On Saturday 27th June 2009, Majella Foley (from Banteer, Co. Cork) and Kieran Gallagher (from Dungloe, Co. Donegal) were married in St Furseys Church, Banteer, Co. Cork on Saturday 27th June 2009.

To transport the 190 Wedding Guests from Killarney to Banteer for the Wedding and afterwards back to Killarney for the reception at the Malton Hotel, Killarney they hired a 3 car Intercity Railcar from Iarnrod Eireann. The train had been specially prepared at Laois Traincare for the happy occasion.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event.

A day tour using Mark III equipment as these carriages approach the end of their working life with Iarnód Éireann.

Planned Route: Connolly - Ballybrophy - Nenagh - Limerick - Tipperary - Limerick Jct - Thurles - Connolly.

Locos were 152+171 throughout. Sadly 171 suffered a hot engine at Thurles and shut down. The train was declared a failure and cancelled. Passengers were transferred to alternative Dublin bound services. A sad end to what was a good day out.

Pictures from this week include:

Monday:

224 on the Ballina - Waterford timber.

Tuesday:

079 on the last Tullamore cement plus 22032 and 22037 on Galway line passenger services.

Wednesday:

Photos from Sallins to see early morning services plus the last Tullamore cement which was hauled by 079.

Thursday:

085 hauled the bogie cement wagons from North Wall to Limerick for use on the Limerick - Waterford cement flow and 073 on an engineers train from Birdhill to Portlaoise.

Friday:

22013 went from Laois Traincare to Cork to work the Wedding Train on Saturday. Plus 083 worked the relay train back to Portlaoise from Birdhill.

Saturday:

Photos from Connolly, Limerick, Thurles and Portarlington.

A selection of Photos from the Bord na Mona systems in Co. Offaly.

Monday:

Pictures from Carn, Ballykillane and Geashill showing 201 + MKIII's on Athlone and Cork services, plus MKIV's and 22000's at Carn.

Tuesday has 22037 at Cloncoher between Geashill and Tullamore.

Wednesday has pictures from Cloncoher, Tullamore, Rosskelton. Lisduff, Templemore, Rathphelan.
Highlights from Wednesday include:

080 on the 0720 North Wall - Tullamore cement with 9 bogie bulks.

229 1530 Cork - Heuston, 8 MK III.

234 worked a 1230 Inchicore - Mallow and 1545 Mallow - Inchicore MKIII / MK IV trial train to compare ride comfort levels between the two fleets as part of the ongoing effort to improve the ride comfort of the MKIV fleet.

Photos of the test train at Rosskelton, Rathphelan and Mallow Station. Thanks to Loco 089 for the Mallow photos.

A bumper collection kicks off the week with an early morning trip to the Curragh to see the Tullamore - North Wall cement. Alas no cement ran due to operational issues but plenty of 22000 DMU's forming early morning passenger and empty stock workings.

A surprise return to the scene this week is the Weedspray train making its 2nd appearance for 2009. On Monday it went Portlaoise - Inchicore and returned to Portlaoise on Tuesday. I managed to photograph it at Ratheven, outside Portlaoise.

Late afternoon and early evening included a trip to Tullamore to see 224 stabled with the cement train, plus 234 on the 1710 Heuston - Afternoon at Portarlington. Finally an hour at Carn was spent in glorious evening sunlight to see 215 on the 1900 Heuston - Cork with a MKIII rake and the usual diet of MKIV's and 22000 DMU's .

Wednesday's photo is of 224 with the Tullamore Cement and Thursday has photos from Kildare showing 082 and 6101 which is on a wheel skate.

Saturday was a Dublin Suburban ramble from Sallins into Heuston, then Connolly - Howth Jct - Greystones - Connolly and then back out to Sallins.

A busy end to the week on Sunday with 082 and 6101 going from Kildare to Inchicore in the morning. Managed to photograph it at Kildare, The Curragh, Sallins and the Iron Bridge, Sallins. In the afternoon I took a spin to Thurles for the G.A.A. Waterford - Limerick Munster Hurling semi-final.

A round up of pictures of the LUAS tram system in Dublin. There are presently 2 unconnected lines open the Red Line using 3000 series trams and the Green line using 4000 series trams. This Gallery will be updated soon with other shots from the system.

Two pictures of the last Push / Pull operated 1710 Heuston - Athlone at Shanderry start the week off on Tuesday.

On Wednesday the Push / Pull returned to Heuston with the 0915 Galway - Heuston. This was the last MKIII Push / Pull passenger service, the set being withdrawn upon arrival at Heuston.

Also a couple of pictures of 22041 at Portarlington are included.

Thursday evening was a bumper couple of hours with all remaining MKIII sets in operation.

The following services were MKIII operated today:
0800 Heuston - Cork
1130 Cork - heuston
1710 Heuston - Athlone

0705 Athlone - Galway
0915 Galway - Heuston
1500 Heuston - Cork
1830 Cork - Heuston

0715 Cork - Mallow empty
0800 Mallow - Cork
0930 Cork - Heuston
1300 Heuston - Cork
1630 Cork - Heuston
2000 Heuston - Cork

1350 Heuston - Galway Gaeltacht special.
1740 Galway - Athlone Volvo Boat Race special.
1852 Athlone - Heuston empty.


Two photos from Friday morning sees 177 hauling the 0600 Limerick - Inchicore Wheel Carrier and one photo from Sunday showing 22041 at Killenard with the 1130 Galway - Heuston.

One picture of the new Clongriffin rail station from the air on final approach to Dublin airport and a few photos from Portlaoise, Cork and Rathmore on the Friday.

Day 5, the last day of the UK trip got off to a bad start. Due to an incident at New Milton, outside Bornemouth, all Weymouth / Poole - London services were suspended until further notice. Decided to hop onto the 0933 Southampton - Brighton Southern 377 to Fareham to get moving and then got a 444 on a Portsmouth - Waterloo via Eastleigh to Winchester. A short taxi ride later found me in Alresford station on the Mid Hants Railway for a spin to Alton and back again behind GWR 5205 Class No. 5224

Got the bus back to Winchester and then off to Southampton Airport for the flight home. The final photos of the weekend are from the air showing Southampton Docks and Eastleigh Works.