The trackage arrangement at Irish Rail’s Cobh Junction, Glounthaune gives the location great photographic interest.
Here the Cobh Branch and Midleton lines divide.
Historically, the line to Midleton (left) had continued to Youghal and was envisioned as a scheme to continue on to Waterford. Later the Cobh Branch (right) was built to reach the old port at Queenstown (Cobh).
The Cobh Branch developed as double-track suburban route, and ultimately the priority of the lines at the junction was reversed.
By the 1980s route via Midleton to Youghal had languished and allowed to go fallow. Ten years ago, after decades of inactivity, Irish Rail rebuilt and revitalized the route as far as Midleton. Today both lines are busy with passenger trains.
This week, Ken Fox gave me a tour of Cork area railways, including trips along the Cobh and Midleton routes.
I made this view from the station footbridge at Cobh Junction, Glounthaune using a FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm lens.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily!
Gosh, CIE made this junction complicated and curvaceous ( a bit like Cork girls, I believe…….). Why not just install a straight-on junction from where you are standing? The left-hand track of the Cobh Branch is not so high-speed that a diamond (on the left Cobh track) would get a hammering and be high-maintenance (which brings us neatly back to Cork girls……… ). The bean-counters could calculate which has cost more since installation; the cost of a diamond on one track and the cost in fuel of diesels accelerating from these unnecessary (?) curves!