable that something like this would happen eventually.

Map Copyright OpenStreetMap – https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

Looking at the map above, the greyed out section of track is that in use for train stabling/timber loading. If this activity were to move to a dedicated loading site east of the station within Westport station limits (track circuits/axle counters could protect trains), this would free up the area west of the passenger station, allowing for the connection of the Westport to Achill greenway to that running to Westport Quay, improving the tourist amenity of Westport and segregating passenger and freight trains. I have added a line in blue to the map above, showing how the 2 greenways could be connected.