Lanesborough ESB
County Longford
Ireland
Gauge : 3 Feet
Part of the Mountdillon Bord na Mona railway network.
(Click on images for full size picture)
Taken in April 2000, this is Lanesborough Power Station on the banks of the Shannon in central Ireland. This is one of 5 peat burning power stations still operating in Ireland.
Looking away from the power station the many tracks of the reception sidings stretch away into the distance. Trains come into here 7 days a week, around the clock to keep up with the demand for fuel.
At the end of the reception sidings are the tipplers. Generally there is just one in use. At this point the railway operation has passed into the responsibility of Lanesborough ESB, and the operation is handed back to Bord na Mona after tipping, at a point 50 yards away from the power station.
The tipplers in the power stations are 360% tipplers, which roate the wagons while they are still coupled up. A creeper system moves the rake of wagons through the tippler for collection on the other side.
An unidentified Hunslet Wagonmaster waits in the reception sidings, while its wagons are emptied.
A Hunslet 4wDH brings in another train of peat into the sidings. This design of locomotive was the final design delivered to Bord na Mona by Hunslet.
Wagonmaster LM247 is from a batch of locomotives built in 1965, and is seen here in charge of a fuel wagon.