Sligo, Leitrim And Northern Counties Railway
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The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway (SL&NCR) was a railway in counties
Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...
, Fermanagh, Leitrim and
Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...
in north-west Ireland. It consisted of one main line, with no branch lines and remained privately owned until its closure.


History

From the time that the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (L&ER) was completed in 1859 there was a number of proposals to connect the line with Sligo. A "Londonderry, Enniskillen and Sligo Railway" was proposed that would have run west from ''via''
Manorhamilton Manorhamilton () is the second-largest town in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the N16 from Sligo and from Enniskillen. History Before the Plantations of Ireland, the settlement was known, and continues to be known in the ...
direct to Sligo. The Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway (E&BR) was incorporated in 1862, was opened from on the L&ER to Bundoran on the Atlantic coast in 1868 and had Parliamentary powers to continue from Bundoran to Sligo, but failed to do so. The SL&NCR Company was incorporated in 1875, and its construction started at a junction with the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Enniskillen and proceeded westwards. The E&BR accepted defeat and in 1878 Parliament passed an Act allowing it to abandon its commitment to extend to Sligo from Bundoran. The SL&NCR adopted as its company seal a picture of two steam locomotives colliding, with one derailed and the other remaining on the track. This commemorated the SL&NCR's success in reaching Sligo and the E&BR's failure to do the same. The SL&NCR opened as far as in 1879, in 1880, Collooney in 1881 and Carrignagat Junction on the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) opened in 1882, completing a line of about . Beyond Carrignagat Junction the SL&NCR exercised running powers over the MGWR to and from
Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...
. In 1895 the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway (WL&WR) was extended to Collooney, forming junctions with the MGWR and SL&NCR. This gave access to a larger area of western Ireland, whose cattle exports formed a significant part of the SL&NCR's traffic. The SL&NCR was one of the railways that the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
's
Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Ireland, 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 Irelan ...
did not absorb in 1925 because it crossed the border with
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. It became the last privately owned railway undertaking to survive in
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
(although the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway still existed as a road transport firm). The company never prospered since the countryside it crossed was poor and sparsely populated, although at one time intermittent heavy cattle traffic used the line. Governments on both sides of the border subsidised the railway in its later years, but the SL&NCR closed on 1 October 1957 as a result of the
Government of Northern Ireland A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
making the GNR Board close its line through Enniskillen.


Motive power

SL&NCR locomotives had names, but were not numbered. The company had the use of only two
turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
s: its own at and the Midland Great Western Railway one at , and so tank engines were the preferred option.


''Pioneer'' and ''Sligo''

Its first two main line locomotives were a pair with an 0-6-2T wheel arrangement, ''Pioneer'' and ''Sligo'', built by the Avonside Engine Company of
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, England and delivered in 1877. These were unsteady riders on the SL&NCR's light track, but the company kept them in service until 1921.


''Leitrim'' class

After the disappointment of the ''Pioneer'' class, the SL&NCR turned to the 0-6-4T wheel arrangement. In 1879
Beyer, Peacock & Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English general engineering company and railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson founded the company in 1854. The company close ...
of
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England had supplied the South Australian Railways K class, which was built to the Irish gauge and designed to run on lightweight track. As a result, the SL&NCR ordered an enlarged version of this design which became the SLNCR Leitrim class. Beyer, Peacock delivered the first two of this class, ''Fermanagh'' and ''Leitrim'', in 1882. Proving reliable, the SL&NCR obtained further examples from Beyer, Peacock in 1895, ''Hazelwood'' and 1899, ''Lissadell'' The SL&NCR started withdrawing the class from service in 1947 and one of the class survived until the closure of the line in 1957.


''Sir Henry'' class

In 1904 Beyer, Peacock delivered ''Sir Henry'', an enlarged and modernised 0-6-4T design, the SLNCR Sir Henry class. ''Enniskillen'' was delivered in 1905 and "Lough Gill" in 1917. All three survived until the closure of the line in 1957.


''Lough'' class

Further enlargement and modernisation of the design resulted in the SLNCR Lough class. There were only two locomotives of this type, ''Lough Melvin'' and ''Lough Erne'', and they were built by Beyer, Peacock in 1949. When the line was closed in 1957 they were sold to the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA), with whom they remained in service until the 1960s. One of them, ''Lough Erne'', is now preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland at
Whitehead, County Antrim Whitehead () is a small seaside town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, lying almost midway between the towns of Carrickfergus and Larne. It lies within the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Templecorran, the historic ...
.


Railbuses and railcars

The SL&NCR was an early adopter of
railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar with an automotive engine. It shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels (2 axles) on a fixed base instead of on bogies. O ...
es and
railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...
s, which it introduced in the 1930s and 1940s. One of the latter, Railcar B, was built in 1947 and is now preserved by the Downpatrick and County Down Railway at
Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...
.


References


Sources and further reading

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External links

* {{Authority control Railway companies established in 1875 Railway companies disestablished in 1957 Irish-gauge railways Closed railways in Ireland Closed railways in Northern Ireland Transport in County Cavan Transport in County Fermanagh Transport in County Leitrim Transport in County Sligo Railway lines opened in 1879 Defunct railway companies of Ireland