Del.Monte wrote: » Well the thing at Blennerville does not bear any resemblance to anything that ever was on any narrow gauge line - anywhere! Close but not quite there!
whisky_galore wrote: » TBF what was left of Blennerville was a useless ruin. Not even 4 walls to work with. The modern platform is hardly 'authentic', but it's very much a minor issue to gripe about. If they had rebuilt it faithfully to every detail it would be a very nice building, albeit now a boarded-up very nice building.
savagethegoat wrote: » It is faithful in no detail at all. Is the idea to present a glimpse of what the T&D was like or just to provide a train ride.? The platform is grossly too high, rebuild it to the correct height and perhaps one could overlook the cobbleblock surface and that it is the wrong side of the track (perhaps). Re-creating the original building would have been reasonably easy (not as easy as providing no building at all of course) with the biggest complication being the run round loop which would entail the whole station moving to left by about 10 feet or a shunt back to a loop out side the station
NiallBoo wrote: » What do you mean? Why did you post the same photo twice?!
savagethegoat wrote: » Can I move the discussion north a bit to the West Clare? With my enthusiast hat on, would not reinstating the whole triangle provide a unique site, if it was possible, I can't see why not, notwithstanding two more level crossings.
Del.Monte wrote: »
NiallBoo wrote: » Just a joke. Obviously authenticity wasn't the goal there, but in plenty of cases it won't be so clear cut. So what is "authentic"? As it was the day it opened? When it closed? When it looked best?
railer201 wrote: » The most self-contained preservation railway on the island as a whole has to be the D&CDR. It ticks all the boxes of what a preserved railway should - steam and vintage diesel, broad gauge, museum, station building, signal box etc., running to a busy timetable, uniformed and friendly staff. Very impressive set up and I can't imagine the sheer volume of hands-on work that went into making it the successful operation that it clearly is.
whisky_galore wrote: » Missing the point. Now that the T&B is dead in the water, it's irrelevant what the station there looks like. All it was intended to be was a train ride, nothing more.
topnotch wrote: » Sadly the RPSI are the only ones left capable of preserving something capable of running on the main line. The British Traction Group (ITG) did a royal job of pissing off Irish Rail over the years. It will be interesting to see how many fork out €75 for the upcoming jaunt over the WRC. They might be able to iron a few tablecloths for that price.
Del.Monte wrote: » If it had not been for the efforts of the Irish Traction Group http://www.irishtractiongroup.com down the years there would have been precious little preserved on the diesel front. The fact that they are British based speaks volumes about the 'majority' of Irish enthusiast's apathy towards preservation. If they pissed of Irish Rail...:rolleyes:
topnotch wrote: » Remind me again of what they preserved that will be running on the main line anytime soon. Seeing locos running at 5mph on downpatricks bone shaker track is a sad end for any loco or stock.
Seeing locos running at 5mph on downpatricks bone shaker track is a sad end for any loco or stock.
railer201 wrote: » At least D&CDR's main line out to Inch Abbey is their own.
savagethegoat wrote: » They run exactly the same number of diesel locos on IE that RPSI do
It won't be long now till you have to leave the EU to go up to that kip.
railer201 wrote: » Why ? is there a superior self-contained standard gauge preservation set up down here that we don't know of ?
Yes it's called Inchicore works. Plenty of preserved locos and rolling stock on site.
topnotch wrote: » The last railtour they ran was a 141 fair well back in 2010 which ran with an 071. The RPSI have run a dozen or so trips behind 071's since then.
Del.Monte wrote: » You may not have noticed, 071s are part of CIE's fleet and anybody can hire one to haul a special - even the IRRS manage it.
topnotch wrote: » Yes it's called Inchicore works. Plenty of preserved locos and rolling stock on site.
savagethegoat wrote: » even the ITG have too I think
topnotch wrote: » It's loco hauled traction on the main line and that's what counts, albeit overpriced. It's likely that the 071's are going to outlast the 201's at this rate so I'm glad they're still part of the fleet. The Downpatrick with their whopping 2.5 miles of bone shaker track are going nowhere fast, literally.
savagethegoat wrote: » it isn't quite dead in the water. KCC intend to throw another million of our money at it if they can get Govt to cough up.
