The Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway was a

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

and former tourist attraction in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Primarily built as an industrial line for hauling newly cut

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

, this narrow-gauge railway was operated by the

-harvesting company

Bord na Móna Bord na Móna (; English: "The Peat Board"), is a semi-state company in Ireland, created in 1946 by the Turf Development Act 1946. The company began developing the peatlands of Ireland with the aim to provide economic benefit for Irish Midland c ...

and conveyed visitors over a 9-km line running through Blackwater Bog, near

Shannonbridge Shannonbridge () is a village located on the River Shannon, at the junction of the R444 and R357 regional roads in County Offaly, Ireland. It lies within the townland of Raghra (), at the borders of counties Offaly, Galway and Roscommon, with ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

. A small diesel locomotive hauled a single 53-seat passenger coach. The railway was an important tourist attraction in County Offaly. However, it closed permanently at the end of 2008 as operation of the line was interfering with the heavy flow of peat traffic bound for the

Electricity Supply Board The Electricity Supply Board (ESB; ga, Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais) is a state owned (95%; the rest are owned by employees) electricity company operating in the Republic of Ireland. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as ...

's West Offaly Power Generation Station. Given the historic importance of peat as an indigenous Irish fuel, the railway and associated visitor services aimed to show visitors how milled peat is produced and transported to power stations, and Bord na Móna is investigating the provision of an alternative tourism facility for the area. Somewhat confusingly, the railway was also sometimes known (and described on road signs) as the ''Blackwater Railway'', the ''Shannonbridge Bog Railway'', and the ''Bog Railway''.

References

External links

Railways of Bord na Móna
{{coord missing, County Offaly 3 ft gauge railways in Ireland Railway companies disestablished in 2008 Transport in County Offaly

See also

References

External links