Athlone - Mullingar line

flyingsnail

GerardKeating wrote: »

Not sure of the local terrain, but would a diversion of the line be posible, so that it could call at the current Athlone Station.

The satilite imagary on Google maps shows mostly open space between the two lines where you would want a deviation to go.

I know it is a bit drawing with crayons but it certainly looks possible, the M6 is the biggest obstacle but it may be possible to go under it. All pie in the sky at the moment though

GerardKeating

flyingsnail wrote: »

I know it is a bit drawing with crayons but it certainly looks possible, the M6 is the biggest obstacle but it may be possible to go under it. All pie in the sky at the moment though

I was thinking of a slightly shorter route, Looking mostly open fields or sports grounds.

dowlingm

I imagine it would be cheaper than that to buy out some of the houses between the two sets of tracks and extend accesses across Auburn Drive to a new platform than build a large amount of new track. It does speak to the short sightedness of Athlone's/area's municipal thinkers that a shorter path between the lines wasn't preserved before sprawl prevented such a thing.

In terms of what that would enable, it would facilitate Athlone residents to commute to Maynooth/Leixlip while enabling Mullingar residents to commute to Athlone IT or Galway. The 0730 dep Athlone - 0830 arr Galway could be extended back to Mullingar departing 0700, with a service like the 0715 Maynooth extended through Mullingar (~0630) to a start in Athlone around 0600.

In the boom time, when housing in the regional towns could have acted as a sink for the Dublin property madness, maybe something like that could work. Hard to see a cost-benefit working out now.

cml387

Losty Dublin wrote: »

There usually was a passenger coach on the mails, yeah. Usually being the operative word.

I used that train,it departed at 20:10 from a remote platform in Connolly which was filled with mailbags.
It was the last departure to Mullingar and I had to take it because I was stuck in dublin on Fridays until six and missed the sligo train at 18:20.

It was quite well supported as I remember, but just one coach.
Could it have been classed as a "parliamentary";)

dennis124wwr

demanufactured wrote: »

Work going on at Athlone on this line today at the level crossing and I also saw a few workers on one of the bridges it crosses over too...
Anyone any clue what's happening???
Getting ready to be lifted perhaps??

I have a report from the newspaper saying '' The route for the Dublin - Galway cycleway, to include the stretch along the Athlone Mullingar rail corridor, is expected to be selected by the end of June, after which it will go out for public consultation, with construction to begin in 2014.
I do not know if this will happen but I think they are seeing the bridges to make sure they are in good order
P S Can you post me more detils of the men and what they are doing. And some pictures of the railway and the men if you can.
Thank you

dennis124wwr

demanufactured wrote: »

some of the level crossings between mullingar and moate have been tarmaced over

When did they do that?

dennis124wwr

Temp101 wrote: »

73rd Mile is gone some years, but the concrete blocks of the base may still exist as rubble in the undergrowth.

What is the 73rd Mile? Is it a signal house?

Temp101

73rd Mile was a signal cabin, yes.

dennis124wwr

Temp101 wrote: »

73rd Mile was a signal cabin, yes.

Thank you!!!

Cyberbeagle

Does anyone know how Dara O'Briain, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones managed to do this on the line??

http://youtu.be/_r7nZuEAymI?t=2m33s

flyingsnail

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

Does anyone know how Dara O'Briain, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones managed to do this on the line??

http://youtu.be/_r7nZuEAymI?t=2m33s

I am sure it’s not that hard as long as you have a large company behind you that can do the necessary health and safety paper work and provide the necessary insurance.

dennis124wwr

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

Does anyone know how Dara O'Briain, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones managed to do this on the line??

http://youtu.be/_r7nZuEAymI?t=2m33s

What did they do?

Cyberbeagle

dennis124wwr wrote: »

What did they do?

Watch the video - took a railway bike or velocipede for a spin down the line. There was no indication of any Irish Rail staff, no hi-viz vests, etc...

