Great Western Coffee Shop

The week just gone, I was in Dublin - and I chose to come home on the ferry via Rosslare as it's route I've never travelled before.    Many thanks to a member here for much advise on this, and I was able to buy an incredible handwritten paper ticket all the way from Dublin to Melksham for just 58 Euros - knowing where and when to buy it, as it's not available from TVMs or online.

As a taster, here's a picture of one of the many trains I caught during my journey:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/dubmelk07.jpg)

take a further look at episodes 1 and 2 of my writeup

http://www.wellho.net/mouth/4471_Leopardstown-to-Rosslare-by-train.html
and
http://www.wellho.net/mouth/4472_Rosslare-to-Fishguard-foot-passenger-on-the-ferry.html

and I still have Fishguard to Melksham to write up!

Final part written up at

http://www.wellho.net/mouth/4473_Fishguard-to-Melksham-third-part-of-Dublin-journey.html

Final irony ... the only time standing was Chippenham to Melksham.  What a long way we have come!

There you are, grahame: you're the victim of your own success!  ;) :D ;D

And in summary ...

It^s a while since I wrote a travelogue - in some way I feel this one isn^t one of my best writings / doesn^t do full justice to a beautiful journey that many other should take.   The ticketing with the need to buy a paper ticket ahead of time at Dublin Connely during limited booking office hours is quaint, the train down the coast is beautiful and modern - the train to Rosslare sharply contrasting with the train from Fishguard, which was a rattly old unit designed more for suburban than long distance / prestige use, although the scenery there is beautiful too.   There^s so much more that could be done with that route, and even with the walk from the Europort Station into the terminal it^s so much more foot passenger friendly that the Holyhead / Dublin Port alternative, with buses from the train at Holyhead ^ and bus to terminal, followed by local bus (if you^ve chosen a ferry with a connection) or scramble for a taxi (if you haven^t) should you arrive in Dublin car-less.

It^s sad to see the run round loop at Fishguard in the final stages of being removed - seems to be a long siding now from Clarbeston Road - but then the only requirement /use is/was really for special trains, I suppose.  I was interested to see a rusted loop and branch somewhere up from Fishguard - freight to a quarry, perhaps?  Also surprising how close the two Fishguard stations are.    40 passengers on the train from Fishguard was encouraging; no way can the local service success be measured by that ^boat train^ though with its odd stopping pattern / routing / timing that^s clearly designed for the cross sea traffic.  You just wonder how many more passengers you could get on those trains - every day - if you connected properly at Rosslare and advertised the route as London (or Bath or Stonehenge) via scenic Wales and the Irish coast to Dublin for overseas visitors / tourists.

And so ^ on to next week.  I^ll reuse this route next time - hopefully a daytime train up from Rosslare and a chance to further enjoy the scenery in the daylight!

And the travel in summary - out and back ...

Lift from Melksham Spa to work (Melksham Town)
Walk to Melksham Station.
Melksham to Trowbridge  (12:36, Saturday)
Trowbridge to Bristol
Bristol to Birmingham
Birmingham to Holyhead
Holyhead bus onto Ferry
Ferry to Dublin
Dublin off Ferry by Bus (23:45, Saturday)
Taxi to Leopardstown (hotel)

Walk from offices to Trams stop
Green Luas Central Park to St Stevens Green
Walk to Tara Street
Dart to Bray
Irish Rail to Rosslare Europort (arrive 21:28 Tuesday)
Lift from B&B owner to B&B
Walk to Ferry
Ferry to Fishguard
Train Fishguard to Cardiff (13:29 Wednesday)
Train Cardiff to Bristol
Train Bristol to Chippenham
Train Chippenham to Melksham (arrive 18:03 Wednesday)
Rail Link Bus - Melksham Station to Melksham Spa

I see the blasted class 150s are still making appearances on the boat train... I would describe them as 'Inner Suburban' units, though I think the service is booked for a 'Regional Express' class 158 unit nowdays, so you were probably unlucky. In summer, they sometimes make the train a bit longer by attaching a Pacer or 153.

