Tralee to Fenit Greenway

CIE dont give a hoot about the line and would gladly wash their hands of it..
as far as the nta are concerned i wouldnt loose too much about it..
The hurdle to cross will be the landowners That will be the beechers brook of the fenit line greenway....
Keep up the good work and anything is possible...
SOUTHERN TRAIL OLD DOG...

stevielenihan wrote: »

will there be further photos taken as more work progresses?

Yes, I am sure there are enough people here (myself included) who will keep an eye on the developments and take pictures every now and then. The County Council will want to have a good documentation of the progress as well, so there will be more pics very soon here or there.
As for the start of the actual building works: I am quite sure there has to be a proper planning process first and then the work and supply of materials will most likely have to go on tender. So I would think that we are still (at least) several months away from anything that goes beyond clearing out overgrowth and securing adjacent properties. But the first steps are done.

carchaeologist wrote: »

Second option! Genuinely surprised they havent been nicked, or that the rail crowd didnt take them.
Anyone know the gauge?

Nicking them would be way too much work for those who have a habit of nicking scrap metal.

stevielenihan wrote: »

when will they be clearing the rest of the railway line back to fenit?

The stretch from the Spa back down to Mounthawk is next few weeks.

Won't it be great to walk to Spa this summer !

This is a fantastic development and has gigantic potential as a local/tourist amenity...no reason why in the long term it that it couldnt be linked with the rest of the north kerry line and eventually you could cycle/walk from fenit to limerick city via the great southern trail. ...ALL THE REST OF EUROPE HAVE DONE THIS WITH OLD RAILWAY LINES AND ARE MAKING A MINT FROM ECO TOURISM...

kingdumb wrote: »

That's great news, when do expect clearance work to start on the Bracker o'Reagan to Fenit and Rock Street to the Train Station sections to begin ?

I just had a look at that latter part of the track and I now have to say that I do no longer think this will ever happen. The short path between Edward Street and the Big River (behind An Sean Mhuíleann) shouldn't cause any problems, but at least at the moment it doesn't seem to be a realistic possibility to follow the old line from there any further towards the Rock Street crossing.
I see two reasons for that: there is no longer any bridge over the Big River other than the one used by Dunnes as a storage area. This one doesn't seem to have been part of the old track and it is now separated by a high wall from the area where the track should have been. So a new bridge would have to be built. Certainly possible, but not ideal:




The second bigger problem is that the old track has actually been built on right behind the wall from the Dunnes car park. There is now at least one building and possibly a number of sheds directly on the tracks that can easily be seen from Rock street. I think the first one here belongs to the play school next to the Dunnes back entrance, more may be behind some of the houses on the south side of Casement Avenue. Interestingly they are not visible on the current Google maps imagery, so they must be rather new. I tried to snap a picture with my phone over the wall:


Some residents of Casement Avenue have incorporated the track into their back gardens and erected walls on the track between their properties, also quite recently as can be seen on Google Streetview:
http://maps.google.ie/?ll=52.273438,-9.704167&spn=0.00071,0.002064&t=h&layer=c&cbll=52.273487,-9.704247&panoid=9pPjwW2TUH9TXqMP5viIOg&cbp=12,6.8,,1,0.88&z=20

Although I would very much like the track to go straight through to the train station I can't see the council confronting those landowners. Infact, they seem to have already built a way around that "problem". I just spotted a new footpath along the big river (not the one on the CBS-side!) which goes around the small green area a the end of Casement Avenue, then follows the Big River up to the existing pedestrian bridge and then again turns right onto the path on the other side of the river they built two or three years ago. From there the path can easily break through onto the last stretch of old track towards the train station. So it seems they want to use Casement Avenue between Rock Street and the Big River instead of the original rail track. More pictures of the new path:

The second bigger problem is that the old track has actually been built on right behind the wall from the Dunnes car park. There is now at least one building and possibly a number of sheds directly on the tracks that can easily be seen from Rock street. I think the first one here belongs to the play school next to the Dunnes back entrance, more may be behind some of the houses on the south side of Casement Avenue. Interestingly they are not visible on the current Google maps imagery, so they must be rather new. I tried to snap a picture with my phone over the wall:

If they are relatively new then it's most probable they are trespassing and can be cleared relatively handy?

Some residents of Casement Avenue have incorporated the track into their back gardens and erected walls on the track between their properties, also quite recently as can be seen on Google Streetview:
http://maps.google.ie/?ll=52.273438,...8,,1,0.88&z=20

I wonder have some people along the first few houses extended their gardens in the hope that no one was ever gonna come looking to open the rail line again? Really cheeky if thats the case and if I were Kerry Co Co I'd be asking a few questions about owenership. No way I'd be going aroudn the long way anyways, of course it could have been sold to them but it certainly looks that only a couple took up and option to extend their gardens - funny enough they are ones with large extensions in the back of the house !!

Interestingly they are not visible on the current Google maps imagery, so they must be rather new.

Not on Google Earth either - infact it shows that the wall at garden end runs parallel to the Dunnes Wall, yet in your pics it deffo shows they are attached to the Dunnes Wall !

Kinda sad the tracks are being lifted. Last link to an older time.