Act 2 - finishing off the Irish Republic

[whole diary]

[grahame]

After a brief stop at home over the weekend (to catch up on a number of things that were to be done personally), I'm off again on the early train from Melksham to complete my final Irish (Eire) lines this week. Back late Friday.

Went to Melksham Station to pick up my tickets (prefer 'paper' for things like SailRail) but found machine saying "Please wait for transaction to finish". Good job I didn't because it was still saying the same thing 15 hours later when I caught the 05:33 this morning.

The idea of picking up a ticket on departure from a flakey machine did not thrill me.  So I asked on the help point and was told to go to the nearest alternative machine - "only 9 minutes on the train" at Trowbridge, ignoring initially that the next train was several hours away and the round trip would take 3 hours.  Asking if there was a quicker way, I was advised Chippenham - "open to 7:30" and "staffed and the ticket machines are working" - and that would have only been a 2 hour round trip.  Asking if I would have to pay the train fare to go and pick up my ticket, the help point gent suggested I ask the train manager to let me travel without paying.  Anyway - as I had a c-a-r available, I drove up to Chippenham and back and was done in 40 minutes.

My fare to Dublin is £49.30 from Melksham, having already used up the outbound hone country leg of my Interail pass. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) offered me a fare of £142.90 as far as Holyhead on this train - or £61.40 on the next train which would miss the boat. The fare system is a shambles; this 05:33 is not exaclty a "peak" train, but then the only people on it are probably the ones who have little choice, so perhaps the charge is based not on loading but on what the market will stand.

A quiet and damp (drizzly) walk to Melksham Station, though a busy point at Cooper Tires where the work force was arriving by car and bicycle.  Melksham Station and the Cafe/Hub and car park and were lit like beacons and I wonder if that's on all night, or comes on 10 minutes before the first train. Needless to say, the Cafe was closed; early plans included "opening in time to serve people on the first train to Swindon" but of course plans change.

Seated now in Swindon, arrived on time just before 06:00 and leaving on the 06:33 via Kemble. Warm waiting room open, Coffee and Bakewell served with a smile, by a gent who knew what he was about - checking that I would have time to wait for the coffee ("3 minutes" - not going on the 06:06) and an indication of how a station should be.

We can argue that Swindon is a much bigger station than Melksham, so you would expect much more footfall and faclities there ... and yet with the welcome here in Swindon and that encouragement brought to Melksham - real train information from a rail-knowledgable human being present (yesterday and today) - just look at how that friendly welcome might help encourage the local optional travel.  I'm not advocating staffing every halt (sorry, Chetnole and Thornford), but with a catchment on 25,000 and 75,000 annual journeys the stats might suggest it would be a good move.

[grahame]

And a chance to upload initial pics.

[Robin Summerhill]

The way you titled this thread I thought you had declared war...

[grahame]

The way you titled this thread I thought you had declared war...

Different context. 

Greetings from Ireland.

[grahame]

Each morning a few minutes after 9 O'Clock, a train sets off at Athlone for the jouney via Roscommon, Claremorris and Castlebar to Westport.  It's followed just three times late in the day - the afternoon and early evening - by through trains from Dublin taking that branch.   The journey from Athlone to Westport takes nearly 2 hours - first arrival there just before 11 a.m.    There's a branch off the branch from Manulla Junction to Ballina, perversely better served as the branch train shuttles up and down to connect with all 8 trains at the junction, but not much use unless you're connecting as the junction platform is just that - no seats, no waiting area, not even a station exit onto the public road.

I had never been out beyond Athlone to Westport or Ballina until yesterday, when I took the opportunity to head out that way - one of three parts of Iarnród Éireann that I have not travelled on before.  I made six journeys on three different train, and I spent 6 hours on the move and six hours looking around three towns until the next train.

Pictures below, this set of rail interest.  Westport and Ballina are both towns that are clearly in need of some regeneration - at least towards their centres which in the very heart seem focussed on the tourist trade - though in late October, this seems pretty well gone for the winter.  Shop and cafe owners spoke of their hope of a flutter of activity next week at half term.  Train timed dictated that I only have a short time in Castlebar - actually the largest in terms of population - so I didn't even get to the centre.  And I could have done with longer in Westport too.

Trains on the main branch were 3 carriages long and pleasanly busy - lots of people with luggage and clearly mostly long distance traffic.  The branch off a branch was quiet - but then the way I used it wasn't to connect into trains to Dublin or from Dublin which I'm sure were busier, and the interchange platform bustled as people moved across both ways.

