Waterford and Tramore Railway

The Waterford and Tramore Railway was an independent line which opened on September 5, 1853, connecting Manor St. in the city of Waterford, Ireland to the seaside resort of Tramore, 7.25 miles away. Construction began on February 10, 1853. The Waterford business community financed the 77,000 pounds cost. The William Dargan Construction Company completed the line in 7 months - a considerable achievement as a section of line just outside Waterford ran over deep bogland covered in bulrushes.

In 1925, the line was amalgamated into the Great Southern Railways (GS&WR), which subsequently became part of CIE. On 27 September, 1960, CIE announced closure of the line and, on December 31, it was permanently closed, to be replaced by a bus service. To avoid demonstrations, the last scheduled train did not run. The final trains thus were the 1.25 p.m. from Waterford and the 2.10 p.m. from Tramore.

During the first half of 1961, all the tracks were lifted - locally it is believed for shipment to Nigeria. The sleepers were sold for protection against coastal erosion. One of the few remaining traces of the railway is the Station house, which currently serves as the offices of Tramore Failte.

The Waterford and Tramore Railway was the only line in Ireland that did not connect to any others. It was one of Waterford's five railways, the others being:

#Waterford, Limerick and Western;
#Waterford and Central Ireland;
#Waterford, Dungarvan and Lismore;
#Dublin and South Eastern.

External links

* [http://homepage.tinet.ie/~edrice/town/trainhist.htm History of the line by Ian Flynn and Friends]
* [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0185/D.0185.196011300067.html Waterford-Tramore Railway: Road Maintenance Costs]
* [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0070/D.0070.193802160011.html Closure rumours]
* [http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0186/D.0186.196102160035.html Closure debate]
* [http://lafcadiohearn.org/bkup.html Lafcadio Hearn Diaries]