It was with a sense of excitement that we heard during the week that a Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, steam-hauled train would visit Cork City on Friday and Saturday as part of a six-day private charter tour, The Emerald Isle Explorer.
Saturday 18th June promised be the best day to view and photograph the train in the Cork area as the locomotive, WT Class 2-6-4T No.4 Tank Engine, would haul the 09.35hrs train from Kent station to Killarney. She would run, boiler first, to Mallow where, after taking on water, would proceed bunker first to Killarney. A recce of prospective vantage points was hurriedly done on Friday in preparation for the run for which the weather forecast was looking very favourable.
By 8.30am on Saturday, the locomotive was already well in preparation for the run as it sat, puffing silently, alongside two modern siblings in the sidings of Kent station. The coaches were also in preparation with staff attending to the final details.
Shortly after 9am, a diesel shunted the coaches into position alongside the mainline platform in the station while the locomotive ran around the outside of the station building, into the tunnel and reversed back to be coupled to them. Right on time and to the accompaniment of huge volumes of steam, smoke and a loud whistle, the train departed into the tunnel leaving many wide eyed children (and adults) behind who were only too glad to have caught a glimpse of times gone by.
Taking his second first place in a row, Finbarr O’Shea had plenty to spare this time around when he won Grade A in our fourth internal competition of the year, by the substantial margin of 47 points, with the steam train image below. The theme was ‘Vintage’ and this is how he made it:
As part of their tour of south munster, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) ran a train pulled by steam engines 85 & 461 to Midleton on Sat.9th May and members of the East Cork Camera Group went to various locations along the route.
I joined a few of them at Midleton station where we got a few shots of the train arriving, pulled by steam engine No. 85. Shortly after, engine No. 461 came to pull the train on its return journey.
It was now time for us to go to our cars and find a vantage point for the return leg. I settled for the level crossing at Waterock just outside the town, where I got my picture.
The camera settings were f5.6 1/400sec, ISO200, lens 24/70 at 70mm.
The run was part of the RPSI’s 45th International railtour entitled ‘Saint Canice Railtour’ which runs from 17/5/14 – 19/5/14 and which we first heard about from Finbarr O’Neill during his talk to the Group on 15/4/14. Since the trip to Kilkenny would be the nearest the steam trains would get to Cork during this railtour, members of the Group resolved to try to capture the event in some form or other. We settled on the viaduct over the river Barrow at Muine Bheag as one place to shoot and also McDonagh station in Kilkenny where the train would stop for a couple of hours.
Following an early departure from the Midleton Park Hotel, we scoped out our location at the viaduct and breakfasted in Muine Bheag which was just beginning to awaken on this quiet Sunday morning. As well as providing the hearty start to the day, the eatery also provided coincidentally precise inspiration with its charming paintings of steam locomotives that had visited the town in past times.
Suitably bolstered on the double, we returned to the viaduct and set up the gear: one remote camera with wide angle lens set by the river bank, two hand-operated cameras and one video camera. Rain threatened and some drops did fall but thankfully we escaped the downpour that would arrive soon afterwards.
Fully set up, we awaited the arrival of the star of the show and right on cue, a whistle was heard in the distance along with the ever increasing rumble of an approaching train. Then, despite the advance warning, locomotive 461 pulling seven coaches seemed to appear out of nowhere and, accompanied by a crescendo of shutter clicks, crossed the viaduct and was gone with nothing but a whiff of burning coal left in the air. But for the absent ‘clickity clack’ sound, long since smothered by the development of continuous welded rail, this could have been a scene from 1922, the year that this enduring servant to Irish rail transport was built.
By the time we reached McDonagh station in Kilkenny, which is a cul-de-sac for rail traffic, the engine had already been uncoupled from its coaches, which were standing at platform 2, and was in the process of turning around at the Lavistown Loop Line outside the town in preparation for the return journey. Personnel from the RPSI and Irish Rail in hi-vis attire were busy preparing for the return of the locomotive to the station where routine maintenance would be carried out in a siding prior to departure. Despite the fact that each had their jobs to do, they made time to answer some rookie questions from enquiring photographers and, while ensuring all safety points were observed, were most accommodating in allowing us photograph the unfolding scene.
Volunteers all, the RPSI members are clearly and rightly enamoured of their locomotives and other rolling stock which have all been lovingly and painstakingly restored in their spare time. I suspect that only God knows the number of hours spent by the many people involved over the years, that has culminated in the trip covered in this post. Well done to all and thanks to everyone for your generosity to us during our short time with you in Kilkenny and Carlow. We hope to see you in Cork some time soon.
Please mouse over the image below to see and activate the slideshow controls. Enjoy.
It was with a sense of excitement that we heard during the week that a Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, steam-hauled train would visit Cork City on Friday and Saturday as part of a six-day private charter tour, The Emerald Isle Explorer.
By 8.30am on Saturday, the locomotive was already well in preparation for the run as it sat, puffing silently, alongside two modern siblings in the sidings of Kent station. The coaches were also in preparation with staff attending to the final details.