Good to talk with the driver of the Ballina shuttle as we awaited the late arrival from Dublin and learn that the train is swapped over every alternate Thursday from Limerick. And to learn about the freight movements too - 6 days a week from Ballina to North Wall (docks) in Dublin, and 2 or 3 movements a week to Waterford - general container traffic, and timber trains such as the one pictured at Westport (they run from both Westport and Ballina).

Signalling appears modern; no sign of tokens or anything antique like that, a reasonable supply of loops with just the odd wait here and there to pass another train - be it the other rare passenger train, or those freight movements.  A great pride in the stations that I used; all have a history on display (my first photo is from a display at Athlone) but also a great deal of evidence of past infrastucture when things were clearly much busier - or at least a lot more was happeing. Note the Greenway that was formerly a railway, the bridge to the disused platform at Claremorris which used to be another key junction, and the single line weaving through Castlebar to serve the remaining platform face.

[Robin Summerhill]

For many years I have toyed with the idea of "doing" the Irish railway network but I nevere did get around to it. The only routes I have travelled on are Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise and Limerick Junction to Limerick.

And now with my ever-decreasing eyesilght there's probably little point as I can't see what is out of the wondow anyway

[grahame]

For many years I have toyed with the idea of "doing" the Irish railway network but I nevere did get around to it. The only routes I have travelled on are Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise and Limerick Junction to Limerick.

And now with my ever-decreasing eyesilght there's probably little point as I can't see what is out of the wondow anyway

The was an old man on train
Who said "I've still got an active brain"
At the junction one day
He gave his secret away
By admitting he as never any good at poetry and in any case ...

From this morning:



Jesting apart, Robin - I feel that my current tour is something of a twightlight, personally and not for Irish Rail.  I don't know how your site will be next year - but if still good enough, I might enjoy your company over here - two grumpy old men? If w got fed up with each other, you could do Cork while I did Tralee, or I could to Howth while you did Malahide!

[grahame]

Cobh station (a.k.a. Cove, previously Queenstown) is a shadow of what it must have been in its heyday.  Historic pictures show a big train shed and the old and substantial station building is now the "Queenstown Experience" for tourist who flock to the town with its huge historic significance - for it was from here that ships for the new world left carrying so many Irish emigrants and the town has become a "must visit" stop on tours from around the world.  Those tourists arrive predominantly by coach; the railway station remains open, but trains relegated to what was the outer end of a single remaining platform.

I visited Cobh by train yesterday, as part of my "my final lines in Ireland" tour. Looks can be deceiving.  Trains leave Kent station, Cork, every 15 minutes with alternate services headed for Cobh and Midleton.  So every 30 minutes a train pulls up into Cobh, folks get off and on (and it was pleasantly bustling in the middle of the day) and three or four minutes later it sets off back to Cork. The station exit is up a ramp to a "hole in the wall" but safe, neat, clean and with interpretation boards telling us something of the history of that railway. And seating and a good sided canopy keep people comfortable and dry as they wait for the 2 coach class 26 diesel unit to bustle in.

I speculate that even in its reduced form, there are more trains at Cobh than there were at what's perceived as its peak, and perhaps more passenger journeys than there were at that time too.  But the big differences are that these are the regular "bread and butter" passengers community to work, shopping or school in the greater Cork area, with an "icing on the cake" of a number of independent tourists.  The new passengers are quick to board and leave the train and to process past the ticket reader, with machines available to buy tickets though most have many-journey tickets.  The trains themselves don't need cleaning out, no locomotives to service every trip, no seat reservations to put in place, no staff needed to make sure dozens of doors are closed on departure. What looks like an apology for a remaining train service can hold its head high and it shouts "this works well". And it's not just Cobh - the next station up the line at Rushbrooke seemed (if anything) even busier.

Click on the images (especially the interpretation board) to see them much larger.

[grahame]

At 08:36 yesterday morning, I arrived at M3 Parkway station - completing my final Irish Railway line.  I have now travelled over every stretch of the Iarnród Éireann network, my final trip reaching the goal being a journey from Docklands (also new) in the heart of the business city on a quiet train and was followed by a return on a busy one.

Pictures - one of Docklands with crowds coming off the inbound train from M3 Parkway, and two of M3 Parkway which look quiet because everyone had piled onto the train when it arrived (with me on it) and were waiting for it to leave a couple of minutes later.

Visiting places on a single trip does not make me an expert on them, but it gives me a flavour and it has shown me many things which help me compare and contrast, seeing the good ideas and perhaps things that appear not to be working.  Railways in different countries are very different (they are even within the countries) but they share a commonality and there are lessons that can and should be learned right across the British Isles - and indeed wider.  Second and subsequent visits, and visits to the catchments of the stations not just the railway itself, help broaden the picture. But those are experiences for another article or perhaps to simply be memories to call on later.   And so ... back on the 07:30 ferry this morning, home this evening.