Grandeeod

I can assure everyone that this sequence was shot with the cooperation of Irish Rail. It started out at Mullingar station on the former Athlone platforms and proceeded with sequences shot on the velocipede along short stretches not too far from Mullingar. You do not bring a camera crew near a place like Mullingar station without clearance and public liability insurance cover of at least €5 million. I cannot say for certain if Irish Rail safety people were with them, but if they were, they would be kept out of shot so as to lend authenticity to the particular sequence. While the sequence looks spontaneous, it actually requires a lot of planning and shooting. The entire programme requires similar techniques to give the impression it creates.

Cyberbeagle

Grandeeod wrote: »

I can assure everyone that this sequence was shot with the cooperation of Irish Rail. It started out at Mullingar station on the former Athlone platforms and proceeded with sequences shot on the velocipede along short stretches not too far from Mullingar. You do not bring a camera crew near a place like Mullingar station without clearance and public liability insurance cover of at least €5 million. I cannot say for certain if Irish Rail safety people were with them, but if they were, they would be kept out of shot so as to lend authenticity to the particular sequence. While the sequence looks spontaneous, it actually requires a lot of planning and shooting. The entire programme requires similar techniques to give the impression it creates.

Knowing how a shoot is undertaken I would have been very surprised if that was not the case, however it does create the impression that they just turned up - no IE managers interviewed for a simple "is it okay if we do this?" type setup and from an editorial point of view is risky as it could encourage copycat activity on the line.

So my beef is more with the producers rather than IE for poor editorial judgement, in terms of how the sequence was presented - it did give the impression that this was the sort of thing that members of the public could arrange to do and that was misleading.

Grandeeod

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

Knowing how a shoot is undertaken I would have been very surprised if that was not the case, however it does create the impression that they just turned up - no IE managers interviewed for a simple "is it okay if we do this?" type setup and from an editorial point of view is risky as it could encourage copycat activity on the line.

So my beef is more with the producers rather than IE for poor editorial judgement, in terms of how the sequence was presented - it did give the impression that this was the sort of thing that members of the public could arrange to do and that was misleading.

I really can't comment on the sequence from a legal viewpoint, but you are right about how the shoot would have been shot as i alluded to. The finished product could very easily be taken as a free for all, but this is how TV is shot and I guess that Irish Rail would be more responsible for any misunderstandings that followed. There are a multitude of railway related TV shows that project a loose attitude in order to secure dramatic narrative.

corktina

I find it hard to believe that IE would give it Editorial Approval in the same year as the British Board of Censors received their first complaint about The Railway Children!

It would give bored teenagers the impression that it's OK to strap two bikes together and ride along the New Ross, Youghal or Burma Road (or perhaps an operational line!) Someone dropped one for sure (great TV though!)

demanufactured

Do you think they got the mullingar - moate token out for them??

Cyberbeagle

corktina wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that IE would give it Editorial Approval in the same year as the British Board of Censors received their first complaint about The Railway Children!

It would give bored teenagers the impression that it's OK to strap two bikes together and ride along the New Ross, Youghal or Burma Road (or perhaps an operational line!) Someone dropped one for sure (great TV though!)

Editorial approval is on behalf of the producers, not Irish Rail. But I would've expected Irish Rail to have insisted prior to giving permission that it was clear that this was a unique one-off they were allowing.

So yes, that is the jist of why I think it was poor way it was edited/filmed.

dennis124wwr

So whats going in the line so far.

dennis124wwr

The disused railway line going from Athlone to Mullingar

dennis124wwr

The picture is was taken at around 1970-80. It is a train in Moate.

dennis124wwr

I have some news about the railway

goingnowhere

dennis124wwr wrote: »

The picture is was taken at around 1970-80. It is a train in Moate.

1976 at the earliest as its an 071, and since it seems to be marked SA, it would put it in the early/mid 1980's

Eiretrains

dennis124wwr wrote: »

The disused railway line going from Athlone to Mullingar

That's a J M.Allen photo, it was August 1987, details here.:cool:
http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20M/Moate/slides/Moate_20090801_001_CC_JA.html

dennis124wwr

What is SA

dennis124wwr

Does anyone have more pictures of train 71

flyingsnail

dennis124wwr wrote: »

What is SA

S= Train is fitted with air and vacuum brakes
A= train is fitted with CAWS

corktina

dennis124wwr wrote: »

I have some news about the railway

yes?

dennis124wwr

And what is going on the line so far