Schull And Skibbereen Railway
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The Schull and Skibbereen Railway (also known as the Schull and Skibbereen Tramway and Light Railway) was a minor
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 ...
in
County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. It opened in 1886 and closed in 1947. The track gauge was a
narrow gauge 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 ...
. The formal name of the company was ''The West Carberry Tramways and Light Railways Company Ltd''.


Route

The S&S's main line was 15 ½ miles long. It was one of several in Ireland built under the terms of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act 1883 ( 46 & 47 Vict. c. 43). It largely ran alongside roads, although a large 12-arched masonry viaduct was built over an inlet of Roaringwater Bay, and at times using gradients at steep as 1:30. The line linked the small harbour and village at
Schull Schull or Skull ( ; or ''Scoil Mhuire'', meaning "Mary's School") is a town on the south-west coast of County Cork in Ireland. Located on the southwest coast of Ireland in the Municipal district (Ireland), municipal district of West Cork, ...
''(in Irish: Scoil Mhuire)'' with the town of
Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located ...
''(An Sciobairín)''. The only sizeable intermediate village was
Ballydehob Ballydehob () is a coastal village in the southwest of County Cork, Ireland. It is 13 km west of Skibbereen and 13 km south of Bantry. History During the Bronze Age (2200-600 B.C.), copper was mined on Mount Gabriel, just west of the ...
''(Béal Átha an dá Chab)'', although the station was located inconveniently far from the village. The line was single track, with a passing place at Ballydehob station. Other halts were built at Newcourt, Church Cross, Hollyhill, Kilcoe and Woodlands (of which only Hollyhill had a station building). The station at Skibbereen was built on a cramped site adjacent to that of the
Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland. It opened in 1849 as the Cork and Bandon Railway (C&BR), changed its name to Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway in 1888 and became part of the Great S ...
. The S&S trains had to reverse out of the station into a headshunt, before proceeding towards Schull. (A similar reversing operation is still required at
Killarney railway station Killarney railway station is a railway station, station on the Mallow to Tralee line serving the town of Killarney in County Kerry. It is situated next to the bus station and Killarney Outlet Centre. Adjacent to the station on the approach ro ...
on
Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann, () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national Rail transport in Ireland, railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of CIÉ, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal I ...
's line from Mallow to
Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...
).


Early years

Construction was begun in 1885 and soon proved to be substandard. The Inspector of Railways refused to allow the line to be opened for public service in August 1886. Following some remedial work and a subsequent inspection, the line opened in September with a restricted speed limit of only 15 miles per hour. In October the service had to be suspended for 10 days owing to problems with both the track and the locomotives. Services had to again be suspended in April 1887, with local ratepayers having to subsidise the company. The Inspector of Railways gave a highly critical report of the line's standards of operation. Following further losses, in 1892 the Grand Jury of County Cork appointed a committee of management to run the line. In 1893 a short extension to Schull Pier was built, qualifying for a grant as it was an existing railway, the justification being fish traffic.


Ownership by the GSR and CIÉ

In 1925 the company was incorporated 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 ...
. Owing to a shortage of coal 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 ...
(known as The Emergency in neutral Ireland), services had to be suspended between April 1944 and December 1945. In 1945 the GSR was incorporated into Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). A further shortage of coal resulted in a renewed suspension of services on 27 January 1947. The line never reopened; CIÉ formally abandoned the railway in September 1952.


Rolling stock

The line was operated by steam locomotives throughout its existence: * SSLR 1 to 3 – Dick, Kerr 0-4-0T tramway locomotives of 1886 named Marion, Ida and Ilen. *
SSLR 4 Schull and Skibbereen Railway 4 ''Erin'' was a locomotive manufactured by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company of Patricroft near Manchester in 1888. It was the Schull and Skibbereen Railway's fourth locomotive. In 1925, the railway was absorbed into ...
– Nasmyth, Wilson & Co. 4–4–0T of 1888. *
SSLR 1 and 3 Schull and Skibbereen Light Railway 1 and 3 were two locomotives manufactured by Peckett and Sons in 1906 and 1914 respectively. They were the Schull and Skibbereen Railway's fifth and sixth locomotives, and took the numbers of withdrawn locomo ...
– Peckett and Sons 4–4–0T of 1906, and 1914. * GSR 6S – ex CMLR 6.


Services

The standard train service, journey time 80 minutes, were two mixed trains a day. morning and evening, except Sunday were there was one, supplemented by additional trains on fair days.


See also

*
List of narrow-gauge railways in Ireland Ireland formerly had numerous narrow-gauge railways, most of which were built to a gauge of . The last (non-preserved) line to close was the West Clare Railway in 1961 (though it has been partially preserved). railways Northern Ireland Oper ...
*
West Cork West Cork () is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Du ...


Other narrow gauge railways in County Cork

*
Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway The Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway (CB&PR) was a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge railway in County Cork, Ireland. The line originally opened in 1850 as a Irish standard gauge railway between Cork (city), Cork and Passage West and opera ...
*
Cork and Muskerry Light Railway The Cork and Muskerry Light Railway was a narrow gauge railway in County Cork, Ireland. The first part of the railway opened in 1887 and closed in 1934. A major reason for building the railway was to exploit tourist traffic to Blarney Castle. ...


References


Notes


Footnotes


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


Parliamentary question (in Dáil Éireann), 25 April 1944
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schull And Skibbereen Railway History of County Cork Transport in County Cork 3 ft gauge railways in Ireland Skibbereen Railway companies established in 1883 Railway companies disestablished in 1925