- Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway
-
Londonderry and Lough Swilly Legend
Carndonagh 
Carndonagh Halt Rashenny Ballyliffin 
Clonmany Meendoran Halt Drumfries Kinnego Road Halt Ballymagan Buncrana Lisfannon Golf Links Beach Halt 
Fahan Pier 
Fahan Junction Fahan Lamberton's Halt Inch Road 
Londonderry Middle Quay 
Londonderry Graving Dock Gallagh Road Harrity's Road Bridge End Burnfoot Tooban Junction 
Trady 
Burt Junction 
Farland Point Carrowen Newtowncunningham Sallybrook Manorcunningham Pluck CDRJC's Strabane and Letterkenny Railway to Strabane 
Letterkenny (CDR) & Letterkenny (LLS) Oldtown New Mills Foxhall Churchhill Kilmacrenan Barnes Halt Creeslough Dunfanaghy Road Falcarragh Cashelnagore Gweedore Crolly Kincasslagh Road Dungloe Burtonport Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Type Private company Industry Public transport, Freight Founded Ireland (1853) Headquarters Derry The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (The L&LSR, the Swilly) is an Irish public transport and freight company incorporated in June 1853. Despite its name it operates no railway services. It formerly operated 99 miles of railways but closed its last line in July 1953. Its successor company, the Lough Swilly Bus Company, still operates bus services over much of its former railway routes between Derry and northern County Donegal, as well as some services in County Londonderry.
Contents
History
Initially planned as the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company when an application for incorporation was filed in 1852 after spurning the construction of a canal network to connect the two inlets, the company opened its first line, a 5 feet 3 inches (1,600 mm) gauge link between Derry and Farland Point on 31 December 1863. A branch line between Tooban Junction and Buncrana was added in 1864 and much of the Farland Point line was closed in 1866.[1]
In 1883 the three foot (914 mm) gauge Letterkenny Railway between Cuttymanhill and Letterkenny was opened and the L&LSR connected with it by reopening the Tooban Junction - Cuttymanhill section of its Farland Point line.[2] The L&LSR worked the Letterkenny Railway and in 1885 it converted its track from 5' 3" gauge to three foot gauge to enable through running.[2] In 1887 ownership of the Letterkenny Railway passed to the Irish Board of Works,[1] which continued the agreement by which the L&LSR operated the line.
Carndonagh was reached by an extension completed in 1901[2] and Burtonport by an one completed in 1903.[3] Both lines were constructed as joint ventures with the UK Government, with ownership and liabilities shared between the two parties. During this period the company did not make a profit, and struggled to meet its debts.
Locomotives
Number Name Built Manufacturer Configuration Notes L&LSR No. 1 J T Macky 1882 Black, Hawthorn & Co 0-6-2T scrapped 1911 L&LSR No. 2 Londonderry 1883 Black, Hawthorn & Co 0-6-2T scrapped 1912 L&LSR No. 3 Donegal 1883 Black, Hawthorn & Co 0-6-2T scrapped 1913 L&LSR No. 4 Innishowen 1885 Black, Hawthorn & Co 0-6-2T scrapped 1940 L&LSR No. 5(A) 1873 Robert Stephenson & Co 2-4-0T former Glenariff Iron Ore and Harbour Company locomotive bought 1884; scrapped 1899 L&LSR No. 6(A) 1873 Robert Stephenson & Co 2-4-0T former Glenariff Iron Ore and Harbour Company locomotive bought 1884; scrapped 1904 L&LSR No. 5 1899 Hudswell Clarke 4-6-2T scrapped 1954 L&LSR No. 6 1899 Hudswell Clarke 4-6-2T scrapped 1954 L&LSR No. 7 Edward VII 1901 Hudswell Clarke 4-6-2T scrapped 1940 L&LSR No. 8 1901 Hudswell Clarke 4-6-2T scrapped 1954 L&BER No. 1 1902 Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. 4-6-0T scrapped 1954 L&BER No. 2 1902 Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. 4-6-0T scrapped 1940 L&BER No. 3 1902 Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. 4-6-0T scrapped 1954 L&BER No. 4 1902 Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. 4-6-0T scrapped 1953 L&LSR No. 9 Aberfoyle 1904 Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T scrapped 1928 L&LSR No. 10 Richmond 1904 Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T scrapped 1954 L&LSR No. 11 1905 Hudswell Clarke 4-8-0 scrapped 1933 L&LSR No. 12 1905 Hudswell Clarke 4-8-0 scrapped 1954 L&LSR No. 13 1910 Hawthorn, Leslie & Co 4-6-2T scrapped 1940 L&LSR No. 14 1910 Hawthorn, Leslie & Co 4-6-2T scrapped 1943 L&BER No. 5 1912 Hudswell Clarke 4-8-4T scrapped 1954 L&BER No. 6 1912 Hudswell Clarke 4-8-4T scrapped 1954 Routes
The line in 1906
Routes eventually included:
Foyle Road Station, Middle Quay and Graving Dock Stations to Pennyburn level crossing, all in Derry where the depot was. Then east into Inishowen to Galliagh Road, Harrity's Road (approximate site of border between NI and the Republic), Bridge End, Burnfoot and Tooban Junction. At Tooban Junction (as the name implies) the railway branched, north into Inishowen and south into County Donegal proper. Northwards it ran through Inch Road, Fahan, Buncrana, Ballymagan, Kinnego, Drumfries, Meendoran, Clonmany, Ballyliffin, Rashenny, Carndoagh Halt, and Carndonagh. Southwards it ran through Carrowen (near Farland Point), Newtowncunningham, Sallybrook, Manorcunningham, Pluck, Letterkenny, Oldtown, New Mills, Fox Hall, Churchill, Kilmacrenan, Barnes Halt, Creeslough, Dunfanaghy Road, Falcarragh, Cashelnagore, Gweedore, Crolly, Kincasslagh Road, Dungloe and terminating in Burtonport.
