Iarnród Éireann
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Tracking the Light Special: Irish Rail 071 in Heritage Paint—Now.
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At 1007 (10:07 am) this morning (8 February 2018), Irish Rail’s 071 (class leader of the popular 071 class of General Motors-built diesel locomotives) passed Islandbridge Junction with the down IWT Liner. This locomotive was repainted in 2016 into the…
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TRACKING The LIGHT EXTRA: RPSI Steam Special to Drogheda and Dundalk.
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Today, Sunday 9 August 2015, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland in cooperation with Irish Rail operated a steam special from Dublin’s Connolly Station to Drogheda and Dundalk with locomotive number 4. This was my first opportunity to photograph this classic…
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Irish Rail 201s at Ballybrophy—a study in colour and light.
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It was a typical late summer’s day at the top of Ballybrophy Bank on Irish Rail’s Dublin-Cork mainline in 2006. I was expecting a procession of passenger trains down road (toward Cork). At the time there was still a good…
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Heeding a prophecy of doom: Irish Rail 129 at Wellingtonbridge, Co. Wexford.
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December 23, 2002 was a cold, wet, dark and mucky; in other words, typical sugar beet weather. We were visiting the cabin at Wellingtonbridge, watching the machine load beet into ancient-looking four-wheel corrugated wagons. A steady ‘thump, thump, thump’ as…
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Connolly Station in Green Light.
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Yesterday, I displayed an image of Dublin’s Heuston Station bathed in green light; today, I feature Connolly Station. These Dublin railway terminals are among the oldest big city stations in continuous use in the world. Connolly Station features classic Italianate…
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Carrick-on-Suir, March 22, 2008.
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Among my favorite stations on the far flung Irish Rail network was Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. The combination of a rural atmosphere with an interesting track layout and unusual curvature, high signal cabin (tower) with mechanical semaphores plus its reputation for friendly…
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England vs Korea: A 2-6-0 and a Diesel Multiple Unit—Face to Face.
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Technological Contrasts. The other day, I spotted this photo opportunity at the car park at Dublin’s Connolly Station. Railway Preservation Society Ireland’s preserved 2-6-0 461 was parked face to face (or front to front, if you prefer) with one of…
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Tracking the Light Special Post: Emerald Isle Express on the South Wexford Line
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Monday, September 29, 2014. Today saw a rare movement on a line devoid of regular traffic. Railtours Ireland’s Emerald Isle Express train was operated as empty carriage across the length of the South Wexford line from Rosslare Strand to Waterford….
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Irish Rail’s Nenagh Branch
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Roscrea Revisited—August 2014. I first visited Roscrea in August 1998. Denis McCabe was giving me a tour of rural Irish stations, and we stopped there to intercept the branch passenger train running from Ballybrophy to Limerick. Back then the train…
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Special Post: Thursday September 18, 2014: Irish Rail 215 works Mark4 set.
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New Photos! Last week I posted photos of freshly painted Irish Rail class 201 number 215 working the IWT liner. Today, it worked to Cork and back. I photographed it a little while ago passing Islandbridge Junction. Tracking the Light posts new…
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Irish Rail: Action on the Quad Track at Clondalkin.
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September 1, 2014. Irish Rail’s only four track mainline transits the west Dublin suburbs. This was built toward the tail-end of the Celtic Tiger boom years. Rail traffic flows in fits and starts, but midday on week days can result…
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Special Post: Irish Rail EM50 at Islandbridge Junction
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Inspection Car on the Move—September 12, 2014 Irish Rail’s track geometry car followed today’s Dublin to Ballina IWT Liner. This unusual piece of maintenance equipment is among the more elusive subjects on the Irish network. I was surprised to see…
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Special Post: More views of Irish Rail 215
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Sunlight and a Clean Locomotive. As a follow up to yesterday’s special post, I’ve included a few more photos. Since Monday, Irish Rail’s freshly painted class 201 number 215 has been working the IWT Liner between Dublin and Ballina, Country…
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Special Post: Irish Rail 215 in Fresh Paint
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Clouds then Sun. Sometimes when your mind is pre-occupied with the problems of the world, the best medicine is go trackside and focus on something trivial (like hoping for sun light on a freshly painted locomotive). Yesterday (September 9, 2014), I was…
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Enterprising the Liner
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Views from Dublin, July 2014. Most weekdays, Irish Rail’s IWT Liner works between Dublin’s North Wall and Ballina carrying intermodal freight. Class 201 General Motors diesels are most common, although Class 071 diesels work it occasionally. In the last week…
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Irish Rail Ballast Train—July 28, 2014
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Perspective with Dublin’s Wellington Testimonial Word came over the ‘telegraph’ that an Irish Rail HOBS (high output ballast system) train was on its way over to Islandbridge Junction to run around. I’ve photographed the HOBS on previous occasions, but its one…
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The Marble City Rolls in the Evening—Part 3
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A Long Delay Results in an Unexpected Opportunity. We waited at milepost 17 near Sallins for the return of locomotive 461 with Railway Preservation Society Ireland’s The Marble City rail tour from Kilkenny. After a bit of a delay, I’d became…
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Irish Rail to Sallins, July 27 2014
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Sun, Clouds, Rain, Railcars and . . . Yes all true, but I’d traveled down to catch the return leg of steam hauled The Marble City rail tour operated by the Railway Preservation Society Ireland. Earlier in the day I’d photographed…
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Push Pull at Dromkeen.