That bus link isn't as good as it appears I'm afraid. It is only a shuttle to Fishguard town hall, longer-distance journies within the station's catchment area (eg. to Newport on the service towards Cardigan) require an extra change at Fishguard town hall. Additionally, the bus only makes two or three trips a day, all in connection with the daytime ferry sailing (so there may have been passengers on the other trips which you didn't see). That means the new 'local' rail services have no bus connections (there are some advertised at Goodwick station, but I don't count them as they are either too tight or leave you in the cold for too long, Fishguard Harbour is better since it has an indoor waiting area and toilets, Goodwick has neither). As I've posted elsewhere, I'd like to see the TrawsCymru service from Aberystwyth/Cardigan run to Fishguard Harbour instead of Haverfordwest, which ought to improve bus/rail connections at Fishguard and link through to Newport/Cardigan without having to change at Fishguard town hall too.

The car parking is very expensive at Fishguard Harbour, and it is a long walk. Apart from bus and ferry connections, Fishguard & Goodwick (FGW) is the more-useful station, so given the woeful lack of buses to the harbour I don't expect much local traffic to use that instead of FGW. Also, whereas Melksham now has a train every 2hrs there's a 5hr gap before the next Fishguard after the boat train.

The branch off the Fishguard line goes into the old RNAD at Trecwn, I don't think it is in use at present.

The busiest of the new services I'm told is the evening long-distance arrival, which happens to start back from Gloucester. That too I think is supposed to be a 158 but also has a nasty habit of turning up a 150 (the the unit off that works the boat train the next day I think). The stopping pattern might be designed for 'international' traffic, but I actually think it is really quite good for 'local' traffic too since the surveys undertaken by the North Pembrokeshire Transport Fourm back when it was just 2 trains per day showed Cardiff to be the most desired destination, and of course you have to go through Cardiff to get to English destinations also. The only 2 things I would change is stopping at Port Talbot Parkway instead of Bridgend and adding a call at Carmarthen in the westbound direction (now that ommisson is an odd stopping pattern).

Was definitely a 150 last Tuesday (21st April 2015). I arrived at Gloucester on it's working up from Maesteg:

(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/DSC_0203_zpseo2xkzoe.jpg)

The same 150 (num. 213) as in Grahame's pic, in fact. Last year, I had to suffer 150257 all the way from Gloucester to Fishguard (on my way back from my Scotish trip).

Reading your blog about the trip, Graham, I noticed one inaccurate reference to the line between Rosslare and Waterford.  This is still in situ for the whole length but 'mothballed' indefinitely. I believe occasional engineering trains traverse it and at least one special has run along it.

You reminded me of the journey I made from Bristol to Rosslare back in the 80s. Then the boat train was a loco hauled service and the train from Cardiff passed the one toward the Welsh capital (also loco hauled) at the Trecwn junction at sometime around 1:30am as we were running very late.  Two trains which would have run ecs one way, I assume as neither had a 'balancing' working.  Perhaps the assets are used more efficiently today sometimes.

I much enjoyed reading your travelogue, am glad that it went well and that you had a particularly good experience on Iarnr^d ^ireann.

The Luas Green line is indeed substantially along an old alignment called The Harcourt Street line. Harcourt Street used to be the terminus for Rosslare trains! The history, closure and subsequent revival of the line as a tram route makes for interesting reading.

Finnegans of Bray operate a bus between Sandyford Luas and Bray Daly rail station.

The Cross-city Luas currently under construction will link the two Luas lines. https://www.luascrosscity.ie/

There are plans to increase the frequency of the DART to every ten minutes ^ essentially turn up and go principle. http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/dart-trains-to-run-every-10-minutes-to-cope-with-passenger-increases-31128780.html

Killiney Bay south of D^n Laoghaire has been likened to the Bay of Naples. Incidentally D^n Laoghaire now no longer has a ferry to Holyhead though there are a number of expressions of interest with the harbour company there to (possibly/hopefully) recommence a ferry in 2016. Glad you liked Bray, those mosaics are nice and Brunel is depicted amongst them.

That inlet in Wexford is known as The Crescent and the tourist office is beside it. It's a nice walk along the quay there and the shops are only a stone's throw away.

