Oddities of Irish Infrastructure

Chris_533976 · 12-12-2009 1:31pm #1

They have loads of these threads on Sabre showing strange quirks of UK infrastructure so lets have one here.

Post odd, interesting facts about Irish roads/rail/etc that only absolute nerds would care about at all.

Heres one -

On the old N6 between Galway and Ballinasloe, if you're travelling West to East, there is about 100m of road near Kilreekil where you actually travel NORTH WEST.

Roryhy · 12-12-2009 1:36pm

Surely the dursey cablecar qualifies for this one.

Carawaystick · 12-12-2009 4:11pm

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Heres one -

On the old N6 between Galway and Ballinasloe, if you're travelling West to East, there is about 100m of road near Kilreekil where you actually travel NORTH WEST.

When getting the train south from Dublin to Arklow, the train travels north of west between Wicklow and Rathnew.

There were Chairlifts on Bray head in the last century

Ardnacrusha was the largest power station in the World for a while.

Some of the houses on the South Mall in Cork still have boat rings from when the mall was a river.

Water from the Silent Valley in Down used to flow untreated to the taps of Belfast. They built the Mourne wall to keep livestock out.

The Sally gap isn't the highest point on the Military road, It's a bit higher further north.

L1011 · 12-12-2009 5:50pm

The N10 breaks the original numbering system completely, as it branches off counter-clock from the N9.

rainbowdash · 12-12-2009 7:39pm

The port of Rosslare is a funny one. Its run by Irish rail (even though they are a railway company) and as well as this the ownership is still muddled. wikipedia:

Fishguard and Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company which still exists today, although GSR took over 50% of its shares upon its creation, the other 50% being held by the UK Great Western Railway. The respective shareholdings in the company, now essentially a shelf company, are held today by Iarnrod Éireann and Stena Line

Judgement Day · 12-12-2009 9:05pm

Surely one of the biggest oddities is the fact that CIE has lasted since 1945 despite being a complete and utter shambles since 1950.

murphaph · 12-12-2009 9:06pm

Some roadsigns are correct.

Trick of the Tail · 12-12-2009 9:13pm

In Clonmel, there is a road off the N24 that leads to the racetrack, Powerstown Park.

On one side of the road the sign says 'Powerstown Park Road', opposite it, the sign says 'Powerstown Road Park' !

A.

Trick of the Tail · 12-12-2009 9:17pm

Just off the N25, between Waterford and New Ross, lies the little village of Glenmore, pop 2,000 or so.

On the N25, in the space of a quarter of a mile, there are no less than 16 direction signs to Glenmore!

A.

Zoney · 13-12-2009 1:14am

Even now, they can't decide if it is Lahinch or Lehinch and Ennistymon or Ennistimon on road signs (not to mention everywhere else!)

Also the old and new road signs show a continuous simplification of Irish placenames - Durlas Eile -> Durlas, Magh Ealla -> Mala, Ráth Luirc -> An Ráth.

NFD100 · 13-12-2009 11:28am

Road signs on poles too big and half way down the pole. Uniquely Irish

Signposts pointing the wrong way, also uniquely Irish

Bluetonic · 13-12-2009 12:42pm

NFD100 wrote: »

Signposts pointing the wrong way, also uniquely Irish

Not a chance that this is uniquely Irish.

mikemac · 13-12-2009 12:48pm

In County Clare you directions signs, some spelling Lahinch and some spelling Lehinch.

You'd think the County Council would just pick one!

Edit: I see Zoney beat me to it

It's the only oddity I can think of

ei.sdraob · 13-12-2009 12:58pm

80KM speed limits signs on sideroads which have grass growing down middle and muck

makes me chuckle

imme · 13-12-2009 1:00pm

The Lartigue monorail in Kerry must rank up there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listowel_and_Ballybunion_Railway

exaisle · 13-12-2009 1:22pm

The road from Old Bawn in Tallaght to the N81 at Brittas has a speed limit of 60k/40mph, while all of the sideroads leading onto it have 80km/50mph speed limits....and is a well known speed trap location.

FFS!

imme · 13-12-2009 1:29pm

The Drumm battery train invented by Northern Ireland's James Drumm must rank up there as well.
http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/drumm.html

Trick of the Tail · 13-12-2009 2:31pm

imme wrote: »

The Lartigue monorail in Kerry must rank up there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listowel_and_Ballybunion_Railway

Brilliant! But the question has to be asked:

Why?

