PUBLIC TRANSPORT

All Photographs Supplied By William Murphy

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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 29 ON ORMOND QUAY

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I USED AN OLD SIGMA DP3 MERRILL

Ormond Quay was the first of the quays to be built on the north bank side of the River Liffey, complete by c. 1680, developed by Sir Humphrey Jervis and named in honour of the Duke of Ormond who instigated the trend for building houses facing the river.

Early in 2013 I purchased a Sigma Dp3 Merrill and while it could produce the best images ever it was in reality a disaster. The batteries could at times last only long enough to capture 40 images [at best no more than 80] and one could forget about selecting any setting other ISO 100. In order to process RAW images one needed to use Sigma’s Photo Pro 5.5 which was supplied with the camera.

Recently I discovered that Photo Pro 6.8.3 was much more user friendly than the version supplied with the camera so I decided to charge all eight batteries, that I still had, and use the camera for a day (22 April 2021) but unfortunately the weather proved to be way too wet. Two of the batteries were exhausted after ten captures.

The DP3 Merrill was the latest of a trio of almost identical compact cameras released by Sigma, all named for Dick Merrill (1949-2008), the co-developer of the Foveon image capture system. The DP1 Merrill and DP2 Merrill were announced in early February 2012. The former features a 19mm f/2.8 lens that provides the equivalent of a 28mm field of view in 35mm format, while the DP2 Merrill has a 30mm f/2.8 lens with a field of view equivalent to 45mm. Unveiled on 8 January, 2013, the DP3 Merrill sports a 50mm f/2.8 lens with a 75mm equivalent focal length that is ideal for portraiture.

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 26

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AT MERRION SQUARE WEST

All the original 18th century properties in Merrion Square have survived to the present day except for Antrim House which was demolished to make way for the National Maternity Hospital in the 1930s. Three sides are lined with Georgian redbrick townhouses; the West side abuts the grounds of Leinster House (seat of the Oireachtas), Government Buildings, the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery. The central railed-off garden is now a public park.

The Wellington Testimonial to commemorate the victories of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was originally planned to be located in Merrion Square. However it was built in the Phoenix Park after opposition from the square’s residents.

MAYNOOTH RAILWAY STATION APRIL 2023

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A BEAUTIFUL SETTING

The station is situated on the south side of the Royal Canal, opposite Dukes’ Harbour. Access to Maynooth is by either the footbridge to the west, which leads to the Main Street of Maynooth; west along the canal walk to residential areas of the town, or via the road bridges to the east, which lead north to the older part of Maynooth, or south to the newer areas.

The station has two staffed ticket desks and four automated ticket machines, one inside and three outside the station building. The ticket office is open from 06:00 AM to 23:15 PM, Monday to Sunday.

The footbridge crossing the tracks and connecting the two platforms was originally situated at Lansdowne Road railway station.

From Maynooth onwards to Sligo, the line is a single-track railway, the line being a double-track railway from Maynooth to Bray.

The 2018 NTA Heavy Rail Census showed 6,625 passengers using the station on the day of the survey, up from 6,228 in 2017 and 5,262 in 2016.

PEARSE STATION WAITING FOR A TRAIN TO DALKEY

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EASTER WEEKEND 2023

Easter weekend did not start well for me. I arrived at Pearse Station after discovering that there was no general public access to Trinity College only to discover that trains terminated at Dun Laoghaire [Good Friday – Easter Monday]. The limited service will be a problem for me on Easter Sunday as I had been invited to Sunday lunch in Dalkey.

Pearse railway station or Dublin Pearse is a railway station on Westland Row on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland. It is Ireland’s busiest commuter station and second busiest station overall (behind Dublin Connolly railway station) with 9 million passenger journeys through the station in 2016.

Major renovation commenced in 2007 with publicity erected in the station for this in March 2008. As part of phase 1, automatic ticket validation machines were installed on platforms 1 and 2. The front entrance of the station was changed. The former Spar shop was completely taken out of the station and the old ticket barriers were removed. Platforms 3, 4 and 5 were removed. New signage and CCTV cameras were added on both active platforms and, on Platform 2, a larger waiting area for passengers was provided.

An additional Southbound entrance (Pearse Street and Trinity Bio Science) was opened 9 April 2013. At the official opening of the entrance by Minister Leo Varadkar the National Transport Authority used the term Pearse Street Station[c] in the title of a page on its website although there was no evidence of any official renaming. with other examples of that usage in media elsewhere.

The roof structure comprises two main sections – the main station area roof has 40 barrelled roof trusses, each spanning 28 metres, over 38 bays, with additional gable end structures at both ends. Adjacent to the main station roof there is a second similar roof, which covers a car park and station infrastructure area. This is smaller and comprises 19 trusses over 18 bays. A €10m roof replacement project started in August 2018 and was completed in June 2020. Pearse Station was closed for 13 weekends over the two years to facilitate the replacement project. During these weekends, northside DART, Maynooth and Drogheda services operated to and from Connolly Station, with southside DART and Rosslare services operating from Grand Canal Dock.

IT BEGAN TO RAIN AS SOON AS I GOT OFF THE TRAM

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LUAS TRAM TRAM STOP AT DRIMNAGH

I was on my way to Tallaght but because the tram was too crowed for my liking and as the journey was proving to be unpleasant I decided to get off at the Drimnagh stop. As I was exiting the tram it began to rain. I then took the opportunity to visit the old Goldenbridge cemetery and the immediate area.