Weekend trip to Cork / Fota / Cobh, some observations

I am a train lover although I’m by no means an expert in Irish rail.

To my chagrin, I don’t get to take the train very often these days. I have a 3 year old son who is also into trains in a big way, so I made the plan to go to Cork for the weekend just gone. So we caught the 07.00 from Heuston which was a 201 loco hauling mark 4’s. I found the staff in Heuston to be very helpful. I found the carriage & toilets were clean, although I did spot that the carpets were fairly well worn and looked like they needed to be replaced. The carriage itself seemed fairly noisy with a lot of vibrations from some seats, & possibly from the undercarriage. I was fairly disappointed with the actual running speed of the train. I checked several times using a couple of apps and speeds of around 130kph were common. The top speed I recorded was 157kph. This seemed to be a very rare peak by my own estimations.. I was disappointed by several speed restrictions along the way, although we did arrive almost exactly on time, maybe 3-4 minutes late.

We went on day trips to Fota / Cobh. The trains ran exactly on time and I could have sworn the last time I went on this line it was a single line? The track quality seemed excellent. Although, it doesn’t remotely seem to have the passenger numbers to warrant the dual track. I could be totally wrong on that point, as I wasn’t travelling midweek or during peak season. The staff were exceptionally helpful & friendly, even during a ticketing error by myself.

On the way back the train was again mark 4’s with a 201 pushing us. I was actually hoping for a 22000 DMU. I’ve only been on one for a short journey before, so I wanted to get a proper feel for it on the same track. Admittedly, I am in the camp with the people who moan about DMU’s not being real trains, but I understand the pro’s and con’s & don’t blame IE for going this way. Again I found the IE staff very friendly on this train. I was overcharged 80 cents for a Coffee, packet of rolos and a can of Fanta, but I was too tired to chase the catering trolley up the train.

Overall I was pleased with my experience, although I was disappointed by the journey time, and condition of the rails. I thought more of it was upgraded to 60 kilo rails (or if it was, that it would make more of a difference). It is years since I’ve caught the train to Cork, but not much has changed since the last time I went. I found myself being extremely nostalgic about the trips I took in my youth, the noise and power and sounds of an 071 loco roaring through the countryside pulling comfortable mark 2’s and 3’s. I would love to experience a 2 hour journey to Cork in the future.