131 Steams again ...over 50 years later

I imagine in those days there was in fact very little cross-channel freight to justify a train ferry. The largest traffic seems to have been cattle (and Humans) on the hoof. International trade is a fairly recent phenomenon, in the pre-commodity era, most items were consumed locally.

 

Far from it. International trade predates the Roman invasion of Britain.

 

Yeah? well they never made it to Ireland did they!

 

Yeah. International trade may not have been in everyday items but stuff was traded nonetheless. E.g. Phoenician traders coming to Cornwall to trade for tin.
As for the Romans never making it to Ireland, maybe they did : http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba14/BA14FEAT.HTML http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-Roman_relations http://www.historyireland.com/pre-norman-history/hibernia-romana-ireland-the-roman-empire/

 

yes but did they or anyone else trade anything in bulk that would have needed to be transported elsewhere in Ireland other than the ports?. I'm pretty sure they never imported /exported enough to justify a Train Ferry!

 

We're going a tad off topic here but as the Romans predated the railways by some 1400 years, the volume of trade is a somewhat irrelevant.

 

that's rich seeing as it was you raised the Romans in the first place!

 

My, my we are touchy. It was merely a response to your remark that international trade was something relatively new. Anyway, we owe standard gauge to the width of Roman chariots so there is a railway connection.

 

I was also going to comment on the 'international trade' comment until my connection failed. Given that the British Empire was based on international trade I think it somewhat erroneous to describe it as 'a fairly recent phenomenon', even if volumes continue to grow.

 

In a "beyond the Pale" Irish context, there was very little movement of goods other than locally compared to Great Britain."Congested Districts" were the very reason some Rail lines in Ireland were built by Government subsidy. Whereas there was of course a lot of freight moved by Irish railways, you have to bear in mind that coal mining and other heavy industry were virtually non-existent and what bulk traffic there existed was moved mostly by coastal shipping and were consumed locally to the ports in the main because that is where what population there was outside Dublin was based.

One of the main "freights" that Irish railway s carried was emigrants, often the only rail journey in Ireland these people would ever make. You can't compare Ireland to Britain,
totally different set of circumstances.

To get to the point, had Irish lines been built to standard gauge, I don't think it would make a scrap of difference because the bulk traffic needed to sustain a train ferry never was there. Ask your self how many train ferries operated to France and how much traffic they handled, it wasn't much in reality and joined two of the greatest nations in the World t that time

GB companies such as the GWR had a substantial finger in the pie and would have seen an opportuity to convert to SG had it existed.

 

Yes there was a Train Ferry in Dublin , have a look at this. http://www.britishpathe.com/video/queer-craft-train-ferry-aka-a-queer-craft/query/Train+Ferry+Dublin

 

Seen it before, so rare a one-off it made the news

 

That's one ship where the bridge really was a bridge, with empty space underneath.

But where did it operate from and to? And why?

 

I can't answer your question directly, but Train Ferry No. 2 was one of three vessels built for the Government during WW1 for cross-channel service and subsequently sold to the Great Eastern Railway, who used them to establish their train-ferry services from Harwich. What this one was doing in Ireland, I have no idea.

 

Looking back through this thread, I now realise the significance of train-ferries to Ireland (or not).
Train-Ferries 1, 2 & 3, when built in 1917, were the first roll-on/roll-off train ferries used in British waters. Since the 5' 3" gauge was adopted in Ireland in the 1850s, the issue of inter-operability had obviously never been considered during that period of almost 70 years and subsequent events in Ireland put it out of court for good.
Incidentally, (and even further off thread!) Train-Ferries Nos. 1, 2, & 3 were taken-over by the Royal Navy in 1940, only No.3 survived the war and returned to railway service until 1957. No. 2, shown in the Pathe clip, was sunk by German shore artillery whilst evacuating troops from St. Valery-en-Caux in June 1940.

 

Did 171 get finished? The company undertaking its restoration has gone into liquidation. Sure the G5 project is also at risk with the company undertaking the build going out of business

 

ooh err she's still there as far as I know

 

Nightmare!! Was it put back together? There was a boiler for the Weardale Railways locomotive in bits there as well last I heard. They look to have dropped a few groups in it!

 

Good news on the RPSI website:-

23rd February - Locomotive News:
It's the news that many have been waiting years for, and which few thought would ever happen again. On the evening of Sunday 22nd February, No.131 once more ventured on to the main line, with a test run to Carrickfergus.

 

Did 171 get finished? The company undertaking its restoration has gone into liquidation. Sure the G5 project is also at risk with the company undertaking the build going out of business

Might be worth checking your facts before making these sort of statements, as I think you may have jumped to the wrong conclusion and are incorrect in what you say. My group is having a pair of bogies overhauled by RRNE and we are assured by them that they are still in business, it's a company from within a group that is being liquidated. It would be fraudulent on their part to lie to us, so I can only assume that what thy are telling us is correct.