Category Archives: Rail

F E Prothero on the Royal Canal in the 1890s

Posted on Monday 16 April 2012 | Leave a comment

His brief notes here.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Ireland, People, Rail, Scenery, Sources, Tourism, waterways

Tagged boats, canal, Dublin, F E Prothero, Ireland, Mullingar, Royal Canal, Shannon

Elfin safety

Posted on Thursday 5 April 2012 | 1 comment

The Railway Safety Commission, which god preserve, is seeking consultants to

undertake a review of the self contained Heritage Railways in Ireland with respect to the management of safety associated with their railway activities.

The bumpf says:

The purpose of this competition is to engage an expert or experts to undertake a review of the self contained Heritage Railways in Ireland with respect to the management of safety associated with their railway activities. It should be noted that this excludes the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI).

The 8 heritage railways concerned are

Difflin Lake Railway, Raphoe, Co. Donegal

Fintown Railway, Fintown, Co. Donegal

Cavan & Leitrim Railway, Dromod, Co. Leitrim

Irish Steam Preservation Society, Stradbally, Co. Laois

Waterford & Suir Valley Railway, Kilmeadan, Co. Waterford

Tralee & Dingle Railway, Tralee, Co. Kerry

Lartigue Monorailway, Listowel, Co. Kerry

West Clare Railway, Moyasta, Co. Clare.

These heritage railways all operate on their own self contained infrastructure. They are operated by a mix of paid and volunteer staff. They include steam and diesel traction and a number of passenger carrying vehicles.

Safety certification was granted to these railways on the basis of their accepted safety cases in accordance with the Railway Safety Act 2005 (the Act). As the majority of these safety certificates were issued in 2007 they now fall due for review.

Hasn’t it got cold recently? There is definitely a chill in the air.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Non-waterway, Politics, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding

Tagged Ireland, Lartigue, railways, West Clare

Thomas Omer in Athlone

Posted on Friday 16 March 2012 | Leave a comment

Here is a new page showing the route of the old canal in Athlone, which was used before the Shannon Commissioners built the new lock, weir and bridge in the 1840s. The canal is easily accessible along most of its route, although some explanatory signs might be useful to call attention to notable features.

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Posted in Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, People, Rail, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Athlone, boats, bridge, canal, Ireland, lock, lost, quay, Shannon, Thomas Omer, vessels, waterways, weir

Stakhanovite homoeroticism

Posted on Sunday 26 February 2012 | 3 comments

I see in the blatts — well, the Sunday Business Post, actually, although I do realise that other newspapers are read in the servants’ hall — that the Twelfth Lock Hotel at Blanchardstown, on the Royal Canal, is to be sold by public tender on 1 March 2012. No estate agent — the only contact details are for a solicitor and a FRICS FRICI, which means a surveyor (I think) — so there is nothing on tinterweb.

The Twelfth Lock Hotel

The hotel is described thus:

Unique Hotel Opportunity

‘THE TWELFTH LOCK HOTEL’, Castleknock Marina, Royal Canal, Castleknock

Purpose built, 10 Bedroom Hotel, with Loune Bar/Restaurant, private Lounge, Beergarden/Smoking Patio, outer garden and private car park. In unique setting alongside the picturesque Royal Canal Marina.

Older folk will note the link to this story.

I stayed in the hotel once; it was fine. I’ve been in the bar a few times, and noted three things. The first was a range of beers that was wider and better than most Irish pubs serve (which is admittedly not saying much). The second was that the bar food was tasty and served in generous quantities. The third was the mural (I’ve cropped the lower part of the photo to omit the customers) of chaps building the canal.

Twelfth Lock Hotel mural

The hotel is in a wonderful location, off a quiet road but close to the railway, the M50 motorway and the Wonderful O of the junction with the Royal Canal crossing in the middle.

Crossing the Wonderful O

Boat descending the twelfth lock (a double). The building on the left at the top is the hotel

Across the canal are flats is where the Blanchardstown Mills stood; the site has unsuspected depths.

Flats

I don’t really know the status of the “marina”. It seems to consist of a short run of pontoons with gated access. I think it’s a good idea to have such an arrangement; perhaps something similar could be done on the Grand Canal.

The marina (2005)

The marina (2009)

But who runs it and controls the allocation of spaces? I don’t know: although the gateway seems to have Waterways Ireland branding, there is also this sign:

Castleknock Marina sign

Its website doesn’t seem to have changed much for several years and the “How goes it” page, showing progress in raising funding, doesn’t seem to work. There is a hire firm too.

