Connemara Railway

The Connemara Railway is a heritage railway at Maam Cross railway station, County Galway in Ireland. It currently exists as an operable narrow gauge pop-up railway,[1] with standard Irish Gauge track available for static exhibits.

This article is about the heritage railway project at Maam Cross. For the MGWR Galway to Clifden line closed in 1935, see Galway to Clifden Railway.

Connemara Railway
Coordinates53.458°N 9.539°W / 53.458; -9.539
Commercial operations
Original gauge1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Preserved operations
Lengthc. 800 yards (730 m)
Preserved gauge3 ft (914 mm)
Commercial history
Opened1895
Preservation history
HeadquartersMaam Cross, County Galway
Website
www.connemararailway.ie
Galway to Clifden Railway 1906 with road connections to Westport. Maam Cross is near the centre of the line

Background

The Clifden branch line from Galway was opened in 1895, and marketed as a tourist line, closing after 1934.[2] As of May 2021 a project is well underway to open a 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) stretch of line around Maam Cross station.[2]

Project

The ultimate aim of the project is to get steam trains running on an 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) stretch around Maam Cross,[3] where an all-weather Heritage Centre is to be set up. Access to the site was gained on 14 February 2017, and the cost of the first phase of the project is expected to be c. €300,000.[3] No MGWR engine was preserved so the hope is to build a new one.[3]

Delays

The hope had been to get a "pop-up" narrow gauge demonstration train running by September 2020, with a special steam traction event,[3] 125 years after the railway first opened and 85 years since it closed in 1935.[4] In the event the COVID-19 pandemic intervened.

The next stage was planned to be removal of the narrow gauge 3 ft (914 mm), with standard Irish gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) laid instead.[3] The first section of standard gauge was laid in February 2020.[4]

Maam Cross railway station

Maam Cross is located at the crossing of the N59 and R336 roads. This station, together with that at Ballynahinch were considered insufficiently completed when the line fully opened on 1 July 1895 and were only opened to the public later.[5] The railway station buildings were completed c. 1896,[6] limestone being found under the peat when digging the foundations.[7] The buildings remaining were a water tower, gatekeepers hut, goods shed and platforms.[6]

The station is sometimes claimed to be a filming location for the 1952 film, The Quiet Man.[8] However, while it may have been initially chosen as a location for the station in the film,[9] it was ultimately rejected in favour of Ballyglunin. The nearby White O'Morn Cottage at Maam was, however, used as a film location.[10]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. O'Cuiv (2020), 2m 29s.
  2. O'Gorman (2021).
  3. Murphy (2020).
  4. Railway Magazine (2020).
  5. Shepherd (1994), p. 46.
  6. NIAH (2008).
  7. Kirwan (1895), p. 156.
  8. Tierney (2019).
  9. O'Cuiv (2020), 3m 6s.
  10. Wilson (2020).

Sources
  • Kirwan, Robert J. (1895). Royal Zoological Society of Ireland (ed.). "Geological Notes from West Galway — The Galway and Clifden Railway". The Irish Naturalist. Dublin: Eason & Son: 156. OCLC 477441608.
  • Murphy, Glen (25 July 2020). "Railway revival: Steam trains set to return to Connemara almost a century on". Irish Times. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) (19 September 2008). "Maam Cross Station, Lurgan or Shindilla, Maam Cross, Galway". Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  • O'Cuiv, Eamon (20 July 2020). Molscéal 'The Quiet Man' Railway station. Connemara Railway. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021 – via YouTube.
  • O'Gorman, Ronnie (13 May 2021). "Clifden railway - An outstanding engineering accomplishment". Galway Advertiser. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  • "Plans for steam at Maam Cross... and it's narrow gauge". The Railway Magazine. No. April 2020. 27 March 2020. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  • Shepherd, W. Ernest (1994). The Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland: An Illustrated History. Leicester: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-008-7. OCLC 60006991.
  • Tierney, Declan (16 June 2019). "Planners approve restoration of 'Quiet Man' railway station". Connacht Tribune. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  • Wilson, James (10 March 2020). "Where was the movie "The Quiet Man" filmed?". Irish Central. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
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