Cavan And Leitrim Railway
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The Cavan & Leitrim 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 . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
in the counties of Leitrim and
Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...
in northwest
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 ...
, which ran from 1887 until 1959. Unusually for Ireland, this narrow gauge line survived on coal traffic, from the
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
at Arigna, although the original main line was constructed principally for traffic in cattle. It outlived most of the other Irish narrow-gauge lines, giving a further lease of life to some of their redundant engines.


Early years

Perhaps it was the brainchild of the
Earl of Kingston Earl of Kingston is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1768 for Edward King, 1st Viscount Kingston. The Earl holds the subsidiary titles Baron Kingston, of Rockingham in the County of Roscommon (created in 1764), Viscount ...
of
Kilronan Castle Kilronan Castle, previously known as Castle Tenison, is a large country house standing in of parkland on the shore of Lough Meelagh in County Roscommon, Republic of Ireland, from the village of Ballyfarnon. The house, originally construct ...
,
Ballyfarnon Ballyfarnon (historically ''Bellafernan'', from ) is a village in northern County Roscommon, Ireland. Built on the River Feorish at the foot of Arigna Mountain, it lies between Loughs Skean and Meelagh with Lough Arrow, Lough Allen, Lough Bo ...
, to bring prosperity to this part of Ireland. In September 1883, a public meeting in
Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) of the Yellow River. T ...
declared that a
light railway A light railway is a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more steep gradients and tight curves to reduce civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow ...
and
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
way would open up the coal and iron districts of Arigna and
Lough Allen Lough Allen () is a lake on the River Shannon in northeastern Connacht, Ireland. Most of the lake is in County Leitrim, with a smaller part in County Roscommon. The lake lies to the south of the River Shannon's source, near the Iron Mountains, ...
. The Cavan, Leitrim & Roscommon Light Railway & Tramway Company was set up with a guaranteed capital of £202,000 in 40,400 shares of £5 each. Chairman of the board was the Rt.Hon. The Earl of Kingston D.L., Kilronan Castle.


Later years

In 1925, the company was amalgamated into 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 ...
.


Routes

The line consisted of a main line long between
Dromod Dromod () is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland. Dromod is a noted fishing village beside Bofin and Boderg, which are threaded by the River Shannon. Built along the River Shannon, this is a Tidy Towns winner with a modern harbour frequented ...
and
Belturbet Belturbet (; ) is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It lies on the N3 road, around north of Cavan town and from Dublin. It is also located around south of the border with Northern Ireland, between the counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, and fr ...
with a branch from
Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) of the Yellow River. T ...
to Arigna. The Belturbet to Dromod part of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway ran from Belturbet through
Tomkin Road Tomkin is the surname of the following people * Albert Tomkin (1915–1989), English football player * Maxim Tomkin (born 1992), Russian ice hockey defenceman * William Tomkin (1860–1940), English painter See also * Tomkins (disambiguation) * Tom ...
, Ballyconnell,
Bellaheady Bellaheady (Irish derived place name, either Béal Átha Héide meaning 'The Entrance to the Ford of Éadach' or Béal Átha an Fheadha meaning 'The Entrance to the Ford of the Wood'. Also called Rossbressal = Ros Breasail = Breasal’s Wood ) i ...
, Bawnboy Road,
Killyran Killyran (either or ) is a townland in the civil parish of Templeport, County Cavan, Ireland. It lies in the Roman Catholic parish of Templeport and barony of Tullyhaw. Geography Killyran is bounded on the north by Boley and Gortaclogher ...
, Garadice,
Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) of the Yellow River. T ...
, Lawderdale, Fenagh, Adoon, Rosharry,
Mohill Mohill (, meaning "Soft Ground") is a town in County Leitrim, Ireland. The town of Carrick-on-Shannon is approximately 16 km (10 miles) away. History The Justinian plague of Mohill devastated the local population in the 6th centur ...
and Dereen to Dromod. The Belturbet to Arigna part of the line ran from Belturbet to Ballinamore and from there through Ballyduff, Cornabrone, Annadale,
Kiltubrid Kiltubrid or Kiltubbrid () is a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Leitrim (barony), Leitrim, County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The villages of Keshcarrigan and Drumcong lie within the civil par ...
, Creagh and
Drumshanbo Drumshanbo (, ridge of the old huts) is a small town situated in the heart of County Leitrim, Ireland. Drumshanbo is surrounded by a scenic area of soft rolling hills, woodlands, lakes and the Sliabh an Iarainn and Arigna mountains. It is a wel ...
to Arigna.


Locomotives

When the line opened, there were eight 4-4-0T locomotives, numbered 1 to 8, supplied by
Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines. Famous early locomotiv ...
. A ninth locomotive, No. 9, an 0-6-4T came from the same supplier in 1904. CLR numbers 2, 3, 4 and 8 were renumbered by adding an L suffix after the railway became part of the GSR. In 1933, after the closure of the
Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway The Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway known locally to the locals aThe Black Bridge(CB&PR) was a narrow gauge railway in County Cork, Ireland. The line originally opened in 1850 as a Irish standard gauge railway between Cork and Passage West ...
, the GSR transferred its four Neilson Reid 2-4-2T locomotives to the C&L line, renumbering them 10L to 13L. Four locomotives from the
Tralee and Dingle Light Railway __NOTOC__ The Tralee and Dingle Light Railway and Tramway was a , narrow gauge railway running between Tralee and Dingle, with a branch from Castlegregory Junction to Castlegregory, in County Kerry on the west coast of Ireland. It operated bet ...
were transferred, after the end of passenger services in 1939, to the C&L between 1941 and 1958 numbered 3T to 6T. Locomotive 3T was a
Hunslet Engine Company The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive-building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures diesel shunting locomotives. The company is part of Ed Murray & S ...
0-6-0T of 1889, 4T was a
Kerr Stuart Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Stoke-on-Trent, England. History It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as "James Kerr & Company", and became "Kerr, Stuart & Company" from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a ...
2-6-0T of 1903, 5T was a 2-6-2T built by Hunslet in 1892, and 6T was the same type as 3T but built in 1898.


Preservation

The privately-owned Cavan & Leitrim Railway is based in the former Dromod Station, in Co. Leitrim. There is a transport museum, with narrow-gauge trains of several gauges, buses, planes, fire engines and artillery guns from World War I and World War II. It was originally intended to rebuild the line to Mohill but this is now most unlikely to happen. With the help of volunteers, trains are run on a short section of line. The Avonside 0-6-0T steam locomotive " Nancy" was rebuilt at
Alan Keef Alan Keef Ltd is a British narrow gauge railway engineering company which manufactures, overhauls, and deals in narrow gauge locomotives, rolling stock and associated equipment. The Limited Company was formed in 1975 at Cote, Oxfordshire, Cote, ...
in Wales where it first steamed on 23 March 2019 after twenty years of restoration work. The locomotive was shipped to Dromod, where it now resides. The line's first steam locomotive since preservation is 'Dromad' a Kerr Stuart Brazil class
0-4-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is derived from the Semitic letters taw (ת, ܬ, ت) via the Greek letter ...
, which as of May 2021 out of service awaiting its ten-year overhaul. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
the heritage operation was unable to open for the 2020 season, and expects to remain shut also for 2021 to protect its volunteers. Despite being too small an organisation to qualify for grant aid in Ireland the railway has managed to continue maintenance tasks in this period with the railway saying two-thirds of its track has been relaid to a high standard and progress continuing on capital projects. One of the original locomotives, No. 2, and one of the original carriages, is preserved on display at the
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum The Ulster Folk Museum and the Ulster Transport Museum are situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about east of the city of Belfast. The Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions of the people in Northern Ireland, past ...
. Locomotive No. 3 'Lady Edith' was exported to
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and is today displayed in the
New Jersey Museum of Transportation The New Jersey Museum of Transportation is a museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, and operation of historic railroad equipment. The organization runs excursion trains on a narrow gauge tourist railroad named the ''Pine Creek Railroa ...
though efforts are being made to purchase the locomotive and return it to Ireland. The body of a box wagon formerly used by the railway is preserved at Dromod, and is believed to be the last example of freight stock.


References


Footnotes


Sources

* * * * *


External links


Official preservation websiteLady Edith Locomotive
{{authority control Heritage railways in the Republic of Ireland Closed railways in Ireland Transport in County Cavan Transport in County Leitrim 3 ft gauge railways in Ireland Museums in County Leitrim Railway museums in the Republic of Ireland Railway lines opened in 1887