An Irish interlude for St Patrick's Day

It being St Patrick's Day tomorrow I thought I'd post a few photos taken during a trip to Dublin that Dad and I took way back in 2004.

A Ryanair flight and a quick bus journey got us to Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile by mid-morning and we spent some time photographing the Irish Rail/Iarnród Éireann diesel locos that were pottering about…

Iarnród Éireann 141 class Bo-Bo DE 156 at Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile, 30/6/04

The Locomotive Shed at Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile, 30/6/04

Then a tip-off from a member of station staff led us around the corner to see this…

LMS Northern Counties Committee Class WT 2-6-4T No.4, 30/6/04

No.4, a Class WT 2-6-4T, was built at Derby in 1947 for the London Midland & Scottish Railway's Northern Counties Committee. Preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland No.4 was (and still is) regularly in use on special trains on the main line.

A less friendly member of staff then told us to 'clear off!' so we had a ride down the coast to Greystones station/Stáisiún na Clocha Liatha on a DART unit (Dublin Area Rapid Transit).

Greystones station/Stáisiún na Clocha Liatha with DART 8510 class 8614 heading for Howth in the platform, 30/6/04

A dash back across Dublin gave us enough time to take a few photos at Heuston station/Stáisiún Heuston (and enjoy a pint of Guinness!) before our flight home.

Iarnród Éireann 201 class Co-Co DE 234 at Dublin Heuston station/Stáisiún Heuston, 30/6/04

Sláinte!

BR's last standard gauge steam loco?

August 1968 is well known as being the end of main line steam on British Railways, the final surviving locomotives being mainly ex-London Midland & Scottish Railway class 8F 2-8-0s and class 5MT 4-6-0s with a smaller number of BR standard types (not forgetting the three 1ft 11¾in gauge ex-Vale of Rheidol Railway 2-6-2Ts).

But this particular locomotive is believed to have still been in service with BR as late as 1972!

LMS class 3F 0-6-0T 47564, 17/8/14

This LMS class 3F 0-6-0T 'Jinty' No.47564 was built by the Hunslet Engine Co Ltd in 1928 as LMS No.16647 and was withdrawn in March 1965 before being converted to a stationary boiler (No.2022) for carriage heating at first Holyhead then Red Bank Carriage Sidings in Manchester… where it remained until 'preserved' in 1972.

Acquired by the Midland Railway Trust for spares it is one of four 'Jintys' to be found around the Swanwick Junction site… I doubt it'll ever turn a wheel under its own steam again though… or heat a carriage for that matter.

An undated photo of the loco in its latter BR days can be found on this page (scroll down to 'Manchester Red Bank') on the excellent AbRail Rail Databases website along with a huge amount of information and photographs relating to other stationary boilers.

Driver J. Ball & Fireman C. Higgins

October 31 saw Dad and I once again taking advantage of London Midland’s ‘The Great Escape’ offer of one day’s unlimited travel on the London Midland network for just £15 each, this year’s trip taking us from Lichfield Trent Valley to Rugby, Stafford, Liverpool and Crewe.

I'd never been to Liverpool before and although I enjoyed the journey I didn't find much of interest at Lime Street station itself other than this…

Plaque commemorating Driver J. Ball and Fireman C. Higgins

The plaque refers to the crew of the 13.15 Liverpool to London Euston express on May 20 1937 who were seriously burned after a collapsed smokebox deflector plate in their London Midland & Scottish Railway Princess class locomotive caused a blowback that turned the footplate into a furnace. Driver Joseph Ball and Fireman Cormack Higgins stayed at the controls and brought the train safely to a stand outside Primrose Hill Tunnel just north of Euston station but sadly died in hospital the following day.

The memorial originally stood in the lobby at Edge Hill locomotive shed (where the men were a 'top link' crew) and a smaller plaque notes that it was removed upon the depot's closure, being rededicated by British Rail staff at its new location on platform 1 in 1986.

Interestingly the legendary railway photographer (and later Bishop of Wakefield) Eric Treacy was Vicar of St. Mary's Church in Edge Hill at the time and held a memorial service to the two men that became an annual event for many years.