Irish Railway Record Society

TRACK  

Mallow-Tralee   The main platform track in Tralee station was excavated and re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers in November. The run-round loop and ‘liner’ road were also re-laid using second hand panels of track shortly before the cancellation of liners. The main and loop tracks in Banteer and Rathmore have also been re-laid with CWR.

Portarlington-Galway   The loop in Geashill has been re-laid in CWR.

Athlone-Westport/Ballina   Both platform and loop track in Westport are now CWR. In December, the down loop in Castlerea was re-laid with CWR from the tip of the east points to the level crossing. Work continues on strengthening embankments in the Claremorris-Manulla section. This is also continuing in the Manulla-Ballina section along with easing slopes on cuttings, improving drains, renewing fencing and improving level crossings.

Dublin Heuston-Cork   Facing crossover No. 748 at the south end of Lisduff was renewed during an overnight possession on Saturday 20 / Sunday 21 September. On the Saturday, the 17.30 Dublin Heuston-Limerick, NIR 112+6 Cravens+GSV, ran to Ballybrophy only. Passengers joined the regular 19.00 Ballybrophy-Limerick via Nenagh, 144+GSV+1 Cravens. However, the single carriage was overcrowded with about 80 passengers. The 17.30 set then went through the complicated manoeuvre from the Cork lines to the branch platform and waited to provide a Limerick connection out of the 19.15 Dublin-Cork. It ran as a 20.40 special to Limerick via Nenagh. Cork line passengers from the 19.15 Dublin-Cork and 19.15 Cork-Dublin were transferred by bus between Thurles and Portlaoise. On the Sunday, bus transfers were used for trains up to and including the 12.05 Dublin-Cork and 10.50 Cork-Dublin.

Cork-Cobh   The trailing crossover at the Cork end of North Esk yard was renewed during a complete line closure from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 November. The old crossover had been subject to a speed restriction for some time. During the same closure, OB418 at 170 miles 1010 yards, which had a 6-ton weight limit for road vehicles, was renewed on 14 November. A temporary level crossing was constructed for road traffic.

Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Strand   The down platform, middle road, and up loop in Bray have been re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers. The down platform in Rathdrum was closed for extension from 22 September until 17 November. Both up and down platforms in Wicklow have been extended at the Rathdrum end to take 6-car railcars. The up loop in Wicklow was out of use in late November /early December for this work. With no facilities to cross trains in Wicklow, the 07.10 Maynooth-Rosslare Europort was either held for 50 minutes in Greystones to cross the 07.20 Rosslare Europort-Dublin Connolly or the Maynooth train ran to Rathdrum, depending on how the up train was running. On Sundays in December when the train operated throughout, the 10.00 Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Europort was deferred to 10.20 and crossed the 08.45 Rosslare Europort- Connolly in Greystones instead of Wicklow. The down siding, points and associated signals were also removed.

Re-laying outstanding sections of the line with CWR on concrete sleepers continued throughout the autumn. During re-laying of the gap between 51¹/₄-53³/₄, 70⁷/₈-72⁷/₈ and 73¹/₂-75⁷/₈, the 07.10 Maynooth-Rosslare Europort and 14.45 Rosslare Europort-Dublin Connolly were substituted by bus between Arklow and Gorey or Enniscorthy as appropriate. Re-laying was suspended when the line north of Greystones was closed on Saturdays and Sundays for DART upgrading works and was generally carried out from Monday to Thursday.

During excavation and re-laying of Ferrycarraig tunnel, all trains were substituted by bus south of Enniscorthy after the 07.20 Rosslare Europort-Dublin Connolly on Monday 20 October until the 13.25 Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Europort on Thursday 23 October. There was a similar closure and bus substitution to allow excavation and re-laying of the platform in Wexford station through to the tip of the level crossing at Wexford Quay from Monday 17 November until Thursday 20 November. On weekdays during November and December, the 07.10 Maynooth-Rosslare Europort and 14.45 Rosslare Europort-Dublin Connolly were substituted by bus south of Enniscorthy for plain track re-laying. By end of 2003, CWR had been installed from 89³/₈-92³/₄.

On Sunday 23 November, 152+185+11 bogie wagons of CWR+re-laying gantries was held in Wellingtonbridge from 14.48 until 17.34 due to a possession while en route from Portlaoise to Wexford. The Waterford-Rosslare Strand line is normally closed on Sundays but was opened because the line from Pearse to Bray was closed as part of the DART upgrade project. The following Monday, the set for the 07.05 Rosslare Europort-Waterford departed Water-ford empty at 05.15 for Rosslare and was formed by 074+GSV+2 Cravens.

Limerick-Ennis   Re-laying with CWR on concrete sleepers and upgrading work on bridges continued into winter (See JOURNAL 152). Bridge work included the renewing the Canal Bridge OB6 at 2 miles 240 yards, refurbishment of the Shannon Bridge UB16 and renewing the deck of the Oil River Bridge UB42 at 12 miles 200 yards. Other work included strengthening of embankments, easing slopes of cuttings, renewing fencing and improving views at level crossings. Both platforms in Ennis have been excavated and re-laid. Trains remained completely suspended from end of September until early December. Bridge and track re-laying work have now been completed.

Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction   To facilitate track re-laying with second hand materials between Cloughjordan and Nenagh, the 09.45 Ballybrophy-Limerick and 15.00 return were substituted by bus on various weekdays from mid-October into December.

Dublin-Belfast   The loop in Skerries has been re-laid with CWR.

Drogheda-Navan   In November and December, relaying with second hand materials took place at night between Drogheda and Navan. The fourth Tara mines train was cancelled as a result.

Limerick Cement Factory Sidings   Yard track has been re-laid using second-hand jointed rail on timber sleepers.

CWR Summary   The status of re-laying at the end of 2003 is noted below. CWR refers to Continuous Welded Rail laid on concrete sleepers, although there are locations such as Sandycove-Dalkey where hardwood timber sleepers are used. Large bridges where track is often laid on timber waybeams are excluded from the data below. On the Cherryville Junction-Waterford, Mallow-Tralee and Maynooth-Sligo lines, new points and crossovers will be installed as part of the Mini-CTC project.

Dublin-Cork: The line is fully CWR except for the platform tracks at Limerick Junction and the loop platforms in Ballybrophy and Mallow. The points at Portarlington have not yet been renewed and a 30-mph speed restriction applies through the station. The main tracks through Ballybrophy station are continuous welded rail on timber sleepers and a 70-mph speed limit applies.

Cork-Cobh: fully CWR between both stations.

Mallow-Tralee: fully CWR except the station at Farranfore and the bay platforms in Killarney and Tralee .

Limerick-Limerick Junction: fully CWR except the loop in Dromkeen and station areas of Limerick and Limerick Junction. Platforms 2 and 3 in Limerick station are CWR.

Limerick-Ennis: fully CWR, including the main but not loop platform in Ennis.

Portarlington-Athlone-Galway: fully CWR, except for the loop in Clara and No. 2 platform in Athlone, both of which have relatively new jointed track.

Athlone-Westport: fully CWR except for Ballyhaunis down platform and the loop in Knockcroghery, which is relatively recent jointed track.

Manulla Junction-Ballina: fully CWR.

Dublin-Sligo: fully CWR except for the down platforms at Longford, Dromod and Boyle stations and Inny and Shannon river bridges.

Dublin-Dundalk-Border: fully CWR from East Wall Junction.

Dublin-Rosslare is the only radial line not yet fully re-laid with CWR, but is being re-laid at present and is over 88% complete. There is CWR continuously from Dublin Pearse to Enniscorthy exclusive, with the exception of the platforms at Dún Laoghaire , Dalkey and Wicklow (main) and MP61¹/₈-63. South of Enniscorthy there are long stretches of CWR and the longest stretch of jointed track is 3⁵/₈ miles. Jointed track total is 11³/₄ miles.

The Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction and Limerick Junction-Rosslare Strand lines have small sections of CWR, but are effectively all jointed track. Drogheda-Navan-Kingscourt, Waterford-New Ross, Mullingar-Athlone, Glounthaune-Youghal and Limerick-Foynes are all jointed track.

Other   IÉ are now importing long welded rail through Belfast Port. The rail is road hauled to Adelaide yard, where it loaded on trains for Portlaoise for welding into ‘strings’ of long welded rail (LWR). A path was published showing a Mondays-Only 10.30 Portlaoise-Belfast and a Wednesdays-Only 08.25 Belfast-Portlaoise.   In  recent   years,   rail   had   been imported exclusively through Waterford Port.

IÉ has issued an enquiry for ‘Steel Railway Rails mainly type 54E1 to specification EN 13674 - Part 1, 1999 (formerly UIC 54 kg/m). Quantities required are estimated at between 5,000 tonnes and 10,000 tonnes per year for a three-year contract period with an option to extend the contract for a further one to three years. Contract(s) may be awarded to more than one supplier’. This equates to between 28 and 56 miles of track per annum.

SIGNALLING

Mini-CTC Project   The Galway line Mini-CTC system was integrated into the Mainline CTC system controlled from Dublin Connolly on 30 November. All signals and points between Ballinasloe and Galway are now normally controlled from Connolly. In mid-December, Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) monitoring of the level crossings at Ballinasloe, Woodlawn and Athenry was transferred to CTC in Connolly.

Installation work continues on the Waterford , Sligo and Tralee lines. The Waterford line is next to be commissioned, scheduled for late spring 2004. Colour light signals were erected in Athy during November. Athy loop will be extended at the south end and concrete sleeper track panels were delivered to site during November. Some signals had been erected in Muine Bheag and Carlow by end of December.

Work on the Mallow-Tralee line is concentrated in the Banteer area with signal bases and cabling in place by December. The same was the case at Dromod on the Sligo line.

Bray   The set of hand points between No. 1 and No. 2 Wicklow sidings in Bray were converted to trailable power points on Friday 10 October. The power-operated points are operated by train drivers and are not interlocked with signals, but have stencil type indicators indicating which siding the route is set for. Duplicate control and indication boxes are mounted 40-metres and 80-metres from the points on the Bray side of the sidings.

Train Radio   The train radio between Cork and Cobh was converted in November from open channel Mode C, channel 18, to secure Mode A, channel 75, as used on the CTC system. Channel 75 now extends from MP 42¹/₂ at Portarlington to MP 177¹/₄ at Cobh . Mode A provides direct communication between the train driver and the CTC Signalman or Regulator in Connolly. For the Cobh line, CTC will then connect the driver to the appropriate controlling signalman.

A similar conversion from Mode C to Mode A took place on the Dublin-Rosslare line in November. Mode A, channel 61, now covers from MP 1 at Lansdowne Road to MP 56 near Gorey. The gap in radio coverage that previously existed between MP 38 and MP 43 has been eliminated. Mode C, Channel 28, applies south of MP 56.

With the transfer of control of the Ballinasloe-Galway section to CTC on 30 November, secure train radio (Mode A), channel 63, covers from MP46 (Portarlington-Geashill) to Galway .

Signal Cabins   With the temporary closure of the line between Limerick Junction and Waterford , opportunity has been taken to refurbish Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel signal cabins. Parts of redundant interlocking frames from the Ballinasloe-Galway line were used, Athenry providing parts for Clonmel.

  The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 153, published February 2004.

Copyright © 2004 by Irish Railway Record Society Ltd.
Revised: March 10, 2004 .