peat loading equipment (right) and peat transporting equipment (left). Unloading of the cars is by simply turning them around...

reserve

The peat hauling trains predominantly run in two. Just before sunset, two trains are leaving Edenderry power station for the bog at the distance of sight.

LM 355 brings the empty ash-train back to the power station at Shannonbridge. With these cars, each of them carries two covered moulds ("fly"-ash!), the ash is brought to an empty bog fo... (more)

LM 342 is basically a 1972-built Hunslet (GB-Leeds), which has just been rebuilt in Bord na Mona's Blackwater Workshops: new cab, new Cummin's diesel, new paint. Good for many more years of work i... (more)

LM 406 (LM=locomotive) brings in another load of peat for the power Station at Shannonbridge, one of three in Ireland which fires peat to produce electricity. The locomotive has around 10... (more)

LM 396 (LM=locomotive) brings in another load of peat for the power Station at Shannonbridge, one of three in Ireland which fires peat to produce electricity. The locomotive has around 10... (more)

Track layer RL3 is ready to return to work in the Bloomhill bogs of Co. Offaly. The extra-wide tracks on the crane are necessary to distribute its weight and prevent it from sinking into the bog..... (more)

The sun does, in fact, occasionally shine in Ireland. About halfway through the unloading process at West Offaly Power Station's tippler, LM405 catches some rays. At right, a second rake has arr... (more)

On the first day of my honeymoon, I arrived in Dublin at sunrise, obtained our rental car, figured out how to drive a stick left-handed, nervously ventured out onto the roads and set off for Shann... (more)

The West Offaly Power Station tippler functions by rotating through 360 degrees, dumping peat out of the loaded wagons into the receiving pit below. Dumping is well underway in this scene; while ... (more)

An overview of West Offaly Power Station from the roof of the storage silo, looking south. This 150 MW power plant is fueled by peat stripped from nearby bogs in Cos. Offaly, Roscommon and Galway... (more)

Locations where Bord na Mona's 3-foot narrow gauge tracks cross public roads are guarded by manually-operated gates and split-point derails (known locally as "catch points"). Normally left with t... (more)

This photo encapsulates how temporary loading tracks are laid in the bog: First, the mound of dried peat at left is notched by a bulldozer to create a (somewhat) level path that acts as roadbed. ... (more)

A proud man and his machine: The driver of haul locomotive LM409 poses in the cab door for a photo somewhere in the Bloomhill bogs of Co. Offaly. The 3-foot-gauge track under the loco is temporar... (more)