Irish Terminus.con : Transport Pic of the Week Page
This page will operate until Irish Transport.net becomes operational.
The 141 Class loco fleet of Iarnrod Eireann, now largely dwindled in number, face an uncertain start to 2010, with rumours of their demise during the year common. However the class will feature on railtours during the early half, with trips on February 21st & March 6th 2010 between the RPSI & ITG.
177 shunts at Limerick on June 27th 2009 during the IRRS Mark 3 Railtour.
Bit of a flashback to 2007 for this week, when Airbus were conducting tests on their new Airbus A380 aircraft prior to service entry.
F-WWOW (Airframe cn001) is seen here on line up for takeoff at Toulouse Blagnac Airport on July 25th 2007.
The future of Stena Line's Dun Laoighre HSS route to Holyhead has been under the spotlight as of late, with the service due to take it's yearly hiatus on January 5th , and uncertainty as to what will arrive back in February.
In the meantime the Stena Explorer, mainstay of the service since April 1996, sails on and is seen here leaving Dun Laoighre on December 21st 2009.
Photo of the Week December 4th 2009
A sight unlikely to se seen again anytime soon, on June 27th the IRRS ran a Mark 3 Railtour from Dublin to Limerick via Nenagh. 077 is seen here arriving into Connolly with the set for the tour. Below the 141's used : 152 & 171 : await access at Heuston to the mainline.
Dwarfed by Stena Line's Stena Europe and clearly showing the concept of "Rail & Sail", Arriva Trains Wales Class 150 no 150250 departs Fishguard Harbour on the 13.27 Fishguard Harbour - Cheltenham Service on October 27th 2009, while the Europe loads up for it's 14.30 sailing to Rosslare.
For the record, the service left and arrived at Fishguard with excellent loadings for the ferry.
Fastnet Line's new vessel "Julia" , at Cork's Horgan Quay on September 25th 2009, shortly after arrival from Swansea & Kokta, Finland.
The Vessel will enter service between Cork & Swansea from March 1st 2010.
On July 30th 2009 the latest investment of Transport21 was launched, when the €75m Cork - Midleton Commuter service reopened, bringing passenger services back to Midleton after a near 40 year gap.
The new service, launched by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey (seen below waiting for the train back to Cork) , was well recieved by locals, and free travel by Iarnrod Eireann. 2600 Class set 2601+2602+2605+2616, seen here , formed the first service, a 12.15 Special. The second service was provided by 2600/2700 hybrid set 2609+2716. An example of the crowds can be seen below.
The last remaining former Sealink ferry in service on the Irish Sea is the Stena Caledonia, the 4th and last of a Cortet of ferries ordered from Harland and Wolff in the Late 70's / Early 80's. The ship, built for Irish Sea services spent many of her early years on the Dun Laoighre- Holyhead Route, but has spent much of it's career in the Northern Channel, operating out of Stranraer to Larne until 1995, when the route moved to Belfast.
She is seen here at Stena Line's New Belfast terminal on April 16th 2009. Despite rumors of an imminent demise, the ship seems to be experencing a rennssance, with Weekend Belfast cruises now being offered on the recently £1.8m refirbished vessel.
A somewhat unusual Transport photo of the week for April 9th, an aerial view of Bray DART station, as seen on the morning of October 16th 2008.
2 Dublin Bus ALX400's can be seen in the bus terminus, while the station is occupied by 3 DART sets, which appear to be Mitsui 8500/8600 Class sets.
Apoligies, after a brief interlude Photo of the Week is now back online.
Norfolkline's "Dublin Viking" is seen here at her berth in Dublin Port on March 20th 2009. Built as "Mersey Viking" in 1997, she became Dublin Viking in 2005 with a switch to the Dublin - Birkenhead (Twelve Quays) route in 2005/2006.
A Somewhat Delayed Transport Pic of the Week, this time from the Airport. Low Cost Operator Ryanair in the past has seen the virtue of operating Aircraft with all over advertisements, such as Cable & Wireless, seen on Boeing 737-800 EI-CPC, at Dublin Airport before the morning flight to Manchester on July 16th 2006.
The Aircraft no longer carries this color scheme, being sold by Ryanair in 2008 to the Brazilian Carrier VARIG.
On January 31st / February 1st the RPSI ran their "Toplink" railtour from Whitehead / Dublin to Cork, to commerate the service Tony Renehan of Iarnrod Eireann has given to the RPSI. However in a rarety for a Steam service was looped at Sallins & Naas.
No 4. is seen here on the 31st coming through the Station Cork bound, after coming off the loop.
This weeks's update comes from the Baltic region, showing Tallink's "Silja Festival" on it's berth at Stockholm (Frihamm) on January 26th 2009, before setting off for Riga (Latvia).
The ship is part of the Estionian Based opertor Tallink , who, over the past 10 years, have expanded hugely, to encompass 3 rival operators. Silja Festival passed to Tallink in August 2008, from Silja Line, which had been bought by Tallink in 2006. Tallink is not a strange name to Irish Maritime, they chartered the former Irish Ferries vessel "St Partick II" over several winter seasons in the early 1990's.
A Site which has taken a hit in the past few months is that of loco hauled trains, such as the above of "201" class loco no 204 "River Barrow" pounding through the Curragh.
The arrival of new 22000 Class Railcars from Korea has largely made Mark 3's and some 201's redundant, and as such only a handful of Mark 3's remain in front line service. How much longer some of these will last before more DMU's take over is anyone's guess.
** Note : T/Port pic of the Week will now be updated on Fridays and as such their will be an additional update this week**
