Photo Thread.

As another year closes in I'd like to thank everyone who contributes photos to this thread.1 You provide hours of engagement and interest and I am very grateful.

May you have a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year.

Evening all,

Pictures from around Dublin and Thurles during an overnight trip to the capital city.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2023-photos/December-2023/i-mTR68BC to view.

My 2023 Year in Review Gallery has now been published. Containing over 500 photos from throughout 2023.

The highlights from the year in review contain:

* Limerick station refurbishment and new bus station.

* Views of NIR.

* Visit to Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway for their diesel gala

* Trials and re-entry to service of MTU stage v powerpack and ZF transmission set 22063.

* Connemara Railway at Maam Cross.

* Tegral Branch at Athy being converted into the Athy bypass.

* ICR B2 car trials.

* Loco hauled ICR B Car transfers.

* RPSI, IRRS and Talite Railtours in 2024.

* IRRS visits to the new National Train Control Centre & ICR B2 vehicles.

* Railtours Ireland Emerald Isle Express charter.

* MKIV coach 4114 dumped at Mallow after suffering a seized axle.

* Loco 218 running on HVO fuel.

* DART+ mockup at Inchicore.

* Foynes line rebuilding.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/FeaturedGallery/2023-A-year-in-Review/ to view.

December 30 - Toronto - pedestrian overpass near the intersection of Pape Avenue and Gerrard St E,

Metrolinx owned Lakeshore East trackage (former Canadian National Railways Kingston Subdivision)

VIA Rail Canada F40PH (3000hp EMD 16-645 engine and 500hp Caterpillar C18 for train power) leading LRC coaches

GO Transit MP40PH-3C (4000hp EMD 16-710 Tier 2 plus 1000hp Caterpiller C27 for train power) leading Bombardier (now Alstom) bilevel coaches

Bombardier Crash Energy Management cab car (GO Transit 300 series) trailing GO Transit MP40+bilevel trainset

Some really lovely drone stuff in there!

A rather hastily arranged trip to England was put together for early January as I needed to head to Norfolk for a family event. As is usual with me, I extended the trip a few days either side and managed to fit in a few more bits I had wanted to tick off.

* Belfast to Birkenhead Ferry.

* Merseryrail 507001 in its BR Blue & Grey Retro Livery.

* Newcastle Tyne and Wear Metro

* South Western Railway Class 455's.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2024/UK-Trip-8th-14th-January-2024 to view all the individual galleries.

After receiving an invite to attend the event at London Waterloo for the return of 4VEP 3417 "Gordon Pettitt" to the terminus for the first time in 18 years, I made a flying visit to London on the Friday night to attend the event on Saturday before returning back to Ireland on Saturday night.

I have to say it was a fantastic day out and full of emotion for me as well. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see "Gordon" at heritage railways and eventually mainline running before too long. 

All the photos from the visit, including the event at London Waterloo can be viewed at 

https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/International/2024/A-night-in-London-26th-27th-January-2024

Could I ask what is meant by Bandon High Level station? All I can see are vague references to platform height and wondered why Bandon would have been different and why it would have been significant enough to add the fact to the station plaque. Many thanks.

After spending a long weekend in the Manchester area, I arrived back into Ireland to find my train home to Thurles would have vehicle 22516, which is the first of the new 22000 Class B2 type cars to enter service last Friday.

So click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/February-2024/i-9xMS6T5 to view pictures from Heuston on Sunday evening including interior pictures of the new B2 car layout with its multi-purpose bike storage / standing area.

The February gallery has been updated with: 

Monday 19th February 2024:

Just one pict from Ballybrophy while enroute to Dublin for an overnight.

Sunday 25th February 2024:

A varied selection of images today from Killarney showing 22016 working Tralee line services. Of course 22016 is the first set to contain one of the new B2 type vehicles. Later in the day I stopped off at Kilgobbin Level Crossing on the Foynes Line to see the latest work on the rebuild at this location.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/February-2024/i-ppSCsQW to view.

Afternoon all,

A bumper start to the March gallery with over 100 photos uploaded to the gallery today with trips to Cork and Belfast in the space of 24 hours. The main highlight being the diversion of the Dublin to Belfast Lanyon Place "Enterprise" service into Belfast Great Victoria Street this weekend due to engineering works on the route into Lanyon Place, making for the rare sight of a loco hauled train at GVS. GVS is due to close in Summer 2024 with services transferred to the new Grand Central Station alongside it, so this will certainly be the last (planned) use of a Enterprise set into this terminus before closure. 

Photos come from:

* Nenagh

* Limerick - with views of the new integrated bus and rail station.

* Limerick Jct. Includes seeing new ICR B2 vehicle 22517 on its first day of service.

* Cork

* Ballybrophy

* Dublin Heuston.

* LUAS views.

* Dublin Connolly 

* Great Victoria Street - including views of the interior of the Great Northern Mall, Europa bus station and railway station prior to closure in Summer 2024.

* Lisburn to view the recent track renewals.

* Derriaghy - to see the new down platform being built to replace the current one.

* Finaghy 

* Central Jct. where the routes to Great Victoria Street and Lanyon Place (aka Central) diverge. 

All the photos can be viewed at

https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/March-2024

Last Saturday I hosted an Irish Railway Record Society trip to the Level Crossing Control Centre at Mallow and also visited the Lartigue Monorail in Listowel. 

Pictures from the trip are at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/RailtoursPreservedRailways/2024/IRRS-outing-mallow-lccc-lartigue-listowel/i-HSSXLrM and also includes detailed photos of the first refurbished first class MKIV coach 4203.

Monday 18th March 2024;

Pictures of the new station under construction in Waterford and the 1335 Connolly - Rosslare Europort running along the quayside at Wexford.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/March-2024/i-nxPXTvN to view all the images.

The April gallery starts off with pictures from Ballybrophy, Portlaoise and Heuston.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/April-2024

Good morning all,

Pictures from last Sunday and Monday have just been uploaded to the April gallery.

Sunday 14th April 2024:
A Sunday evening "chase" on the Nenagh Branch between Birdhill and Cloughjordan photographing the 1735 Limerick - Ballybrophy.

Monday 15th April 2024:
Iarnrod Eireann have started to move the Tara Wagons from Dublin's North Wall yard, where they had been stored since Tara Mines halted production in Summer 2023, down to Limerick for further storage. The first movement of 11 wagons occurred on Monday 15th April when 075 brought them towards Limerick as a 0937 North Wall - Limerick transfer. Unfortunately the service ran into difficulty after Portarlington and was eventually terminated in Ballybrophy to await a visit from Limerick Maintenance Depot due to a wagon defect. The train remained in Ballybrophy overnight.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/April-2024/i-Jb4wKMd to view.

Saturday 20th April 2024:

The first train since the 18th March rolls though Ballycar with the 1725 Ennis - Limerick at 1737 earlier this evening with 22001 in charge.

Great to see this important regional route reopened to our customers once again after the enforced closure.

The train later returned as the 1815 Limerick - Galway which I caught near Cratloe.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/April-2024/i-2Bb4zb2 to view all the images.

It's back to the 1990's for Iarnrod Eireann as they have repainted 2600 Class, No. 2601+2602 back into a modified version of the ARROW livery they originally carried from 1994 to the early 2000's to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the class. The work was completed to an outstanding quality in house at the paint spray facility in Inchicore Works and the team poses in front of the completed set on Wednesday 25th April for official photos to be taken before the set returns to service in Cork working the commuter services to Cobh, Midleton and Mallow.

An IR£19.5 million order was placed in 1992 with Mitsui, who subcontracted the order to Tokyu Car Corporation of Yokohama, Japan. This was quite groundbreaking on a number of fronts; not only was it the first Irish order placed with an Asian firm, but they were also the first railway vehicles built in Asia for the European market and the vehicles are still held in high regard by their manufacture 30 years later.

The Irish Railway Record Society are arranging a 30th anniversary railtour over the weekend of the 18th & 19th May and it is expected that 2601 + 2602 will work the tour throughout. See https://irrstimesarrow.eventbrite.ie for more information and booking.

For photos of the launch click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/Officialevents/2024/ARROW-30-years-1994-2024/

I think they were delivered with the 1987 logo, and repainted almost straight away.

Friday 26th April 2024:
2602 + 2601 returned to their home depot of Limerick on Friday 26th April for further attention before a return to service in the Cork area. The retro-liveried pair were photographed at Kishyquirk outside Killonan Jct. Later in the day we see the new footbridge at Banteer and the 1705 Tralee - Cork passing Rathcoole.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/April-2024/i-v4MjrVr

Afternoon all,

Two updates to the website on this Bank Holiday Monday.

First up is the latest progress on the Limerick to Foynes line rebuild with the first track now laid at Glenbane between Askeaton and Foynes. Also we have a photographic update from between Adare and Limerick where rebuilding work is less advanced. Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/Officialevents/2024/Foynes-Line-Reconstruction-/i-fXgv7qr to view all.

The 2nd update is photos from the Limerick Jct. area including aerial views of the Limerick Jct. direct curve.
Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/May-2024 to view.

All the photos can also be viewed from the home page at https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/

Tuesday 14th May 2024:
An early start to head into Limerick this morning to photograph the retro-ARROW 2601 + 2602 which was working a single trip to Limerick Jct. as part of an in-service trial following its return to service after repainting, and the completion of modifications including CCTV fitment and seating reupholster.

The set is planned to be used on the Irish Railway Record Society Railtour on 18th / 19th May from Cork to Dundalk.

Click https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/2024-Photos/May-2024/i-mFLJSPD to view all the images from Limerick and Limerick Jct.

No, this is a private charter and Irish Rail issued tickets, including LEAP are not valid. If you want to travel please approach one of the IRRS stewards at Howth and we will discuss issuing a part fare ticket on the day for you to travel on the trip. If you need any further details please drop me a PM.