Dublin Heuston

Originally known as Kingsbridge station, this terminus was renamed after Sean Heuston, an employee in the station offices who was executed after leading the Easter Rising of 1916.

For me, this was where I had my first exposure to Irish railways, at the end of the 1980s, after arriving at Dublin airport and staying for the first few nights in the capitol. So it was here that my bug for the railways of Ireland really bit.

It's a cliche thinking about it now, but prior to arriving I had been lead to believe that seeing the railways of Ireland was like seeing Britain's railways as they were 30 years previously, with lots of traditional railway infrastructure and practice, plus loco-hauled passenger trains connecting all the little towns and villages across the land, a real time warp. Whilst to a certain extent this was true the Irish railway scene was rapidly modernising, and for example CTC signalling was in use on the mainlines, and plans were afoot to introduce multiple unit trains. But Heuston station at the time of that first visit did have a traditional air about it, and it was none too tidy either! Subsequent visits revealed greater attention to the station had been made, with a smarter concourse and a lot less litter!