The West Clare Railway

This thread is the result of reading another article in The Railway Magazine, this time from the May 1951 edition!

This time we are in the Republic of Ireland, specifically in County Clare. The May 1951 edition of the magazine carried an article on the 3ft gauge light railway which ran from Ennis to Kilrush and Kilkee. The total length of the railway was about 53 miles.

The first post gives some consideration to the history of the line and then looks at the section of the journey between Ennis and Corofin.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/08/the-west-clare-railway-part-1-ennis-to-corofin

 

This is the next part of the journey along the West Clare railway.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/15/the-west-clare-railway-part-2-corofin-to-lahinch

 

If you are interested at UCD in Dublin there are the letters of Col George O’Callaghan-Westropp, who was an East Clare landlord and British army officer. Before WW1 he was a strong proponent of extending the line from Ennis up to Tulla and beyond. The link below shows his efforts to have the East Clare railway developed.

His belief was that it would help connect the area. He was always very angry at the refusal of the directors and Dublin and London to support it. He describes the refusal as ‘crass stupidity’.

https://www.ucd.ie/archives/collections/depositedcollections/items/collectionname,235288,en.html

O’Callaghan-Westropp is a fascinating figure and he kept all of his letters out and they are freely available at UCD.

 

Hello Monkey Magic.
Interesting! It seems that access to the on line info is restricted to members, or have I mis-read the page that comes up when I follow your link?
best wishes
Roger

 

That is odd, it should be a link to library/archives website at UCD. If you put George O’Callaghan-Westropp UCD into google it should come up. East Clare library also has some of his stuff as well including his photo album so of which is online.

O’C-W crops up in this article. And also a shooting at a level crossing during the War of Independence (near Doonbeg). http://www.theirishstory.com/2010/1...-county-clare-during-the-war-of-independence/

 

This is all interesting stuff. Thank you.

 

Glad it is of interest.

Also, you might have seen it - there is a report into an accident on the line in 1899 available as well. https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/doclisting.php?company=513&acctype=all&&event=6152

I hope this link works.

The other thing to add is that No.4 was Besborough which is the Irish estate of the Chairman of the LBSCR.

And my other favourite West Clare story is the Percy French libellous song case https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_Ye_Right_There_Michael

 

Thank you. The link worked and I have downloaded the file.

I put the story of Percy French in the last post as an Appendix.

Best wishes

Roger

 

The next length of the line takes us from Lahinch to Miltown-Malbay. .....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/20/the-west-clare-railway-part-3-lahinch-to-miltown-malbay

 

Love that song! Its like something from Father Ted.

 

Really enjoying these archeological digs of yours, Roger. To have experienced a journey on a railway like that...
Although not NG, another line in that part of the world which holds fascination is the one which ran from Farranfore to Valentia Harbour. I remember years ago driving through Kerry, coming across its remains, and being gobsmacked at the sheer beauty of it all. "Is that viaduct for real?!" Were it still around today, it would be one of the world's great railway journeys.

 

Hi Mark,

Thank you.

This might interest you ...

https://www.activeme.ie/guides/disused-railway-farranfore-to-valentia-harbour-kerry/

Best wishes

Roger

 

I love the last picture in the gallery on that site.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

If I have the right one, it looks like a kind of launch pad?

 

Not what I'd have described it as, but... Link is https://www.activeme.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/522168_465617120147390_1352612116_n.jpg

 

I kind of imagined Thunderbird 2 setting of at 100km/hr ......

 

it's just the idea of anything being able to achieve even half of that speed on that surface in that location is a bit optimistic.
Something else I used to love about the rural Irish roads was where you would come to a bend, and, like in the UK, you would have "slow" painted on the road, then a bit further on in bigger letters, "SLOWER"

 

The next length of the line from Miltown Malbay to Quilty. ........

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/30/the-west-clare-railway-part-4-miltown-malbay-to-quilty/

 

the sign has been turned round...Irish National Passtime.

 

I suppose out there you can't even go out at night to watch the traffic lights change.