The Clogher Valley Railway was a ,

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

and

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

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 opened in May 1887 and closed on 1 January 1942 (with the last trains running the previous day).

Route

The railway was mainly situated in rural parts of

, which hindered the company's potential profitability. The western terminus was Maguiresbridge,

, where the line shared Maguiresbridge railway station with the

Great Northern Railway (Ireland) The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNR(I), GNRI or simply GNR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway (INW), Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. Th ...

on the Clones to

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

line. It then proceeded in a north-easterly direction through stations at

Brookeborough Brookeborough (; Irish: ''Achadh Lon'', meaning 'Field of the Blackbirds') is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, at the westerly foot of Slieve Beagh. It lies about eleven miles east of Enniskillen, just off the A4 trunk road, an ...

, Colebrooke,

Fivemiletown Fivemiletown is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is 16 miles (26 km) east of Enniskillen and 26 miles (43 km) west-south-west of Dungannon, on the A4 road (Northern Ireland), A4 Enniskillen-to-Dungannon r ...

Clogher Clogher (; , ) is a village and civil parish in the border area of south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, 5.8 miles from the border crossing to County Monaghan. It stands on the townlands of Clogher Demesne ...

and

Augher Augher (from meaning "edge/border") is a small village in south County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies just 6 miles to the border with County Monaghan and is 16 miles south of Dungannon. It is situated in the historic barony of Clogher and ...

until reaching Ballygawley station, at which point the line turned in a south-easterly direction to Aughnacloy, Caledon and the eastern terminus at

Tynan Tynan ()PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
is a village, townland (of 375 acres) an ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

(where the Great Northern Railway was again met, this time on the Clones to

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

line) Aughnacloy was the line's principal station and the location of the company's headquarters and workshops. Fivemiletown was the second largest station. Like a tramway, the line passed down the middle of the Main Streets of both FivemiletownImage
/ref> and Caledon. The railway ran alongside the public roadway for nearly all of its length.

Early years

It was originally known as the Clogher Valley Tramway, but changed its legal status and its name to the Clogher Valley Railway in 1894. The start was not auspicious, the company required a loan of £44,000 from the Board of Works to enable the line to be finished. It was constructed under the terms of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act 1883 ( 46 & 47 Vict. c. 43) and was built to a track gauge of 3 feet. Extensions were planned, including a branch line from Ballygawley to

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

and an eastwards link to the Bessbrook and Newry Tramway, but were never built. Prior to the 1930s the line was worked entirely by steam locomotives, with six tank engines built by Sharp Stewart. For almost all of its existence the railway made a loss (and required a subsidy from local ratepayers). The greatest profit ever made by the company was in 1904 – only £791.

Later years

From 1921 onwards, the line found itself located entirely within

(although running close to the border with 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 ...

for almost its entire route). In 1922 a commission appointed by 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 ...

recommended that the loss-making line should be taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), but the GNR(I) declined. The company struggled on, until it was taken over by a committee of management appointed by Tyrone and Fermanagh County Councils in 1928. Henry Forbes, the manager of the

County Donegal Railways Joint Committee The County Donegal Railways Joint Committee operated an extensive narrow gauge railway system serving County Donegal, Ireland, from 1906 until 1960. The committee was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1906, which authorised the joint pur ...

(CDRJC), was one of the members of the new committee and was instrumental in introducing diesel traction – a then novel form of motive power. To reduce operating costs, two diesel vehicles were built for the railway by Walker Brothers of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

– a 28-seat railbus in 1932 and a rail lorry in 1933. The railbus was virtually identical to those operated by the CDRJC (which purchased both vehicles following the line's closure). In 1932 the CDRJC also acquired the CVR's unsuccessful steam tram locomotive built by Atkinson Walker, which was rebuilt as "Phoenix" with a diesel engine. This locomotive is now preserved at the

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum Both the Ulster Folk Museum and Ulster Transport Museum are situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about east of the city of Belfast. Now operating as two separate museums, the Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions ...

Cultra Cultra ( - ) is an affluent residential neighbourhood near Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is part of Greater Belfast. It is in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area. Cultra is home to the Royal North of Ireland Yacht ...

. The last trains ran on 31 December 1941, the railway becoming a victim of road competition and cost-saving measures during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Notes

References

External links

Trainz – further informationIndustrialHeritageIreland – Clogher Valley Railway
{{coord, 54.414, -6.977, display=title, region:GB_scale:10000 Closed railways in Northern Ireland 3 ft gauge railways in Ireland Transport in County Tyrone Transport in County Fermanagh Transport in County Armagh Railway companies established in 1887 Railway companies disestablished in 1942 1942 disestablishments in Northern Ireland British companies disestablished in 1942 British companies established in 1887