Tullamore Train Station: 2011
- The station in Tullamore is very busy in the mornings with people travelling up to Dublin for work and college and many other reasons. We will be carrying out a survey soon to find out more about the passengers who travel from the station.
- The current stationmaster is Mr. Eoghan Brennan and he has been really helpful in showing the boys around the station. His colleague Mr. Vincent Donohue also showed some of the boys around also.
- We were particularly fascinated with the CCTV cameras, the speaker system at the ticket desk and the lifts which are located at the new footbridge! (probably because we got a chance to use them and there were buttons involved!)
- We identified all of the ‘protected structures’ at the station. These are structures which Tullamore Town Council has designated as ‘protected structures’ which means they are not to be altered in any way or demolished because they are of architectural and historical importance to the town.
- We also learned a lot about accessibility at the station and all of the awards the station has won. Here’s a summary of our findings:
Protected Structures and Buildings at the Station
There are 3 buildings at the station which are listed as ‘protected structures’ in the records of Tullamore Town Council: The station building itself where passengers buy tickets and wait for trains; a small storage building to the right of the station building and the old signal cabin which was used up until 1984.
Station Building
Storage Building
Old Signal Cabin
At the station also there are two bridges which are protected structures: the old footbridge which came from Roscrea and was built by E. Manisty in Dundalk; ‘Gaol Bridge’ which carries Charleville Rd over the railway line leaving Tullamore towards Portarlington.
Old footbridge
Gaol Bridge
The Main Station Building:
The main station building is accessible off the Kilcruttin Rd., which is located across from the Old County Gaol (that’s why the bridge going over the railway line is called ‘Gaol Bridge’).
The building contains the ticket office, the stationmasters office, a waiting area and public toilets.
Here’s a photo of the inside of this building:
Inside the main building at Tullamore Train Station
Awards
The station at Tullamore has won many awards! We are very proud of that as people who live in Tullamore. Here is a piece from the Irish Rail about when Tullamore won ‘Best Station Award’ in 2002:
In the eleventh annual Waterford Wedgewood-sponsored Iarnród Éireann Best Station Awards, Tullamore Station in Co Offaly was named Best Overall Station on the Iarnród Éireann network. The awards took place at Dublinia in Christchurch today (Tuesday 1 April), and were presented by Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan TD. Chosen from over 130 stations nationwide, this busy commuter and Intercity station on the Galway line received a magnificent Waterford Crystal sculpture of an Iarnród Éireann locomotive as part of the prize for winning the Best Overall Station title. This is the first time Tullamore has won the overall award, succeeding last year’s winner, Drogheda. Tullamore was also named Best Intercity Station. Station Manager Ann Breslin was on hand to receive the awards. The Waterford Crystal Iarnród Éireann Best Station Awards reward excellence in customer facilities, cleanliness, innovation and customer service in the country’s railway stations, with Tullamore scoring highly in all categories. The judges remarked “it can be seen straight away that Tullamore take the competition very seriously and the hard work and good upkeep over the years is reflected. The station is very well run and the staff are very friendly and efficient.”
(http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=76)
More recently (May 2011), the station came second in a regional award and this award was featured in our local newspaper:
Tullamore train station also picked up honours, coming in second in the Leinster area and being highly commended by customers in the areas of staff helpfulness, staff appearance, station appearance and customer information. It echoes top class results the station gets every year in the Tullamore Tidy Towns and its Grade A Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) results. Station manager for both Tullamore and Clara Eoghan Brennan said honours for both stations was great. “As Station Manager for both Tullamore and Clara I’m delighted to see both stations feature in the Station Awards,” he said. “We have a truly dedicated staff that keep our doors open on a daily basis and work hard to deliver a punctual train service to meet customer needs.”
Here are a list of awards our station has won:
1997: Most improved Intercity Category
1999: Third Prize, Most improved Intercity Category
2002: First Prize, Intercity Category
2002: Best Overall Station
2003: Second prize, Intercity Category
2004: Second Prize, Intercity Category
2011: Second Prize, Leinster region.
The layout of our station:
The station building leads out to the platforms. There are two platforms. The one on the nearest side is for trains coming from Galway going to Dublin. The one on the other side of the footbridge is for trains arriving from Dublin going to Galway. We also have a new footbridge which has lifts that help people with disability to get to the other platform.
On the main platform which takes people travelling in the Dublin direction, there is a lovely area which has lots of flowers and renovated old objects from the area. Here’s what it looks like:
Dublin Platform: Waiting Area
Isn’t it lovely? We think it really adds to the overall appearance of the station. Here’s one of the boys trying out the bike!
On yer bike!
Here’s what it looks like from the Galway platform:
and here’s another view showing the new footbridge:
The goods trains carry materials to a Coca Cola factory in Co. Mayo and the ones that stop at the station deliver cement for Irish Cement. Here’s a picture of all of us meeting the driver of a goods train:
