Rail Express – September 2019

September 2019 RAIL EXPRESS 97

IRISH ANGLE

IARNROD EIREANN/IRISH RAIL

■TRAFFIC&TRACTION: Retro-li veried

No. 071wasfailed at Ballina on June 24

and transferred to Dublin NorthWall on

the 29th in the consist of the 08.15 IWT

container train, whichwasheaded by

classmate No. 081.

The inclusion of No. 071 ‘inside’

No. 081required theremovaloft wo

wagons from the normal 18-wagon

consist because of trainweight and

length issues. The trainwasreces sed at

Tullamoreand Portarli ngton enroute.

No 071wasthen stabled at North

Wall,and ranlight engine from thereto

InchicoreonJuly3.T he locomotivewas

repai redand wasactiveonballa st duties

in theMallow area on July16, followedby

Limerick Junction on the 20th.

The otherretro- liveried 071 Class

locomotive, No. 073,wasalso pr oving

problematic on July4when workin ga

Westport toWaterfordloaded timber

train. The locomotivewas failed at Clara

andassistance arrived in the shape of

classmate No. 078, which hauled

No. 073 and its train to Kildare, where

No. 073wasremovedand stabledin

the yard.No. 078 then continued with

the train toWaterford.

Othe rlocomotives noted onMayo

freight trafficduring the period under

review included Nos. 074, 078, 080, 081,

215, 220, 229 and 234.

■BELMOND GRAND HIBERNIAN:

Dedicated BGH loco No. 216, which

had been unreliable ( see last issue)

wasrepaired and backworkingMk.4

push-pulltrainsonDublin Heuston to

CorkservicesinlateJune.

No. 226continued to berostered

on BGHduties, andwas notedat

Westport on June28thenatBelfast

and Dundalkthe followi ng day. On

June30, No.226was replacedat

Connolly by No. 080forthe journey

to Waterford.

No. 216wasrestoredtoBGH

dutieswhenthe tour programme

recommenced afteraplann ed break

formaintenance purposes,and worked

from KillarneytoGalway on July 11.

This tour visited the Dublin toRosslare

Europortline on July13with No. 080 in

charge.The locoranroundat Rosslare

Strand andhauled thetrain from Gorey

to Waterfordvia Connollythe next day.

No. 080wasreplace dbyNo. 078

at Waterford, andthis locoworked the

subsequent legstoBagenalstownand

Heuston. No. 216 headedthe Heuston

to Cork leg of the next tour on July16,

andfromKillarn ey to Galway on

the 18th.

■RAILTOURS: On Sunday, July7,GM

No. 074wasused to transferatrain

of se venRailway Preservation Society

of Ireland (RPSI) Cravens coaches and

‘BR’ vanNo. 3173 as empty stock from

InchicoretoConnollyfor asteam-

hauled daytrip, ‘The Sea Breeze’, to

Wexfor dand RosslareStrand. This

wasbookedfor,and worked by,ex-

Grea tNorthern 4-4-0 No. 85–but

this loco provedtroublesome, and the

southbound runwasterminated at

Gorey. Replacement traction toreturn

thetrain to Connollycameinthe shape

of diesel No. 074, whichranlight from

Connolly. Afterremoving No. 85 and

placing it inasiding at Gorey,the GM

hauled the train to Connolly.

On July 12, ‘Enterprise’-liveried

GM No.207 ranlight from C onno lly

to Goreytocollectand return No. 85.

The steamlocowas repaired and then

worked arailtour onJuly 21.

■DMUFIRE: An underfloor fireona

car of ICRDMUNo. 22048 at Heuston

stationonJuly8,was quickly brought

under controlby railway staff.The unit

hadworkedthe 17.25ex-Portlaoise.

■FINALJOURNEY: Plasser &Theurer

1974-built ontrack machine No. 728

wastransportedbyroad from Limerick

Junctionyard forscrapping on July4.

■SLIGOWORK: Asiding thatwas

formerlyasection of thesingl etrack

Slig oQuayfreight-onlybranch, and

is used onaregularbasis to stable

DMUs,has beenrelaid with newtrack

panels.Toenablethe work to be

carried out,the buffer st op on the

sidingwas removed. This islocated

approximatelyhalfwaybetween the

access turnout at thethroatof the

passengerstati on and thedisused

freightyard.The yard wasused as

abase forthe work an drequired

vegetatio nremoval an dother

clearancework.

The trackpanelsweredelivered,

stored in theyardand subsequently

transferredtothe work site. This

entailed each panelbeing moved

by road/railmachines‘topping and

tailing’ fromtheyardonarising

gradientof1-in-70.

The Quaybranch wasreducedin

status toasiding whenthe Sligoline

resignalling projectwascompleted

in 2005–the buffer stop was

installedfollowingthe withdrawal

of freight handling attheyardin

December2008.

■LONGFORD WORK: Relayin gof

the sidings at theforme rfreight

yard at this intermediate station

on theDubl in to Sligo line hasbeen

comple ted. Thesesidingsare used to

stable DMUs.

■WATERFORDAREA: The trackbeds

of twoformerrailwaylinesare to be

redeveloped as Greenway paths. The

Governmenthasapprovedgrantsof

€2.65 millionand€8million forpaths

at Bilberryand toNew

Ross respectively.