Our Train Day

Watch the video of our day's event on http://www.livestream.com/galwayeducationcentre/video?clipId=pla_4d85ad5b-89da-43f4-a95a-69268f49aa21&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Photo montage of our work on the project

Old pictures of trains and railway stations

A movie of our train project

Visit from Mr. Joe McCarthy

Mr. Joe McCarthy is from our parish.  He is retired now, but he spent all his life working with CIE and then Iarnrod Éireann.  He told us that he sold tickets for the trains.

Mr. McCarthy had lots of really interesting stories about the railway.  It was nearly hometime, so we had to finish up, but we think he has lots more stories to tell, and we really hope that he might visit us again to tell us more. 

First of all we heard about steam trains, and we were advised to have a look at a story called "The Railway Children". We can't wait to read this book.  We heard about the coal needed to power the steam trains, and how, during the war when there was no coal available, trains ran on pieces of wood.  Where Joe worked  (in Wexford at the time) these steam trains often took passengers to the beach for the day.

We heard all about when the Chipperfield circus used to come to town on the train.  The poor giraffes couldn't travel by train because their necks were too long to go under the bridges, but the rest of the animals could come by train.  What a sight that must have been!

We heard another really interesting story about when racing pigeons used to travel by train to Galway, then be released in Galway, and have to race back home to their homes in Dublin.  The first pigeon home was the fastest pigeon.  We can now imagine all the pigeons in the air, circling Galway station, getting their bearings so they could race home.  It's a pity we can't see that any more.

For those of us interested in the workings of signals, Mr. McCarthy told us about what the signals look like when the train has to stop.......the signal sticks out like an outstretched arm, and when the train can go.....the signal sticks down at an angle like an arm hanging down.  We heard about the signal box, and how there is a staff like a stick of metal which the man in the signal box had to give the driver.  Without the staff (and the all clear from the conductors flag or lantern and whistle) the train simply was not allowed to go.  This helped prevent accidents on the line.  Only one train could travel on each section of the line at a time, because only one train had the staff each time.  Mr. McCarthy was also telling us about the flange or rim on the wheels of the train.  This is why it is easy to keep the trains on the track.  It's really the wheels that do most of the work keeping the train running straight.

Well done Mr. McCarthy for such an entertaining and informative talk.  We really hope you come back to visit us again!

Our finished station design

Designing a new station for Oranmore

Learning Russian songs

We heard some lovely Russian songs today.  We all learned a little of the TeeMushka (ladybird) song.  Isn't it wonderful to be able to speak lots of languages?  Even teacher is jealous!

More train activities

Our mascot

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

We have a new classroom mascot.  He is going to travel to Dublin and then to Moscow, to represent us in Moscow next week. 

 Five Galway Schools will represent Ireland at the Microsoft Innovative Education Forum that takes place in Moscow from the 22nd to the 24th of March. Clontuskert NS, Woodlawn NS, Attymon NS, Athenry Boys and Scoil Chaitríona Renmore are five of sixteen schools taking part in a unique collaborative, cross curricular project called Keep on Track that connects schools from Galway to Dublin along the Inter City Rail Line. 

WE are one of the schools involved, and our mascot is going to represent our school and our class at this event. 

A launch day will be held in the Radisson Hotel in Galway on June 9th 2011 where schools will present their Project Findings. A Special Irish Rail train will bring all schools involved to and from Galway for the day of celebration. The project’s blog http://www.keepontrack.scoilnet.ie/ is updated by schools on a regular basis. During the Innovative Education Forum updates from school mascots will appear on the blog to inform everyone of the progress of the project in the competition. Read more about this exciting project on http://www.keepontrack.scoilnet.ie/

Finished solar powered train

Teacher has got it working.  The problems were:  The wheels weren't pushed in enough and the wheels needed to  be filed down a little.  It works now, but is not really strong.  It's quite a small motor for such a big train.

We tried out our solar train again today (now that teacher has filed the wheels).  It worked so well.  It worked best with just the engine, on tarmac, then concrete.  It worked ok with a carriage, but was a bit slower when we put on a carriage and the caboose.

Making a solar powered bullet train

Monday, March 14th, 2011
Inspired by our LEGO robotics, teacher bought a make-it-yourself Solar-Powered-Bullet-Train.
The pieces look like our LEGO pieces, but a little smaller.

We started making it today, but ran out of time.  We will finish it tomorrow.

Train booklets

Finding trains at home

Now that we are interested in trains, we are finding them at home, and bringing them in to show teacher and the other kids in the class.  This is a nice train from my home.

Exploring magnets and magnetic levitation

As part of our science exploration into magnets, we looked into how magnetic levitation trains work.  These are not in operation yet, but we explored magnetic attraction and repulsion at one station in our magnetic stations.  The work at this station (and the other stations) can be seen in the pictures below: (clicking on a picture will enlarge it for a better view)

Painting trains

Video of an intercity train

Here is a video we took of an Intercity Galway to Dublin train

Taken at 12:10pm on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Train walk

Our train stories

Manned and unmanned railway crossings

A new railway station for Galway

Look at what has been in the news in Galway. This new station will be quite near our school. We are going to design a station at school, then when the new station is built we can compare the new Oranmore station with our plans for the station! We think that will be exciting!

Look out for our artwork and discussion work we will be doing on this.

Trains made from felt

Clay trains