Irish Railway Record Society
TRACK
Killarney-Tralee Preparation work to re-lay plain track sections between Killarney and Farranfore and Farranfore and Tralee with continuously welded rail on concrete sleepers (CWR) commenced in October.
From Monday 7 October, the Killarney-Tralee section closed completely after the passage of the 09.15 Tralee-Cork until 16.50 on Friday 11 October and again from 10.00 to 16.50 on Saturday 12 October for re-laying between MP42-433/4. On Mondays-Fridays from Monday 14 October until Friday 8 November and again from Monday 25 November to Thursday 19 December, the section was closed from 10.00 until 16.00. The 07.00 Tralee-Dublin, 09.15 Tralee-Cork, 17.10 Cork-Tralee and 18.35 Dublin-Tralee operated throughout daily, with all other trains operating to and from Killarney as per the normal timetable. Substitute buses operated to and from Farranfore and Tralee. The Fri-Only 13.30 Dublin-Tralee operated thro-ughout. Trains operated normally on Sun-days and over the October public holiday weekend.
There was another full closure from 09.50 on Tuesday 12 until Thursday 14 November, with all passenger trains substituted by bus and freight trains cancelled. There were also morning closures on Sundays 17 November and 8 December.
Track re-laid was from MP42-433/4 Killarney-Tralee and MP601/2-611/4 Farranfore-Tralee. This leaves the section between MP393/4-403/4 and all stations between Banteer and Tralee as the only jointed track on the Mallow-Tralee line.
Athlone-Westport/Ballina With most plain track sections on the Athlone-Westport line now completely re-laid, attention has turned to outstanding station areas. The road through Castlerea up side platform (excluding the level crossing), the main road through Ballyhaunis, the approach and arrival roads at Westport and the arrival road at Ballina have been re-laid with CWR. Remaining gaps in the Athlone-Westport section are MP1073/4-1097/8, MP139-1403/4, MP1447/8-1481/4, platform tracks at Claremorris and the loop tracks at Castlerea, Ballyhaunis and Westport.
Bus substitutions on Mondays-Fridays of the 11.30 Manulla Junction-Ballina and the 13.05 Ballina-Manulla Junction continued from September until Friday 13 December to allow re-laying and associated works progress. In addition, there were periods of full closure on midweek days in November. There is now a 10-mile continuous stretch of CWR from Manulla Junction MP146 to MP156 at the Moy Bridge. CWR has also been has been laid through Foxford station, with further preparation work evident from MP156 to MP162. This included ballasting, long welded rail laid out ready for installation, embankments strengthened, slopes of cuttings eased, culverts replaced and drainage improved. Re-laying work re-commenced on 6 January, with bus substitutions as noted above applying.
Cherryville
Junction-Waterford Work on re-laying between MP321/4-331/8
and MP37-387/8 in the Kilkenny-Thomastown section took
place on both weekdays and on Sundays. During the weekday possessions, the 07.30
and 11.30 Dublin-Waterford and the 10.45 and 14.45 Waterford-Dublin were
substituted by bus between Kilkenny and Waterford. On Sundays, the 09.30
Dublin-Waterford and 09.15 Waterford-Dublin were substituted by bus. This
completed re-laying of the Cherryville Junction - Waterford line, with the
exception of through Thomastown station and across the bridge over the River
Nore. The facing crossover at the Lavistown end of Kilkenny station was renewed
in November.
Dublin Heuston-Cork Commencing in October, the up loop in Kildare was excavated and re-laid with concrete sleepers and jointed rails. This is a common method of re-laying station areas, with continuous welded rail replacing the jointed rail shortly afterwards. In December, the same method was used to re-lay the up loop in Portarlington.
Re-railing of welded rail between MP58-593/4 in the Portlaoise-Ballybrophy section resulted in single line working on weekdays in late November and December. This resulted in delays to the 10.10 Dublin Heuston-Limerick, 10.50 Dublin-Cork, 09.05 Cork-Dublin and 10.45 Cork-Dublin.
Dublin
Connolly-Dundalk
In December,
the loop in Mosney was re-laid with CWR. The loco-hauled 14.52 Connolly-Mosney
normally runs round in Mosney. It was replaced by a push-pull set, which stabled
on the down main before returning to Dublin. Both
up and down lines at Malahide, MP81/2-91/2,
and the left-hand or high rail of the up line ascending
Skerries bank MP163/4-16 have been re-railed.
Cork-Cobh
The 2002
re-laying programme continued during the autumn. Over
€5.7 million was invested on renewing, repairing and repainting bridges
and re-laying 9 miles of track during 2002. On 24 September, beam re-laying took
place on the up line between Marino Point and Carrigaloe, with Carrigaloe up
platform excavated and re-laid on 27 September. Substitute buses were in
operation for this re-laying until Sunday 29 September.
From
Wednesday 30 October, beam re-laying commenced on the up line at North Esk
heading towards Little Island. Little Island up platform was excavated and
re-laid between 1 and 3 November. From Tuesday 29 October until Friday 1
November, off-peak trains were suspended from 09.00 to 16.30. On Saturday 2
November, all trains were suspended after 09.15, with no trains on Sunday 3
November.
From
27 November, beam re-laying continued on the up line toward Glounthaune (Cobh
Junction). All trains were substituted by bus from 09.30 Saturday 30 November
until 24.00 Sunday 1 December and from 09.30 on Monday 9 December until 16.30 on
Friday 13 December. The turnout to Marino Point was disconnected on Sunday 8
December. Four tracked excavators were used to excavate Fota down platform track
on this date. The re-laying gantries worked on both lines between Fota and
Marino Point.
Track
re-laid on the up line was between MP169-1707/8 and MP173-175. This leaves a few gaps: MP166-1661/2,
MP1707/8-173
and across bridges over inlets in the estuary.
Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Strand Re-laying with CWR continues on this line. On 10 September, 156 + 6 bogies of concrete sleepers departed Gorey at 09.26 for Arklow in conjunction with re-laying in the Rathdrum-Arklow section. During re-laying in the Rathdrum-Arklow section in October, the 13.25 Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Europort was substituted by bus between Wicklow and Arklow. The 07.00 Longford-Dublin Pearse ran empty to Arklow to be in position to form the continuation of the 13.25 at 14.50 from Arklow.
Re-laying
between MP571/4-591/4 in the
Arklow-Gorey section took place at various dates in October. On weekdays, the
07.20 Rosslare Europort-Dublin Connolly and the 07.20 Maynooth-Rosslare Europort
were substituted by bus between Arklow and Gorey, as were the corresponding
Sunday morning trains.
Rathdrum station loop was excavated and re-laid with CWR on Sunday 3 November. Wicklow loop has also been excavated and re-laid with CWR. Re-laying between MP853/4-871/8 in the Enniscorthy-Rosslare Strand section on various weekdays in November and December saw up and down morning and afternoon passenger trains substituted by bus south of Enniscorthy. There was full line closure from 08.15 on Wednesday 27 November until 15.15 on Friday 29 November to allow excavation of the trackbed in Killurin tunnel.
Most of the gaps in CWR between Rathdrum and Arklow have now been closed. The only gap remaining at the end of 2002 was between MP481/2-49. This is the only remaining jointed track between the top of Rathdrum bank (MP353/4), through Rathdrum and Arklow stations to MP53.
The Minister for Transport told the Dáil that five miles of the Dublin-Rosslare Europort line were scheduled for renewal in 2002, with 18 more miles programmed for 2003. It is planned to have the whole line completed by the end of 2003.
Limerick-Waterford Platform 2 in Limerick has been re-laid on concrete sleepers and the centre road between platforms 2 and 3 re-laid using wooden sleepers. The crossover at the Limerick end of the crossing loop at Limerick Junction was renewed during a possession from 18.00 Saturday 14 until 12.00 Sunday 15 September. Limerick-Limerick Junction line trains were substituted by bus. A new turnout to the ‘Direct Curve’ adjacent to the new crossover was left ready for installation.
The Clonmel-Carrick-on-Suir section was closed from 08.30 Thursday 19 to 17.00 Sunday 21 September to allow re-laying with second-hand jointed track between MP571/2-58 (Ballindine level crossing). The 15.25 Limerick - Rosslare Europort and 19.25 return were substituted by bus between Clonmel and Rosslare. The 03.35 Limerick-Waterford laden bulk cement train and 11.34 returning empties were diverted via Kildare.
Limerick-Ennis-Athenry To allow stressing of CWR and further re-laying, the Limerick-Ennis line was closed from 08.30 each Monday to 19.30 each Friday, until Friday 19 November and again from Monday 2 December to Friday 20 December. All trains were substituted by bus. Between Monday 19 November and Friday 29 November, daytime closures resulted in the 11.20 Limerick-Ennis and the 12.25 Ennis-Limerick being substituted by bus.
Track re-laid with CWR this autumn included from MP73/4-9, MP193/8-21and MP217/8-235/8. This means there is now CWR continuously from Ennis Junction, MP1/2 to MP141/4, with the exception of across the canal bridge in Limerick, the Shannon Bridge and across a bridge at MP121/4. Preparation work was also in hand to close the gap between MP21-217/8 at the end of the year and re-laying work re-commenced in the new-year.
Dublin-Sligo Following completion of re-laying plain track with CWR over the entire line, attention is now focussed on track through station areas. The up side platform tracks at Longford and Dromod and both platform tracks at Edgeworthstown have been re-laid with CWR. The only remaining tracks to be re-laid between Dublin and Sligo are the Mullingar station area and the down side platforms in Longford, Dromod and Boyle. In addition, there is jointed track on the bridges over the Royal Canal in Mullingar, the River Inny, the Dublin Road at Longford and the River Shannon at Drumsna, all of which are scheduled to be replaced.
The turnout, No. 20, from the single line to double line on the approach to Sligo was renewed and moved 120-metres towards the station. The advance starter was moved a similar distance towards Sligo. The points are powered by a Westinghouse Type 63 point motor, replacing the Nicholson & Roberts patent Hand Generator system motor. To facilitate this work, the line was closed from Boyle from 08.15 on Tuesday 26 November until 15.50 on Thursday 28 November. Substitute buses operated from Boyle to Sligo and freight trains were cancelled.
Newcomen Junction-Glasnevin Junction (MGWR) Work on re-laying the westbound track with CWR continues. On Thursday 19 December, a spoil train was observed under the stand at Croke Park hauled by 155+169.
Limerick-Ballybrophy The 09.50 Ballybrophy - Limerick and subsequent trains on Tuesday 23 October and all trains on Wednesday 24 October were substituted by bus to allow installation of a sewer near Nenagh.
The loop at Birdhill has been re-laid with jointed rail and wooden sleepers. To facilitate renewals with second hand materials, the Killonan Junction-Birdhill section was closed from 08.30 to 17.00 on Thursday 5, Friday 6, Saturday 7 and Saturday 13 December. The 09.50 Ballybrophy-Limerick and the 15.10 Limerick-Ballybrophy were substituted by bus between Birdhill and Limerick.