Broadstone Shed Project Background

Background

Several apparently disparate incidents led me to this project. Firstly a visit to a Bord na Móna factory near where I live, which was being decommissioned. Workers discussed with me the way all the machinery used there was made and repaired on site and were lamenting the loss of skills in manufacturing. Shortly after that my stonecutter uncle, Paddy Roe, showed me how to temper tools made from metal coils, which he had got from an old C.I.E. shed in Broadstone where my father had worked. 

I researched the shed in the National Gallery and in the National Photographic Archive where I was allowed to take photos of negatives from the O’Dea Collection. I then applied to CIÉ for permission to photograph and to video the location.  

Next I got in touch with former workers who spoke to me about their time there. I made some drawings and experimented with different processes. Having received permission and insurance I spent time in the shed in Broadstone taking photographs and video footage. I documented the location in all types of weather. Then I met and interviewed men who worked there from the 1940's.

Broadstone Railway Station, Stáisiún An Chlocháin Leathain, the former Dublin terminus of the Midland and Great Western Railway, is currently the headquarters of Bus Éireann. Nearby on the same property, there is also a Dublin Bus Depot. The buildings in the complex date to 1847. The railway itself was closed to traffic in 1937 but remained in operation as a Steam depot for Dublin until 1961. Later it was a bus-building depot for Córas Iompair Éireann.

While in April 2007 Iarnród Éireann announced that Broadstone Station was to be reopened for rail passenger use by 2010 this only happened in December 2017. This Luas "Cross City" line, which joins the Red and Green lines, runs past Broadstone to Broombridge following the route which the MGWR took out of Broadstone to Liffey Junction. There is a  plan to link the line going towards Connolly station with the line into Heuston Station.