Most Crazy Example of Irish Railway Walter Mittyism?

Stovepipe · 01-10-2014 10:53pm

@grandeeod, it's all true. My contact in there was quite high up and had to deal with a lot of the problems. Incompatible carriages was common, as was incompatible parts on the cars themselves. The story of the shunting engines is true. Quite simply, I have no need to come on here and tell porkies. Plenty of other LUAS stories out there...

end of the road · 01-10-2014 11:12pm

whisky_galore wrote: »

You seem to have the notion that walkers and cyclists have no lobbying power and can be brushed aside.

they can. but it would take someone with balls to do it admittedly.

whisky_galore wrote: »

you've probably never heard of a bunch called Sustrans....

yes i have. and frankly if someone really has the balls to, the likes of them can be took on and beaten. as i said, if the relevant authorities want to build a railway along a route that happens to be used by cyclists then built it will be. and yes i did say building a railway along this particular route won't happen in my second post

Grandeeod · 01-10-2014 11:14pm

Stovepipe wrote: »

@grandeeod, it's all true. My contact in there was quite high up and had to deal with a lot of the problems. Incompatible carriages was common, as was incompatible parts on the cars themselves. The story of the shunting engines is true. Quite simply, I have no need to come on here and tell porkies. Plenty of other LUAS stories out there...

Stick to the story about the shunting engines and explain it.

the_syco · 01-10-2014 11:16pm

Grandeeod wrote: »

Nearly.:D

France. Apparently one of them is at the Red Cow depot to this day.

Small little thing;
http://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/LUAS/Red-Cow-LUAS-Depot/i-fVM6CR3

Grandeeod · 01-10-2014 11:17pm

Thats her!

Grandeeod · 01-10-2014 11:19pm

Now is stovepipe talking about this?

http://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/LUAS/Red-Cow-LUAS-Depot/i-dxswqtL

end of the road · 02-10-2014 12:00am

what i've found with a little googling. she dates from the 1960s. built by B Richard of St Denis de l'hotel. other loco was dumped and as said in this thread vandelized sadly. would be nice to find out where she is now.

L1011 · 02-10-2014 7:50am

Grandeeod wrote: »

Now is stovepipe talking about this?

http://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/LUAS/Red-Cow-LUAS-Depot/i-dxswqtL

That's actually Irish built, unilokomotiv in Tuam. Town with no active railway and building non Irish gauge gear!

Cyberbeagle · 06-10-2014 9:06pm

ClovenHoof wrote: »

Mine has to be the guy who was going to purchase NIR back in the 1990's and convert the entire network to the 'same gauge as the mainland' to run container trains.

He was given a sizeable media platform and I even recall the British railway magazines posting the idea making comments such as 'The GWR changed gauge in a weekend..." Even the IRRS Newsletter gave him a fair hearing and report. Big money was forthcoming, all the plans and customers in place, etc

Turned out he was just some guy with a photo-copied letter head and a pound in his bank account and nothing else.

The BCDR-MT/Eurotrack Ireland/Belfast Express Transit/Great Northern Ireland Railway (whatever Mr Pue is calling himself these days) are still going "strong".

Here's his submission to the DRD Railway Investment consultation:

drdni.gov.uk/response_33_-_bob_pue_-_belfast_express_transit.pdf

And newish plans for Donaghadee:

ards-council.gov.uk/Downloads/Your-Council/Development-Committee/2014-03-19-Development

You'll need to cut and paste those into your browser as this board won't let them appear as hyperlinks for some reason

Grandeeod · 06-10-2014 10:06pm

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

The BCDR-MT/Eurotrack Ireland/Belfast Express Transit/Great Northern Ireland Railway (whatever Mr Pue is calling himself these days) are still going "strong".

Here's his submission to the DRD Railway Investment consultation:

drdni.gov.uk/response_33_-_bob_pue_-_belfast_express_transit.pdf

And newish plans for Donaghadee:

ards-council.gov.uk/Downloads/Your-Council/Development-Committee/2014-03-19-Development

You'll need to cut and paste those into your browser as this board won't let them appear as hyperlinks for some reason

Please stop.:D

Banjoxed · 07-10-2014 12:57pm

MYOB wrote: »

That's actually Irish built, unilokomotiv in Tuam. Town with no active railway and building non Irish gauge gear!

How very dare they!

whisky_galore · 07-10-2014 3:01pm

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

The BCDR-MT/Eurotrack Ireland/Belfast Express Transit/Great Northern Ireland Railway (whatever Mr Pue is calling himself these days) are still going "strong".

