Irish Rail Inspection Car Mullingar - Athlone 23-5-2006

[@FirstAid1]

Nice Video with beautiful landscape. Love the old semaphores. And even nicer it was made exactly on my 18th Birthday. Greetings from Austria!

[@stalban8687]

Many thanks for this wonderful footage. I am British but I have relatives in Mullingar and I can still rember aroundabout 1979 when there were still a few timetabled services that used this route, eg the Galway Mail

[@SouthernYard]

This route may see traffic again but it’ll be some time before that happens. The line from Mullingar to Athlone designed for fast running. The issue is the section from Mullingar to Dublin is slower and more congested.

[@karlbarry4151]

Absolutely stunning video and incredible moving, as this journey starts in mullingar my mind Is drawn to how many people stepped off that platform on to a train and emigrated back in the day, love to know what part of the world they now live in 🙏

[@SouthernYard]

Happened unfortunately on most stations in Ireland in the 50s to the 80s. Thankfully times have changed, but Mullingar to Athlone may not see a train again.

[@gerryconmy]

Fabulous video. Bring back memories of travelling back to Dublin on a Sunday in the cab with the Driver. I think the speed limit was 50mph but the line was as solid as a rock, wasent packed for years. Thanks for posting Gerry

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks Gerry. The line was laid for speed. Would be a good asset today if we’d had more foresight.

[@gerardquinn4513]

What year was that, that you travelled on that line. Fantastic countryside.

[@fgstf]

The most relaxing 44 mins I've had in a long time music is perfect ….Looking at the video and wondering what kind of story it could tell, sad to see it overgrown and closed.

[@SouthernYard]

Sad indeed to see it closed and a greenway on it.

[@gerardquinn4513]

I agree totally that the music is so appropriate. It could easily be brought back. I'm surprised it is not more overgrown. They must still use spray to kill the weeds.

[@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge]

I only rode this line once...about ' 94 , really value for money too. Regards, Darren.

[@philipmcdonagh1094]

You got to hand it to the 19th century planners. They didn't know there would never be two rail lines ever laid on this route but they built it to accommodate it. The evidence is clearly there. 150 years later, lets take the good old M50, built to take 4 lanes of cars, flyovers built to take 4 lanes of cars. 20 years later lets widen it, result mayhem for years. Had they built the flyovers to take another 2 lanes it would have taken 1/4 of the time and money. When it comas to Rail we lost any foresight we had left around 1950. If we knew what the price of oil was going to be back then today 08/03/2022 there would probably be 2 tracks here today and of course working. Thanks love this nostalgic stuff.

[@SouthernYard]

In fact this was a double track line all the way to Ballinasloe and singled in the 1930s I believe. It would have had lots of capacity built in. Sad to see it a greenway.

[@joeryan1153]

Really enjoyable video, great time capsule of how a line used to look.

[@SouthernYard]

It’s hard to believe looking at this that it was a double track line laid for speed back in the day.

[@domesticterrorist483]

The train stops to allow a pheasant to get out of the at the bridge 15:54 very sweet of the driver to not just squish it.

[@SouthernYard]

It was indeed!

[@seamusward8515]

So sad to see the state of it. It's a total shame to see it disused.

[@markolysynchuk5264]

Even sadder to see the tracks torn down and the railway turned into another greenway.

[@Dubhain82]

Thanks for posting this. Sad to see it like this though.

[@fiachramurray102]

It's a well maintained cycling route now

[@jordanmuldoon1670]

Interesting to watch all this old footage of irish railways, well before my time for most of it, I try to find as many old photos or videos of galway Station and the old freight yard but seems almost impossible 😅

[@SouthernYard]

I have videos uploaded here that show Galway station in the 1980s with freight.

[@alantuite459]

My Late father worked on this line...he worked with CIE all his life...as a boy living next to the mullingar to athlone railway line you needed no watch as the trains ran every couple of hours....this line should have never been closed....the government of the time in 1963 closed so many lines and stations in the country....madness at the time....

[@SouthernYard]

We're paying for those decisions today.

[@markolysynchuk5264]

Madness is to see all of it torn down sanctioned by today's government. Next time they will close the mainline from Dublin to Cork.

[@trainsandbusesirelandandbeyond]

I would love to come down to Mullingar to see this one day.

[@SouthernYard]

Now a greenway!

[@markolysynchuk5264]

Nothing to see anymore.

[@edwardnestor37]

I left from the old midlands station in 1976 for London, im still here lol, sad to see it neglected.

[@markolysynchuk5264]

I believe I've seen the map with this railway as a proposed route, in perspective continuing all the way to Portadown via Cavan, Monaghan and Armagh. I hope these plans will come to be one day, since the route already exists.

[@Whizzy-jx3qe]

That has been mentioned,back in the day The Stormont government closed most of the railways in the 6 counties leaving it with a skeleton railway. Omagh and Starbane cut off when the Derry line closed thus cutting off Donegal.

[@SouthernYard]

Yes, part of the All Island Strategic Rail Review. It’ll be interesting to see what elements of this plan actually get implemented.

[@thompsonchan1363]

It is a sad news that the railway lines become greenway, especially the line still have the chance to reuse.

[@SouthernYard]

Agreed especially when they have future potential. In some cases these are very short sighted decisions.

[@grahambo2005]

Was following the route on Google Maps The Then/Now differences are striking. Irritating to see Infrastructure being turned into "Greenway" Sign of the times I suppose, Country is broke.

[@SouthernYard]

The country isn't broke......anti rail agenda is evident in our national transport bodies.

[@RYNT1157]

A shame to see all these lines out of use , movies such as Darling Lili , The Pink Panther and the First Great Train Robbery were shot on this line.

