Whilst out volunteer litter picking* on the Royal Canal between Confey and Clonsilla yesterday, I noticed that either Waterways Ireland or Irish Rail had cleared the overgrowth around the old Lucan North railway station, better revealing the former waiting shelter.
Lucan North railway station and waiting shelter. Copyright Ewan Duffy 2023
* I had a few passers by on the canal towpath thank me for doing litter picking. Whilst this is nice, the thought struck me – if you think that someone doing litter picking is a worthwhile social activity, why aren’t you partaking in the activity?
Radio Kerry reports that Irish Rail are hoping to have an hourly service on the Tralee branch by 2027.
As this service passes right by Kerry Airport, I would suggest that this should be the timeframe for withdrawal of any Public Service Obligation subsidy for flights between Dublin and Kerry as there will be a regular train service connecting to Dublin and Cork by then.
Here in Ireland, we tend to delay taking action until it is too late and also to tolerate those engaging in inappropriate behaviour. In the case of the Naomh Éanna, we have both.
The Naomh Éanna is a former Aran Islands ferry, which has been sitting in a dry dock in Grand Canal Docks in Dublin for years, with various promises to restore it, none of which have materialised.
Per RTE, the boat has now listed in the dock and the most appropriate solution now is to remove the boat and scrap it. However, no-one wants to bell the cat.
It is not helped that the land on which the dry docks (there are multiple dry docks) sit is tied up in NAMA and neither Waterways Ireland nor NAMA appear to want to take action in this regard.
It does beg one question – is the owner(s) of the vessel paying for the occupation of the dry dock and if not, why not?
A public consultation into plans by Cork City Council to upgrade the existing greenway from Cork to Rochestown and build an extension to the Cork City boundary commences on 26th January 2023 and runs to March 10 2023.
The above titled talk will take place in Tullamore on 30th January 2023 at 8pm in the Offaly History Centre at Bury Quay. The presenter is James Scully and all are welcome.
I was looking at the historical OS maps online just now as the maps produced for the SL&NCR greenway consultation erroneously showed the SL&NCR taking a route from Collooney to Sligo that it didn’t (the map producers seem to have mistaken internal estate trackways for a railway trackbed). Anyway, that is not the subject of this post.
Collooney had an interesting set of junctions between MGWR (Dublin to Sligo), SL&NCR (Enniskillen – Collooney – Carrignagat Junction) and WL&WR/GS&WR (Claremorris to Collooney to Collooney Junction).
Looking at the 25″ OS map online, this shows a distinct railway trackbed like curve running from the GS&WR/SL&NCR link (the Southern siding) to the SL&NCR line from their Collooney Station to Carrignagat Junction which, if it had been completed, would effectively duplicate the line from the GS&WR Collooney line to Collooney Junction albeit some 400 feet to the east (see diagram below):
Collooney Railway Map Copyright Ewan Duffy 2023
This would have been an interesting alternative to the GS&WR/MGWR connection – if it had been built, the SL&NCR would have received a cut of all traffic to/from Sligo that passed over the GS&WR line. This would have been an economic bonus for the latter, which was never very prosperous. As it so happens, this line did not come into existence and the closed but in situ connection from Collooney South station (GS&WR) to Collooney Junction (MGWR) happened instead.
Unfortunately it is not possible to link to the Geohive website – however, anyone interested in seeing this for themselves can go to www.geohive.ie, select Map Viewer an on the top right, select the option for “Zoom to Coordinate”. Enter the Easting as “567780” and the northing as “826994”. You will need to change the Basemap Gallery (top left) to “Map Genie 25 inch” and zoom out a bit.
Dundalk Railway Heritage Society are holding the above titled talk on Saturday, January 21, in the Oriel Centre, Dundalk Old Gaol, Carrick Road at 3pm.
I don’t normally comment on trains on this site, however, there is always an exception to the rule.
Per the Offaly Express, a group of Transition Year students in Tullamore College are restoring a former Bord na Mona Wagonmaster locomotive and are seeking sponsorship for a number of items to enable them to do this, as follows:
To borrow a four-wheel trailer to move the bonnet and cab of the Wagonmaster in and out of our shed as we work on it.
A sponsorship or donation of 3M stripping discs so that we can remove the rust and old paint from our Wagonmaster.
A sponsorship or donation of red oxide metal primer. This will be used as a protective base layer to prevent the corrosion and rusting of our Wagonmaster as it is exposed to the elements.
Anyone in a position to assist should contact: wagonmaster@tullamorecollege.ie
