The Trains

[Crankycorner]

Is it just me or were the old orange trains better? Not as nice inside but they’d more character. You get the train to Dublin now and it’s like being in a crap hotel room for 2 hours. The decor is so bland. And the livery is hideous.

 

[MerchantOfEnnis]

Is it just me or were the old orange trains better? Not as nice inside but they’d more character. You get the train to Dublin now and it’s like being in a crap hotel room for 2 hours. The decor is so bland. And the livery is hideous.

Depends which train you get. I have it down to a fine art - if the train you're booking doesn't have a carriage G then it's one of those crap monochrome pieces of shit with the faux leather seats that are about as comfortable as being road up the arse by a horse with no lube.

However, if you do see that carriage G is available then you get one of the nice trains with the big comfy blue seats.

Case in point, the 6:15 to Dublin gets you into Dublin before 9, but it is one of the shite trains. If you get the 7 however, you'll arrive just after 9 but you actually stand some chance of having a bit of a sleep.

I got the 7am this morning. Granted I arrived into the office an hour late, but I arrived semi refreshed.

 

[El Guapo]

too right. it was way better when you got to shit out of a hole in the jacks out onto the tracks.

god help you if you needed a wazz when you were stuck in portarlington for a half hour

 

[Crankycorner]

Depends which train you get. I have it down to a fine art - if the train you're booking doesn't have a carriage G then it's one of those crap monochrome pieces of shit with the faux leather seats that are about as comfortable as being road up the arse by a horse with no lube.

However, if you do see that carriage G is available then you get one of the nice trains with the big comfy blue seats.

Case in point, the 6:15 to Dublin gets you into Dublin before 9, but it is one of the shite trains. If you get the 7 however, you'll arrive just after 9 but you actually stand some chance of having a bit of a sleep.

I got the 7am this morning. Granted I arrived into the office an hour late, but I arrived semi refreshed.

Rode up the ass by a horse with no lube sounds like a really bad America song.

I miss the old days of feeling the train being shunted as the engine moved from the back to the front of the train.

I miss this interior. I miss the trains where you’d to open the door yourself from the inside to alight.

 

[MerchantOfEnnis]

Rode up the ass by a horse with no lube sounds like a really bad America song.

I miss the old days of feeling the train being shunted as the engine moved from the back to the front of the train.

I miss this interior. I miss the trains where you’d to open the door yourself from the inside to alight.View attachment 24817

Yeah that's premier league to be fair. Probably wouldn't get you to Dublin in 2.5 hours but it'd be pleasant.

I remember being on the Cork to Dublin train as a young child and there was an actual bar on the train. I remember going to get crisps or something and the barman was playing cards with some fella.

 

[Crankycorner]

Yeah that's premier league to be fair. Probably wouldn't get you to Dublin in 2.5 hours but it'd be pleasant.

I remember being on the Cork to Dublin train as a young child and there was an actual bar on the train. I remember going to get crisps or something and the barman was playing cards with some fella.

That’s it. Character. Nostalgia doesn’t always mean what was before was better but it had a charm and a glamour about it.

I remember going to a match when those great carriages were nearing retirement. All the jacks were clogged up with shit, the air con wasn’t working and it was 25 degrees in the middle of August. My brother was dying of a hangover and the heat got to him. He stuck his head out the window of the door and just as he did a train flew by in the other direction. He came back the seat white as a sheet!

The new trains are more comfortable but they’ll never give us those memories.

 

[MerchantOfEnnis]

That’s it. Character. Nostalgia doesn’t always mean what was before was better but it had a charm and a glamour about it.

I remember going to a match when those great carriages were nearing retirement. All the jacks were clogged up with shit, the air con wasn’t working and it was 25 degrees in the middle of August. My brother was dying of a hangover and the heat got to him. He stuck his head out the window of the door and just as he did a train flew by in the other direction. He came back the seat white as a sheet!

The new trains are more comfortable but they’ll never give us those memories.

Allow me to make your day my friend.

Michael Palin travelling from Derry to Kerry in the early 1990s on these old trains that we remember so fondly. An hour of bliss.

I didn't know preciously that Limerick Junction had the longest platform in Ireland, wow

 

[Crankycorner]

Allow me to make your day my friend.

Michael Palin travelling from Derry to Kerry in the early 1990s on these old trains that we remember so fondly. An hour of bliss.

I didn't know preciously that Limerick Junction had the longest platform in Ireland, wow

Oh I’ll absolutely give that a watch. Cheers.

Michael Portillo has an excellent series about the train network in the UK and has done a few in Ireland too. Well worth a watch.

 

[MerchantOfEnnis]

Oh I’ll absolutely give that a watch. Cheers.

Michael Portillo has an excellent series about the train network in the UK and has done a few in Ireland too. Well worth a watch.

Yeah I heard about that but haven't actually seen any, I like Portillo. I watched a show he did in Italy or somewhere using some old atlas as his guide.

Those big orange and black Iarnroid Eireann locomotives were the Kings. If you're ever travelling to Dublin on the train keep en eye out the window on the right just before you come into Heuston. The depot at Inchicore still has a few that are visible from the train

 

[Crankycorner]

Yeah I heard about that but haven't actually seen any, I like Portillo. I watched a show he did in Italy or somewhere using some old atlas as his guide.

Those big orange and black Iarnroid Eireann locomotives were the Kings. If you're ever travelling to Dublin on the train keep en eye out the window on the right just before you come into Heuston. The depot at Inchicore still has a few that are visible from the train

I’ve seen them a few times. Pity they are in a state of disrepair. Probably not economically viable to bring back into service and would imagine being used for parts but I’d hope they preserve a few.

A real pity the carriages have all but disappeared. I think some railway preservation society in Down has one or 2 but don’t know of any more.