Hire firm

It would be nice if the hotel, marina and hire firm were to continue in operation.

3 Comments

Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Blanchardstown, boats, bridge, canal, Castleknock, Dunsink, hire firm, hotel, Ireland, marina, railway, Royal Canal, Stakhanovite, Twelfth Lock, vessels

The campaign to improve Clones

Posted on Wednesday 22 February 2012 | 2 comments

Tender here. No mention of the engine shed amongst the heritage sites to be interpreted, alas. And the General description of proposed works document has a photo of the playground at O’Briensbridge in Co Clare, captioned as “Playground, Shannon Harbour, Co Offaly” even though Tom Burke’s boat is clearly visible in the background. Still, good to see that they’re not just waiting for a canal. And they intend to build a car park in the town park, which could be useful for the camper vans.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Erne, Ireland, lost, Lough Neagh, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

The Ballycuirke Canal and Lough Corrib

Posted on Friday 27 January 2012 | 3 comments

Thanks to Padhraic Conneally, who left a Comment that started the hunt, and to Zara Brady (IWAI Corrib), who visited the site to ask about something else entirely, and finally to Trevor Northage of AnglingCharts.com, who provided the name and other information, we now have two extra Galway waterways to add to the list. They’re both covered, with maps, on this page, although only the larger, the Ballycuirke Canal, gets its name in the heading.

I would welcome more information about both canals. It seems that the Ballycuirke was built for drainage but also used for transport; I would be glad to know more about such transport.

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Posted in Built heritage, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Rail, The turf trade, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Ballycuirke, Ballyquirke, boats, bridge, canal, Cloghaun, Corrib, Down Lake, drainage, Galway, Ireland, lost, lough, Moycullen, Operations, quay, Ross Lake, turf, vessels, water level, waterways

Annoying the neighbours

Posted on Thursday 5 January 2012 | Leave a comment

It would be unfair to condemn the proposed opening of a canal to Clones without also condemning the proposed reopening of the Park Canal in Limerick (and the Newry, when I get around to it). The link is to a top-level page; the first substantive page has a lead to the second, the second to the third and so on up to the fifth.

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Posted in Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Shannon, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

Tagged boats, bridge, canal, Castleconnell, Clare, ESB, floods, flow, Grand Canal, Guinness, jetties, Killaloe, Limerick, Limerick Navigation, lock, lost, Lough Derg, Montpelier, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Park Canal, Plassey, quay, Royal Canal, Shannon, turf, vessels, water level, waterways, Waterways Ireland, weir, workboat

Fracking Leitrim

Posted on Tuesday 3 January 2012 | 3 comments

This morning, on the wireless, I heard two people opposing the use of fracking to find gas around Lough Allen in Co Leitrim. Neither of them was convincing. One started by objecting to big multinationals being given licences to investigate the resources available; it is not clear that there was any ban on small native companies or workers’ cooperatives (or soviets of workers, peasants and soldiers) applying for licences, and presumably they could use traditional Irish implements like sleans if they wanted to.

The general line of argument adopted by the objectors was that anything that could go wrong would go wrong, probably all at the same time, wiping out the whole of Irish agriculture (some of which is not in Leitrim) and, er, eco-tourism. There would, the objectors seemed to suggest, be no preventive or mitigating measures and no insurance and the full cost of every accident would be borne by the residents of the area.

Remains of a pier at the brickworks, Spencer Harbour, Lough Allen

But the bit that really annoyed me was the depiction of the area as one of rural seclusion. Yet Lough Allen had canals, railways, coal mines, dams, iron works and brick works.

Spencer Harbour on Lough Allen

The very canal linking Lough Allen to the
rest of the Shannon Navigation owes its very existence to the desire
to carry coal from around Lough Allen to Dublin. And one of the most best tourism initiatives in the area, the Arigna Mining Experience, recognises that heritage.

Part of a brick

Insist on proper assessment and management of risk by all means, but don’t exaggerate it — and don’t ignore Leitrim’s industrial heritage.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Rail, Scenery, Shannon, The turf trade, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

Tagged Arigna, boats, bricks, canal, Clare, coal, dam, ESB, fracking, gas, industry, Ireland, iron, jetties, lock, Lough Allen, Operations, Shannon, Spencer Harbour, vessels, waterways, workboat

The Limerick Navigation

Posted on Monday 2 January 2012 | Leave a comment

As a preliminary to increasing coverage of the old Limerick Navigation, I have improved the section’s top-level page. I added maps of the separate sections of the navigation and distances (in eighths of miles) from Prothero and Clark.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Rail, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways