Ironing The Land - Towards The Millennium

[@joshuaW5621]

I’m so glad the Harcourt Street line has now mostly been revived as part of the Luas. We need to keep reopening the disused railway lines across the country.

[@MrMansun95]

missed oppertunity 2 extend it down to Shankill !!

[@joshuaW5621]

@@MrMansun95 yeah, who knows when they’ll get it to Shankill and Bray. I think they’re planning to get round to it after the extension to Finglas and Charlestown opens.

[@IrishModelRail]

I love the way he says at 17:10 that rail is more environmentally friendly while a shot of 185 giving out some great clag is shown!

[@TheIrishMainline]

lol I didn't cop that before, great timing! :D

[@phillipwilloughby5013]

It was pulling a Mk3 so it was on shunting duty. The Mk3 was hauled by the 071's and 201's on passenger services, and the 141's and 181's were used to shunt them from Heuston Station to the maintenance depot (not Inchicore but that blue shed close to Heuston Station), then shunted back into Heuston in time for its next service. A train would arrive into Heuston, a 141 or 181 would take it through the train wash beside the maintenance depot at 2 MPH, then it's reversed into the depot, and the loco goes away until the train is ready. Later in the day, a 141 or 181 would pull it out of the depot, reverse it into Heuston, then that loco would go away, and an 071 or 201 would come from Inchicore for the service. Here's a two day cycle of one of the Mk3's in 1999. 👇 DAY 1 Arrive into Heuston at 10.00 from Waterford. Go to maintaince depot. Depart 17.30 to Limerick. Stay in Limerick overnight. DAY 2 Arrive into Heuston from Limerick. Depart 11.00 to Cork. Return to Heuston. Depart 18.25 to Waterford. Stay in Waterford overnight. ***CYCLE REPEATS***

[@vicsams4431]

Regardless of politics, I wish every government across the globe had a pro-rail chap like Albert Reynolds. What a marvellous asset to Ireland, that man is.

[@retrocd7991]

22:05 people today even say they shouldnt have closed the west cork railway down. Infact that goes for all three of these railways

[@irishrailtrains]

A very interesting video there Danny.

[@TheIrishMainline]

Yeah it's pretty good, glad I taped these back then as they've never been shown on RTÉ since!

[@headgroundsman1650]

RIP Dick Warner

[@oliverjumelle]

the celtic tiger was a good thing for the railways. although at the time some lines remained closed. all the mainlines were compleatly relaid. i live just across from the limerick to athenry line for years and before the line was reopened in 2010 it had not seen a train in 10 years apart from the annual weedspray train

[@IrishModelRail]

Excellent documentary Danny but I have noticed one of the mistakes you told me about. He say the railways were amalgamated into the GS&WR when he should have said GSR:D

[@TheIrishMainline]

Spot on Seán that was one of them anyway! There might be others but it's donkeys years since I watched half of these.

[@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies]

Amazing to think that if you went back to 1970s Ireland said that more people than ever are using rail in Ireland and Dublin has a very busy tram system while underground rail lines are being built no one would believe you.

[@jamiegreenwood4159]

Joe Meagher also appeared in New Horizons Volume 1 Ireland by Telerail

[@martinbitter4162]

how much the prediction differs from reality

[@phillipwilloughby5013]

Seeing so many electric scooters around these days, wouldn't be surprised if the government proposed "scooterways".

[@markleavy8511]

to be perfectly honest I think we depend too much on the car

[@marvwatkins7029]

Dick Warner is an Irish name indeed, but this accent sounds RP, as if he attended Harrow or is an Old Etonian. A great voice, but one with a brogue might've sounded and thus been more appropriate.

[@marvwatkins7029]

Andrews: Eire's Beeching: but earlier.

[@phillipwilloughby5013]

1999... oblivious of the hideousness to come. The scrapping of the Mk2 and Mk3, the arrival of the horrendous 22000 Class DMU's, withdrawal of the 141 Class locos, ten of the 201 Class locos (201-205 and 210-214) going into storage and are now being cannibalised for parts for the operational 201's. At least now we have our glorious motorways and I have my car so to hell with trains. 😝

[@majesticdragon2877]

hi

[@nigelmurphy6761]

That was a big mistake closing the Harcourt Street Railway in the late 1950s. It may have made economic sense at the time but in a practical sense, a big mistake. Thank goodness the LUAS now runs along most of it!

[@TheIrishMainline]

One of many mistakes made during the period of rationalisation sadly, some closures were just far too radical.

[@paramanicireland8199]

The Irish Mainline I think an even worse mistake was closing the south kerry line, it would be great for tourists now

[@cman3264]

Its so wrong how one man had the power to shut the railways and the governments did nothing to save the tracks and stations that could have been made into greenways.