Here's his submission to the DRD Railway Investment consultation:

drdni.gov.uk/response_33_-_bob_pue_-_belfast_express_transit.pdf

And newish plans for Donaghadee:

ards-council.gov.uk/Downloads/Your-Council/Development-Committee/2014-03-19-Development

You'll need to cut and paste those into your browser as this board won't let them appear as hyperlinks for some reason

I think we have a winner. Up against some pretty stiff opposition though.

MGWR · 09-10-2014 6:59pm

ClovenHoof wrote: »

Mine has to be the guy who was going to purchase NIR back in the 1990's and convert the entire network to the 'same gauge as the mainland' to run container trains.

He was given a sizeable media platform and I even recall the British railway magazines posting the idea making comments such as 'The GWR changed gauge in a weekend..." Even the IRRS Newsletter gave him a fair hearing and report. Big money was forthcoming, all the plans and customers in place, etc

Turned out he was just some guy with a photo-copied letter head and a pound in his bank account and nothing else

For as many Walter Mittys, how many actual investors have been turned away by the central planners of the governments of both the Republic and the North with respect to actually doing something worthwhile with the railway system?

While it is true that the GWR did change gauge as rapidly as your example claimed, the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway in the USA both changed gauge from 6 feet to 4' 8.5" in one day. See what can be done with the government out of the way?

L1011 · 09-10-2014 8:03pm

Few to none, I'd guess

purplepanda · 09-10-2014 8:17pm

More pie in the sky proposals ..........! http://www.munster-express.ie/business/rail-revolution-proposed-for-city-tramore-and-wexford/

Judgement Day · 09-10-2014 8:22pm

purplepanda wrote: »

More pie in the sky proposals ..........! http://www.munster-express.ie/business/rail-revolution-proposed-for-city-tramore-and-wexford/

The Waterford & Tramore should never have been closed but this sort of nonsense is never going to happen.

end of the road · 09-10-2014 9:34pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

The Waterford & Tramore should never have been closed but this sort of nonsense is never going to happen.

shur twas making money wannit? and it was in the southeast. so it definitely had to go.

Grandeeod · 09-10-2014 9:35pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

The Waterford & Tramore should never have been closed but this sort of nonsense is never going to happen.

Waterford - Tramore was a bit like Dublin's Harcourt street line. While I have spent many years bewildered by the stupidity, it's only in more recent years that I can fully understand and disagree with, the political motivations that CIE were happy to follow.

As for that 4 year old proposal, it's yet more Gluas and light rail for West Cork baloney.

ClovenHoof · 12-10-2014 3:55pm

Grandeeod wrote: »

Waterford - Tramore was a bit like Dublin's Harcourt street line. While I have spent many years bewildered by the stupidity, it's only in more recent years that I can fully understand and disagree with, the political motivations that CIE were happy to follow.

As for that 4 year old proposal, it's yet more Gluas and light rail for West Cork baloney.

CIE closed the line for the simple reason it was not 'standard' - which in reality means it was not a GSR line. When CIE was formed the GSR majority management sought to ethnically cleanse the MGW and the DUT and all other 'rivals' from the network. Which is why the Burma Road joke stayed and the Waterford-Tramore and Harcourt Street was closed.

I am convinced that if the GNR had not remained independent until almost 1960, the Dublin-Belfast line would have been closed by CIE.

end of the road · 12-10-2014 4:27pm

ClovenHoof wrote: »

CIE closed the line for the simple reason it was not 'standard' - which in reality means it was not a GSR line. When CIE was formed the GSR majority management sought to ethnically cleanse the MGW and the DUT and all other 'rivals' from the network. Which is why the Burma Road joke stayed and the Waterford-Tramore and Harcourt Street was closed.

I am convinced that if the GNR had not remained independent until almost 1960, the Dublin-Belfast line would have been closed by CIE.

nothing would surprise me. the whole history surrounding all this is interesting though, specially the what iffs and what could have beens. i don't know if i'm the only one, but i think the UTA were way worse then CIE, i think had they not been stopped NI would have had no railway, the fact they shut and ripped up more lines just as they were to be replaced shows the mentality they had. at least now NIR/translink see the value in what they have and are trying to improve things.

Grandeeod · 12-10-2014 8:36pm

A real understanding of the history is of course better than the blinkered one. The UTA wanted to single the line between Belfast and the border at one stage.

I'm also of the opinion that the GSR was essentially the GSWR in all but name and did indeed follow a policy that was inherited by CIE.

