Tag Archives: Lartigue

Paging M Lartigue

M Lartigue … M Lartigue … telephone call from Spain for you …. Something about a problem in Saudi Arabia, they said. Apparently there’s a lot of sand in the desert ….

Lartigue in motion

I’ve just noticed a 3½-minute video of the original Lartigue on the British Pathé website. Here is my page about the modern recreation, which is well worth a visit. The other monorail by the Shannon River is covered here.

Jimmy Deenihan, cricketer

Jimmy Deenihan, minister for waterways and some other stuff, supporter of the Lartigue Monorail in Listowel, is known to have played two forms of football: rugby and Gaelic. His cricketing expertise is perhaps less well known but, in a written answer to four Dáil questions yesterday, he showed his mastery of the straight bat.

I was surprised to find Bernard Durkan [FG, Kildare North] referring to “traditional canal boat dwellers”. I suppose it depends on your timescales: in my view, anything that began after 1850 isn’t really traditional.

Elfin safety

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.

 

 

Lartigue

I’ve just changed the link on my Lartigue Monorail website to link to their new, more elegant web pages rather than the old. I’m giving both here just in case the new changes to the old …. Well worth visiting, the Lartigue.

The Lartigue: the Listowel & Ballybunion Railway

The Listowel & Ballybunion Railway operated between 1888 and 1924, using perhaps the most eccentric railway technology ever invented: the monorail developed by Charles Lartigue.

Very little original material was left after the railway closed, but a short section of railway has been recreated in the town of Listowel, Co Kerry, with a single locomotive (now diesel rather than steam) and two carriages. However, it shows the more exciting features of the original: the ingenious turntables and switches. There is also a small display of models, photographs and artefacts, and a showing of three short films, with some original newsreel footage of the railway in operation. The volunteer staff are knowledgeable and happy to chat and, all in all, it makes for a very entertaining few hours for anyone interested in transport or engineering.

Listowel is close to Ballybunion on the south side of the Shannon Estuary; anyone visiting the industrial heritage artefacts of the Lower Shannon Industrial Heritage Park could easily build in a visit to the Lartigue – and then take the ferry from Tarbert to Killimer and visit the West Clare Railway.

Read about the Lartigue here.