Birdhill to Killaloe/Ballina railway

jacksie66

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jacksie66

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Eiretrains

Thanks again for posting the photos, always wanted to see what remained of the bridge over the Kilmastulla River. That level crossing with its fancy gateposts is very nice. Interesting to see the sleepers, lamp (presumably off the one time home semaphore signal) etc.. still around even though its been 65 years or so after closing!

jacksie66

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gobnaitolunacy

The flat cast iron things with bolts thru them are soleplates, for fixing flat bottomed rail to sleepers, a cheaper alternative to bullhead rails and chairs. The triangular fanged nut would dig into the underside of the sleeper to keep it from turning when tightening them up.

Grandeeod

The lakeside hotel in Ballina has some photos of the line in use up on the wall near reception.

rainbowdash

Always thought this was just a spur built for the Shannon scheme, was it used for the scheme at all or was it only built the time of the scheme?

Grandeeod

Shannon scheme was a different line that lasted a lot longer.

Judgement Day

rainbowdash wrote: »

Always thought this was just a spur built for the Shannon scheme, was it used for the scheme at all or was it only built the time of the scheme?

You're mixing it up with the Longpavement/Ardnacrusha branch. The Killaloe branch was opened in the 1860s and finally closed in 1944. I seem to remember that it was used for storing wagons for some years after that. Another far sighted closure that most have saved a fortune, bit like the Goolds Cross/Cashel - neither of them more than long sidings.

101sean

Must get some pics of what's left of Goolds Cross - Cashel (it's on the doorstep when I'm home) although there's even less of that left than the Killaloe Branch

Judgement Day

101sean wrote: »

Must get some pics of what's left of Goolds Cross - Cashel (it's on the doorstep when I'm home) although there's even less of that left than the Killaloe Branch

A good many years ago - possibly circa 1996/7 - I visited Cashel station, and was surprised to find that the two storey corrugated station building had survived, albeit with a factory built right against it. I seem to remember that the intermediate station at Ardmayle was sort of intact too but it's a long time ago..


http://www.seamusjking.com/Articles%20Full/cashel_railway.html

Of all the closed lines in the country that could surely be restored as a tourist route....

Eiretrains

Judgement Day wrote: »

A good many years ago - possibly circa 1996/7 - I visited Cashel station, and was surprised to find that the two storey corrugated station building had survived, albeit with a factory built right against it. I seem to remember that the intermediate station at Ardmayle was sort of intact too but it's a long time ago..
Of all the closed lines in the country that could surely be restored as a tourist route....

I always think Cashel station had the ultimate backdrop to an Irish Railway, with The Rock towering in the distance. Here's a photograph from the Lawrence Collection shortly after opening:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/8449268749/lightbox/

I thought there might not be no trace of the station left, can you see it here in JD?
http://goo.gl/maps/Wf7MJ
The station at Ardmayle was relatively untouched until recently, but the platform and level crossing gates are gone.:(
http://goo.gl/maps/m0NCD

Judgement Day

Nope I can't see it. I had a look for it on Google Streetview a while back but couldn't see it either. I suspect it's still there amongst the factory complex.

That Lawrence pic was used by Irish Rail on a Rail Freight calendar back in the 1980s - very relevant.

Imagine how much tourist business could have been gained down the years if the Goold's Cross/Cashel siding had been maintained. I shouldn't think that IE gain any benefit whatsoever from Cashel these days.

gobnaitolunacy

Early on, didn't the GS&WR originally promote the railway to go from Dublin directly to Cashel but changed their minds and bypassed it?

Eiretrains

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

Early on, didn't the GS&WR originally promote the railway to go from Dublin directly to Cashel but changed their minds and bypassed it?

I could be wrong, but I recall reading they diverted from the original proposal to Cashel because a large landowner near Dundrum offered his land for free and GSWR jumped at such an opportunity in their pursuit of reaching Cork. I think Tipperary also lost out because of this. Who knows, 150 years later looking from our view it's regrettable they did bypass Cashel considering how prominent the location is.

Judgement Day

Yes, Cashel was the original route and apparently the GSWR shares sold at the time were known as "Cashels". Surprisingly the branch was only opened in 1904 and closed in 1954 or was it '52. It was a victim of the 1944 (?) fuel crisis and never reopened to scheduled services but the odd passenger special ran right up to the end - I think. Afraid all these facts that were once at my finger tips have slipped away due to excess quantities of Guinness and rugby.

Came across this interesting pic http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/6781681537/ of the late Albert "Alby" Maher at Goolds Cross Cabin back in 1959. Used to know Alby and his nephew Billy during my years with the GSRPS.

jacksie66

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dregin

Here's another (albeit drawn) image of Cashel:

dregin

A decent pic:

101sean

Billy Maher is a near neighbour and I have copies of several of his and his uncle's photos of the area. My grandmother was at the cutting of the first sod on the Cashel Branch and my father regularly used it to take radio batteries in to Cashel to be charged in the 30s!

Ardmayle station was only cleared about three years ago after standing untouched for years. Most of the line between Goolds Cross and Ardmayle is totally gone but from there to Cashel much is traceable. Stone from many of the bridges was used to restore Holy Cross Abbey or so I'm told.

Goolds Cross station is privately owned but in a poor state.

pigtown

Judgement Day wrote: »

You're mixing it up with the Longpavement/Ardnacrusha branch.

Any more info on this. A(n admittedly quick) google doesn't show up much? Did it go on to become the R464?

Grandeeod

pigtown wrote: »

Any more info on this. A(n admittedly quick) google doesn't show up much? Did it go on to become the R464?

Alignment is still there. Try google earth.

jacksie66

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pigtown

Grandeeod wrote: »

Alignment is still there. Try google earth.

jacksie66 wrote: »

Alot of it was removed when they realigned the road. I remember the old level crossing just down the road from the pub at the tailrace bridge.

