Irish Railway Rover Part 2

Irish Railway Rover Part 2

Michael presents ninety more pictures from his extensive personal archive of images taken in a twenty year period ending in 1995. The introduction of push-pull trains and railcars (as multiple unit sets are known in Ireland) led to the withdrawal of locomotive hauled trains, also the rationalisation of facilities associated with their everyday operations. The change to passenger train working came at the same time as a gradual withdrawal from freight services, which was mostly beyond the control of the railway companies. The result was a cull of locomotive classes and rolling stock, the images in this book represent the closing years of the traditional railway in Ireland. Michael was well placed to observe these changes, the rare privilege of all Ireland footplate passes led to an estimated 80,000 miles of footplate travel between 1982 and 1995 when he was able to closely observe railways at work in all parts of Ireland.