The Ballaghaderreen branch line connected

Ballaghaderreen railway station Ballaghaderreen railway station was a station which served Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwe ...

to Kilfree Junction on the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

main line. It opened in 1874 and closed in 1963.

History

The Sligo & Ballaghaderreen Junction Railway (S&BJR) was incorporated in 1863 with the purpose of connecting the village of

Ballaghaderreen Ballaghaderreen () is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It was part of County Mayo prior to 1898. It is located just off the N5 National primary road. The population was 1,808 in the 2016 census. History As of 1837, the town was recorde ...

to the newly opened extension of the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) from Longford to Sligo. The line opened in 1874 and was operated by the MGWR. Although costing £80,000 to build, it was sold to the

MGWR The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of , making it Irela ...

for £24,000 in 1877, after spending time under the administration of creditors due to non-payment of debts Of this, £13,300 went to the Board of Works to repay its loan and the balance to the

Consett Iron Company The Consett Iron Company Ltd was an industrial business based in the Consett area of County Durham in the United Kingdom. The company owned coal mines and limestone quarries, and manufactured iron and steel. It was registered on 4 April 1864 a ...

– leaving the original shareholders with nothing."G. R. Mahon, 1982, ‘Irish Railways in 1877’ JIRRS Vol. 14, No. 88, p373" In 1924, the MGWR was part of a merger forming the ''Great Southern Railway'' company which became the

Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Ireland). The p ...

in 1925. In the adjournment debate ''Portlaoighise-Mountmellick Railway'' in 1944 indicated the Ballaghaderreen branch line had closed but was re-opened on the behest of a member of the house. The line finally closed on Saturday 2 February 1963. The last return trip from Ballaghaderreen at 11:50 was hauled by 0-6-0 steam locomotive 574, and on the return from Kilfree Junction a local band played a farewell. The last train was a special cattle train hauled by B133 leaving Ballaghaderreen at 15:22.

Route

The route begins at at

milepost A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

112½ () on the Dublin-Sligo line. Branch line trains have their own platform. Freight and special trains from Sligo can enter the branch without reversing. The branch curves off from the main line on an embankment and goes down steeply to milepost 2(). Excellent views of Lough Gara are visible to the south east until reaching Island Road station serving Monasteradin at . This stationed was only opened in 1909. Edmondstown station is reached at milepost 6¾ () and thereafter line crosses wild boggy country until at the end of the line is reached at .

Services

The basic passenger service level was three or four round trips per day apart from a period of one round trip per day during the "Emergency". Between 1947 and closure service decreased to two round trips in the morning and early afternoon. They were designed to connect with services on the main line at . Most services were mixed passenger and freight. There was some limited working of diesel locomotives on special and freight trains with the single ended 121 class being noted; these would be turned on the turntables as required. The 2600 class AEC-engineed railcars were also used on some Sunday specials.

Rolling Stock

Regular scheduled passenger services on the branch line were always steam operated until the end. The William Fairbairn & Sons built MGWR Class 8 No. 35 ''Wren'' was allocated to working the branch from the outset until withdrawal in 1885. Thereafter J26 0-6-0T (GSR 551 Class) seemed to be used up to the 1940s. G2 2-4-0 (GSR 650 Class) took over in the 1950s with 666 and 667 typically used in rotation. From about 1955 until closure the J18 0-6-0 (GSR 573 Class) became the designated locomotive. In later years special trains and freight were sometimes operated by diesel.

Incidents

During the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

trains were regularly stopped on the branch line with British soldiers and Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) disarmed and goods for

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

confiscated. In one particularly serious incident in May 1921 a train was hi-jacked and used to shoot at the RIC

Barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

Kilfree line community greenway proposal

The Ballaghaderreen Chamber of Commerce have proposed converting the old line into a greenway.

Media

St. Aiden's National School in Monasteraden produced a 32-minute movie entitled "The Train" bringing together rare footage and interviews with local people.

References

{{reflist Railway lines opened in 1874 Closed railways in Ireland 1874 establishments in Ireland 1963 disestablishments in Ireland