Forums

The reality is that this island, as a whole, apart from having only one tenth the population of Britain, simply does not sustain anything CLOSE to the level of interest in railways as themmuns over there do. Oft-heard, over the years, be it close to Whitehead, close to the Wisht of Ireland, or waay down south, were murmurings to the extent that a Severn Valley, Keithley or Festiniog type operation would be "bound to be a success", often accompanied by that tiresome old canard "sure look at all the tourist revenue it would bring in". Such notions were, are and will be in my lifetime anyway, as divorced from reality as a tooth fairy. The ones that survive are the ones that were set up with - and retain - very modest cost bases, which will thus be able to operate with a very low level (by British or other standards) of visitor numbers. Moreover, again compared particularly with our neighbouring island, enthusiasts here are pathologically glued to their closed wallets (with a few notable exceptions) any time an appeal goes out for something. This type of stuff just isn't - unfortunately - in our culture. I can count at least ten possible preservation schemes which were either stillborn, or in four cases tried to get off the ground but ultimately faltered due to a number of reasons. Of those existing today, two appear to be struggling, while another will, I strongly suspect, not last the course. We have Dromod, Kilmeadan, Stradbally, RPSI and DCDR / ITG as going concerns. Each one of those, in their time, benefitted from financial aid no longer available. Places like Finntown and Moyasta are also deserving of our support (the former is publicly funded, otherwise it couldn't survive). However, put bluntly, an attraction like that, if placed in such a very remote location where there is no market but one of unrealistic pipe dreams - I would not be optimistic about. Yes, I do - very much - wish those two well - but, but.... Realism and practicality are often seen as "negative" by the dreamers and, eh, "enthusiasts" among us. But realism and practicality are what make things happen, not dreams. The "takeaway" is therefore that we must accept what we have, be grateful to the volunteers who make the operational lines happen, and support them on foot and by wallet in every way we can.

I'm actually astonished that this hasn't been done years ago.

Surely a Jeep…?

In my experience lineside fires are sometimes ignited by burning embers from the ashpan landing by the lineside.  A steam loco travelling at speed has an ability to fling embers at some distance from the track, I once spent a day dealing with this problem on a Welsh Narrow gauge line which was almost perfectly flat and speeds did not exceed 10mph. Farmers burning off gorse/dead vegetation in Spring has often been a cause of fires, Spring is usually considered to be the start of the Bush/Wildfire season in Australasia and New South Wales. Perhaps a case for a Gangers Trolley with firefighting equipment following steam hauled trains through a section as they do on the Cumbres and Toltec in the United States, but difficult to apply on account of Irish or UK because of signalling practice/regulation. On the subject of steam trains I found a 2018 trip on a diesel hauled Sea Breeze to and from Wexford in the RPSI Craven set something of an endurance test, while I really enjoyed a WT hauled trip from Connolly to Longford and back using the same coaches in 2005 really enjoyable.  Ironically I found driving to Wexford and taking photos of the Sea Breeze in the Vale of Avoca, Enniscorthy and Ferrycarrig on two occasions during the 90s much more enjoyable and relaxing than taking the train. Interesting family seemed to enjoy and appeared to consider 6+ hour journeys travelling on the Silverton and Cumbres and Toltec as a relaxing day out rather than an endurance trip possibly low speed and vintage cars contrasted nicely with our experiences of travelling by train in Ireland and the UK.

131 used to have a mesh over the damper to stop sparks from falling out. I assume it was removed at some point