Tag Archives: Operations

Updates 25 June 2009

Posted on Thursday 25 June 2009 | Leave a comment

I’ve added photos to some of the boat pages. Several of the new photos were kindly supplied by Tina of Wasserrausch, to whom I am very grateful. The additions are:

– Traditional boats and replicas has a new photo of an Erne cot, supplied by Tina

– Waterways Ireland workboats has photos of the new vessel Inis Cealtra (I’ve already announced these) and two photos of small boats at Munster Harbour. It also has a link to a page of detailed photos of Inis Cealtra

– Non-WI workboats has photos, supplied by Tina, of ferries and workboats on Lough Erne and of two boats operated by environmental authorities

– Sailing boats has photos of the skutsje Nieuwe Zorgen, which arrived on the Irish waterways in 2008

– Wooden boats has several new photos of wooden boats photographed recently at Shannon Harbour, as well as a few better photos of boats that were already listed

– Boats that are different has one addition.

As always, if I’ve got anything wrong, or omitted anything, do please leave a Comment at the bottom of the relevant page.

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Posted in Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations

Tagged boats, Grand Canal, Ireland, Ireland canals Grand Royal, Operations, Shannon, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat

Waterways Ireland’s latest workboat: Inis Cealtra

Posted on Monday 22 June 2009 | Leave a comment

Here are photographs of Waterways Ireland’s latest workboat, Inis Cealtra. The photos were taken at Portumna, at the head of Lough Derg, after Inis Cealtra, built in Killybegs Co Donegal, had travelled down the west coast, up the Shannon Estuary, through Limerick and then via Ardnacrusha Lock to Lough Derg on the Shannon.

These photos are of details, and are probably for the anoraks; for more general views, see the pics supplied by Waterways Ireland on my general WI workboats page.

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Posted in Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations

Tagged boats, Inis Cealtra, Ireland, Limerick, lock, Operations, Shannon, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, workboat

The sector lock at Kilrush

Posted on Friday 19 June 2009 | Leave a comment

I’ve already written about a Shannon lock at Athlone and a Grand Canal lock at Belmont. Now here’s a page about the sector lock leading into Kilrush marina on the Shannon estuary. Sector locks are relatively rare, but sector gates are being installed as flood defences at Spencer Dock, where the Royal Canal meets the River Liffey in Dublin, and are used at Limehouse lock on the Thames in London.

Interestingly, the Kilrush lock and the associated embankment solved problems that were identified by Commander William Mudge RN, Admiralty surveyor, in 1831: he was one of the three members of the Commission for the Improvement of the Navigation of the Shannon, and at that time the Shannon estuary steamers had to use Cappagh pier, outside Kilrush, because at low tide Kilrush had only a small creek running through it.

Nowadays, inland waterways boats going to sea often head for Kilrush, which is also one of the bases from which dolphin-watching trips are provided. There is a resident school of bottlenose dolphins in the estuary.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations, Steamers

Tagged boats, Charles Wye Williams, dolphins, ferry, Garryowen, Ireland, Kilrush, Limerick, lock, marina, Mudge, Operations, Poulnasherry, Scattery, sector gates, Shannon, steamer, turf, vessels, waterways, West Clare Railway

A Grand Canal lock: Belmont

Posted on Tuesday 9 June 2009 | Leave a comment

To complement my page about Athlone lock on the Shannon, here’s a description of Belmont lock on the Grand Canal. As always, I welcome comments, suggestions or ideas about anything I have omitted or misunderstood.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations

Tagged canal, Grand Canal, Ireland, Ireland canals Grand Royal, Ireland waterways rockville, Operations, waterways, Waterways Ireland

A River Shannon lock

Posted on Wednesday 27 May 2009 | Leave a comment

I’ve put up a page with photos of Athlone Lock on the River Shannon, including much elegant nineteenth-century equipment. I find I’m not entirely sure what it was all for, so if anyone can help by leaving a Comment, please do so.

