Golden age of the railways the veins of the nation

Naas Harristown and Dunlavin, long since gone.

Joe caught very historic footage showing our Irish railways at a time of change with old and new rolling stock running. Brilliant footage for modellers and enthusiasts alike.

In 1966,travelled from London to Durrow Station for our annual summer holiday in Stradbally. I was 3 years old and vaguely remember alighting at Stradbally. The line closed March 1967.

Reopening of all closed railway lines would cut down on traffic jams, road deaths, pollution & car accidents.

Reopening of the railway line along with Athlone to Mullingar route would shorten train journey's between Galway & Dublin.

113 Rocio Manors

Did the Bundoran Express stop at Clones? To my knowledge it didn’t seem to stop at many stations other than Dundalk and Enniskillen, which I imagine were to turn the train into opposite directions for the next station, like maybe attaching another locomotive to the other side. The only other station I know it stopped at was Pettigo to serve pilgrims heading to Lough Derg. Clones was a pretty big and busy station as it served as the junction for trains to Cavan and Belfast, so I’d be a bit surprised if this service skipped such a busy station.

Thanks for putting this Film together and the great narrative

Just seen same, Nice memories of those old trains ! Get to see the effort and dedication that was put into ensuring a great part of the Irish Railway Legacy. Thank you for this.

Absolutely fantastic 👍🏻 It’s a shame governments are so short sighted they’re by pulling up so much railways 😩🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Fantastic video with great narration so we can understand what’s going on 👍🏻 What a shame it’s all mostly gone 😢🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Fantastic the limerick seen has me back at my childhood thanks for that. Great work.

Beautiful incredible footage. Not a hi viz to be seen.😂

Great to see the Limerick to Foynes railway being reopened in 2024!

Great video but filled with sadness 😢🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Great video 👍🏻 but filled with sadness 😢🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Very good video.

What a wonderful presentation

Thank God for Joe St Leger! What a wonderful treasure trove of railway memorabilia he left behind.

I remember the greystones shuttle when the push/pull was operated by a 121. The rolling stock was in awful condition and the entire carriage would rattle and vibrate like mad over every rail joint. Great video. Thanks for posting.

Another excellent presentation of unique films. Very enjoyable thanks

Maddening at all of that old rolling stock that hatdly exist anymore. We would all be richer in thiscountry if our public capital wasn't so cheaply given up. We have decades of catch-up to do and decades of preservation that are long lost.

Great Railway history there amazing it's all recorded for posterity! So much Railway infrastructure connections has been removed !! Hopefully the Waterford to Wexford Route will reopen

Beautiful video, thanks for posting here

I can relate to current comments. I remember walk outings at G mother's farm. We would take a tour on foot to Kelly's Bridge Kelly's halt on the then closed Bundoran Dundalk GNR line mid 60s. Tracks lifted early 70s If they had only remained........ comments

Excellent footage 👍

Interesting,! Kingsbridge 1984 to see mk3s on 2. The ridge on the roof meant they weren't a supertrain😅

I went to school on the push pull trains in the late 70s from dalkey to ballsBridge .the railcars were dreadful junk .had plastic seats.

One question what is the music playing over the later scenes in Albert Quay

You’re a great narrator, Ciaran!

Thanks guys, hope to upload parts 2 and 3 soon of this film show, Ciarán.

Thanks for all your hard work in editing and commentary of the footage.

Thank you again for making this material available to enjoy, and for all the work put into the film material

This is fantastic. Thank you for all your work on this.

Hope they weren't in a hurry for that gypsum

30 years of great service a reliable and trustworthy unit . Brought the same unit on trial to Cobh 29 years ago before they entered service on the Cobh line.

Wonder if there’s any footage of the old AEC rail cars hauled by the B class engines? I know the Darts replaced the rail cars (and thank God!) but whatever happened all the B’s? I seem to vaguely recall some old locos (not necessarily A’s or B’s) being used as a sound barrier near Heuston? Thanks for your replies to date, love all the old footage, don’t know why it’s so evocative specially I was around 10 at the time and wouldn’t have had a clue even where those locations mentioned were. Great narration by the way!

Fascinating to know, thanks!

Loved using it when I was a little girl😂❤

Thanks for your dedicated work in digitising these films. Such a pity sound isn't possible but you've done a good job selecting the music.

What are exploding fog signals?

Masterpiece that is

Fantastic

I was 21 in 1975. To think that the loco pulling the Enterprise is now in a museum, boy does that make me old!

I think that bridge is the red bridge not the barrow bridge

Hard to believe Irish rail has become the most anti cycle transport network in Europe. They went from something that ireland could be proud of to the disorganised sham network it is today

Brilliant work so interesting and inspiring to know your process. A legacy preserved and made available for the future. A great story so well told.

Hello Ciaran, great video and so very well presented. I am corresponding about the van appearing at Alfred Street, Cork and your request for info. I am surprised there are no replies to your request so here it is now. Any boy who collected model cars in the 1960s will be familiar with these vans and indeed they were everywhere for many years. The Commer BF was the ice cream van made by Matchbox for a number of years. That Commer BF, in real life, was replaced by the Commer Walk Thru van in about 1961. They were a large van and were everywhere. Builders had them, TV shops, butchers, P&T and any business that had large volumes of goods to move or large products to deliver. The Walk Thru was current until about 1971 or 72. Walk Thru was the official title as the driver could literally search his cargo without having to leave the van. They were badged as Commer, part of Rootes Group, UK Company, who also produced the Hillman, Singer, Sunbeam motors and Karrier Commercials. A long history here! Chrysler UK bought out the Rootes Group in 1967 and vehicles were re-badged later. This Walk-Thru was marketed as a Dodge and some people will remember later Hillman Hunters with Chrysler pentagon badges on them in later productions. You mentioned the Chevrolet P10 van and this is indeed connected. They have their origin in 1964 in USA. Everything is connected to everything else !! I wont go on any more! Fascinating subjects, trains and automobiles!! I wish I could live for another 100 years to enjoy every aspect of motorised transport. Keep up the great work, you!

Fantastic videos and sooo well narrated!!