Owencarrow Viaduct disaster
Disaster occurred on the night of 30 January 1925 at around 8pm at the Owencarrow Viaduct, Donegal. Winds of up to 120mph derailed carriages of the train off the viaduct causing it to partially collapse. The roof of a carriage was ripped off throwing four people to their deaths.[4][5] The four killed were: Philip Boyle and his wife Sarah from Arranmore Island, Una Mulligan from Falcarragh and Neil Duggan from Meenbunowen, Creeslough.[6] Five people were seriously injured. The remains of the viaduct can today be seen from the road (N56) which carries on from the Barnes Gap on the road to Creeslough.[7]
Transfer to road operations
A L&LS Wright HandybusFrom 1929 the company began to acquire bus assets throughout Donegal. Further expansion followed rapidly. It entered profitability in the early 1930s as a result of these ventures. Acquisition of freight operations followed, and this led to a reduction of rail services and eventual closure of lines. The Carndonagh branch was closed in about 1935 and the Burtonport line closing entirely in 1940, with a section temporarily re-opening in 1941 to Gweedore, closing finally in 1947. The Buncrana section of the line lost its passenger service in 1948, with its freight service, and the remaining Letterkenny services all closing on 8 August 1953.
Following the cessation of all rail services, the company provided only road transport. Second hand vehicles were bought from a number of operators including Ulsterbus, and vehicles were obtained on loan from CIE. However, it failed to be profitable throughout the 1970s, and was purchased from bankruptcy by Patrick Doherty, a Buncrana businessman, in 1981.
The company exists to this day, operating passenger bus services, freight services, and holiday tour services; as well as providing the school bus services for many schools in Donegal. However, problems still exist for the company, with an attempt to withdraw bus services from Donegal in June 2003 met with resistance, and it is believed that the services are now being subsidised by the Irish Government, as they are seen as crucial to the often elderly and rural population they serve in Donegal. The Swilly's Northern Irish domestic services are generally subsidised by the Rural Transport Fund.
The company has offices in Derry City at the Foyle Street Bus Depot. They also have offices in the Letterkenny Bus Depot. The company also has a large garage area in Derry and Letterkenny, where their fleet of buses is kept. The majority of their bus fleet, with the exception of those used for holiday touring, is more than 10 years old; mainly considering of 1994 registered Dennis Dart vehicles. Their registered offices are in Letterkenny.
The end of rail operations
The last train to run on the line was the 2.15 pm from Letterkenny to Derry on 8 August 1953. It included 14 wagons of cattle and arrived n 50 minutes late. Bob Turner was the driver with Paddy Clifford as fireman. The Derry Journal reported at the time "... the guard, Mr. Daniel McFeeley, or anyone else, did not call out 'Next Stop Derry'. Everyone knew that the next stop would be the last stop - the last ever."[8]
In the media
An episode of the Channel 4 short documentary series Small Railway Journeys was based on the L&LSR giving many first hand accounts of the railway, including the viaduct accident. It detailed alleged cross border contraband smuggling and some irregular payment methods using local produce. The railway apparently had a reputation of treating freight with greater priority than passengers, evidenced by the distance of some stations from their served populations, and the delays caused due to the shunting of goods trucks attached to the passenger trains. It detailed the difficulties of running a railway in such an impoverished and inaccessible part of the country, with the frequent use of peat to fuel the trains, and the practice of handing down valued jobs on the railway from father to son.
See also
- Worsley Works produce model kits of Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway railway vehicles
- Lists of rail accidents
- List of wind-related railway accidents
- List of narrow gauge railways in Ireland
- Irish railway accidents
- Termon
- Creeslough
Other narrow gauge railways in Ulster
- Ballycastle Railway
- Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway
- Ballymena and Larne Railway
- Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway
- Cavan and Leitrim Railway
- Clogher Valley Railway
- County Donegal Railways Joint Committee
Notes
- ^ a b Hajducki, 1974, page xiv
- ^ a b c Hajducki, 1974, page 3
- ^ Hajducki, 1974, page 2
- ^ An Irishman's Diary by John Geraghty Scan of an edition of the Irish Times, 31 Jan 2005
- ^ Railways Archive web site shows a sketch of the Owencarrow disaster
- ^ Muriel Sherlock (2005). "Owencarrow Viaduct Disaster". RootsWeb.com. http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/DONEGALEIRE/2005-02/1109344536. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
- ^ [1] Images of the remains of the Owencarrow Viaduct
- ^ Patterson, 1988, page(s) not cited
Bibliography
- Hajducki, S Maxwell (1974). A Railway Atlas of Ireland. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. pp. 3, 4, xiv. ISBN 0 7153 5167 2.
- Patterson, Edward M (1988) [1964]. The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. pp. not cited. ISBN 0-7153-9167-4.
External links
- Official Website
- County Donegal Railway Restoration Ltd L&LSR page
- September 2009 timetables, scanned (Irish Transport Trust)
- September 2007 timetables, scanned (Irish Transport Trust)
- September 2006 timetables, scanned (Paul Savage/Irish Transport Trust)
- 2005 timetables, scanned
- Route map
- February 2010 bus & coach fleet list (Irish Transport Trust)
- All-time bus & coach fleet list (The Classic Irish Buses website)
- That Old Sinner – Letterkenny and Burtonport Railwayby Frank Sweeney Ulster Herald
Categories:- Transport companies of the Republic of Ireland
- Closed railways in Ireland
- Closed railways in Northern Ireland
- Narrow gauge railways in Ireland
- Transport in County Donegal
- Transport in County Londonderry
- 3ft gauge railways
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