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50th anniversary of closure Valentia Railway Newstalk NOW 9PM

  • 30-01-2010 9:03pm
    #1
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭


    Jim Deegan of Railtours Ireland presents a programme on Newstalk to commemorate the closure of the Farranfore/Valentia Harbour railway in 1959.


Comments

  • #2
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    i was listening to the first 10-12 minutes of that in the car earlier, very good. pity I had to get out and go to the pub :(

    Must check if it available on podcast of if it'll be repeated


  • #3
    Lifelike
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 267 ✭✭Lifelike


    If they reopened that railway line it would be a great tourist attraction. The continent has many scenic railways, and this would be our only one.


  • #4
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    Lifelike wrote: »
    If they reopened that railway line it would be a great tourist attraction. The continent has many scenic railways, and this would be our only one.

    What about the one at Dromod? :rolleyes:


  • #5
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Judgement Day wrote: »
    What about the one at Dromod? :rolleyes:
    He said scenic. The Dromod line goes goes from the station to the end of the adjacent field.


  • #6
    stevielenihan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 320 ✭✭stevielenihan


    JHMEG wrote: »
    He said scenic. The Dromod line goes goes from the station to the end of the adjacent field.

    will the farranfore to valientina railway eve reopen again as a railway?


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  • #7
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    No.


  • #8
    Run_to_da_hills
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    With the amount of money that was wasted on plans, paperwork and land purchased for various Dublin white elephant underground projects they could have easily restored this line.

    I pass the area once a year and still cant get over the craftsmanship that was put into the line.


  • #9
    CIE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭CIE


    stevielenihan wrote: »
    will the farranfore to valientina railway eve(r) reopen again as a railway?
    If I ever win the sweeps, I'll do it.


  • #10
    corktina
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    If they had never closed that railway it would be a tourist attraction, not a huge one mind, not a profitable one..there just arent enough tourists in Ireland to support a line there. (Giants Causeway might be just about the only line that might have a chance and that was narra guage and electric). However they DID close it and it wont reopen without mega-euro investment which we havent got and wont have in my lifetime or yours.

    PS doent this thread now deserve to be in train and rail systems?


  • #11
    stevielenihan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 320 ✭✭stevielenihan


    corktina wrote: »
    If they had never closed that railway it would be a tourist attraction, not a huge one mind, not a profitable one..there just arent enough tourists in Ireland to support a line there. (Giants Causeway might be just about the only line that might have a chance and that was narra guage and electric). However they DID close it and it wont reopen without mega-euro investment which we havent got and wont have in my lifetime or yours.

    PS doent this thread now deserve to be in train and rail systems?

    its a big pity it closed if it reopened it would be very handy.


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  • #12
    Partizan
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 629 ✭✭✭Partizan


    corktina wrote: »
    If they had never closed that railway it would be a tourist attraction, not a huge one mind, not a profitable one..there just arent enough tourists in Ireland to support a line there. (Giants Causeway might be just about the only line that might have a chance and that was narra guage and electric). However they DID close it and it wont reopen without mega-euro investment which we havent got and wont have in my lifetime or yours.

    PS doent this thread now deserve to be in train and rail systems?

    That's the jist of it. No money around to reopen it and in times of plenty, not the political will either. Like the Waterford - Tramore line, it will never ever reopen. Once the track is lifted and land sold off, that's it. The End.

    As for the other mothballed lines, (Athlone - Mullingar, Limerick - Foynes) not even the Annual Chicken Dinner excursion could save them.


  • #13
    corktina
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    I think perhaps we should ask for a sep-erate comestibles forum....keep us out of trouble


  • #14
    mk6705
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 721 ✭✭✭mk6705


    stevielenihan wrote: »
    corktina wrote: »
    If they had never closed that railway it would be a tourist attraction, not a huge one mind, not a profitable one..there just arent enough tourists in Ireland to support a line there. (Giants Causeway might be just about the only line that might have a chance and that was narra guage and electric). However they DID close it and it wont reopen without mega-euro investment which we havent got and wont have in my lifetime or yours.

