Pearse

Pearse Station, formerly known as Westland Row up to 1966, on the south side of the River Liffey in Dublin City, was is in fact the starting point of the first railway to be built in Ireland, that of the Dublin & Kingstown Railway which opened in December 1834 and ran south to Kingstown, now Dun Laoghaire. Westland Row Station became a through station in May 1891 when the City of Dublin Junction Railway construction the 'loop line' north to Amiens St Station (Connolly).

The line south from Amiens St through Westland became the main Dublin to Rosslare line, taking precedence over the original Dublin Wicklow & Wexford Railway's main line to Harcourt St on the western side of the city. Pearse Station nowadays mainly consists of just its up & down platforms, covered by an overall roof. A new entrance is currently being constructed at the south end of the station to relieve the cramped booking office at the Westland Row end, from where the line is carried across the street on a fine ornate bridge.
Ex Great Northern Railway S Class 4-4-0 No.171 Slieve Gullion, complete with 'Bundoran Express' headboard, rounds the curve through Pearse Station on the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's Sea Breeze special. 2800 Class diesel railcar No.2820 is seen at the south end of Pearse Station. In this view is the impressive though somewhat dilapidated train shed. The 2800s originally entered service in the original orange 'Arrow' livery in 1990s. 8100 Class DART No.8140 arrives into Pearse Station with a northbound working to Howth, while 29000 Class railcar No.29411 forms the rear of a commuter service. 29000 Class No.29403 arrives with a terminating service at Pearse, while 2600 No.2614 forms the rear of a northbound working to Drogheda. No.2614 retained its original 'Commuter' livery at this time.
1962 built General Motors locomotive No.171 is seen light engine at the south end of Pearse Station having hauled two 8100 Class DART units from Inchicore Works on the west side of the city. A 2-car 8100 Class DART, headed by No.8121, moves out of the down loop at the south end of Pearse Station as it works back to Fairview Depot on the northside of the city. An 8-car 2600 Class railcar set, headed by No.2604, approaches the up platform at Pearse Station prior to forming a northbound Dublin to Drogheda service. Approaching Pearse Station from the south in 1978 is 141 Class loco No.151, arriving with a locomotive hauled service from Bray. Just visible above the train is the former gasometer at Ringsend. ©Stephern Parker
2800 Class railcar stands at the down platform at Pearse, having arrived from Drogheda. The railcar would shortly depart for the carriage sidings at the south end of the station. 071 Class loco No.086, in Irish Rail's silver & black livery, emerges from the down loop at the south end of Pearse Station with a DART bogey transfer from Fairview Depot on the northside of the city. No.086, which was built by General Motors at La Grange Illinois Works in 1976, pauses briefly at the south end of Pearse Station awaiting the road north to Tara Street. 8500 Class DART No.8614 makes for the shelter of the train shed at the north end of Pearse Station as it approaches with a southbound stopping service to Bray during a summer shower.
No.8615, complete with its then newly applied 'DART 25' logo, is seen on the rear of this southbound Howth to Bray service at Pearse Station. All DART units acquired these logos as part of the 25th anniversary of electric DART services in Dublin. Entering Pearse Station from the north is 2800 Class railcar No.2817, arriving with a southbound commuter service displaying incorrectly the destination of Portlaoise town in Co.Loais. A contrast between the rather blunt and streamlined 2800 & 29000 Class railcar units at the north end of Pearse Station. No.2809 is on the rear of a Rosslare bound service, while No.29405 prepares to depart on a driver training exercise. 071 Class loco No.075, which lacks IE logos at its front ends, approaches Pearse Station having emerged from the neaby Boston Sidings with three steel bogey steel wagons.
Having now received a green signal for the road north, No.075 accelerates through the train shed at Pearse Station with its three bogey flat wagons en route from Dublin to Portlaoise. Japanese built 8500 Class No.8633 is seen on the rear of an evening southbound service to Greystones, the southern most terminus of the DART line, at Pearse Station. The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's WT 2-6-4 tank locomotive No.4 arrives into Pearse Station's down platform prior to forming a Santa Special from Dublin to Maynooth. No.4 was built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway at Derby in 1947. In somewhat miserable weather conditions, 8500 Class DART No.8633 approaches Pearse Station with a northbound stopping service to Howth. The line in the foreground once led into the one of the bay platforms now filled in.
The RPSI's No.4 makes a spirited run into Pearse Station, complete with Santa headboard, prior to forming one of the several specials from Dublin to Maynooth which operate throughout December. The train is formed of ex CIE Craven built coaches. Past & present motive power meet at the north end of Pearse Station, as 8500 Class DART No.8624 passes loco No.4, which steaming away prior to departing north for Maynooth. No.4 is seen light engine after a hard day's work on the RPSI's Santa specials to Maynooth, seen running around its train at the south end of Pearse Station. No.4 is now seen making an impressive exit from the train shed at Pearse Station as it takes the first morning Santa Special out of Dublin on the final day of RPSI trains to Maynooth.
Seen at the same location but 40 years earlier, a re-engined C Class locomotive propels a pushpull train out of Pearse Station and across the ornate 1891 built bridge spanning Westland Row. ©Barry Carse Irish Rail's over head line equipment maintenance train is seen stabled at one of the former bay platforms at the south end of Pearse Station in 2002. This train set was later moved to the North Wall yards and was scrapped. These were the former bay platforms on the up side of Pearse, located a the south end of the station, numbered 1 & 2. Since 2002, these platforms have since been filled in and built on. The bay platforms were still in regular use when a Crossley engine C Class loco No.C209 was seen approaching the up platform at Pearse Station with a northbound service in the early 1970s. In this vew can be seen the search light style signals, installed by the Great Southern Railway in 1936. ©Barry Carse