I’ll do the same for a canal lock shortly.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Operations

Tagged Athlone, Dinny Madigan, Ireland, keeper, lock, Operations, Queen Victoria Shannon Commissioners, Shannon, Thomas Rhodes, waterways, Waterways Ireland

The middle Suir, from Carrick-on-Suir to Waterford

Posted on Friday 22 May 2009 | Leave a comment

This navigation is still used by pleasure boats, notably by the members of the Carrick-on-Suir Boat Club, but its once-busy commercial traffic has largely ceased; the final nail will be hammered in when the new Waterford bypass road-bridge crosses the Suir and prevents tankers from supplying Morris Oil at Fiddown. This account includes some historical material and photos taken on a trip downriver aboard the barge 31B.

I’m referring to it as the middle Suir as there was a horse-drawn navigation upstream from Carrick to Clonmel and of course ships can come up to Waterford from the sea (as well as more interesting vessels from the Nore and the Barrow).

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Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations

Tagged 31B, boats, Carrick-on-Suir, Clodiagh, Dowleys, Fiddown, Ireland, Knocknagow, lost, Morris Oil, Operations, St John's River, Suir, vessels, Waterford, waterways

John’s Canal in Macnab’s Bog, Castleconnell, Montpelier and O’Briensbridge

Posted on Friday 22 May 2009 | Leave a comment

Here is a page about John’s Canal, which was used to extract turf from Macnab’s Bog at Mona Lodge, Portcrusha, between Castleconnell and Montpelier in Limerick (Montpelier is at the other end of the bridge at O’Briensbridge).

The bog seems to have been opened by John Brown (or Browne) of the Stein Brown(e) Distillery at Thomondgate in Limerick. Turf was carried by water from the bog to the distillery, where it was used to fuel the first steam engine in Limerick. The bog was managed by James Macnab, who took over the lease in 1841; after his death his son Alexander Allen Macnab took over. The bog was an early operation of a managed industrial extraction and production enterprise, operating throughout most of the year and drying the material to produce “stone turf”. About 5000 tons were produced each year.

The canal system had a wooden bridge (now vanished), several branches (some still visible), a lock gate (gone) and a stone pier/quay (still visible).

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Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, The turf trade

Tagged boats, canal, Castleconnell, distillery, Ireland, Limerick, lost, Macnab, Montpelier, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Portcrusha, Shannon, Stein Brown, turf, vessels, waterways

More workboats

Posted on Thursday 7 May 2009 | Leave a comment

Here is a very long page showing working boats that are not operated by Waterways Ireland. They include hotel boats, restaurant boats, trip boats, rescue boats, police boats and sand barges.

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Posted in Extant waterways, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations

Tagged barge, Barrow, Blackwater, boats, canal, cattle ferry, community barge, Devenish, dredger, DUKW, Enniskillen, Erne, ESB, Garda, Grand Canal, Guinness, hare krishna, hotel boat, Ireland, Ireland waterways rockville, Killaloe, Lagan, Limerick, Lough Neagh, Monasterevan, Nore, Operations, PSNI, rescue, restaurant boat, RNLI, sand, Shannon, Shannon–Erne Waterway, Suir, theatre barge, trip boat, vessels, waterways, workboat

The abandoned line of the Grand Canal to James’s St Harbour

Posted on Tuesday 5 May 2009 | Leave a comment

I have put up four pages covering the Main Line of the Irish Grand Canal from Suir Road to the original terminus at Grand Canal Harbour, James’s Street. This account covers Guinness and Dublin’s water supply as well as the line of the canal. There are some photos of trams and of the 1′ 10″ gauge Guinness locomotives for Steam Men. Page 1 of 4 is here.

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Posted in Forgotten navigations, Irish waterways general, Operations

Tagged Ballinasloe, boats, canal, Carlow, City Basin, Grand Canal, Guinness, harbour, Ireland, James Bond, James's Street, Limerick, lost, LUAS, Marrowbone Lane, Operations, porter, Rupee Bridge, stout, sugar, train, tram, turf, water supply, waterways