Irish Railway Record Society
Operations
PASSENGER
OPERATIONS
A
07:50 Cork-Dublin Connolly GAA special ran on Sunday 12 February. It was formed
by 080 + GSV + 6 Cravens and arrived at 10:45.
Mk
IIds replaced Cravens on the Fridays-Only 15:55 Connolly-Sligo and Sundays-Only
15:45 Sligo-Connolly from 17 February.
On Friday 10
As 29000-class railcars became available, they took over more services, with all Dublin-Sligo services worked by them on Monday-Thursday and on Saturdays from early March. One of the two Mk IId sets was then transferred to Heuston to take up the 17:55 Heuston-Galway link. The other Mk IId set was largely held in reserve in Connolly and for the weekend services noted above. On one week in March it was used every weekday, four days substituting on Belfast trains and the other on the 15:55 Connolly-Sligo.
The All
Ireland club hurling and football finals in Croke Park, Dublin, on St.
Patrick’s Day 17 March resulted in eight specials to Connolly. The 08:30
Belfast Central - Dublin Connolly was formed by NIR 3005 + 3002 and arrived at
10:47 with about 300 passengers. It returned empty for stabling at Dundalk at
10:55. The 08:20 Charleville-Connolly was formed by 220 + 7 Mk III + EGV and
arrived at 11:04 with about 430 passengers. The 08:35 Charleville-Connolly
arrived 11 minutes later. It was formed by 212 + 7 Mk IId + EGV and had about
330 passengers. The 09:05 Ballinasloe-Connolly was 086 + EGV + 7 Mk IId with
about 300 passengers and arrived at 11:34. Nine minutes later the 08:40
Galway-Connolly arrived. It was 213 + 7 Mk IId + EGV and had about 400
passengers. The 09:10 Galway-Connolly was 206 + EGV + 7 Mk IId and arrived at
12:00 with about 450 passengers. The 09:00 Banteer-Connolly was 217 + 5 Mk III
push-pull (hauled) + EGV and arrived at 12:08 with about 300 passengers. The
final special was the 09:40 Galway-Connolly, 6-piece Mk III push-pull (DT6105)
pushed by 234, which arrived at 12:19 with about 360 passengers.
On Saturday 1 April, Munster played Perpingnan in rugby at
Lansdowne Road. The 11:05 Cork-Dublin Heuston, 214 + GSV + 10 Cravens + GSV,was
one of the largest specials of recent times. On Sunday 2 April, 071 + 7 Cravens
+ GSV worked a 12:30 Cork-Dublin special.
On
Friday 21 April, NIR 112 + GSV + 9 Cravens + GSV worked the 13:10 Dublin-Tralee.
On Sunday 23 April, 206 hauled the set on a 07:50 Cork-Dublin Heuston special
for the Munster V Leinster game at Lansdowne Road. The 10:00 Limerick-Dublin
Heuston special was 6-piece push-pull (DT 6105) pushed by 233.
On
Wednesday 26 April 074 + EGV + 7 Mk IId worked the 08:00 Dublin-Sligo and 11:55
return. The 17:00 Dublin-Ennis is a through train on Fridays-Only, with a
connection into a railcar at Limerick on other days. On Friday 28 April, the
19:30 Limerick-Ennis portion was formed by 177+149 + 7 Mk III + EGV.
Copyright © 2006 by Irish
Railway Record Society Limited
Revised: August 01, 2006
.
