Geoff Marshall / All The Stations

Lord Glentoran

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

They should've done a bit more research on the places they were getting out at and exploring.

Clearly the timetable decided where they were going - Cahir Castle would have been impossible to do with the turnaround between the outward and return journey from Waterford.

Ursus Horribilis

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

They should've done a bit more research on the places they were getting out at and exploring.

They could have done with talking to an Irish person back at the planning stage. They rattled through so many places that had interesting buildings/features they could've easily got to from the railway station.

Stephen15

Episode 16 visiting the Bangor and Larne lines on the Belfast suburban network is now up I thought it was one of the better ones so far.

Credit Checker Moose

They missed out Downpatrick.

Del.Monte

Another thing - like the inexcusably bad spelling on the pub in Galway - that drives me potty is this.



I haven't been in Bangor since the 1980s and I seem to remember the station was a right dump - now we have an impressive new structure but there's a letter missing from the name. I wonder how long it has been missing? Surely it is not beyond the wit of those designing these structures to make sure that replacement letters are readily available or that the lettering in the first place is simple and can be sourced virtually anywhere. The crumbling edge of quality.

PS I know that it probably isn't noticed by anybody apart from me but attention to detail is everything in my little world.

Letter on its way to Translink.

Grandeeod

Geoff seems to think Translink has a better railway!

Quick connections etc. etc. According to last nights episode anyway. I accept Irish Rail is mucky as feck, but Translink and it's Unionist butchered rail network???? How bizarre! Sorry folks, but this pair have absolutely no knowledge of how it all panned out. Respect lost. Sorry.

Ursus Horribilis

It's the superficiality of it that killed it for me. I like the idea of what they did but the end result was a bit sloppy and disappointing.

goingnowhere

Translink is head and shoulders above Irish Rail when it comes to customer experience.

They keep things simple and low tech and have a fleet of trains suited to the job

Grandeeod

goingnowhere wrote: »

Translink is head and shoulders above Irish Rail when it comes to customer experience.

They keep things simple and low tech and have a fleet of trains suited to the job

But Geoffs comments as a comparison just come across as a pro UK load of baloney. I say this as a big critic of Irish Rail. Yet again, Translink as a comparison??

Jamie2k9

Grandeeod wrote: »

Geoff seems to think Translink has a better railway!

Quick connections etc. etc. According to last nights episode anyway. I accept Irish Rail is mucky as feck, but Translink and it's Unionist butchered rail network???? How bizarre! Sorry folks, but this pair have absolutely no knowledge of how it all panned out. Respect lost. Sorry.

Your reading to much into the comments...

I have not done much travel with NIR however in some respects they have a better railway. Frequency is typically 30-60 minutes on all routes off peak and even more during peak hours. Of course this is possible because of the network size and density of population in NI.

Down here we are operating a timetable almost 6.5 years old with services been slotted in here and there and continue to ignore major issues. Minimal changes could deliver an enhanced services and make better use of resources but they are not particularly interested in that.

Stephen15

I quite like the CAFs DMUs NIR have pity IE didn't order a few instead some of the ICRs. While I'm not a huge fan of them the ICRs are ok for some of the lesser intercity stuff such as Waterford, Wexford, Galway, Westport and Sligo but should not be doing commuter work.

A fleet of NIR type CAFs would be great for the Hueston commuters including the Portlaoise and Carlow work, PPT services, WRC, Tralee services and even some of the shorter distance intercity routes such as Wexford and Waterford instead of ICRs. The ICRs are sort of the jack of all trades when it comes to trains.

WeIrishareEvil

25K for something badly researched, rushed and semi-pointless. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they produce an awesome documentary from the footage. Otherwise, that didn't work for 25K. Sorry. Not implying anything dodgy with those guys as they are clearly decent and well-intentioned folk. But this was a huge let down in a lot of ways. 3/10 guys.

Translink are much worse than IE btw.

WeIrishareEvil

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Your reading to much into the comments...

I have not done much travel with NIR however in some respects they have a better railway. Frequency is typically 30-60 minutes on all routes off peak and even more during peak hours. Of course this is possible because of the network size and density of population in NI.

Down here we are operating a timetable almost 6.5 years old with services been slotted in here and there and continue to ignore major issues. Minimal changes could deliver an enhanced services and make better use of resources but they are not particularly interested in that.

to be fair though, the Howth Branch probably has more daily services than the entire Translink network

Lord Glentoran

Hourly and busy trains from Derry, on a line that if it was in the Republic, would have been turned into a cycle track long ago.

Sorry Grandeeod, but I’m with Geoff on this.

Lord Glentoran

WeIrishareEvil wrote: »

25K for something badly researched, rushed and semi-pointless. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they produce an awesome documentary from the footage. Otherwise, that didn't work for 25K. Sorry. Not implying anything dodgy with those guys as they are clearly decent and well-intentioned folk. But this was a huge let down in a lot of ways. 3/10 guys.

Translink are much worse than IE btw.

Christ, I can imagine what sort of po-faced junk certain C&T posters would do if in the same position.

It would degenerate into a big huff about the Nenagh branch and posters fighting for comments about “ooh this should be a Greenway” and lascivious comments about Jonkheers coaches when they should be travelling between Limerick and Galway, because they’ll NORT use the Ennis-Athenry section on “principle”.

:rolleyes:

WeIrishareEvil

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

Hourly and busy trains from Derry, on a line that if it was in the Republic, would have been turned into a cycle track long ago.

Maybe, but they would probably have kept the old GNR to Derry as it served a far bigger population base.

