The Co. Donegal Railways

My wife and I were due to spend a couple of weeks walking in Co. Donegal in April and May 2020. Instead, we remained at home in Ashton-under-Lyne, continuing to do the jobs we love! I would have been writing a blog about our journeys and walks but instead I have started a series about the 3ft-gauge Co. Donegal Railways. .....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/05/2...the-glenties-branch-stranorlar-to-ballinamore

 

Thanks Roger (and please keep 'em coming!). I particularly like the shot of a 'Class 2' (4-6-0T) at Cloghan. Although they had plenty of power, as the network expanded, the layout meant there was never enough room for coal for the longest trips, leading to serious cab space issues. All four succeeding designs for the CDRJC featured large bunkers, over trailing bogies.

 

I am working on the next length of the Glenties Branch but wanted to have a look at some of the railmotors/Railcars on the Co. Donegal Railways. This post covers the petrol-powered railmotors which were used on the network in the early part of the 20th century. ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/12/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-3-petrol-railmotors

 

This post covers the remaining length of the Glenties Branch. I have been unable to find early photographs of the locations along the line.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/2...2-the-glenties-branch-ballinamore-to-glenties

 

After completing the first two articles in the series, covering the Glenties Branch, I was put in touch with Kerry Doherty who lives in Co. Donegal and he provided a few images of the branch. I have updated the two linked articles with a total of four photographs, three of which come from Kerry Doherty and the fourth from the Co. Donegal Railway Heritage Centre. ....

For ease of access I have repeated the two links here. ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/05/2...the-glenties-branch-stranorlar-to-ballinamore

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/2...2-the-glenties-branch-ballinamore-to-glenties

 

This next post about the Co. Donegal Railways is the first looking at the Strabane to Letterkenny Railway. It begins at Strabane and runs as far as the town of Raphoe which was an ancient seat of temporal and spiritual power. ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/07/2...bane-to-letterkenny-part-a-strabane-to-raphoe

 

Diesel 'tractor' Phœnix, which features in Roger's superb piece, is (note tense!) an interesting beastie, having started life as a steam powered unit, built by Atkinson for the Clogher Valley .... and pretty much the exact opposite of a success in traffic. That someone had the vision to re-engineer it into a useful workhorse speaks volumes for the attitude of CDJRC management, which kept trains running in the teeth of partition until the end of 1959.

Here's some info concerning these locos as built:
http://www.madeinpreston.co.uk/Road/atkinsonsteam.html

..... and here's a photo of Phœnix, now safely ensconced in the Ulster Transport Museum (https://www.nmni.com/our-museums/Ulster-Transport-Museum/Home.aspx)


[Image courtesy pinterest.co.uk]

 

My last post above was uploaded yesterday (27th July 2020). Immediately after having sent it, I got a further email from Kerry Doherty who lives in Ballindrait close to the line. He sent me a number of additional photographs of the line, both historic and taken very recently. It seemed good to alter the article to include these pictures. If you read the article on 27th July, it is worth another look. My thanks to Kerry Doherty for the additional images referenced [45] throughout the article.

 

As an FYI, Disused Stations are doing a number of stations along the line at the moment.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/strabane_cdr/index.shtml

 

Thank you!

This next post is the second in a series about the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway Line. There will be a further post in due course.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/0...rabane-to-letterkenny-part-b-raphoe-to-convoy

 

Thanks for posting these Roger, we have had family holidays in Donegal many times and these are fascinating. If you ever get there a few buildings are still left at Burtonport harbour...

 

Within 24 hours of posting about the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway between Raphoe and Convoy, Kerry Doherty got in touch to say that he would try to gain access to the Lime Kiln and an associated bridge just to the East of Convoy. He kindly then sent me a series of photographs of the formation of the line, the bridge and the Lime Kiln itself. The link below now allows access to the amended post about this length of the line.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/0...rabane-to-letterkenny-part-b-raphoe-to-convoy

 

This next post completes the length of the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/2...e-to-letterkenny-part-c-convoy-to-letterkenny

A Journey Along the Line - Strabane to Letterkenny - Part C - Convoy to Letterkenny

We return to Convoy Railway Station which sits to the East of the Village. While we are waiting for our train, a railcar from Letterkenny stops at the station.

 

This next post about the railways of Co. Donegal. It focusses on one viaduct on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR) - the Owencarrow Viaduct - and specifically on an accident which occurred there in 1925

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/05/30/the-owencarrow-viaduct-accident-in-1925

In the February 1963 edition of The Railway Magazine there was a letter from L. Hudlass which said: "The accident on the Owencarrow Viaduct, on the Letterkenny & Burtonport line, Ireland, of January 30, 1925, involved a westbound train running from Londonderry to Burtonport, on the Burtonport extension of the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. The 380 yd.-long viaduct, sited between Kilmacrenan and Creeslough in County Tirconaill is in wild and open country and, on the day in question, a gale of 100mph caught the train broadside on and one carriage plunged through the parapet, pulling another with it. The couplings held and neither of the vehicles fell into the valley, but roof destruction caused several passengers to be thrown out, three people being killed outright.

 

The stone piers for the viaduct were still there in 1999 (and I'd presume they still are). They're jolly useful for judging the line of this long-lost railway, which runs adjacent to and just below the north side of a main road, some distance to the east of the old viaduct.

The landscape is extremely open and even on a hot summer's day, it doesn't take much to imagine powerful winter gales blowing in from the North Atlantic.