Posts of an historical nature
Sparrowsland was a temporary terminus on the line from Palace East, short of the DW&WR railway line at Macmine (which became Macmine Junction when the line from Palace East finally connected).
By looking at the 25 inch OS maps online, I have figured out where this was and have added a page to the Gazetteer reflecting this.
In 1917, due to coastal erosion, the railway line between Bray and Greystones was deviated inland for the final time (for the moment!) with the construction of Bray Head No. 4 Tunnel. This commenced almost immediately south of Bray Head No. 3 Tunnel and replaced a long section from there to just north of the harbour at Greystones. Part of this route had already been deviated in 1888 – the remains of which can be seen on GoogleMaps:
At 1,084 yards long, this is the second longest railway tunnel in use in Ireland and just north of the south portal, there is an air vent.
Very few photos of this exist and I am not surprised. It is located on private land and is not accessible from nearby roads nor the Bray Head cliff path.
I went out to Greystones today to see how close I could get and the photos below are the best I could achieve:
RTE have an article looking at the establishment of the trans-Atlantic cable from Ireland to North America, which came ashore in Kerry (Valentia Island and later cables at Ballinskelligs and Waterville).
The BBC have an article summarising why Northern Ireland’s railway network closed and suggestions for future line re-openings.
Normally such articles need to be commented on from an accuracy point of view, however, the BBC did the sensible thing and talked to the right people – in this case Charles Friel and Robert Gardiner – with the result that there is nothing therein that needs correction.
RTE Archives have thrown up another gem – whilst I was aware of the accident, I had never seen images of it before!
In 1995, a train overran the buffer stops in Cobh and ploughed through the wall of the heritage centre located in the building behind. The RTE piece includes footage of the locomotive from both inside and outside the building.
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.
Not something I’d tend to hang out on – I have better things to do with my life.
However, Google gave me a link to this post on Irish Rail’s blog, which is a brief overview of a Civil War shooting near Mallow Station in Co. Cork.
Youtube directed me towards this short video on the Dublin City Libraries YouTube channel about the Iveagh Trust Buildings in Dublin.
Although dating from 2009, it is as relevant today as it was then.
RTE Archives have an historical report from 1965 about the old bridge between Cork and Waterford east of Youghal.
Whilst searching on Google for something else, I was given this link to Hansard (record of the Houses of Parliament in the UK) which is a question about the level crossing at Clones railway station, allegedly from 1950.
Clearly this is wrong as the UK Board of Trade would have had zero authority over a level crossing in the Republic of Ireland at that date.
Update – I have found a listing of the Presidents of the Board of Trade and based on the information therein and the reference in the link above to Mr. Ritchie holding that title, the date range for this query is 29 June 1895 to 7 November 1900, being the period that Mr. Ritchie held that position.