The UTA closed the B&CD which would be the backbone of a BART if around today. Hardly in a position to judge anyone else.

Lord Glentoran

WeIrishareEvil wrote: »

Maybe, but they would probably have kept the old GNR to Derry as it served a far bigger population base.

The UTA closed the B&CD which would be the backbone of a BART if around today. Hardly in a position to judge anyone else.

The Dáil record reveals that CIÉ and the Irish Government were given an option on the Derry Road in 1965.

Can we guess what happened next?

railer201

goingnowhere wrote: »

Translink is head and shoulders above Irish Rail when it comes to customer experience.

They keep things simple and low tech and have a fleet of trains suited to the job

Another hundred miles of track or so wouldn't go astray up there though. They were finished in two days, first a right turn to Bangor, then a left to Derry - Finito.

At least I can say I ticked off Bundoran and all stations en route - once upon a time. Ripping out the line to Derry through mid-Ulster was a big big mistake.

dulpit

It struck me that the videos weren't sure what they were supposed to be. Is it about purely visiting all of the stations, or also about what to see while there? They always seemed to be rushing (eg they had an hour for the ulster transport museum), so I do think they tended more towards just getting to the stations as quickly as possible.

The other thing that affected the Ireland videos (Island videos?) was that the system simply isn't that complicated, so there was no jumping around down random branch lines or trying to make connections so they could get the 1 train a day that stops somewhere.

It reminded me a little of the difference between Long Way Round and Long Way Down (the trips that Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman took). The first was so long and epic that the second was a pale imitation...

Stephen15

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

Hourly and busy trains from Derry, on a line that if it was in the Republic, would have been turned into a cycle track long ago.

Sorry Grandeeod, but I’m with Geoff on this.

I'd say they'd have kept it alright but ran a service with similar frequency to the Sligo line

whisky_galore

Del.Monte wrote: »

At least they spared me by not stopping to view Dromod.

We know you're bitter, you don't have to keep reminding us about every 15 posts.

Del.Monte

whisky_galore wrote: »

We know you're bitter, you don't have to keep reminding us about every 15 posts.

I haven't mentioned them for ages but as you seem interested they have recently (in the last couple of weeks) received the locomotive "Nancy" back from Alan Keef - a mere 22 years after it left Dromod for a rebuild! If the programme had been properly researched surely a call there would have been an interesting one?

Anyway, I found the whole series rather pointless with lots of dodgy facts and commentary. Vicki is a keeper though.

Del.Monte

Episode.17. is just up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7tuoc8Fd9M

Drifter50

Del.Monte wrote: »

At least they spared me by not stopping to view Dromod.

What the heck is wrong with Dromod

Museum, replicas, antiques etc

Well kept station

Grandeeod

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

Hourly and busy trains from Derry, on a line that if it was in the Republic, would have been turned into a cycle track long ago.

Sorry Grandeeod, but I’m with Geoff on this.

And you are very entitled to that opinion LG. No need for sorry, I'm still pissed at the comment though. Came across as hey we are back in the UK and its great. But as Jamie said, I may be reading too much into it.

Overall, its been a pretty crap watch after episode 5 or so. Not their fault though. Just a really boring railway and an IE dude saying the money is great. Sums it up.

Dats me

Ah lads, they set out to make a YouTube show about them visiting the stations and their trip. Not a documentary on the Irish railways - so of course as a documentary on the history and current state of railway infrastructure and services it failed, because it wasn't trying.

If they made the type of detailed videos people here are looking for they'd only get 1% of the viewers because everyone else would find it boring.

I think given the state of our railways we should be happy that they were positive about them and about Ireland - it was a really nice advert for the place. And they were fun to watch, which was the point.

n97 mini

Grandeeod wrote: »

Geoff seems to think Translink has a better railway!

I think he implied they time connections better, which they do. IE can't even do connections on the same line a lot of the time.

XPS_Zero

Grandeeod wrote: »

Geoff seems to think Translink has a better railway!

Quick connections etc. etc. According to last nights episode anyway. I accept Irish Rail is mucky as feck, but Translink and it's Unionist butchered rail network???? How bizarre! Sorry folks, but this pair have absolutely no knowledge of how it all panned out. Respect lost. Sorry.

I've found that service wise, Translink are better.


I noticed minor things that are really major things. Like punctuality, professionalism of the staff etc
Not that IE staff are unprofessional, though you do get the occasional public sector stereotype of lazy Joe "thats not in my contract" type, but they are rare. Just Translink staff seem to put a bigger effort in.

Another thing that annoyed me was, being used to the Enterprise, when I was going to Killarney (via the cork line since it was a nightmare trying to book direct) I skipped breakfast saying I'd get it on the train would help the time pass, expecting a nice Irish Breakfast like you can get on the Enterprise (though their bread is awful, they should get some Brennans)...9am train and they only had a lunch menu....at 9am.....the only breakfast was at 7am, and the rest of the menu only applied at weirdly specific times and on the way back I was in one of the gaps where this pared down ultra plain menu applied.


It really put a dent in the experience.
Iv'e also never seen the Enterprise overbooked but I've seen Cork jammed to standing room on several occasions now.

tabbey

goingnowhere wrote: »

Tara Street is the Isle of Wight gag revisited.

What is the Isle of Wight gag?

dulpit

tabbey wrote: »

What is the Isle of Wight gag?

When they did the original in 2017 they visited the Isle of Wight as part of a bonus video, which got uploaded later than the other videos shot around then. If you watched in order of upload it appears they skipped Isle of Wight, so people started commenting on it. They've referenced it a few times themselves.