The Waterford–Mallow railway line ran from Waterford to and allowed for trains to run directly from

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

History

The line was opened in stages by various companies and was completely opened on 12 August 1878. On 17 May 1860 the

Great Southern and Western Railway The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the larges ...

(GS&WR) opened a branch from (on its Dublin to Cork main line) to . An extension from Fermoy to was approved to be constructed by the Fermoy and Lismore Railway in 1869 and following opening on 1 October 1872 was operated by the GS&WR. The Waterford, Dungarvan and Lismore Railway (WD&LR) was incorporated in 1871 and fully opened its section on 12 August 1878; thus completing the continuous connection from Cork via Mallow to Waterford. The WD&LR operated its own trains and was to take over operation of the Fermoy to Lismore section from the GS&WR on 1 March 1893. The route was completely taken over by the GS&WR in 1898. The route was closed in 1967 The line closed in March 1967 for economic reasons. As most patronage was for Cork on the boat train it was possible to re-route between Waterford and Mallow via , a route that was of greater mileage but which only resulted in a maximum 10 minute increase in journey time.

Route

From

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

has some significant 1 in 66 inclines to two summits. In 2022 a Greenway was proposed along the old routeto Dungarvan Greenway
/ref> from Mallow to Dungarvan.

Services

The Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company gained authority to run a boat service from

Fishguard Fishguard (, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,400 (rounded to the nearest 100) as of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Modern Fishguard consists of two parts, Lowe ...

, Wales to

Rosslare Harbour The village of Rosslare Harbour (), also known as Ballygeary, grew up to serve the needs of the harbour of the same name (now called Rosslare Europort), first developed in 1906 by the Great Western Railway and the Great Southern and Western Rai ...

in 1895. The GS&WR were then able to run a service notably including a twelve-wheeled dining car from Rosslare routing via Waterford and Mallow at considerable convenience for travellers going to Cork City and further south-west.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * Closed railways in Ireland {{Ireland-transport-stub