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IH News 2023 Locations

9th Lock House, Grand Canal, Dublin

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.

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IH News 2023 Locations

Bishopswood Level crossing cottage, Co. Tipperary

In 2020, I noted that the former Bishopswood LC cottage was up for sale (by auction) by CIE. From the property price register, I see it was sold for €62,000.

It is back for sale, having been partially restored, with an asking price of €150,000.

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Locations

Château d’Eau de Knocknaheeny

RTE’s 100 building series has another IH feature – this time, the water tower at Knocknaheeny in Cork.

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Locations

Belfast Grand Central Station

I have previously reported on the plans to develop a new transport interchange in Belfast, to be called Belfast Grand Central Station.

I found a video on Youtube which explains what the whole plan is.

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Locations

Essexford Station, Co. Monaghan

I have (finally) started to process the photos I took over the last few months and one of these was taken at Essexford in Co. Monaghan, which was the intermediate station on the Carrickmacross branch.

The Google Streetview image of the station master’s residence is below (dates from 2018):

The photo I took is below:

Essexford Stationmaster's house
Essexford, Co. Monaghan
Essexford Stationmaster’s house, Essexford, Co. Monaghan. Copyright Ewan Duffy 2022

I think the house looked better before the new owners went at it (the house was on the market in recent years).

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Locations

Titanic Hotel/Museum, Belfast

RTE has a review of the Titanic Hotel and Titanic Museum in Belfast on their site.

The former encompasses the former Harland and Wolff office building.

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Locations Site Updates

Fairyhouse Halt

Located on the Clonsilla to Navan line between Dunboyne and Drumree stations, the halt at Fairyhouse was used for race day traffic for the racecourse of the same name.

When checking online aerial photos of the area today (both Googlemaps and Geohive.ie), I figured that I had the location wrong, in that I had assumed that the M3 motorway occupied the site of the line here. This is wrong – for a short section of line north of Fairyhouse, the M3 does occupy the former trackbed, but not at Fairyhouse.

The road overbridge at the halt was removed during motorway construction – however, the trackbed remains adjacent to the M3, including the halt site, which is now occupied by a garden attached to a private residence.

I have updated the Gazetteer page for Fairyhouse Halt and will add the photo of the site (a garden) in the near future.

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Locations

Ballydehob Viaduct

Opened in 1886 as part of the narrow gauge Schull and Skibbereen Light Railway which ran, unsurprisingly, between Schull and Skibbereen in Co. Cork, the 12 arch viaduct over Roaringwater Bay is in excellent condition with a walkway along the top, where trains ran until 1947.

Roaringwater Bay Viaduct, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, Ireland
Roaringwater Bay Viaduct, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, Ireland. Copyright Ewan Duffy 2022
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History Locations

St. Judes Spire, Inchicore

St. Judes Anglican Church in Inchicore, Dublin, was built between 1862 and 1864, primarily for the use of railway workers employed at the nearby Inchicore railway works.

The main building was dismantled and relocated to Straffan many decades ago, where it now acts as the Steam Museum, thanks to the actions of Robert Guinness.* I understand that Robert would have taken the spire as well, but local objections led to this being left, with dreams of some sort of taxpayer funded community centre being built around it.

The latter never happened and the spire and adjacent ground is now up for sale. The Spire is a protected structure and therefore, any planning permission granted for development would need to factor this in.

* Declaration of interest – I know Robert Guinness personally.

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IH News 2022 Locations

Connolly Station locomotive shed

The locomotive shed at Connolly Station in Dublin is closed and out of use – ceasing to be used as a locomotive shed on 31st December 2010. The photo below shows the shed in 1992 – Irish Rail had been in existence for 5 years at this stage, but the CIE logo is still in situ.

Passing by the shed today on board a train departing from Platform 2, Connolly Station, I noticed what looked like an historic coat of arms in the space where the CIE logo is in the photo above. Not having had a good look at it, I am wondering is it the GNR(I) coat of arms?

Another possibility is that the shed is being used as a film location and another railway company coat of arms was placed therein for that.