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DUBLIN TO SLIGO (DVD/VHS)

Video 125, PO Box 81, Ascot, SL5 9TS

Stg£19.95

This compilation is VIDEO 125's second foray into driver cab views of railway lines in Ireland. The recording starts off very well, with a lot of little known historical facts as the train departs from Connolly Station. Shots taken in the entrance hall of the administrative section of Connolly Station provide an insight into an area not seen by most.

Most of the facts stated are correct and obviously, a lot of research has gone into the production. Errors noticed by me are:

Drumcondra had trains to North Wall between 1901 and 1910, not just 1906 to 1907 (it was stated that the station opened five years before trains served it),

Todds Mill is beside the line at Ashtown, therefore the siding serving it was not a short branch by any stretch of the imagination,

Both Blanchardstown and Moyvalley stations were stated to be further west than they actually were,

It was claimed that the "Deep Sinkings" on the Royal Canal is adjacent to Barberstown Crossing, it is in fact between Castleknock and Clonsilla,

Shackleton's Mill siding (Lucan North goods area) was on the Dublin side of the station and not the Sligo side,

The double platformed Leixlip Confey is not the 1990s station, which had to be demolished due to short sightedness on the part of Irish Rail,

The 'closed Branganstown crossing' is in fact Chambers Bridge which, as far back as the Ordnance Survey map of 1898, was showing no continuation road on the south side of the railway (in all probability there was never a crossing here, the bridge on the adjacent canal being a standard feature of canal locks). Branganstown was further west, serving a boathouse on the canal,

'Enfield station serves the town of Innfield', except that everyone other than the Ordnance Survey calls the town Enfield, which, incidentally, is not an anglicised version of Innfield (the name of the town in Irish being 'An Bóthar Buí' or 'The Yellow Road' translated directly),

An aerial shot of Moyvalley was shown without mention of the station, further west along the line, they stated that no trace of Moyvalley remained,

The adjacent canal aquaduct was not shown when crossing the Boyne Bridge,

Culleenmore crossing was described as Levington (its neighbour),

Whilst the Jamestown Canal is near to the railway at Drumsna, the marina shown is a separate construction and not the canal which is further to the north,

The claim that there is no trace of Kilfree Junction is incorrect.

Whilst a list of 13 errors picked out by one person might be taken as a negative review, condensing both the history of the railway and other facts concerning Ireland into just under 2 hours of footage will inevitably give rise to errors/misstatements. All things considered, the production is worth getting and can be ordered directly from the publishers.