A weekend in Mayo

The_Wanderer

Evening all,

All the pictures from my weekend in Mayo are now online at http://smu.gs/1iF5p6b

Friday's Pictures are from Portarlington, Athlone, Claremorris, Roscommon, Castlerea, Manulla Jct. and Westport. Highlights include the 2800 Class DMU swap out from Ballina and 073 on the DFDS Ballina - Waterford Liner.

Saturday was a wet and windy day but I managed to walk some of the Great Western Greenway in Westport town before taking a trip to Ballina via Manulla Jct. 082 was stabled next to the IWT liner and 220 and 086 were at the head of Liner and Timber trains at the Manulla end of the yard.

Sunday's photos show the Timber train stabled at the very end of the Westport Quay line. 071 was stabled beside the station. The final pictures from the day are from Athlone of 22038 arriving with the 1335 Heuston - Westport.

The Wanderer.

end of the road

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Sunday's photos show the Timber train stabled at the very end of the Westport Quay line.

i thought the Westport Quay line was stolen (sorry removed) overnight back in the 70s?

The_Wanderer

end of the road wrote: »

i thought the Westport Quay line was stolen (sorry removed) overnight back in the 70s?

Well I should have said the very end of the stub of the former Westport Quay line. I never realised how far the siding actually went.

Losty Dublin

I have some fond memories of the Westport line.

Traveling Park Royals in the 80's; of a lone Bredin and brake van making up the Ballina train; travelling home via Mulligar one evening thus scurrying Dad to Connolly to pick us up; the sad site of Athlone West after it closed; passing the almost obligatory baby and ballast wagons in Lecarrow and Castlebar; Claremorris and it's unique double Y pointed junction and the comforting view of the Reek which told you both that you were nearing Westport and how the weather was in Mayo (The further away you saw it the better it was.).

As always, excellent work by the Wanderer

The_Wanderer

Cheers Losty,

Also I'm interested about this conspiracy theory of the Quay line. In doing some research on it I saw it "was lifted overnight to pacify local concerns".

So what happened with the line and what were the concerns?

The Wanderer.

Losty Dublin

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Cheers Losty,

Also I'm interested about this conspiracy theory of the Quay line. In doing some research on it I saw it "was lifted overnight to pacify local concerns".

So what happened with the line and what were the concerns?

The Wanderer.

Apparently it was to do with a plan to close the current Westport station and using the Quay station instead, it being the goods depot at the time. Those of us who are familiar with the lie of the town will know that the walk from the quay is to the town centre is a good 2 miles, most of it up a extremely steep hill; it's also away from the towns main hotels and main access roads. Locals feared that it would put off passengers and tourists from going to the town so the plan was dropped. In the end, the old station doubled up as a bus garage and a goods store for road lorry merchandise.

As an aside, I recently learnt that the branch was lifted in 1988. That must have been a very busy year for the gangers; the branches at Castleisland, Loughrea, Ardee, Fenit and most of the North Kerry were lifted in 88 as well

end of the road

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Apparently it was to do with a plan to close the current Westport station and using the Quay station instead, it being the goods depot at the time. Those of us who are familiar with the lie of the town will know that the walk from the quay is to the town centre is a good 2 miles, most of it up a extremely steep hill; it's also away from the towns main hotels and main access roads. Locals feared that it would put off passengers and tourists from going to the town so the plan was dropped. In the end, the old station doubled up as a bus garage and a goods store for road lorry merchandise.

As an aside, I recently learnt that the branch was lifted in 1988. That must have been a very busy year for the gangers; the branches at Castleisland, Loughrea, Ardee, Fenit and most of the North Kerry were lifted in 88 as well

wonder what took them so long? CIE stook for cash for the tay and sangwidges again?