The hill leading from the port is called Delap^s Hill after an engineer involved with the port many years ago. I too stayed in the accommodation you mentioned and can recommend it.

Despite patches that show her age (she^s 34 years young) the Stena Europe performs admirably on St. George^s Channel and unlike more modern ferries has oodles of outside deck space as well as being comfortable and having a decent array of onboard facilities. Ultimately though she^ll need to be replaced with more modern tonnage.

The rusted loop and branch near Fishguard is at Letterston Junction ^ there^s a short branch from there into Trecwn which used to be a Ministry of Defence site. Significantly there are plans for a biomass power station on the site:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-32024255.
It would be good if the fuel was moved by rail but don^t know if that^ll happen.

All of your feedback makes interesting reading - thank you.  I really feel I learn a lot from journies such as this, and much is made possible by taking advise ahead of time.  I would never even know where to get my SailRail (Dublin via Rossare) ticket without your help.   Next time I'm in Dublin, I may go the same route ... more likely I'll base it on the same one, but vary it to learn yet more.

To add some more details to the Sail/Rail story as I have used the Rosslare option several times in recent years.

The stena.ie site has reasonable information about trip from Ireland. A bit thinner than it used to be. Sail/Rail CIV tickets can be booked at major (possibly most) Irish Rail stations but you do need to choose a suitable off-peak time to allow them to understand the process. I have booked ones in Galway and Limerick previously. Dublin Connolly ticket office arrangements do seem bizarre and I really had to speak out to get one issued there at an off-peak but still "long queue" time.

Through fares are available from within Ireland but with closure of Waterford/Rosslare line are restricted to routes starting in Dublin area and possibly points north and west, but not now from Limerick Junction and W/SW.

Through tickets to the ports are readily available from stations in UK (not sure about through journeys in Ireland now) but appear to only have a one/two day validity. The IE CIVs are valid for somewhat longer.

An IE advance ticket may be cheaper than paying the through CIV.  Anyone wishing to travel Limerick J to Waterford (then take the bus) may find splitting tickets in Limerick saves money since the standard fares all appear priced via Dublin. Probably one of the few examples in IE where a split fare may help.

I often stay in Wexford to catch the day ferry. There is a bus at 08.00 from Wexford station (starts in Waterford) which connects with the ferry.

All works well and then you can enjoy the Irish Sea with the other 15 foot passengers and plenty of space.


Paul



         

The connecting evening train on the Rosslare-Wexford-Wicklow-Dublin line commences tomorrow (Tues 02 June 2015) & runs till 31st August inclusive.

It departs Rosslare Europort at 18.35hrs (14.30 sailing ex Fishguard arrives Rosslare 18.00). Here is a link to the PDF timetable: http://www.irishrail.ie/media/08_dublin-rosslare_020615-310815.pdf?v=gradgpy (http://www.irishrail.ie/media/08_dublin-rosslare_020615-310815.pdf?v=gradgpy)

Unlike the last two summers when through tickets were available to stations on the Rosslare-Dublin line these are not available as yet this year and it is unclear if they will be.

Tickets from Rosslare can be booked online on the Irish Rail website and collected from the ticket vending machine at the entrance to the platform.

=============================
Found the posts in this thread interesting. Tickets to stations here via Holyhead-Dublin are still readily available.

The current list of Irish Rail stations selling SailRail are:
http://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-tickets/sailrail (http://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-tickets/sailrail)
Not all of those stations sell them throughout their ticket office opening hours e.g. Waterford Plunkett only sell them 09.00-13.00 M-F

The bus from Wexford to the port had its timings adjusted slightly earlier this year and now departs Wexford's O'Hanrahan station 07.55 reaching the port at 08.20.

Through fares from the S West via Rosslare-Fishguard were available for a time after the cessation of the Waterford-Rosslare rail service and valid on the replacement route 370 bus though given the January 2013 rail timetable change saw the axing of the afternoon Limerick Junction-Waterford train there is no viable connection via Waterford (without waiting 7/8 hours in the city).