[@SouthernYard]

This is progress Tom. Meanwhile they built a motorway adjacent to the line.

[@taker800]

Did I see some fencewire get taken apart there around the 14:43 mark ? :-D

[@SouthernYard]

You sure did! A regular occurrence on these lines. Farmers way of slowly reclaiming the right of way.

[@liamgaynor3576]

Really enjoyed the video

[@RJH1971]

Would there be any timing advantage in re-routing the Galway trains back this way again? I guess any time made up might be sacrificed getting caught in the traffic stream from Mullingar to Dublin particularly after Maynooth.

[@markleavy8511]

I doubt it as the canal which the railway follows twists and turns a lot resulting in many bends along the line. The current journey time between Mullingar and Connolly is around 1 hour 15 minutes I believe and it's an 80km journey. On the other hand Athlone a distance of 120km from Dublin at its most direct route. The train goes a longer route via Portarlington on the way from Athlone a bit of a detour adding I'd guess 20/30km onto the distance, so maybe 150km. In comparing average speeds over these distances Mullingar-Connolly averages 64kph whilst Athlone-Heuston (assuming its 150km away from Dublin via Portarlington) averages 100kph. Although the line is almost dead straight between Athlone and Mullingar, you probably wouldn't beat the current journey time if you went via Portarlington without extensive engineering works to improve the line speeds between Mullingar and Connolly. Nevermind the fact that Connolly is already overwhelmed by train traffic at the moment, the cost of rerouting trains via Mullingar probably doesn't add enough advantages for the customer and company.

[@johnfaris643]

There has been a road rearrangement where the Greenway begins in Mullingar which has physically severed the track, even though as has been noted it seems to be in situ along the Greenway.

[@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge]

I really like these videos, thanks for the great watch😃👍

[@SouthernYard]

Glad you like them!

[@liamgaynor3576]

It's madness this line should be open

[@markolysynchuk5264]

Agree, who's going to cycle from Athlone to Mullingar?

[@abeonthehill166]

The reason so many lines have closed in Eire is because freight was not taken into account; how many truck journeys could be removed from the roads if it was attractive ( lower Tax ) for freight to run on the railway ? I accept that some lines are “ no hopers” and should be removed and replaced with a Road or Cycle lane however, just because a line is a loss maker does not mean it should close; often extending can make it profitable and allowing all the people to have a national “ Bus & Rail pass” for €1200 per year would perhaps make public transport more attractive . In the UK in the 1960’s Dr. Beecham closed down many lines that we in the UK wish we could reopen again and, to be fair some have been reinstated and are well used. Just because Eire has a small population does not mean the lines from Waterford to Rosslaire should have been closed as that line could have been upgraded for freight as well as passengers with the aforementioned public passes i mentioned. If we truly want less car journeys then these lines must be returned for people and freight as evermore roads will not solve the Climate claims that Charlatans in Dublin Leinster House are always screaming about.

[@SouthernYard]

Plans are in place to change this mindset. Some lines will be reinvigorated and reopened over the next few years. Watch this space.

[@abeonthehill166]

@@SouthernYard ….i hope so as the Population of Eire is too low for a Railway to rely on Passengers travel alone. The same problem is in NI where so much of the Track has been closed and removed. Unlike in places like Russia, India and China . Even Bangladesh is investing heavily in renewing their Railway as their population is above 100 million !

[@johnmoran4905]

What was the idea of inspecting the lines years after they have closed?

[@SouthernYard]

Care and maintenance!

[@RJH1971]

01:43 wonder what loco that tender is from

[@SouthernYard]

I think 131? Could be wrong.

[@sulray]

Rode it 1950 -1960

[@martinbitter4162]

Was that line once double tracked? Is the line still in situ? Sadly I never travelled it. Amazed to see the amount of colour lights. Thank you for sharing.

[@SouthernYard]

Yes it was. It’s now a greenway though they left the track but you’d barely notice it now.

[@theshanster7596]

Why would you inspect the rails when it's all abounded?

[@SouthernYard]

Wasn’t abandoned then. They inspected to ensure the right of way wasn’t being compromised.

[@leonolanofficial4581]

I go along the greenway and invision them old trains roaring down the now covered up track

[@martindennehy3030]

This is the great alternative that the greens are offering us to ditch our cars. They give us greenways and cycle lanes everywhere for our bikes. That's progress.

[@SouthernYard]

This greenway seems to be lightly used. Would have made sense to reopen the railway.

[@markolysynchuk5264]

​​@@SouthernYard totally agree, especially since it's just a matter of laying track on top of existing ballast. There'd be no need to drive to either Athlone or Mullingar to go to Dublin for those living in towns and villages along the route. Would've saved time and reduced the need for cars.

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

Irish Rail and the Irish Government need to cop themselves on, stop making lame excuses and reopen this line to passenger trains NOW!!!!

[@SouthernYard]

Unlikely given it’s a greenway…..but you never know.

[@AndreA-ke2id]

Stopped watching as soon as the music started. Don't know why people insist on putting stupid music on great pieces of film like this. The natural soundtrack is what we should be listening to.

[@SouthernYard]

There is no sound on this recording by Irish Rail. Adding some music seemed logical. If you don’t like it you have two options; 1) turn off the volume, or 2) turn off the video. There are many who appreciate the video, music or not. I prefer the natural sound also but a film with no sound is not as easy watch as one with music added. I’ll continue to add music to any film where they have no sound.

[@AndreA-ke2id]

@@SouthernYard Thanks for the explanation. It was just my opinion. But of course I didn't realise there was no sound anyway. There are number of films on YT where the poster has put music over great engine sounds and I just thought this was another. Sorry. It would be annoying if someone put music over a 141, 071 or A class going past on full power.