A.

veryangryman · 13-12-2009 2:40pm

Signs going out of town showing the road name (e.g N55 etc)

Yet on the same road, approaching town, no road name. Whats the deal with that? Not sure if that is uniquely irish either but...

imme · 13-12-2009 2:53pm

alinton wrote: »

Brilliant! But the question has to be asked:

Why?

A.

why was in instituted or why did I say it was an Irish oddity.
I posted it because it's mad Ted!, mad!.
Seriously, it's scale alone, 9miles, marks it out for exceptional value.
http://www.listowel365.com/lartigue0801.asp

DWCommuter · 13-12-2009 3:00pm

And perhaps the weirdest oddity;

There's more sense spoken about Irish infrastructure on internet forums than in any Government department, town or county council.

L1011 · 13-12-2009 4:39pm

Coming in to Maynooth from Naas, you pass no less than four signs saying you've entered Maynooth (standard white council, Special Olympics, and two others) before then coming to a route confirmation sign saying "Maynooth 2km". Not "town centre", but as if you're not in the town at all...

murphaph · 13-12-2009 7:33pm

Found this while flicking around. Never seen level crossing barriers like them in Ireland;

New Ross. Courtessy of Eiretrains.

Trick of the Tail · 13-12-2009 8:23pm

imme wrote: »

why was in instituted or why did I say it was an Irish oddity.
I posted it because it's mad Ted!, mad!.
Seriously, it's scale alone, 9miles, marks it out for exceptional value.
http://www.listowel365.com/lartigue0801.asp

I mean why did he bother developing it, considering it had no advantages over two-rail systems, and several disadvantages.

Its wonderfully eccentric though!

A.

Judgement Day · 13-12-2009 9:41pm

alinton wrote: »

I mean why did he bother developing it, considering it had no advantages over two-rail systems, and several disadvantages.

Its wonderfully eccentric though!

A.

The Lartigue monorail system was originally invented for use in Algeria (I think) for use in desert regions and was probably quite suited for that purpose but in Kerry it was truly an oddity. The Great Southern Railways refused to have the Lartigue included in the amalgamation of 1925 and so that was the end of it. A short stretch of original track, a rebuilt carriage and many other original artifacts have been preserved near Lisselton (the halfway point on the original line) by a local man - Michael Barry. In more recent times a 're-creation' of the Lartigue including an internal combustion replica steam locomotive, carriages and track have been installed adjacent to the old mainline station at Listowel. http://www.lartiguemonorail.com/ The new setup could itself be termed an oddity but is not really a piece of infrastructure.

spadder · 13-12-2009 9:49pm

Broken white lines coming up to bends where clearly it would be suicidal to attempt to overtake and solid white lines in areas where it is safe.

Irish and Proud · 13-12-2009 10:15pm

The Stamullen road systems in East Meath - yes, I said systems!

One system consists of the original village routes plus the additional roads in the new residential areas, while the other system is that around the M1 and City North (also Stamullen). There is no connection within the Stamullen area between the two sets of roads. To get from one system to the other, you have to go about 2km East from Stamullen to the R132 at Gormanston Cross, then head another 1km North West to the R132/M1 Link interchange, then head 1.5km South to J7 of the M1, and then West to City North Area. AFAIK, there's no pedestrian connection either!

Think I'm winding you guys up? Follow me...

http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,715069,766667,6

Regards!

Trick of the Tail · 13-12-2009 10:16pm

You get that all the time. Solid lines on long straight stretched, broken lines on bends and rises.

A major one is the M7/M9 junction - if you're driving east there's no way of getting onto the southbound M9!

A.

Bluetonic · 13-12-2009 10:51pm

Irish and Proud wrote: »

The Stamullen road systems in East Meath - yes, I said systems!

Not really that odd. It's an old village and a separate hotel and office area that aren't linked. One 100s of years old and one a couple of years old.

Anyhow here's the plans for the new road.

Irish and Proud · 13-12-2009 10:56pm

alinton wrote: »

You get that all the time. Solid lines on long straight stretched, broken lines on bends and rises.

A major one is the M7/M9 junction - if you're driving east there's no way of getting onto the southbound M9!

A.

That's very common in other countries - take the UK for example: the M54/M6 junction North of Birmingham, the M1/M6 junction (before the A14 was added about 20 years ago), the M5/M42 (before the M40 was built - about 1991), the M6/M61 (before the M65 was built). Indeed, look at the M2/M5 junction in Belfast!

Regards!

murphaph · 13-12-2009 10:57pm

Abandoned motorways are almost unheard of in Ireland.

Oddities of Irish Infrastructure

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