Horsetan Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 ...As the then owner of the West Clare at Moyasta said to me, its hard to make a living in the West.... I think Jackie Whelan still owns the WCR. Not only has he managed to extend it, but he's apparently also going mixed gauge on part of it, on account of the substantial amount of Irish 5'3" stock now at Moyasta. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 It's his plans for an exhibition centre that really grab your attention. He showed me around the proposed site and it is a pretty impressive project! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Please get back on topic ,the west Clare should be on a separate discussion.! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 http://www.traleeanddinglerailway.com/ New website, still a little raw (but the donation button works :-) ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted October 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 27, 2015 All those Toll roads in the Republic must be having an effect if the journey time from Belfast is approaching 2 hours! I have to agree that the Welsh Highland is a poor analogy. Its more like the Strathspey. When he refers to the "second city" I think he means Cork (the second city in the Republic of Ireland). See Map 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 That's right although I'm sure a Corkman will agree with me that Cork is actually the real Capital (where in Cork are you Colin? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted October 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 27, 2015 Cork city 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhb171achill Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Experience elsewhere in Ireland has showed that without exception, when "for-profit" companies, local authorities, or "local business personalities" become involved in heritage railways - or heritage anything - disaster results. A few sobering facts. The whole of Ireland - north and south - has just over 6.1 million people. England has over 60 million, before even including Wales and Scotland. Culturally, per head, England has a much greater uptake of interest in industrial heritage than probably anywhere else on the planet. Ireland is in the opposite category. The only main line preservation outfit in Ireland - the RPSI - has a membership total of some 1000. Virtually all the active working members live in the general area of Dublin or Belfast, which are both on the eastern side. These two cities and environs are home to over a quarter of all of Ireland's people. Ireland has but one broad gauge preservation society, at Downpatrick, about 45 minutes from Belfast. It has an operating line 2 miles in length, with one steam locomotive bearing the brunt of public services. The Downpatrick & Co Down's membership is just 200 or so. Also based there, having no access to the main lines, is the Irish Traction Group, who own the country's only collection of operational diesel locomotives (the DCDR has three shunters too). When we go to our third biggest city, Cork, it has a population of 125000. Beyond that, there are four cities with populations varying from 75000 to 90000. Everything else is what may to us be biggish towns, but by UK standards would be at best medium to small towns. Funding is less easy, as unlike the UK, there are almost no wealthy benefactor individuals. (Right now, there's one. Within the last thirty years, there have been three more. None would be anywhere remotely near the position sometimes found in the UK, where one man pays to restore an entire locomotive). We have no William McAlpines, or Pete Watermans, nor did we ever here. Let's look at narrow gauge. There have been several narrow gauge preservation projects around the place. Just as virtually all British preserved lines rely heavily on BR Mk. 1 coaches, so do these on small 4-wheeled ex-industrial diesels. Only one, the ISPS at Stradbally (incidentally the oldest), has steam - in the form of an ex-industrial 0.4.0WT. Right now: Finntown - defunct. @ Giant's Causeway - operated by a modern severn lamb style railcar. * About a mile and a bit * Dromod (Cavan & Leitrim) - small industrial diesel and many unrestored exhibits. half a mile @ Tralee - defunct * Waterford & Suir valley - industrial 0.4.0 diesel - about 10 miles, on former 5ft 3 trackbed of Waterford - Dungarvan line * West Clare at Moyasta Junction - about a mile or two. @ One ex-WCR steam loco had been operating, but out of traffic now. Small industrial diesel haulage. Foyle Valley line, Derry. Defunct, historical collectaion under severe threat now, with one hulk of a Donegal 2.6.4T left out rotting and vandalised in the open, all fittings long, long gone. City Council owned it and have sold it to a non-railway group, with non-railway 9indeed, non-heritage) interests. It will NOT reopen on that site anyway. * No relation whatsoever to original line - no pretence of "preservation", even though operating on sections where there once WAS a line. @ On an original line, with an original station present - but nothing original operating. Finntown did have a Donegal railcar, but with the line defunct it's in storage. The Tralee project, to succeed, needs to be substantially rebuilt, and substantially refurbished, by enthusiasts. A recent group of enthusiasts formed already appears to have been hijacked by others, and nothing has been achieved thus far. These, folks, are the realities. I'm not trying to be negative, and I really hope that something can be made of most or all of them. I write the above for the information of UK readers; enthusiasts here are all too aware of the matters described! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tractionman Posted January 2, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2016 A few sobering facts. The whole of Ireland - north and south - has just over 6.1 million people. England has over 60 million, before even including Wales and Scotland. Culturally, per head, England has a much greater uptake of interest in industrial heritage than probably anywhere else on the planet. Ireland is in the opposite category. The only main line preservation outfit in Ireland - the RPSI - has a membership total of some 1000. Virtually all the active working members live in the general area of Dublin or Belfast, which are both on the eastern side. These two cities and environs are home to over a quarter of all of Ireland's people. Ireland has but one broad gauge preservation society, at Downpatrick, about 45 minutes from Belfast. It has an operating line 2 miles in length, with one steam locomotive bearing the brunt of public services. The Downpatrick & Co Down's membership is just 200 or so. Also based there, having no access to the main lines, is the Irish Traction Group, who own the country's only collection of operational diesel locomotives (the DCDR has three shunters too). When we go to our third biggest city, Cork, it has a population of 125000. Beyond that, there are four cities with populations varying from 75000 to 90000. Everything else is what may to us be biggish towns, but by UK standards would be at best medium to small towns. Funding is less easy, as unlike the UK, there are almost no wealthy benefactor individuals. (Right now, there's one. Within the last thirty years, there have been three more. None would be anywhere remotely near the position sometimes found in the UK, where one man pays to restore an entire locomotive). We have no William McAlpines, or Pete Watermans, nor did we ever here. Well put! There was an article in Narrow Gauge World last summer about visiting preserved narrow gauge lines in Ireland (mainly focused on lines in the Republic) and in it the author pondered why they are so under-resourced and not thriving compared to ng lines in GB - there was no recognition, in the article, that the big difference between Ireland (the island of) and GB is relative population size. Norn Iron as a whole has a population equating to that of Birmingham! Accessibility around the island is also a factor, though the new motorways I guess help a bit compared to a few years ago, if you live in Dublin and want to go to Limerick, Galway or Cork. Plus the state of the economy, north and south, compared to pre-2007 is not exactly great... All are factors I think in explaining why a number of Ireland's preserved ng lines are not what we might wish them to be. Still, the article did a good job at least in promoting the lines to those who might want to pay them a visit. cheers, Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted January 2, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 2, 2016 I visited most of the Irish NG lines in the mid-90s and subsequently, they were in a better state then than now. There was more money available (EU grants mainly) and they were seen as tourist attractions, which they need to be. The effects of the recession and 'troika' policies on Ireland and working people in rural areas have been severe. Some of them needed to collaborate, eg in Donegal & Finntown. The success of the RPSI at Whitehead in gaining major investment when previously it was not a visitor attraction is impressive. So is Downpatrick & Ardglass.The North & standard Gauge are comparatively doing better than the narrow Gauge. Good luck to Tralee. Dava 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) The managing group have achieved a great deal in winning the hearts and minds of the Owners of the line. You may not see much on the surface, but due-diligence is currently taking place and we expect to move forward shortly. Funding is 99% in place and motive power and materials have been sourced. Loco 5T has been inspected and a quote for boiler repairs received which is about a tenth of previous guesstimates. We are currently in the hands of bureaucrats , so it's anyone's guess how long this process will take. It's a game of diplomacy and many obstacles have been overcome. Yes, there is a great deal to do but if we don't do this no one will. Rather than joining the ranks of the negative, why not join us to save this line? It has huge potential, with Tralee Town at one end and a restored windmill at the other, and a wetlands park in the middle. Not to mention the parallel ship canal and backdrop of spectacular mountains. The current plan is to rebuild the line next summer and open at Christmas 2016. The Town of Tralee and it's various organisations are fully behind the scheme, which seen as the No1 priority for tourist development so vital to the local economy. Steaming 5T again is seen as of paramount importance. Yes we've a mountain to climb and we need help from the enthusiast community. We've had a rocky ride getting where we are at times, but we aren't dwelling in the past. The original operators made mistakes which we aim to rectify. A train operating from one bare platform to another is not a preserved line and we intend to improve on the railway ambience side and create more than just a train ride. All we need is Kerry Co Council to give us the go ahead. That's from the horses mouth so to speak, you won't get real info elsewhere. Edited January 3, 2016 by Reading General 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) Good luck with it! And, your analysis of the railway preservation scene in Ireland seems spot-on to me. I visited all of the narrow gauge lines, preserved, long-dead, and Bord na Mona, between 1999 and 2007, and the contrast with the UK is, or was then, enormous. I got the strong feeling that Ireland is not by any means as "railway minded" as the UK (especially England), and is only just getting to the point where industrial heritage is considered "really interesting history", as opposed to being symbolic of a period that many people would rather put behind them. Haven't been back much since 2007, Mother in Law having moved from Abbeyfeale to the UK, but on the odd occasions we have, by goodness has the impact of the crash been evident, and that can have left barely a cent to spare for railway preservation. Kevin Edited January 3, 2016 by Nearholmer 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 yes, you are right there isn't a large (or even modest) body of Enthusiasts to rely on and there isn't the same Volunteering tradition either. Developing Tourism is the reason for the interest in the locality , something that will benefit all the local population. It's no co-incidence that the small nucleus of Railway minded persons involved includes a few UK ex-pats. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Experience elsewhere in Ireland has showed that without exception, when "for-profit" companies, local authorities, or "local business personalities" become involved in heritage railways - or heritage anything - disaster results..... Let's look at narrow gauge. There have been several narrow gauge preservation projects around the place. Just as virtually all British preserved lines rely heavily on BR Mk. 1 coaches, so do these on small 4-wheeled ex-industrial diesels. Only one, the ISPS at Stradbally (incidentally the oldest), has steam - in the form of an ex-industrial 0.4.0WT. Right now: Finntown - defunct. @ .... Is Finntown really defunct? They seem to have operated the 2015 season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 Hard to say how much truth there is in it given that so much of the info in the post is inaccurate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Hard to say how much truth there is in it given that so much of the info in the post is inaccurate Is there anything in the post that you can identify as accurate? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesperus Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 I'm so glad to hear that something is coming together at Tralee. I first heard about the line as a teenager when I found the Bradford Barton book in 'The Works'. I Immediately fell in love with the line and started hunting exhibitions for old Triang TT bits to model it. My dad noticed my interest in an area he would like to visit and suggested a holiday to the peninsula. I spent some time pointing out various relics and hopping out of the car to take photos for a couple of days before we took a trip into Tralee. I was suprised to see a signpost for the steam railway that I hadn't heard about so we followed it and found 5T gently simmering away. I genuinely couldn't believe my eyes that it was there as the most recent photo I had seen was it rusting at Steamtown USA. I was gutted when I heard it had closed again. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killian keane Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 (edited) I'm fairly local to this line, so I'm pretty up to date with its doings, and I'm afraid it lies dormant, the boiler of no.5 having cracked in the same place twice and needing replacing entirely, my only experience riding on this line was about 12 years ago when there was a small diseasel running in place of the t&d loco, there is a small model railway exhibition there in perpetuality, which is run by genuine railway enthusiasts, a group which is somewhat difficult to get a hold of, as with my attempts to "infiltrate", as it were () and get some answers as to whats going on, but from what I've seen its not all over, one might be cautiously optimistic Edited May 26, 2017 by Killian keane Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I'll be nearby next week, so am wondering whether any service is running at all, even with a diesel? The diesel that used to be used at Tralee was one hired from BnM, and it was painted dark green especially for the job. I saw it there, and afterwards on a bog up near Tullymore, hauling peat trains, still painted green, and with all the extra hoses that is acquired to work the airbrakes at Tralee. I'm hoping to take the children on the Lartigue, too, if that is awake. Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killian keane Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 No, lamentably nothing has run on the line at all since what must have been shortly after I travelled on it, the lartigue though is still going as strong as ever, I was there over the easter break Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 I'm fairly local to this line, so I'm pretty up to date with its doings, and I'm afraid it lies dormant, the boiler of no.5 having cracked in the same place twice and needing replacing entirely, my only experience riding on this line was about 12 years ago when there was a small diseasel running in place of the t&d loco, there is a small model railway exhibition there in perpetuality, which is run by genuine railway enthusiasts, a group which is somewhat difficult to get a hold of, as with my attempts to "infiltrate", as it were ( ) and get some answers as to whats going on, but from what I've seen its not all over, one might be cautiously optimistic well nothing will be happening until 2019 at least as the Council have put it on ice until then. By then all the sleepers will need replacing (some were redeemable when we inspected it) 5T 's boiler however is not the basket case you imagine. It was inspected by Peter Scott of the RPSI who quoted €28000 ()it might have been sterling, can't recall) to cut out the affected area and weld in new material on the throat plate. He reported the inner copper firebox and the barrel to be in good condition. I imagine it would need a full overhaul including probably re-tubing . I'm not involved any more but I don't think anything more has happened. The group aren't hard t get hold of . Contact Eddie Barrett at Rea North Estate Agent Tralee (tell him I sent you) or check out facebook https://www.facebook.com/traleeanddinglerailway/ For what it's worth I don't think it will run again in any meaningful form whilst the Council want to run the show. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killian keane Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 My information concerning the boiler comes from the driver on the west Clare railway, (his precise connection to the t&d I'm not sure), but that group have always been fairly illusive for me seeing as I'm NOT on facebook... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading General Posted June 4, 2017 Author Share Posted June 4, 2017 you can safely assume that Peter Scott who looks after the boiler work for the main line locos of the RPSI knows what he's at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted June 5, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 5, 2017 .....but that group have always been fairly illusive for me seeing as I'm NOT on facebook... The solution to that problem is obvious! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killian keane Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 The solution to that problem is obvious! Sorry, no intention of joining facefart, I'm sure to run into those blokes eventually Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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