Old Connolly Station entrance

dublincc2

Just wondering about the original anticancer to Connolly Station, the old building with the tower above at the t-junction of Talbot St and Amiens Street. It is now just an entrance to a hallway with some steps up to the ticket hall but what was there before? In older pictures there are clearly some steps:

Where did these steps lead to? What was the interior like? Why were they removed?

Thanks.

breezy1985

Looks like they could have led to what's now Madigans

LXFlyer

They led up to the concourse.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058269478/old-connolly-station-entrance

They just led to the general public concourse area.

dublincc2

Any photographs of the old concourse? Why were the steps removed?

dublincc2

I remember there was a chequered floor on the old concourse, but I can’t seem to place where the Amiens Street steps led up to.

icdg

My vague memory was that there was an escalator there in the early 1990s immediately prior to redevelopment. They just led up to the concourse, that street level area that is there now wasn’t publicly accessible at the time IIRC. The reason the escalator was moved was to open that area up and open an entrance onto the IFSC.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119805415#Comment_119805415

They built newer ones.

L1011

There was definitely escalators up there in the 90s. There would have been a bar or buffet somewhere inside the station pre-refurb and Oslo (now Madigans) - where was it? Was it even still open?

LXFlyer

The steps and an upward escalator from Amiens Street were removed when the station concourse got a complete makeover in the late 1990s to allow for a much larger and completely redesigned concourse area.

The old concourse was far smaller and very dark, gloomy and draughty.

The steps and escalator just led you to that concourse, there were more flights of steps upward out of shot - the single escalator was to the left of the steps in the photo, under the tower.

With the redesign of the concourse they needed to be removed as the space they used was now where the new pub (Oslo - now Madigan's) was being located.

The 1990s refurbishment resulted in the new glass canopy entrance at the top of the old ramp (the ramp was subsequently removed to allow for Connolly LUAS stop to be built), a much brighter and larger concourse, and a further entrance (via stairs, a lift and escalators) was provided via a new subway under the main station building which allows through access to/from the IFSC area, which wasn't possible before.

I can't find any photos of the old concourse, but I do remember it being depressingly dark, and that the new set up was a massive improvement.

Trampas

ive a vague memory of entrance to the left of photo which brought you up to platform 6/7 for a dart.

Cup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119805425#Comment_119805425

Ah, I’d completely forgotten about the checkered floor in Heuston station as well. Would have been there a few times a year for our trip down west to my granny’s. A black and white one. Or am I misremembering and it was only in Connolly Station?

Very nostalgic memory of the smell from the station back too, then with the trains and the smoking and the newspapers.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119807170#Comment_119807170

Ide say every major station had the exact same floor. I think Limerick still has the checkered floor.

dublincc2

I found a photograph of the station pre-refurbishment with The Specials band which was taken in 1980:

What position was this photo taken from in today's station? Where is Madigans/the steps from Amiens Street positioned here? Is the Eason's to the left in the same spot as the Eason's in Connolly today? What is the opening at the right background and the white wall?

Sorry for all the questions it's just I've completely forgotten what the old station was like and I'm just trying to place it.

LXFlyer

The platforms are to the right and you are looking east from in front of where the “Bean & Gone” café is now.

d51984

https://i.imgur.com/ti8XjzH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Dij6FBk.jpg

Couple of photos I found online.

d51984

Old layout.

LXFlyer

That’s the old suburban station entrance, further up Amiens Street, which is now converted to offices.

murphaph

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119808869#Comment_119808869

I can't figure this out. If we are facing east would the platforms not be to our left? Is the big opening not where the P&T used to drive the mail trucks in from the ramp to P1 to load and unload the mail trains?

Flinty997

I was through it back in the day. Can't remember it much at all.

newmember2

I thought the opening in the top right of that Specials photo was out to where the taxi rank was at the Southern end of the station, but maybe not as I also have a vague memory of a vehicle entrance in the same area across the road from Gandon House area, that when you drove in you immediately turned left up a ramp where you drove up to the concourse level.

Losty Dublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814162#Comment_119814162

You are right. There was a road ramp up that led up to a road entrance for the station; a taxi rank sat here while the 90 bus had its terminus there for several years as well. The ramp was removed to make way for the Connolly Luas platforms in the 00's.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814240#Comment_119814240

Remmeber that now.

newmember2

https://www.geograph.ie/photo/5215637

d51984

Top of the ramp 1994. (Photo allaboutbuses.com)

'The Ramp' 1969

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119813845#Comment_119813845

My bad - getting my left & right confused - the platforms are of course indeed to the LEFT!

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814240#Comment_119814240

For a country with so, so, so many rail plans, the construction and demolition of the ramp within a few years is a spectacular mishap.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814469#Comment_119814469

It wasn't constructed and demolished "within a few years"; the ramp providing vehicular access to the concourse level was constructed in the 1870s and removed in 2004.

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814521#Comment_119814521

My mistake, I was thinking about the demolition of the ramp followed by the subsequent downgrade of Luas Connolly when the extension to the Point was built.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814690#Comment_119814690

To be fair the LUAS Connolly stop allows for turnbacks and more intensive service where it is most needed, between Connolly and Heuston.

dublincc2

In the original plans from 1837 the Dublin terminus of the Drogheda railway was intended to be located O'Connell Street, roughly where Clerys is now:

Imagine how things would be different if it was built there. More central than Amiens Street and it might give O'Connell Street some sense of purpose today being a central railway hub. No need for the Loopline Bridge either.