The section of the Rosslare-Waterford line between Belview Port and Waterford is in use several times a week by freight trains. The remainder of the line sees an annual weedspray train (loco hauled) along with inspection car (track-based) visits from time to time. There are occasional empty stock movements e.g. last September empty stock from the Emerald Isle Express traversed the line on a positioning run to Waterford for the next part of the tour:
http://www.railtoursireland.com/train-tour/The-Ireland-8-Day-Rail-Land-Cruise-and-Castle-Tour/st2014/ (http://www.railtoursireland.com/train-tour/The-Ireland-8-Day-Rail-Land-Cruise-and-Castle-Tour/st2014/)

Nice to see a shot that I recognise from the train across the estuary at Ferryside on the Fishguard-Cardiff leg of your journey.

Until recently my parents lived on the hillside above the line very near that location, and had a similar fantastic view out of their kitchen window!

It seems such a shame it's so hard to use - does a real marketing opportunity exist, or is the minimal provision being made in the hope that it can be demonstrated not to be used?


As the 'closed' section includes the longest railway bridge in Ireland - which surely requires some maintenance - how many years can this arrangement go on?

In many ways, the railways in Ireland strike me as being comparable to the railways in Great Britain a generation ago, and I wonder what chance of resurgence, and what late losses to the network we are seeing which may be regretted there in a further generation.

Edit to add - a YouTube video of the closing (now closed) line - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FluQX2hIoc0

Noting some comments:

Another reason for closing such lines is the staffing costs. Crossing keepers and signallers were being paid for doing little for much of the time.

Really? We may be saddened by the loss of loops and signals and the need to stop and proceed at crossings, but at least we still have the Heart of Wales line ... and on the Heart of Wessex we have Maiden Newton which is a crossing loop, used actively as such, without staff.   And take a look at how those two lines have grown.

Losses in Ireland in this decade look like some of the later closures in the UK rundown after "Beeching" - lines like Oxford to Cambridge and Carlisle to Edinburgh via Hawick.

I'm in Rosslare, doing an Irish trip inspired by others. On Tue I went from Reading to Leeds on a couple of XC's, then on to the Settle and Carlisle.  A pretty good 158 was turned out for this and the support the S & C gets from volunteers etc was impressive. Then on to Glasgow for overnight. On Wed got the earlier 0938 to Stranraer, again, a pretty good 156/8 (I've forgotten already!). I was surprised by the number of manned block posts south of Girvan, but maybe there is freight traffic which justifies this. A very scenic route which is worth doing.

Stranraer is interesting - going up the castle, around the museum and a bit of lunch soon whittles away 2 hours until the electric bus (I was the only person on it) takes you to the Stena terminal for the 1530 sailing to Belfast. Overnight in Belfast, then the 1035 to Dublin Connolly.  The Enterprise train (unrefurbished) was poor and the scenery to Dublin boring.

The 1335 train from Connolly to Rosslare was great.  A class 22 as pictured above, and probably the best medium distance DMU I've ever travelled on.  Powerful, quiet, air-con, wi-fi, seats align with windows (OK it was low density).  Sit on the left leaving Dublin, the scenery is great all the way.

I'm on the 0900 Stena to Fishguard tomorrow.  I'm expecting the 1329 from Fishguard to be an awful 150.

I've never been to Stranraer, but I think the stock used currently is class 156s.

Last time I asked (on this forum or RailUK), I was told the booked stock is a class 158, but I think that was several timetable changes ago and even then the diagram seemed to be bottom of the pile and first to end up with a 150 vice 158 (understandably since most ATW 158 diagrams involve the Cambrian line which cannot be worked by anything else). On the plus side, the previous service on the diagram doesn't seem to have changed in the new timetable, so maybe the diagram hasn't changed meaning you at least have a chance at getting a decent unit. A few years back it was booked for a 150, which was a disgraceful suituation if you ask me.

The Heart Of Wales has such passing loops too, five of them if I remember correctly (only 2 timetabled to be used I think, thanks to the infrequent service).

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/SailRail-Summer2015/ (http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/SailRail-Summer2015/)

The through tickets to stations on the Rosslare to Dublin line became available on an unknown date this Summer but are only available as advances (tickets just as far as Rosslare Harbour are available as both advances and standby).