The Marconi Railway was a long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of at the Marconi

Wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

Station near

Clifden Clifden (, meaning "stepping stones") is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Cap ...

in the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Location

The route ran from the gate of the site over bog and rocks to the main buildings of the Marconi Wireless Station. There was a turntable at each end of the track, of which ruins are still visible. There were no passing loops on the single line track. Several manually operated cranes along the route could be used to load peat onto the waggons, which was used as fuel for the on-site power station.''Marconi Station Railway.''
3 November 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2018.Shane Joyce
''Clifden Marconi Station, c. 1915, Scale 1:6000.''
2012.

History

Construction and inauguration

The track and the steam locomotive were designed and built from 1905 to 1907 by Dick, Kerr & Co. in Scotland. Initially it was used to transport construction material and electrical equipment. On 17 October 1907, the first passengers were transported to the Wireless Station. Later it became useful for transporting peat to the power station and for passenger transport of employees and visitors.

Well-known passengers

The pilots John Alcock and

Arthur Whitten Brown Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Whitten Brown, (23 July 1886 – 4 October 1948) was a British military officer and aviator who flew as navigator of the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight with pilot John Alcock in June 1919. Biogr ...

, who had crash-landed on 14/15 June 1919 after the first 16-hour trans Atlantic non-stop flight, drove with the Lancia railcar from the capacitor building to the receiving house and the social club.

Closure

The railway operated from 1907 to 1922. When the Marconi Wireless Station burnt down in 1922 due to political unrest, the locomotive and waggons became useless. Subsequently, the railway line was taken out of use, lifted and probably scrapped.

Gallery

File:Men standing on Guglielmo Marconi's locomotive in Ireland.jpg, Steam locomotive built by Dick, Kerr & Co. File:Marconi Calling NLI.jpg, "Marconi Calling" File:Dick Kerr steam locomotive of Marconi Station Railway.jpg, Steam locomotive built by Dick, Kerr & Co.Dan McDonald
''Picture Parade.''
In: The Industrial Railway Record, No. 28, pp. 166-168, December 1969. File:2ft gauge Lancia railcar of Marconi Station Railway.jpg, John Alcock and

in the

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

railcar File:Marconi Transmitter Site - geograph.org.uk - 817095.jpg, Ruins of Marconi Wireless Station, 2003

References

External links

* Amanda Crowley
''Gugliemo Marconi – Connecting the World.''
Vie Magazine. *
''CRHnews - Marconi's World First Wireless Telegram Service Clifden.''
BBC. {{coord, 53.44626, -10.0249, region:IR_type:landmark, display=title 2 ft gauge railways in Ireland Defunct railroads Rail transport in Ireland