Irish Railway Rover Part 3

This is the third in a series drawn from a personal photographic memoir over 30 years of observation, starting in 1975 during what are now regarded as the ‘museum years’ of post-steam Irish Railways. This period of momentous change saw the traditional infrastructure of mechanical signalling, travelling post offices, steam heating, goods train services and 19th Century station buildings, etc progressively give way to the utilitarian era. Train formations and their operation also changed beyond recognition as the traditional locomotive and carriage formation yielded to anonymous multiple unit operation. The author was uniquely placed to witness the closing years before regeneration changed so much. The rare privilege of all-Ireland footplate passes led to an estimated 80,000 miles of footplate travel between 1982 and 1995. During his extensive wanderings Michael met and made friends with many railwaymen of all grades including permanent way gangs, workshop engineers, signalmen, train crews and management.