Outside the Foyle Valley Railway Museum, Londonderry - geograph

The County Donegal Railways Joint Committee operated an extensive narrow gauge railway system serving

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

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 ...

, from 1906 until 1960. The committee was incorporated by an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

in 1906, which authorised the joint purchase of the then Donegal Railway Company by the Great Northern Railway of Ireland and the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

Northern Counties Committee.

History of the Donegal Railways

On 1 May 1906, the Joint Committee was set up. The lines inherited by the Joint Committee totalled and were: *

Finn Valley Railway The Finn Valley Railway (FVR) was a gauge railway in Ireland. History Incorporation The Finn Valley Railway Company was incorporated on 15 May 1860 with capital of £60,000 (). Personnel The Chairman of the directors was The 4th Viscount Lif ...

(FVR) from Strabane to

Stranorlar Stranorlar () is a town, townland and civil parish in the Finn Valley of County Donegal, in Ireland. Stranorlar and Ballybofey (located on the other side of the River Finn) form ''the Twin Towns''. Transport The town is located at the junctio ...

West Donegal Railway The West Donegal Railway (WDR) was a narrow gauge railway in Ireland. History The Finn Valley Railway had reached Stranorlar in 1863. The West Donegal Railway Company was incorporated by an act of July 1879 to extend the Finn Valley Railway ...

line from

to Donegal * The Donegal Railway Company lines between Stranorlar and

Glenties Glenties () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is situated where two glens meet, north-west of the Bluestack Mountains, near the confluence of two rivers. Glenties is the largest centre of population in the parish of Iniskeel. Glenties has ...

Donegal Town Donegal ( ; , "fort of the foreigners") is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. The name was also historically spelt 'Dunnagall'. Although Donegal gave its name to the county, now Lifford is the county town. From the 15th until the early 17th ce ...

Killybegs Killybegs () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the largest fishing port in the country and on the island of Ireland. It is located on the south coast of the county, north of Donegal Bay, near Donegal Town. Its Irish name ''Na Cealla ...

, Strabane to Derry, and

Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 crosses the River Erne. Incorporated in 1613, it is one of the oldest towns in Ireland. Location B ...

The Joint Committee opened the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway on 1 January 1909, bringing the total mileage to . By 1912 the company owned the following assets: * Locomotives and rolling stock: 21 locomotives; 56 passenger vehicles; 304 goods vehicles * Head offices and locomotive works at Stranorlar The Strabane to Derry line was completely owned by the

Northern Counties Committee, although it was operated by the CDJRC. At its greatest extent, the County Donegal Railways Committee operated the largest narrow gauge railway system in the British Isles. The railway was affectionately known as the "Wee Donegal".

Dieselisation

Under the management of Henry Forbes, traffic superintendent from 1910 to 1943, the County Donegal Railways became pioneers in the use of

diesel traction A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

. The first diesel railcar was built in 1930 (the first diesel railcar anywhere in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

), although a petrol-engined railcar had been built in 1926 before standardisation on diesel traction in 1934. Eight articulated diesel railcars were constructed by Walker Brothers of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

between 1934 and 1951, by which time virtually all passenger services were operated by diesel railcar, being much cheaper to operate than conventional steam trains. The railcars could only be driven from one end and had to be turned on a turntable to make a return journey. As well, they could not be worked in multiple, so if two railcars were working back to back, both required a driver. The railcars were incapable of hauling most freight wagons, so steam traction continued to be used on freight and excursion trains. The railcars could haul specially constructed trailers, and some lightweight freight wagons, which were painted red to distinguish them from the heavier wagons, which were grey. A diesel locomotive named ''Phoenix'' (converted from a steam locomotive) was also used, but due to its noisy operation and slow speed (top speed of ), it spent most of its career shunting, travelling during its working life.

Closure

A piece of track, Donegal Railway Station - geograph

The

branch closed in 1947, the Strabane-Derry line closed in 1954, and the remaining passenger services ended on 31 December 1959. Much of the railway was closed on that date. Goods trains ran between Strabane and Stranorlar until 6 February 1960 In 1961, the two most modern diesel railcars were sold to the

Isle of Man Railway The Isle of Man Railway (IMR) ( gv, Raad Yiarn Vannin) is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin on the Isle of Man. The line is narrow gauge and long. It is the remainder of what was a mu ...

Tourist attraction

Old Railway Station, Donegal Town - geograph

Part of the line, which runs alongside

Lough Finn Lough Finn () is a freshwater lough (lake) in County Donegal, Ireland. The lough, along with its neighbouring village of Fintown, was named after a mythological woman, Finngeal, who drowned in the lake after attempting to save her wounded brothe ...

near

Fintown Fintown (officially known by its Irish name, ) is a small village and townland on the banks of Lough Finn in County Donegal, Ireland. It is within the Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking area, in the west of the county. Overlooked by Aghla (589m, 1961 ...

, has been re-laid as a tourist railway. The

Donegal Railway Heritage Centre The Donegal Railway Heritage Centre commemorates the operations of the County Donegal Railways Committee which operated two narrow-gauge railways in County Donegal from 1863 until 1959. The County Donegal Railway Restoration Society restored th ...

has been established and contains historic details and artefacts of the CDRJC. St. Connell's Museum, in

has an extensive display of items from the railway.
The

Foyle Valley Railway The Foyle Valley Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway in Derry, Northern Ireland. Foyle Valley Railway Museum was initially opened in 1990 on the site of Foyle Road station of the GNR (Ireland). In August 2016, Destined Ltd, a charity ...

in Derry housed numerous CDRJC artefacts, although their future has been uncertain since the museum closed in 2015.

In preservation

Several examples of CDRJC rolling stock has survived into preservation. Some examples are listed below by number, with their present location in brackets: * Steam locomotives: 2 ''Blanche'' (UFTM), 4 ''Meenglas'' (FVR), 5 ''Drumboe'' (RPSI), 6 ''Columbkille'' (FVR) * Diesel locomotives: 11 ''Phoenix'' (UFTM) * Diesel railcars: 1 (UFTM), 10 (UFTM), 12 (FVR), 15 (DRC), 18 (FTR), 19 (IOMR), 20 (IOMR) * Carriages: 1 (UFTM), 3 (UFTM), 5 (DRC) 14 (FVR), 28 (DRC), 30 (FVR) * Goods wagons: 12 (DRC), 19 (FVR), 136 (UFTM), Unidentified horsebox (RPSI), Unidentified Van (DRC) UFTM = Ulster Folk & Transport Museum; FVR = Foyle Valley Railway; RPSI = Railway Preservation Society of Ireland; FTR = Fintown Railway; DRC = Donegal Railway Centre; IOMR = Isle of Man Railway

History of the Donegal Railways

Dieselisation

Closure

Tourist attraction

In preservation

See also

References

Further reading