Saturday, May 19, 2012

Bray Station: Murals And Mosaics

One of the more distinctive elements of Bray Daly Station is the series of paintings on platform two on the east side of the station. Beginning with a painting of the station's opening ceremony in 1852, the series runs along the length of Platform 2, documenting both Irish history and Irish railway history right up to the present day. Various forms of carriages, locomotives and characters can be seen in the pictures, including British soldiers in 1916, James Joyce in the 1940s, and a hippy couple in the 1960s. Many of these panels were in need of repair as lime was seeping through the plaster. In 2008 the original artist began a Mosaic replacement programme for the Murals.

I had promised myself that I would take proper photographs of the murals so I gave it a try today but due to street furniture as well as people getting in my way I could not stand directly in front of many of the murals the result was some distortion that I was unable to fully correct but despite this I hope that you will like the images (one is missing because the person blocking mural would move).

For about seven years I operated a Hi-Fi and Record retail business in Bray and I really liked the place. The town has improved a lot since then especially after the Dart train service was introduced.

From the inception of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) service until its extension to Greystones in 2000, Bray Daly station served as the terminus for the service, and thus a large number of tracks are present just south of the station for inactive trains at the end of the line. Although some DARTs now continue southwards to Greystones, the majority of southbound services still terminate in Bray. Northbound DART services towards Howth and Malahide usually begin their routes in Bray, however since the aforementioned expansion to Greystones, some DART services originate there instead. From Bray heading southbound the line becomes single track.

One of the more distinctive elements of Bray Daly Station is the series of paintings on platform two on the east side of the station. Beginning with a painting of the station's opening ceremony in 1852, the series runs along the length of Platform 2, documenting both Irish history and Irish railway history right up to the present day. Various forms of carriages, locomotives and characters can be seen in the pictures, including British soldiers in 1916, James Joyce in the 1940s, and a hippy couple in the 1960s. Many of these panels were in need of repair as lime was seeping through the plaster. In 2008 the original artist began a Mosaic replacement programme for the Murals.

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