I like trains...

[Scotty]

...the goods trains can be 200 cars long.

Seen them in Arizona a few years ago, in Flagstaff I think. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. Over 3km long. It took over 5 mins to pass through. Carrying articulated trailers and containers. Incredible sight.

[Del.Monte]

As an environmentalist I should know better but the start up from cold of a diesel locomotive is one of my guilty pleasures. If you watch through to the end of this video you may have caught railway enthusiast disease too.

[CelticRambler]

Apart from the rolling stock, I also like railway architecture - especially the older buildings with their high arches. I find it very sad, though, when they're let fall into disrepair. I came across this sad example yesterday, whose miserable state was highlighted by some delusional municipal council's decision to build a spanking new social centre (or similar) right up against it. Why???



Something I've never seen before are the stamped metallic panels used as cladding. There were a few other buildings in the vicinity that had these, and two metalwork factories in the town, so it might be a very, very local thing ... but again, very sad that they're being left to rust and fall off.

[Del.Monte]

CIE inherited a huge variety of heritage properties on their foundation in 1945 and have an appalling record of maintenance and demolition of same. Portarlington station (pictured below) is a listed structure which they have let fall down and now the whole structure is to be rebuilt and handed back to them ( to let fall down again)...
https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/09/14/pl ... n-station/

[artybike]

Gosh that's depressing.... they ought to be subject to penalties for such neglect

[765489]

Driver cab views. Channel is called RailCowGirl. Looks great on a computer monitor

[Diamonds of Frost]

CIE inherited a huge variety of heritage properties on their foundation in 1945 and have an appalling record of maintenance and demolition of same. Portarlington station (pictured below) is a listed structure which they have let fall down and now the whole structure is to be rebuilt and handed back to them ( to let fall down again)...
https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/09/14/pl ... n-station/

I know that station well. It has been almost 2 years since I was last at it. Is that a recent pic Del? Is it the Dublin side or the Galway side? Looks like the Galway and the entrance and ticket office is on the Dublin side.

[Del.Monte]

The Galway side or the Up platform to give it the proper title.

[490808]

I might have it on my dash cam so I'll look at it when I get back home, while I was crossing the Tamar Bridge (UK Devon<>Cornwall) last week I also watched a GWR train going over the Royal Albert Bridge (never new it was called that its always been Brunel's bridge).

[kadman]

CIE inherited a huge variety of heritage properties on their foundation in 1945 and have an appalling record of maintenance and demolition of same. Portarlington station (pictured below) is a listed structure which they have let fall down and now the whole structure is to be rebuilt and handed back to them ( to let fall down again)...
https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/09/14/pl ... n-station/

Beautiful building and class stone work which you wont get done anymore to the same standard. And the arched sliding sash windows, of which I made dozens and dozens by hand throughout my working career. Each one being an individual piece of artwork. I mean every item in that building was a separate individual piece, thats now being replaced with mass produced units. No doubt its heritage status will ensure the quality of workmanship that it now deserves.

From what I see on old railway buildings maintenance was long forgotten on them decades ago. I mean where now would you get a handmade arched sliding sash window that had compound curves in both plan, and section through the window in timber. rare as hens teeth.

[Del.Monte]

And today, almost 40 years on, I'm the proud owner of a Luas sign won at auction for €40 this morning! Once a loon, always a loon.

[765489]

Cab view of a train heading from St Moritz to Tirano in Italy. Nice scenery.

[CelticRambler]

I like trains ...

but not so much when they come chuff-chuff-chuffing up behind me on a city street, then stop at the traffic lights like they own the road!


And it's mildly irritating that that engine can belch out whatever emissions it likes as it passes my sister's city-centre front door eight times a day, but I couldn't get a "pollution control" sticker to allow me park on her street.





The assembled family conspiracists think that this loco has been converted to not run on coal, and the steam is just for effect. There's definite fire in its belly, and a smell of burning coal around it ... but I'm inclined to subscribe to the idea that the diesel loco at the other end does most of the work.

