Tag Archives: #Bord na Mona

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Double-headed Narrow Gauge Fuel Train.

In February 2013, I exposed this trailing view of a Bord na Mona fuel train approaching Lanesborough, Co. Longford, Ireland.

This once busy narrow gauge line was part of a network operated to supply the generating station at Lanesborough with milled peat for fuel. The fuel train pictured was used to supply fuel oil to Bord na Mona’s peat harvesting machines on the bog.

This was one of many photos I made of the Bord na Mona using my Lumix LX3 pocket digital camera.

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West Clare Railway

On our drive around the West of Ireland in early March, we visited a variety of railway sites.

Following a trip across the Shannon Estuary on the Tarbert ferry, we paused for a few minutes at Moyasta, County Clare, which is home to the preserved West Clare Railway.

Although the site was a ghost town, there were a variety of railway relics on display, including former Bord na Mona three-foot gauge locomotives and some former Irish Rail five foot three inch-gauge locomotives and railway carriages.

I made these photos with my Nikon Z7-II, but also exposed some Ektachrome colour slides that I’ll have processed upon our return to the USA.

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Bord na Mona-March 2, 2013

This day ten years ago, photographer Denis McCabe and I traveled to Lanesborough, Co. Longford, Ireland to photograph the Bord na Mona (Irish Peat Board) three foot gauge industrial railway.

The system around Lanesborough was the most charming and photogenic of the larger Bord na Mona operations.

On March 2, 2013, the weather was suitably Irish; misty, cool and damp.

I made these images using a Lumix LX3 pocket digital camera. I exposed the original files as RAW and processed them using Adobe Lightroom to make scaled JPGs for internet presentation.

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Eight Years Ago on the Bog!

On March 8, 2014, photographer Dennis McCabe and I followed this Bord na Mona empty train compass west from the Edenderry Power Station to this rural level crossing near the village of Daingean, Co. Offaly.

The train was one of two heading out on the bog to a comparatively remote loading site to collect peat for delivery to the power station.

We had scoped out this location on an earlier trip, and at the time I was delighted to catch a train movement at this obscure location on the Irish Bord na Mona narrow gauge network.

Below are two variations of the same photo.

One was right out of my Lumix LX3, the other involves cropping the foreground and sky.

Uncropped Lumix LX3 photo.
This is my preferred cropping of the image.

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Sunburst near Shannonbridge—13 September 2014.

On this day seven years ago, Denis McCabe and I were photographing Bord na Mona’s Blackwater Network near Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly, Ireland.

At sunset we caught this laden peat train heading toward the Shannonbridge generating station located on the eastbank of the River Shannon.

This is a RAW file from my old Lumix LX7 processed in Adobe Lightroom to better balance the colorful sunset sky with the shadow areas on the ground.

Between 1998 and 2019 I made dozens of trips to photograph Bord na Mona’s three-foot gauge systems.

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Bord na Mona—October 2019

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October is my favorite time of year for photography. Relatively low sun with rapidly changing weather, and rusty foliage help make it a continually changing canvas. It is a time of change, when summer fades and winter begins.

I was reviewing my photos exposed just about a year ago on a visit to the Irish narrow gauge Bord na Mona with photographers Mark Healy and Aidan Vickers. This was one of several autumnal explorations of the peat hauling railways in the boglands of Ireland last year.

On this one day I made photos on both the Lanesborough and Shannonbridge networks.

At the time the Bord na Mona was enjoying an Indian Summer. We caught a variety of trains on the move, but the writing was on the wall for these once very active industrial lines.

Photos exposed using my FujiFilm XT1.

Mount Dillon, County Longford.
Empty train at Lanesborough, County Longford.

Dredging boat in the Royal Canal with Bord na Mona bridge north of Killashee ,County Longford.
Old Bord na Mona locomotive at Blackwater, County Offaly.
Old Bord na Mona locomotive at Blackwater, County Offaly.
Crossovers near Shannonbridge, County Offaly.

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Sunshine at Mount Dillon—Two Views in County Longford.

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Here’s two digital photos exposed last week: coming and going: One oriented in the portrait format and one in the landscape.

Working with my FujiFilm XT1 and 90mm prime telephoto, I made this view of an empty Bord na Mona narrow gauge train returning to the bog for reloading.

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This view shows the pair of empty trains at Mount Dillon.