European Railroad Discussion > On Alexandra Road, Dublin

Yesterday I managed what I have been meaning to do for a long time, taking a series of pictures of an Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Railways) Tara Mines train street running in Dublin. They mine zinc at Tara, the largest such mine in Europe. It's about 40 miles north of Dublin, accessed off the GN mainline at Drogheda via the old Navan branch. There are two trains each way in daylight hours.

The morning loaded train pulled up under East Road at about 11:45, two members of the ground staff appear from the North Wall office and head towards the train, a member of the security team drives over to the gate which accesses Alexandra Road and another member of the ground staff takes up a position at the shunt signal just inside the gate. All this takes about five minutes or so.

1: They open the gate, the signal clears and the train proceeds through the yard, 072, one of IE's venerable 40 year old 071 class of EMDs (technically a JT22CW) is in charge.

2: From the exit I ran across the East Wall Road divided highway the train crosses (by now the alarms are sounding and all traffic lights are at red) and down Alexandra Road beyond the security checkpoint (the two policeman on duty simply smiled). The train slowly proceeds down Alexandra Road, led by a flagman 

3: 072 towers over the cars, I was standing in front of a truck to take this picture. The truck driver stopped short of the cars, seeing that I was taking pictures  so as not to obstruct my view. Thanks truck driver!



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/16 17:26 by 86235.

---

---

---

4: 072 bears right into the Boliden Terminal (Boliden is the Swedish mining group that owns Tara)

5: Tara started operation in the late 1970s, these covered zinc ore cars were built specifically for the Tara traffic

6: The loco runs round the train in order to push the ore cars through the unloader

---

---

---

7: Last seen 072 pushes the cars into the unloading terminal, covered to reduce dust and other air-born pollutants

So that was the prime purpose of my visit but I also visited Islandbridge Junction at the country end of Heuston station for the IWT North Wall to Ballina liner (Intermodal)

8: It's booked to leaves North Wall at 09:35 so I was expecting it at about 10:00 but it turned up, fully loaded, at 09:48

9: IE use these flats which carry up to two 1TEU boxes, a single 2TEU box or, as here, a 45' box / reefer. The train is operated by IE on behalf of International Warehousing and Transport (IWT).

I also rode the LUAS tram system, walked to Broadstone, the old Midland Great Western terminus, which closed (to passengers) in 1937 but which still stands, surrounded by a building site unfortunately at the moment, but shortly to be reconnected to a rail network and rode an IE suburban train to Kildare. A whole lot of fun.

---

---

---

Nice photos--always enjoy seeing switching operations.
Brian Stevens

Very interesting photos.  We don't get to see many from Ireland.
ALLEN

krm152 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very interesting photos.  We don't get to see
> many from Ireland.
> ALLEN

Thanks, I think the progressive modernisation of IE in the last 10 years, together with the loss of sugar beet, cement, beer and internal intermodal traffic has lessened Ireland's appeal to railfans.

86235 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> krm152 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Very interesting photos.  We don't get to see
> > many from Ireland.
> > ALLEN
>
> Thanks, I think the progressive modernisation of
> IE in the last 10 years, together with the loss of
> sugar beet, cement, beer and internal intermodal
> traffic has lessened Ireland's appeal to railfans.


LOSS OF BEER? Damn, I thought the Irish in me drank enough.....

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LOSS OF BEER? Damn, I thought the Irish in me
> drank enough.....

'fraid so, no longer does Guinness ride the rails :-(

Interesting - I did not see any freight on my last visit to ireland, unfortunately. 

Great pics. I especially like the shots of the wagons. I see the IR also follows the US tradition of using mismatched doors on their locomotives.

The Google Streetview car gets up close and personal with 083: https://www.google.com/maps/@53.351035,-6.2212017,3a,75y,166.63h,80.3t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1WyqgKnEM5WuwdWgntPiVQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
 

kevink Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great pics. I especially like the shots of the
> wagons. I see the IR also follows the US tradition
> of using mismatched doors on their locomotives.
>
> The Google Streetview car gets up close and
> personal with 083:
> https://www.google.com/maps/@53.351035,-6.2212017,
> 3a,75y,166.63h,80.3t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1WyqgKnEM
> 5WuwdWgntPiVQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Thanks, yes 072's got someone else's un-repainted doors. Not sure whether they're off a 071 or a withdrawn 141 or 181. Here's 072 the last time I saw her, in December 2005 during the final sugar beet season, and my first digital picture!
https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/Overseas/Ireland-1975-2007/i-dH7dNR5

I take plenty of shots of wagons, they are often the most interesting things about freight trains these days.
https://nick86235.smugmug.com/keyword/darkside/
 



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/16 14:22 by 86235.