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Back in the Day. It was a glorious bright Spring day in April 2003. For years, a single Irish Rail class 121 had worked a short push-pull Mark 3 set on the Limerick-Limerick Junction shuttle. But when I made this…
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Freight Trains of the Past
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Remembering Irish Rail’s Athy Cement. A few weeks ago, Ciarán Cooney asked me about photos I’d made of Irish Rail’s Athy Cement. This used to run weekdays from the cement factory near Limerick to a cement silo off a short…
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Irish Rail at Killiney—Tracking the Light Daily Post
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Ammonia Train in May 2001. Back then, Irish Rail operated three daily ammonia trains between Marino Point, County Cork and Shelton Abbey near Arklow, County Wicklow. These were tightly scheduled and normally operated with the common 201-class General Motors diesels….
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Irish Rail—May Bank Holiday Monday.
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Action at Kildare. Here’s a dozen images: On Monday May 5, 2014, I traveled to Kildare, and spent the day making photos of Irish Rail’s operations. The goal was to photograph the Up and Down IWT (International Warehousing and Transport)…
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Gray Engine, Bright Sunny Day
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Islandbridge, Dublin April 29, 2014. Among the difficulties of living within sight of the railway is the chance that such proximity may breed photographic apathy and slough. One the plus side, when something rumbles by, all I have to do is…
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Railway Preservation Society Ireland’s Easter Eggspress.
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To Wicklow and Return, April 21, 2014. A clear bright day and an excellent crowd made for a great day out with locomotive 461 and the preserved Cravens carriages. The train boarded at Dublin’s Connolly Station and ran directly to…
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Irish Rail 29000 in a New Livery—DAILY POST
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Connolly Station, Dublin, April 21, 2014. Several weeks ago, Irish Rail released one of its 29000-series suburban railcars in a fresh new two-tone green and yellow livery. My initial haphazard attempts at finding this train on the move were unsuccessful….
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Exploring New Trackage.
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Traveling to M3 Parkway on an ICR. A few years ago Irish Rail rebuilt a portion of its old line between Clonsilla and Navan. This had been closed in the early 1960s and the right of way had largely returned…
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Railcar Sunset.
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Irish Rail, Heuston Station, Dublin. A railcar sunset? No, it’s not a metaphor, it really was a railcar at that time of day. On April 15, 2014, I was passing the Heuston shed and notice that the soft orange light…
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Sperry Train-Under Clear Skies
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Irish Rail—April 18, 2014. Good Friday has a long-standing tradition of being a special day on Irish Rail. The weather is usually fine, and there’s always something interesting on the move. This year Good Friday again met, and exceeded, expectations….
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Irish Rail Trip to Co. Mayo—Part 3
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Ok, so this was really a detour into County Roscommon. After photographing Irish Rail’s Ballina Timber, Noel and I cut cross-country via Knock and Ballyhaunis, to Castlerea, County Roscommon, to intercept the train a second time. I hadn’t paid a…
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Irish Rail Trip to Co. Mayo, Part 2—Daily Post.
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Ballina Timber at Ballyvary. I’d arrived at Foxford, Co. Mayo having traveled from Dublin by train. Noel Enright collected me there, and we immediately began discussing a location to photograph the Ballina Timber that would depart the Ballina yard upon…
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Irish Rail Trip to Co. Mayo—Daily Post.
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Traveling Across Ireland by Train. On March 13, 2014, I bought a day-return from Dublin Heuston to Foxford, Co. Mayo, and traveled on the 7:35 am Galway train. My train was well patronized, but I had no difficulty finding a…
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Daily Post: Claremorris, County Mayo, February 1998.
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General Motors Diesel in Ireland. This was among my first Irish Railway photographs. I’d hired a car in Limerick and was exploring. At the time I knew very little about Irish Rail, but I was fascinated by the Ballina branch…
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DAILY POST: Timber and General Motors, June 10, 2006
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Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. This pair of images will never be repeated. Here we have Irish Rail’s afternoon passenger to Dublin consisting of Mark 3 set led class 201 number 222 (known colloquially as the ‘Bishop Tutu’). That same afternoon,…
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DAILY POST: Black & White Scrapbook
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Scans of Prints Showing Limerick Junction On May 16, 2001, I was on my way from Dublin to Kilarney by train. Rather than take the most efficient route, I aimed to wander a bit on the way down. I changed…
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END OF YEAR POST
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Tracking the Light in 2013. Here, a potpourri of images illuminated the net; covering everything from unit oil trains to obscure eastern European transit. So, looking back, 2013 has been a productive and busy time for Tracking the Light. My…
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SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MORNING POST: Heuston Station Dublin.
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Christmas Morning, Nine Years Ago. Dublin is a quiet place on Christmas morning. Almost everything is shut. The roads are relatively empty. The buses aren’t running. There are scant few people on the normally busy streets. And the railways are…