    PS doent this thread now deserve to be in train and rail systems?

    its a big pity it closed if it reopened it would be very handy.

    No it wouldn't. It would be a good tourist railway, especially with the views around Kells, Mountain Stage, Glenbeigh etc. but realistically the tracks are lifted and there are just two towns on the line, each pretty small, especially Caherciveen. So it's unlikely to happen.

    In relation to the line, the best feature is probably the Gleesk viaduct (or bridge, whatever.) Very impressive looking from the N70.


  • #15
    corktina
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    there wouldnt be enough tourists in ireland in any one year to make it any where near viable even if it was gifted the cost of construction


  • #16
    -Chris-
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,035 ✭✭✭✭-Chris-


    Partizan wrote: »
    blah blah blah Annual Chicken Dinner excursion blah

    C&T Charter applys here too, and specifically restricts Chicken Dinner references (and I've no doubt you know this).

    Banned for 3 days for Trolling.


  • #17
    Niles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,186 ✭✭✭Niles


    Partizan wrote: »
    That's the jist of it. No money around to reopen it and in times of plenty, not the political will either. Like the Waterford - Tramore line, it will never ever reopen.

    I read an article on the Waterford & Tramore a while ago that suggested it was actually making a profit when closed! I wonder what loadings would be like on it today... indeed how would it have been operated through the 70s and beyond, considering it's lack of a connection to the rest of the network. Maybe an AEC set or two would been kept on longer.


  • #18
    stevielenihan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 320 ✭✭stevielenihan


    Niles wrote: »
    I read an article on the Waterford & Tramore a while ago that suggested it was actually making a profit when closed! I wonder what loadings would be like on it today... indeed how would it have been operated through the 70s and beyond, considering it's lack of a connection to the rest of the network. Maybe an AEC set or two would been kept on longer.



    The farranfore top valientia harbour line will reopen in the future i just read it some where


  • #19
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    stevielenihan wrote: »
    The farranfore top valientia harbour line will reopen in the future i just read it some where

    In your tea leaves perhaps?

    Can we expect to see this appended to all your previous....will the x line reopen posts? :D


  • #20
    mk6705
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 721 ✭✭✭mk6705


    stevielenihan wrote: »
    Niles wrote: »
    I read an article on the Waterford & Tramore a while ago that suggested it was actually making a profit when closed! I wonder what loadings would be like on it today... indeed how would it have been operated through the 70s and beyond, considering it's lack of a connection to the rest of the network. Maybe an AEC set or two would been kept on longer.



    The farranfore top valientia harbour line will reopen in the future i just read it some where

    Considering all the rails and sleepers have been lifted and sold, there's no demand for transporting livestock by rail, Farranfore station is a shadow of it's former self and the fact that the biggest of the two towns served on the route is Killorglin, I highly doubt it. I'd love to be able to see the view from the line though. But then I guess I could just walk up the hill at Mountain Stage.


  • #21
    corktina
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    Reopen as a cycle track perhaps? If "they" spend 1c on reopening it as a Railway, I'm going on hunger strike (just as soon as I've finished the turkey off)


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  • #22
    SeanW
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,166 ✭✭✭SeanW


    Run_to_da_hills wrote: »
    With the amount of money that was wasted on plans, paperwork and land purchased for various Dublin white elephant underground projects they could have easily restored this line.

    I pass the area once a year and still cant get over the craftsmanship that was put into the line.
    Ah yes, the old Dublin bashing thing again.

    Let's see, Dublin, has an inadequate railway system with ALL of its railways oversubscribed, population better than 1,000,000+. Their projects have been deferred, not because they were "white elephants" but because there is simply no money to build them.

    Co. Kerry, rural county with presumably lots of one off housing, old railway connecting one old harbour with one small town. Kerry also has plenty of railway-miles and its service is more than adequate.

    So, railways for a densely crowded centre where they're badly needed, versus some Internet crank-talk about an old railway from nowhere to nowhere, that's even less well known than the Western Rail Corridor Sligo-Claremorris, and probably would be even less viable, if that is possible. Methinks you should re-consider the terms "white elephant" and "waste."

    The "parish pump" is alive and well.


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