Grandeeod

Losty Dublin wrote: »

As an aside, I recently learnt that the branch was lifted in 1988. That must have been a very busy year for the gangers; the branches at Castleisland, Loughrea, Ardee, Fenit and most of the North Kerry were lifted in 88 as well

It was a very busy year. The year of the make believe European Union or (EEC as it was back the) rule on 10 year closures. Apparently the Irish Government fed us a line about lines being left in situ for 10 years before being lifted. Still a lopsided view to this day and a lie that was constructed somewhere. Funnily enough after the 1970s 10 year closure thing, the lines were pulled up.

end of the road

Grandeeod wrote: »

It was a very busy year. The year of the make believe European Union or (EEC as it was back the) rule on 10 year closures. Apparently the Irish Government fed us a line about lines being left in situ for 10 years before being lifted. Still a lopsided view to this day and a lie that was constructed somewhere. Funnily enough after the 1970s 10 year closure thing, the lines were pulled up.

imagine being able to force them to put them back down with no cost what so ever (even better forcing those who decided to rip up the lines themselves being the ones to put them back down) wouldn't and couldn't happen in the real world but it would be rather fun to watch them and CIE whining and trying and failing to riggel out of doing it (easily entertained i know)

Losty Dublin

end of the road wrote: »

wonder what took them so long? CIE stook for cash for the tay and sangwidges again?

Costs and a need to lift a branch generally dictate when a branch has it's track lifted. Some of the Youghal line was lifted in the early 90's as was parts of the WRC; the latter was relaid with second hand track from other lines as required. The line to Fenit has yet to be formally abandoned nor have several other long closed routes.

Abandonment only comes in when a formal need for same arises. Even then, it needs some work for the legals and ministerial approval which is not going to happen in this day and age. In the cases of Loughrea, Ardee and Castleisland, proposed bypasses and motorway's probably would have made such orders essential.

interlocked

The closure of the Quay line was unusual. It was still used up to about 76/77, principally for supplying an oil car to serve the bus garage.

The closure method was rudimentary, they removed the rails by tying them to the drawhook of a loco and dragging them up. The sleepers were left in situ.

This took place from the UnderBridge at the throat of the Quay yard to the current bufferstop. The PW inspector was apparently hell bent on aligning the bufferstop with the adjacent 161 3/4 milepost but as you can see didn't suceed! The stub of the Achill branch which went across the viaduct would have been lifted around this time as well. Again the sleepers were left, thay obviously were so rotten that they weren't worth the effort.

The yard in the Quay was left untouched throughout the eighties, you could wander down and change the tumbler handpoints to your hearts content. The island platform and the remans of the station house were still in place. The site was finally bulldozed when the new Quay National School was built on the site in 1990-91. Incidentally the sleepers were never lifted on the remainder of the branch until its conversion to a greenway.

One of the main customers on the Quay was the Pollexfen mill which was a sister mill to the one in Ballysodare. The railway continued across the road at the Quay and ran as a tramway down to this mill which has been derelict for about 40 years and for which permission has just recently been given for its demolition as part of the Quay regeneration scheme.

The_Wanderer

Thanks Interlocked,

A very interesting reply. I had noticed how close the 161 3/4 mp was to the buffer stop.

Temp101

Is that not the 161 1/2 MP?

The_Wanderer

Being a GSWR man the MGWR milepost system is somewhat alien to me so you tell me

I did do research before hand and figured it was the 3/4 post, but I may be wrong.

Temp101

The_Wanderer wrote: »

Being a GSWR man the MGWR milepost system is somewhat alien to me so you tell me

I blame the parents.

MGWR mileposts always had the mile written on them, and the fraction was determined by the shape.
The full mile was a square board.
Take a quarter of that surface and turn it slightly and you have a small diamond representing 1/4.
Half the square is a triangle (as here 1/2).
Having removed the diamond (1/4) from the square (full) leaves a "V" shape representing 3/4.

interlocked

Doh. The shame.! Sorry, of course it's the half mile post. I should be bet over the head with one.

The_Wanderer

Give me a GSWR milepost anyday of the week

Temp101

Do not let your company loyalty blind you to the lack of practicality of the cast iron GSWR mileposts. While looking well, I could never understand why the mile wasn't included on the fractions - 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 , a problem not encountered with the GSWR stone version.

In fairness, I prefer any of the company versions to the modern type, which while no doubt very practical, has removed yet another distinct element of the "traditional" railway.

Don't forget to take a pic of any old mileposts you encounter on your travels. I suspect there are not that many left now!