Marconi Railway

Visitor ride

Dick, Kerr & Co Ltd steam locomotive

“Marconi Calling”

Former Marconi Railway (red) and radio
station (blue) on a modern map

Route length:

1.5 miles = 2.4 km

Gauge :

610 mm ( 2 foot track )

Legend

	0	Locomotive shed
		turntable
		Gate of the site
	2.4	Marconi Wireless Station
		turntable

The Marconi Railway was a 2,4-kilometer, 1907-1922 operated plant - narrow-gauge railway with a track width of 2 feet (610 mm) in the Marconi - telegraph - radio station at Clifden in the Irish County Galway .

location

Remnants of the foundation of the radio station

The route ran from the gate of the site over moor and rocks to the most important buildings of the Marconi Wireless Station. There was a turntable at the beginning and end of the railway line. The foundations of the two turntables are still visible today. There were probably no passing points on the single-track route. There were hand-operated cranes at various points along the route to load peat onto the freight carts and thus supply the power plant of the Marconi Wireless Station with fuel.

history

Construction and commissioning

The line and its steam locomotive were designed by Dick, Kerr & Co Ltd in Scotland and built from 1905 to 1907. At first, the narrow-gauge railway was used to transport building materials and equipment. On October 17th, the railway brought the first workers and guests to the radio station. It later proved itself for the transport of peat from the moorland, which was used to heat the company's own power station. It was also used for the passenger traffic of employees and guests.

Famous passengers


Dick, Kerr & Co Ltd steam locomotive		Alcock and Brown in the Lancia- Draisine

The pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown , who on 14./15. June 1919 were the first to cross the Atlantic on a 16-hour transatlantic flight non-stop, after their crash landing drove the Lancia draisine from the back of the capacitor house to the reception building and club.

Shutdown

The railway was in use from 1907 to 1922. When the Marconi Wireless Station was destroyed by fire during political unrest in 1922, the locomotive and the wagons were also unusable. As a result, the railway line was shut down, dismantled and probably scrapped.

Web links

Amanda Crowley: Gugliemo Marconi - Connecting the World. Vie Magazine.
CRHnews - Marconi's World First Wireless Telegram Service Clifden. BBC.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Shane Joyce: Clifden Marconi Station, c. 1915, scale 1: 6000. 2012.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Marconi Station Railway. November 3, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
^ Dan McDonald: Picture Parade. In: The Industrial Railway Record, No. 28, pp. 166-168, December 1969.

53.44626 -10.0249Coordinates: 53 ° 26 '46.5 " N , 10 ° 1' 29.6" W.

[Joyce-1] Shane Joyce: Clifden Marconi Station, c. 1915, scale 1: 6000. 2012.

[AandB-2] Marconi Station Railway. November 3, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2018.

[3] Dan McDonald: Picture Parade. In: The Industrial Railway Record, No. 28, pp. 166-168, December 1969.