The Co. Donegal Railways

[rogerfarnworth]

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 and 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/2020/05/27/co ... allinamore

[The Sligo Rover]

I was in Donegal Town this week last year and had a quick look at the CDR Museum, I would have liked to have gone in to see it but ‘er indoors was not interested so I had to make do with a quick look around outside.
If the CDR was going now as a preserved or heritage line then it would be an outstanding attraction.

[rogerfarnworth]

Agreed! We were sad that we could not take the holiday because of the lockdown.

[rogerfarnworth]

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 ... o-glenties

"We return to Ballinamore station to catch the next train looking forward to visiting the next station on the line at Fintown!

We can imagine hopping onto Railcar No. 6 heading for Fintown. … As we leave the ‘station’ behind we look to our left and see the station master’s house. Not large, but certainly bigger than the station facilities we have just enjoyed!

On the adjacent map extract the location of the station house can be picked out as a very slight bump on the side of the road just Northwest of the Station..."

[rogerfarnworth]

This post covers the petrol-powered railmotors which were used on the Co. Donegal Railways network in the early part of the 20th century. ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/12/co ... railmotors

[rogerfarnworth]

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/2020/07/27/co ... -to-raphoe

"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."

[rogerfarnworth]

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

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/05/30/t ... nt-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.