Old layout of Manulla Junction

John Denver · 18-12-2014 8:28pm #1

I was just watching a few old videos of Manulla Junction when the Ballina branch was locomotive hauled with the Craven coaches and before the era of the bay platform.
And I notice there was no run around loop in Manulla Junction for loco's to change ends so can someone enlighten me as to how this was performed?

LXFlyer · 18-12-2014 9:37pm

The shuttle followed the Dublin train empty to Claremorris, loco ran around there, and then the train returned empty to Manulla ahead of the next westbound train from Dublin.

Grandeeod · 19-12-2014 11:09am

The shuttle originally ran from Claremorris. Why was it changed to manulla Junction?

roundymac · 19-12-2014 11:41am

lxflyer wrote: »

The shuttle followed the Dublin train empty to Claremorris, loco ran around there, and then the train returned empty to Manulla ahead of the next westbound train from Dublin.

Could never figure out why it did'nt offer a service instead of running empty. The costs would have been the same, would'nt they?

eejoynt · 19-12-2014 12:43pm

Grandeeod wrote: »

The shuttle originally ran from Claremorris. Why was it changed to manulla Junction?

because it knocked nearly twenty minutes off the balina journey time.before that ballina train had to wait until westport train cleared balla before leaving claremorris

LXFlyer · 19-12-2014 12:49pm

roundymac wrote: »

Could never figure out why it did'nt offer a service instead of running empty. The costs would have been the same, would'nt they?

Why would it run in service?

Manulla is only an access point.

People would have been sitting at a station on a train, the toilets would have been out of bounds while it sat there awaiting the train from Dublin (no storage tanks on Cravens), and there were no facilities at the station.

Better to hold passengers at Claremorris where there were proper facilities.

metrovick001 · 19-12-2014 1:37pm

I suppose the real question is why run around facilities were never installed at Manulla jcn.?

eejoynt · 19-12-2014 2:51pm

because the block post was Balla where you could cross both ballina and westport trains.
a run around in manulla would only alloe you to cross ballina trains.
manulla was rationalised round 1963.

end of the road · 19-12-2014 4:49pm

lxflyer wrote: »

Why would it run in service?

Manulla is only an access point.

People would have been sitting at a station on a train, the toilets would have been out of bounds while it sat there awaiting the train from Dublin (no storage tanks on Cravens), and there were no facilities at the station.

Better to hold passengers at Claremorris where there were proper facilities.

i think he meant why couldn't passengers travel on it from ballina to Claremorris rather then it run empty considering it was operating that way anyway. as in someone who might be working in ballina but lives in Claremorris

Losty Dublin · 27-12-2014 7:07pm

eejoynt wrote: »

because it knocked nearly twenty minutes off the balina journey time.before that ballina train had to wait until westport train cleared balla before leaving claremorris

It wasn't the main reason why the arrangements were changed.

With the imminent ban on wooden bodied stock working carrying passengers on the main line, it as good as knocked on the head the running of Park Royals on Ballina services. There wasn't sufficient rolling stock or finance to replace them so, faced with the choice of closing the branch to passenger traffic the decision was made to close the signal cabins at Balla and Castlebar, replacing them with what was to be a temporary cabin at Manulla Junction.

The benefits of the move were considerable. The acceleration of travel times on the line and and especially for Ballina and Dublin bound trains were considerable. The ETS blocks became Claremorris-Manulla and Manulla-Westport as distinct to the restrictive Balla-Castlebar and Balla-Ballina; this freed up several additional train movements on the line.

Passenger transfers were made easier and thus quicker at Manulla due to the bay platform layout; Foxford had it's station reopened into the bargain, some train speeds were increased and general flexibility was opened up. And to cap it all off, it was cheaper than purchasing or allocating new stock, all of which would have been hamstrung by the old layout and arrangements.

Grandeeod · 27-12-2014 8:06pm

Losty Dublin wrote: »

It wasn't the main reason why the arrangements were changed.

With the imminent ban on wooden bodied stock working carrying passengers on the main line, it as good as knocked on the head the running of Park Royals on Ballina services. There wasn't sufficient rolling stock or finance to replace them so, faced with the choice of closing the branch to passenger traffic the decision was made to close the signal cabins at Balla and Castlebar, replacing them with what was to be a temporary cabin at Manulla Junction.

The benefits of the move were considerable. The acceleration of travel times on the line and and especially for Ballina and Dublin bound trains were considerable. The ETS blocks became Claremorris-Manulla and Manulla-Westport as distinct to the restrictive Balla-Castlebar and Balla-Ballina; this freed up several additional train movements on the line.

Passenger transfers were made easier and thus quicker at Manulla due to the bay platform layout; Foxford had it's station reopened into the bargain, some train speeds were increased and general flexibility was opened up. And to cap it all off, it was cheaper than purchasing or allocating new stock, all of which would have been hamstrung by the old layout and arrangements.

Is this why Jim Deegans "MAYO LINK" was shafted?

Old layout of Manulla Junction

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