PUBLIC TRANSPORT

All Photographs Supplied By William Murphy

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BLACKROCK TRAIN STATION AND NEARBY

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I USED A SIGMA DP3 QUATTRO CAMERA TODAY

The Dublin and Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) Railway was the first suburban railway in the world. The line began operating in 1834 and was built by William Dargan, an engineer from County Laois.
The idea for the railway arose from proposals by the merchants of Dublin to link the city with Dún Laoghaire Harbour, because the levels of silt at Dublin Port meant that large ships could no longer dock there and instead called at Dún Laoghaire. The line ran from Westland Row (Pearse Street) to Seapoint and shortly after was extended to Dún Laoghaire. Blackrock Station opened on 17 December 1834.

Blackrock once had a natural coastline which ran along the Rock Road. This disappeared when the train line was built in 1834 making the space between the road and the track into a marsh. Before the line was built, the locals used the beach as a bathing area.

This marsh area was the cause of local nuisance, as even though water would flow in and out with the tide, it was not enough to wash the area out. This made the marsh very unpleasant to the nose. It was later decided by the Blackrock Towns Commissioners to fill in the area and construct the Blackrock Park in 1873. The granite gates at the main entrance once belonged to a house called Vauxhall and the gardens at the entrance were part of the gardens of the old house.

In 2007, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council published plans for the conservation and development of the park. The plans include extensive redevelopment of the course of the Priory River, as well as refurbishment of several of the buildings within the park.

Blackrock baths were provided for by the railway company in 1839 and were built beside the Blackrock train station. A special train ticket also permitted entrance to the baths. In 1887, the baths were rebuilt in concrete with a large gentlemen’s bath and a smaller ladies’ bath. In 1928, the Urban District Council bought the baths for £2,000 and readied them for the Tailteann Games. The baths, with a 50-metre pool, were well known for their swimming galas and water polo and could accommodate up to 1,000 spectators. Eddie Heron lived in Sandycove and is known for his achievement as 36 years undefeated Springboard and Highboard Diving Champion of Ireland. A plaque commemorating him is on the railway bridge that crosses over to the baths.

BOOTERSTOWN MARSH AND TRAIN STATION

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I USED A SIGMA DP3 QUATTRO

Today I got the DART [Dublin Area Rapid Transit] to Booterstown and I then walked to Blackrock. The trains were packed and there were many visitors from the UK because it is a major holiday in the UK. I had intended to get a train from Blackrock to Dun Laoghaire but changed my mind as the last of my four batteries was at 20% [this is one of the major problems with the Sigma DP3 Quattro].

The area is home to Booterstown marsh, a bird sanctuary which has been leased for many years by An Taisce, who have worked to protect it. Species seen regularly include mallard, Eurasian teal, common moorhen, water rail, grey heron, little egret, common redshank, greenshank, Eurasian curlew, common snipe, Eurasian oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, common kingfisher, sedge warbler and dunlin.

The Catholic Church of the Assumption is a focal point of the area along Booterstown Avenue.

Booterstown has a dedicated Circus Field located along the Rock Road, where both Tom Duffy’s Circus (June/July) and Fossett’s Circus (October) are set up once a year.

The Old Punch Bowl pub, which stands at the bottom of Booterstown Avenue, was established in 1779.

Merrion Cemetery is an old cemetery that was used from the 13th century to 1866 and is located at Bellevue between Booterstown and Merrion off the Rock Road.

Booterstown was recorded in 1488 as one of the locations for the boundary of The Pale … “He’s out there … totally beyond the Pale of any acceptable human conduct.” That’s how the U.S. Army describes Marlon Brando’s rogue colonel, Kurtz, in the movie Apocalypse Now.

COBH TRAIN STATION

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PHOTOGRAPHED IN MAY 2023

RUSHBROOKE RAILWAY STATION

When I arrived in Cobh the weather was beautiful but about twenty minutes later I had to return to the station in order to shelter from an intense thunder storm. I decided to get the next train towards Cork city centre but as the weather had improved I got off the train at Rushbrook but after about twenty minutes more rain arrived.

Cobh railway station serves the town of Cobh, County Cork. It is located in a red brick building adjacent to the town’s Cobh Heritage Centre.

It is the terminus of the on Cork-Cobh section of the Cork Suburban Rail line. Travel to Glounthaune station to transfer to Midleton.

The station opened 10 March 1862 and was closed for goods traffic on 3 November 1975.

It began life as the terminus of the Cobh (then Queenstown) section of the Cork, Youghal & Queenstown Railway.

The present station occupies only a small part of the old station building. The original station was expanded greatly during the latter part of the 19th century as it served what was then Ireland’s largest emigration port which was also an important way-point as the last port between Western Europe and North America. The station was also the main receiving centre for mail for Ireland and Britain from the United States and Canada. Mail would be brought by ship to Cobh, processed and forwarded by mail express trains to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) on the outskirts of Dublin and on to Holyhead. This was faster than conveying by ship directly to Liverpool.

It is famous for being the station where hundreds of survivors of the RMS Lusitania disaster left the town of Cobh after surviving the sinking.

With the development and growth of transatlantic air traffic Cobh lost its importance as a mail and passenger centre. A significant part of the train station remained largely unused until the opening of the Cobh Heritage Centre in the front part of the station in the 1980s. At that time the station was also reduced to a single platform. The freight yard of the station has now become a public carpark while another part of the station has become a covered carpark for Cobh Garda Station.

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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 40

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AT WOLFE TONE PARK 5 MAY 2023

VISIT WOLFE TONE PARK

The feel of the area has greatly improved as a result of the greening of Wolfe Tone Park. This is now a well located and maintained docking station … of course all are well maintained but some locations are better than others.

NOW NOW NOW NOW

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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 77 WOLFE TONE STREET

The robust bicycles are produced by the French bicycle company Mercier in Hungary and are repaired by JCDecaux. They are three-speed bicycles, fitted with Shimano Nexus gears which can be changed up and down using a twist/grip shifter on the right handlebar. A Shimano hub dynamo in the front wheel generates power for front and rear always-on LED lighting. The bikes are fitted with Schwalbe Marathon tyres. Other components include a locking system, an adjustable cushioned saddle, a front bicycle basket, a kick stand and a bell.

Each station is equipped with an automatic rental terminal and stands for 20 to 40 bicycles. Initially, fourteen terminals have credit card facilities enabling the user to purchase a 3-Day Ticket.

If a user arrives with a rented bicycle at a station without open spots, the terminal grants another fifteen minutes of free rental time. The rental terminals also display information about neighbouring dublinbike stations, including location, number of available bicycles and open stands. A fleet of bicycle-transporting vehicles are used to redistribute bicycles between empty and full stations.

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 77 WOLFE TONE STREET 001