[kadman]

Aww cmon now, are you really trying to compare the beauty and nostalgia of a steam locomotive, to a worn out old emission spewing ,
poorly maintained auld Ducato

[Del.Monte]

Spotted this on one of my FB feeds this morning: a photo hitherto not seen by me of a steam locomotive on the Marconi radio station narrow gauge line near Clifden in Connemara. Article here: http://viemagazine.com/article/guglielmo-marconi/

[peasant]

I grew up in a town quite famous among train anoraks for it's steep gradient climb up the local mountain range.

This section was electrified as early as 1933 and a designated locomotive was built for this stretch. Other than just pulling trains over longer distances, its main job was to act as a pusher loco at the end of heavy trains over the gradient.
They stayed in service on that particular job until 1984

So, as a kid (no, not in 1933 ...I'm not that old) I saw these "Crocodiles" as we called them going up and down the mountain pretty much every 15 - 20 minutes





EDIT

found a vid ..
This is the last of the mohicans, now in private hands and in modern colours. Since Germain Rail was largely privatised this loco was jobbing on its own (with a woman driver), pulling trains until 2018.



That bridge over the tracks at the start of the video is where I used to stand as a kid every now and then and watch the trains go through

[Memento Mori]

I subscribed to the Irish Railway Records Society last year. Not convinced I will renew my membership, there seems to be not as much on old railway architecture as I would have hoped. Any longer-term members here? Do they tend to cover this stuff?

[Del.Monte]

I subscribed to the Irish Railway Records Society last year. Not convinced I will renew my membership, there seems to be not as much on old railway architecture as I would have hoped. Any longer-term members here? Do they tend to cover this stuff?

Long time IRRS member and longer time ex.member. There's never been that much about railway architecture in the Journal but when Covid allows, a visit to their library at Heuston would good for you if you haven't been.

[Memento Mori]

Long time IRRS member and longer time ex.member. There's never been that much about railway architecture in the Journal but when Covid allows, a visit to their library at Heuston would good for you if you haven't been.

Any particular reason why you left? Do you know any org that covers more of the stuff I'm interested in? (I'm more interested in old turntables, stations, watertowers, bridges etc. than the actual trains)

[Del.Monte]

Any particular reason why you left? Do you know any org that covers more of the stuff I'm interested in? (I'm more interested in old turntables, stations, watertowers, bridges etc. than the actual trains)

The Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland IHAI https://ihai.ie/ might a group worth contacting - buildings, bridges etc. are their thing. And a useful, but scarce, item is the Great Southern Railway 1935 Appendix to the Working Timetable which has masses of info on infrastructure including dimensions of turntables, locations of water tanks (capacity etc.), length of platforms and much more besides.

Some pages from the Appendix here will give you an idea of the minute detail included: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/ ... timetable/

As for why I left the IRRS......you'll have to wait for the book.

[Fratello]

This guy has a few videos on tracing old lines.

Here's one.

[kadman]

I just saw this headline and imagine Eamonn Ryan will be in a perpetual state of happiness at the thought of it

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environ ... -1.4757428

State to offer landowners tens of millions to sell up for greenways
New scheme will see landowners offered goodwill payments in addition to sale price

[Del.Monte]

Irish Rail will be rushing to sell the Waterford/Limerick Junction and Limerick/Ballybrophy lines to Eamonn and then they will be able to quadruple the DART lines and shave another 30 seconds off Dublin/Cork timings with the proceeds.

[Del.Monte]

Came across this video of the famous IRRS/SLS/RCTC Railtour of Ireland in 1964 via the Irish Railway Modeller Forum. Despite being devoid of sound the picture quality is excellent and many long forgotten backwaters are visited including Fenit, Westport Quay, Ardee, Warrenpoint and the GNR Derry Road. Worth an hour of anyone's time and made before H&S became the thing.

[CelticRambler]

Breaking with the theme of railway things historic, here in the present the Swiss have bagged themselves the world record for running the longest passenger train - 100 carriages and seven locos or 1.9km's worth of it.
Switzerland’s largest private railway operator has set a new world record for the longest passenger train ...