Connemara Railway
The Connemara Railway or Clifden Railway was a railway line built in Ireland by the Midland Great Western Railway . It led from Galway to Clifden , the capital of the sparsely populated Connemara region in western County Galway . It was discontinued in 1935 as one of the first rail lines in Ireland.
history
Initial suggestions for developing the sparsely populated region of Connemara with a railway line go back to the early days of the railways in Ireland, when it became foreseeable that the railway network would reach the provincial capital, Galway. The town of Clifden was mainly connected by sea, with a stagecoach and carts providing modest overland transport. These connections were completely inadequate, especially in severe winters, and such weather conditions led to crop failures in the 1880s. The impoverishment of the population in Connemara rose dramatically and calls for a rail link as a structural measure were loud, the project even described as "a matter of national importance". However, all initiatives initially failed due to the financial resources.
Financing and construction
Under Arthur Balfour , the Light Railway Act (Ireland) from 1889 onwards enabled state financial support for railway projects with little prospect of profit and thus the development of the sparsely populated Irish west on a larger scale. For the Midland Great Western Railway this meant the realization of two projects. In addition to the railway to Clifden, it was also possible to build the line from Westport to Achill Sound in County Mayo , and both lines were subsequently marketed jointly for tourism.
After the decision to build the railway, the route had not yet been finalized. The majority of the population, around 60,000 people, lived along the coast and since there was also an urgent need to open up better markets for local fisheries, a coastal route was preferred from Oughterard . For reasons that are not considered completely clear today, however, a route further inland was chosen. The most likely assumption is that the owner of Ballynahinch Castle made a large amount of land available free of charge for the construction of the railway and thus significantly influenced the decision. This variant was shorter, but led through a noticeably less populated area, and because of the marshy subsoil, a more massive substructure had to be built in some sections .
The government approved an amount of £ 246,000 for the Connemara route . Since the construction of the railway was also an emergency measure, every job-seeker was to be accepted and the first preparatory work began in the winter of 1890/91. In March 1891 there were first strikes in Clifden . Charles Braddock's contracted construction company accepted all job seekers as requested, but turned out to be a defaulting payer. The further away from Galway, the more irregularly the workers were paid their wages, so that further strikes followed. In July 1892 the railway company withdrew the project from Braddock and handed it over to TH Faulkner, under whom the work was now reliably, but no longer as planned in 1893, due to the previous strikes. In November 1893, 1,500 workers were employed, not without social tensions with the population, which were often caused by the illegal serving of alcohol on construction sites.
The operation
The first section from Galway to Oughterard opened on January 1, 1895. Apart from the guests of honor, there was hardly any audience, as New Year's Day was a strict church holiday and was reserved for attending church services. On July 1, 1895, the remaining line to Clifden was put into operation.
Due to the distance from the coast, freight traffic did not take on the originally desired extent, but brought the developed region the hoped-for reliable connection to the provincial capital Galway and more distant sales markets. This development prompted the railway company to rely heavily on tourist passenger transport. At the end of the 19th century, the wild and romantic solitude of Connemara was already enjoying a certain popularity as a summer destination with the aristocracy and the upper classes. From 1903, the Midland Great Western Railway ran direct express trains with dining cars from Dublin to Clifden during the summer season, and an upscale hotel was built at Recess station. Motorized cabs opened up the route from Clifden to Westport as a forerunner of later bus routes and established a connection with the other branch line of the railway company. Celebrities and members of the aristocracy who owned summer homes in Connemara or came on fishing holidays sparked public interest in the region as a travel destination.
The First World War , the Irish War of Independence and the resulting Irish Civil War cut the tourism business. During the civil war, the railway line was badly damaged in several places, which resulted in a shutdown of seven months.
The setting
When this dispute was over, the already increased competition from road traffic made the railways very difficult. In 1925 the railways in the Irish Free State (the predecessor of today's Irish Republic) were merged under the name Great Southern Railways. The already poor condition of the tracks made a thorough renovation necessary from the 1930s. The modest income therefore caused the Great Southern Railway to cease operations. On the afternoon of April 27, 1935, the last train left Clifden station; on this trip, all of the wagons that were still in the stations were added to this. The tracks and the bridge over the Corrib were then removed. As a replacement for the railway, the road connection between Galway and Clifden (now the national road N59) was paved and a bus route was set up.
Route description
The Connemara Railway was single-track in the broad gauge of 1,600 mm common in Ireland . Their starting point was Galway train station. While still in the city, under Prospect Hill, there was the railway's only tunnel that was actually a covered incision. The train crossed the Corrib on the largest bridge structure on the line and left Galway in a north-westerly direction. Following the bank of Lough Corrib via Moycullen and Ross, it first led to Oughterard. From here we went through the sparsely populated heartland of Connemara along the banks of Lough Bofin and Lough Ardderry to Maam Cross , an important intersection with national roads. On the southern edge of Joyce Country , within sight of the Twelve Bens , the route continued over Recess, where the railway hotel was, and Lough Derryclare and Lough Ballynahinch . After 48.5 miles (around 78 kilometers), the final destination was Clifden. There were a total of 41 bridges and culverts along the route. The stations of Moycullen, Oughterard, Maam Cross and Recess were designed as crossing stations with two platforms. Clifden station was equipped with a turntable and a locomotive shed .
Relics
Although the Connemara Railway was demolished in the 1930s, numerous relics of the railway are still well preserved. While the railway line in the city of Galway is no longer recognizable due to construction activity, the tunnel under Prospect Hill and the pillars of the bridge over the Corrib are still there. From the city limits, the route including numerous bridges and culverts has remained largely unobstructed and can be clearly seen in the landscape. Some sections are used as driveways and access roads. Several of the station buildings that were sold to private buyers still exist, so the Clifden train station was integrated into a hotel complex. The locomotive shed now houses a museum, the goods shed was used as a theater stage and cinema.
Individual evidence
- ^ Galway Express, April 4, 1885: Clifden Railway. Retrieved May 22, 2010 (English).
- ^ A b H. Rasche: The Midland Great Western Railway: Galway – Clifden. Retrieved May 22, 2010 .
- ^ A b K. Villiers-Tuthill: The Connemara Railway 1895-1935. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 27, 2010 ; accessed on May 22, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Clifden Station House Courtyard: The Station House Theater. Retrieved May 22, 2010 (English).
