The Loughrea branch line was a railway line in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, Ireland. It opened in 1890 and closed in 1975. The 9 mile single track branch ran from the Attymon Junction on the

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to main line and terminated at . was the single intermediate stop. It was the last rural branch line to survive in Ireland.

History

The Loughrea and Attymon Light Railway company was formed on 24 April 1885 to construct the line. It opened on 1 December 1890 with an agreement in place for the

Midland Great Western Railway The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the had a network of , making it Ireland's ...

to operate the line for the next 50 years. However, this arrangement did not run its full term as the line was absorbed into the new

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 ...

(GSR) from 1 January 1925. GSR was itself superseded by Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) on 1 January 1945. The line was closed by CIÉ on 3 November 1975 and the track was lifted in 1988.

Rolling stock and services

Steam era

Pictures exist of

2-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. In most of North America it b ...

and

0-6-0 is the Whyte notation designation for steam locomotives with a wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. Historically, this was the most common wheel arrangement used o ...

engines in use on the branch. The branch had five round trip passenger services at its peak in 1895. Many would be mixed passenger and freight.

Dieselisation era

The branch was normally operated by a CIE 611 Class with a single passenger coach. When that locomotive was unavailable for servicing or maintenance a

CIE 201 Class CIE may refer to: Organizations * Cambridge International Examinations, an international examination board * Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst * Cleveland Institute of Electronics, a private technical ...

Metropolitan-Vickers or a CIE 141 Class would normally substitute. Exceptionally a

CIE 001 Class CIE may refer to: Organizations * Cambridge International Examinations, an international examination board * Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst * Cleveland Institute of Electronics, a private technical ...

could be used.

History

Rolling stock and services

Steam era

Dieselisation era

References

Further reading