[OSM-talk-ie] Waterford Greenway and Athlone-Mullingar

[Colm Moore]

Hi,


As a bit of background, these both started life as Irish gauge railways. Waterford-Dungarvan was mostly single track and Athlone-Mullingar was mostly double track. The tracks on Waterford-Dungarvan were removed in the 1990s and a narrow gauge tourist railway built at Kilmeaden.


With the greenway projects, Athlone-Mullingar saw one track lifted and replaced with the greenway, with the other track remaining in place. Waterford-Dungarvan saw the whole of the alignment used, with the section along the narrow gauge railway squeezed in.


On OSM, many people had mapped railways and indeed former railways. Over a period of a year or so, I mapped pretty much every piece of current railway in Ireland (I'm still finding tiny bits and the occasional 'odd' bit), north and south, filling in much of the detail (gauge, operator, etc. ) where previously there was only railway=rail or similar. Many former railways had these details added, to reflect their current / last status. For example, operator=* used the last known operator and many sections were marked with gauge or electrification status.


Unfortunately, for Waterford-Dungarvan and Athlone-Mullingar, users converted the ways for the ** still current** railways to highway=cycleway, but left some of the railway details in place. Hence a cycleway with gauge or electrification statuses. This left much of the current railway sections unmapped.


To a certain degree, the entire routes should be surveyed completely by cycling the routes (a bikecam with adequate memory might be useful, but with stills for specific details) and the details on OSM verified. In particular, the details for connections to local roads and the car parks, play grounds, etc. need mapping. The narrow gauge railway needs its extent verified at the Waterford end and the platforms, buildings.


Colm


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