Irish Railway Architecture

Having waited patiently at Malahide for my train, the pangs of hunger started. Ah yes, the perennial problem of this station spotter: nibbles. Donabate needed exploring first, however. As the double-doors of the train carriage beeped to a close behind me, I rather wish I’d brought a bonnet as the delightfully early-Victorian station and its surroundings came into view. Edith Nesbit would feel right at home. First to delight was the GNR signal cabin standing on the platform, with its red brick base and barricaded windows. Why must all of the former cabins now look like nuclear bunkers? At least Buildings of Ireland has it correctly dated to c.1900. A skip along the platform brings me to a GNR waiting shelter, again it unfortunately stands in a state of dereliction, its glass missing, now covered with boards, and even an iron gate blocking its entrance. It looks more like a jail cell than a passenger convenience. Adjoining the cell-sorry-shelter is another bunkeresque remnant,