The Loughrea branch line was a railway line that opened in 1890 and closed in 1975. The 9 mile single track branch ran from the Attymon 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 ...

to main line and terminated at . was the single intermediate stop. It was the last rural branch line to survive in Ireland.

Services

The branch had five round trip passenger services at its peak in 1895. Many would be mixed passenger and freight.

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

Steam Era

Pictures exist of

2-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. The notation 2-4-0T indi ...

and

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

engines in use on the branch.

Dieselisation Era

The branch was normally operated by a

CIE 611 Class The Córas Iompair Éireann 611 class locomotives were delivered from the manufacturers, Motorenfabrik Deutz at Cologne, Germany between December 1961 and February 1962, entering revenue earning service in the following August after receiving t ...

with a single passenger coach. When that locomotive was unavailable for servicing or maintenance a

CIE 201 Class The Córas Iompair Éireann 201 Class was a class of 34 diesel electric locomotives manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester. They were a smaller, lighter and less powerful version of the 001 Class and were ...

Metropolitan-Vickers or a

CIE 141 Class The CIE 141 Class locomotives were built in 1962 by General Motors Electro Motive Division (EMD) in the United States. Numbered B141 to B177, they were an updated version of the 121 Class locomotives, mechanically very similar but with cabs at ...

would normally substitute. Exceptionally a

CIE 001 Class The Córas Iompair Éireann 001 Class locomotive was manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester. The 001 Class locomotive was the backbone of mainline passenger and freight train services on the Irish railway ...

could be used.

Services

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

Steam Era

Dieselisation Era

References

Further reading