Irish Rail class 071 locomotive, 083 has just crossed the border into Northern Ireland and is approaching Newry with a Dublin – Belfast service sometime in the summer of 1995.
Locomotive History
The eighteen class 071 locomotives are General Motors Electro-Motive Division EMD JT22CW series diesel-electric locomotives and 083 was built in 1976. It is still in service with Irish Rail.
Tags: 083
© All Rights Reserved
In the summer of 1995 I had my first “overseas” business trip. The part of British Rail I worked for had by this time been set up for privatisation as a semi independent business unit and was tendering for a resignalling project in Northern Ireland. As part of the tendering process I had three days in Northern Ireland visiting various signalling installations between Belfast and Newry. Whilst visiting Portadown I was able to capture Northern Ireland Railways class 111 locomotive, 112 as it arrives with a Dublin – Belfast service. Class 450 diesel multiple unit 452 stands in the other platform.
Locomotive History
The three class 111 locomotives are identical to the Irish Rail class 071 locomotives and are General Motors Electro-Motive Division EMD JT22CW series diesel-electric locomotives. 112 was built in 1980 and was on long term loan to Irish Rail from April 2003 until September 2006. The three Northern Ireland Railways locomotives (111, 112, and 8113) are used generally for engineers duties these days
Rescanned from original negative 4th September 2015.
Tags: 112 NIR Northern Ireland Railways
© All Rights Reserved
Northern Ireland Railways class 450 three car DMU 458 departs Lurgan for Belfast sometime in 1995.
Unit History
In the mid 1980s, Northern Ireland Railways was in the process of upgrading its rolling stock and provide for its Class 70 diesel multiple units. A total of nine three car trains were constructed by British Rail Engineering Ltd at Derby, between 1985 and 1987. They were constructed using underframes of existing BR Mark I coaching stock, and new Mark III bodyshells These were combined with refurbished power units and traction motors from the withdrawn class 70 units. They bear a strong likeness to BR class 150 DMU’s They remained in service until 2011 when they were withdrawn except 458 which is still (February 2012) in traffic.
Tags: 458
© All Rights Reserved
Broughty Ferry level crossing to the north of Dundee has a rather chequered history for the last fifty or so years. In 1967 British Rail proposed to replace the gates with manually controlled barriers however it would take twenty eight years of local opposition, petitions, political posturing, train collisions with crossing gates and lengthy periods of the crossing being closed to road traffic before this was achieved.
In 1994 the railways were privatised and the assets and staff were either transferred to Railtrack or parcelled up into business units prior to being sold off to the highest bidder. I personally found myself in the Signalling Projects business unit called Interlogic. One of our first contracts with Railtrack in the new privatised world was the extension northwards to Carnoustie of Dundee Power Box and the reinstatement of Broughty Ferry level crossing with manually controlled barriers (CCTV monitored) controlled by Dundee. The crossing was at that time closed following a train destroying the level crossing gates.
It is early in the morning of the official reopening of the level crossing in the summer of 1995 and the Interlogic Project Engineering and Construction Management team take the opportunity for a photo call. From left to right we have Mr David Gregory, Mr John Woolley, Mr Robert Hartley, Mr Hugh McClellan, Mr Richard Smith and Mr Jim Smith.
In 2001 the footbridge and signal box were removed as part of the station being renovated. According to figures released by the British Transport Police Broughty Ferry level crossing was the most dangerous level crossing in Scotland with 214 incidents of misuse reported between 2009 and 2013
© All Rights Reserved
In 1994 British Rail privatisation commenced with the infrastructure being taken over by Railtrack and the rest of British Rail being reorganised into business units that could be eventually sold. I found myself in a Signalling Projects business unit called Interlogic and we started to tender for future work. We were no longer constrained to our old, basically London Midland Region stamping grounds and in mid 1995 we tendered for our first overseas project. I, along with Mr Bill Cooper and Mr Dave Gregory had the pleasure of a three day Tenderer’s site visit. So where was my first overseas business trip? The answer is Northern Ireland and we had a very enjoyable three days visiting installations between Belfast and Newry. Here are myself and Bill Cooper waiting at Belfast Bus Station for the bus out to the airport on our way home. I note I have my trusty guards bag with me which I had acquired the previous year and used as a briefcase more or less continuously for twenty three years until I retired at the end on 2017.
Photo taken by Dave Gregory
Tags: New Photo Distillery
© All Rights Reserved