ClovenHoof · 13-10-2014 4:06pm

The British Government shut down the UTA and this was only thing that saved the NIR network. The Loyal Lodge Brethren in Strormount all had shares in companies suppling everything from tarmac to buses and it was good for family business. The closing on the B&CDR was brought up in the Houses of Parliament as nobody could believe a busy commuter line with a large customer based was instantly demolished. This is what got the UTA and their scams found out.

and I am not bringing sectarianism into it, just pointing out the reality of the situation at the time. It was like Fianna Fail in steroids.

end of the road · 13-10-2014 4:41pm

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The British Government shut down the UTA and this was only thing that saved the NIR network. The Loyal Lodge Brethren in Strormount all had shares in companies suppling everything from tarmac to buses and it was good for family business. The closing on the B&CDR was brought up in the Houses of Parliament as nobody could believe a busy commuter line with a large customer based was instantly demolished. This is what got the UTA and their scams found out.

and I am not bringing sectarianism into it, just pointing out the reality of the situation at the time. It was like Fianna Fail in steroids.

its hard not to bring sectarianism into it though. as that played a huge part in the closures it seems

Cyberbeagle · 18-10-2014 12:00am

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The British Government shut down the UTA and this was only thing that saved the NIR network. The Loyal Lodge Brethren in Strormount all had shares in companies suppling everything from tarmac to buses and it was good for family business. The closing on the B&CDR was brought up in the Houses of Parliament as nobody could believe a busy commuter line with a large customer based was instantly demolished. This is what got the UTA and their scams found out.

and I am not bringing sectarianism into it, just pointing out the reality of the situation at the time. It was like Fianna Fail in steroids.

end of the road wrote: »

its hard not to bring sectarianism into it though. as that played a huge part in the closures it seems

NIR was formed BEFORE Stormont was prorogued, it wasn't the British Government that broke up the UTA.

ClovenHoof · 18-10-2014 8:37pm

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

NIR was formed BEFORE Stormont was prorogued, it wasn't the British Government that broke up the UTA.

Yes they did. They came down on the Stormount Gov like a ton of bricks over it at the time. They history is all very clear.

Hibbeler · 08-11-2014 1:00pm

I'm sure this is welcome on this thread. A Navan luas suggested in 2007

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/sport/navan/articles/2007/09/15/598-luasstyle-light-rail-system-gets-backing-in-navan/

metrovick001 · 08-11-2014 7:00pm

Ahh yes...2007.
A particularly good year for madness.

Hibbeler wrote: »

I'm sure this is welcome on this thread. A Navan luas suggested in 2007

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/sport/navan/articles/2007/09/15/598-luasstyle-light-rail-system-gets-backing-in-navan/

clunked · 08-11-2014 7:05pm

Dustin the Turkey wanted to bring the DART to Dingle of course!!!!!

CrabRevolution · 08-11-2014 9:51pm

Hibbeler wrote: »

I'm sure this is welcome on this thread. A Navan luas suggested in 2007

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/sport/navan/articles/2007/09/15/598-luasstyle-light-rail-system-gets-backing-in-navan/

Holy God....you'd wonder if those councillors had a bunch of brain cells between them.

Similar, but not as bad (since it wasnt a politician saying it) was an ed-op piece I saw before in a local publication around 2010 demanding that "when" the Clonsilla-Navan rail route reopened, that a spur be built from Kilmessan to Trim, like the old alignment.

I'm not sure if the writer was even aware of the many many problems with the idea, never mind willing to try and debate them. The only justification given was "its only an extra 10 miles of track, no bother to them".

Unfortunately the non stop Trim-Dublin rail route will have to wait till I'm a billionaire.

Hibbeler · 09-11-2014 10:09am

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Holy God....you'd wonder if those councillors had a bunch of brain cells between them.

Similar, but not as bad (since it wasnt a politician saying it) was an ed-op piece I saw before in a local publication around 2010 demanding that "when" the Clonsilla-Navan rail route reopened, that a spur be built from Kilmessan to Trim, like the old alignment.

I'm not sure if the writer was even aware of the many many problems with the idea, never mind willing to try and debate them. The only justification given was "its only an extra 10 miles of track, no bother to them".

Unfortunately the non stop Trim-Dublin rail route will have to wait till I'm a billionaire.

The only thing going for it is that yes the tracks do almost a semi circle around the town. If navan had a population at least 2-3 time bigger than what it is now it might work.

As for a branch to trim if/when the Clonsilla-Navan line is put in place I don't see how it would be illogical to at least put in place a plan for it. I work in the UK atm and commute by train each day. I know southern England would have a far bigger population density than here but I notice that there are plenty of branch lines going off the main line here. I'm sure that there are a few town in the leinster commuter belt that could accommodate such a thing.

Most Crazy Example of Irish Railway Walter Mittyism?

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