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The Co. Donegal Railways (Ireland)

2K views 16 replies 2 participants last post by  Severn 
#1 ·
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. .....

 
#5 ·
In my spare time I am working on the next length of the Glenties Branch of the Co. Donegal Railways, making up in some way for not being able to walk the route in the early summer this year. I wanted to have a look, as well, 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. ....

Co. Donegal Railways, Ireland – Part 3 – Petrol Railmotors
 
#7 ·
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. ....



The Glenties Branch ran through a very rural part of Co. Donegal and seemingly stopped short of what could be considered a 'sensible' destination - the Atlantic Coast. Indeed it seems as though there were quite a few people in Ardara on the coast who thought that way. There was a concerted campaign over many years to get a short extension built between Glenties and Ardara.
 
#12 ·
Yep. It's not that interesting. It connects to a loop around the nearby airport.... Think lollipop I guess. Start at the end,up around and back and it's somewhere around 40 to 45 miles. They are adding to it, but at a snail's pace. Most of these rail trail conversions are rather long and lots of straight sections, and fairly level. One I did ride some time back now was essentially in the country with some long vintage tressles and nice views. But you had to get there.

I suppose that might be the case here but it seems to me it would draw some folks out to it. Spend a little money at this or that village, etc...
 
#13 ·
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. ....


The first railway station in Letterkenny opened on 30th June 1883. The line out of Londonderry started out as the Londonderry and Buncrana Railway and was absorbed into the L&LSR in 1887. [9] That line is not the subject of this article but it is important to note that Letterkenny had been rail-served for many years before the branch from Strabane arrived in the town.
 
#14 ·
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#16 ·
This next post about the railways of Co. Donegal 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


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.
 
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