After studying google earth I think I'm right in saying the trackbed was converted to the R464 as far as the bridge at Parteen, and it continued on parallel to the river before suddenly veering left into a loop.

Sorry for going off topic. It would be great if the trackbed for the Killaloe/Ballina line was still intact, a cyclelane linking the towns to Limerick would be cool. Linking either to the cyclelane on the old N7 or perhaps a greenway parallel to Limerick-Nenagh rail line.

Judgement Day

We were eyeing up the Ardnacrusha branch for a narrow gauge line back in 1989, the track was still in situ - even had the owners (ESB) agreeing to go along with the project but the then proprietor of "The Tailrace" put us right about what we could expect from some of the locals - I'll say no more.

Pics from the Photo Thread showing IRRS special at Ardnacrusha in the 1960s.

Grandeeod

Judgement Day wrote: »

We were eyeing up the Ardnacrusha branch for a narrow gauge line back in 1989, the track was still in situ - even had the owners (ESB) agreeing to go along with the project but the then proprietor of "The Tailrace" put us right about what we could expect from some of the locals - I'll say no more.

Pics from the Photo Thread showing IRRS special at Ardnacrusha in the 1960s.

Apologies, the alignment is somewhat destroyed by road realignment as far as Parteen. I was just looking at the area around the power station along the river.

gobnaitolunacy

Back to Killaloe...



Lady Lansdowne, the world’s oldest surviving iron paddle steamer
The Lady Lansdowne was a paddle steamer of 148 tons, 130 feet in length and 17 feet wide which was built in sections at the in Birkenhead Iron
Works in 1833 (later to be the Cammell Laird foundry). She was the world’s first iron ship with watertight bulkheads and is the world’s oldest surviving iron paddle steamer. She was given the yard ‘number 1’ by Laird as this vessel was the first powered iron ship to be constructed at the Birkenhead Works. These features make the ship of international importance in terms of shipbuilding. At the end of her working life the ship was beached in the shallows on the Ballina side of the Shannon River and left there on the site of what is now the Derg Marina. It is estimated that the date this took place was 1867-1868. As the vessel is more than a hundred years of age it has the protection of the 1987 Monuments Act.

The Lady Lansdowne was the largest steamer to work on the Shannon, and with her two forty-five horse power steam engines she was capable of towing up to four barges. On account of her size she could not venture to Limerick via the canal to the south of Killaloe or travel on the Grand Canal, so the ship was assembled from parts brought by canal barge from Dublin and via Lough Derg to Killaloe. She was built in a wet-dock that had been constructed adjacent to the Pier Head at Killaloe a few years earlier. In the 1820s William Laird, a boiler maker, who had moved from Scotland to the Mersey, was joined by his son John and they started to build ships from iron. In 1833 they received the order for the largest ship that was to work that century on the Shannon. At this time a regular passage between Liverpool and Dublin was being run by the City and Dublin Steam Packet Company (CDSPCo). It was this company who ordered a large iron ship from Lairds, to be named The Lady Lansdowne.
Sections of The Lady Lansdowne were delivered to Dublin by the night mail steamer service from Liverpool on 20 September 1833 and by 24th September, the twenty men and six boys who came over on the CSSPCo steamer Birmingham with the necessary tools and ship sections left Portabello Harbour on the Grand Canal for Shannon Harbour, then on a further barge for Killaloe.
According to newspaper reports The Lady Lansdowne was launched at Killaloe on the 4th March 1834. She had five distinct compartments made of wrought iron partitions that would prevent sinking should a section become flooded. Being an iron ship she would float at a shallower draft than a similar sized wooden vessel. She therefore had an advantage in entering shallow harbour areas on the Shannon River and in Lough Derg.
Such a vessel would also have a corresponding ability to carry more cargo. The engines she received had been removed from another of the Company’s ships, The Mersey, which had recently been re-engined.

The Lady Lansdowne could tow up to four barges (also known as lumber boats) and was an important component of commerce at this time as goods, livestock and passengers could be ferried around Lough Derg. For example cattle could be towed in a barge to Portumna by a large steamer, to Shannon Harbour by a smaller steamer and then taken by canal to Dublin for export, within three days.

Barges also carried slate from the quarries at Garrykennedy and Deer Harbour (known as ‘Killaloe slate’). This slate was finished in Killaloe at the Slate yard. At this time the quarries and yard employed 350 to 400 men with an annual export of seven to ten thousand tons each year, and brought via the Grand Canal to Dublin and to England. In 1840 records show that passenger movements from Killaloe were more than 3,500 passengers and much of this traffic could be attributed to The Lady Lansdowne. This ship worked a six-day week steaming from Killaloe at 0900hrs, leaving after the arrival of the fly-boat from Limerick and returning that evening. She steamed up-lake to Williamstown on the western side of Lough Derg and then on to Portumna at its northern end to arrive in the afternoon. Over the six-day working week she was in service for 49 hours.
The fuel used initially was coal but in the 1840s peat began to be used and The Lady Landsdowne converted to this cheaper fuel, almost certainly supplied from Coos Bay and Rossmore on the western side of Lough Derg. She could reach Portumna from Killaloe in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Because of her size The Lady Lansdowne was confined to working on Lough Derg until improvements were made to the river and new locks built at Meelick and Athlone in the 1840s. Her first visit to Athlone in 1849 was a novelty. There was now competition, arising from the development of the railway network in Ireland, this resulted in less trade by water although a continued passenger service did take place for a while.
The railway company (The Midland and Great Western Railway- MGWR) bought two vessels The Duchess of Argyle and The Artizan and these went into competition with the CDSPCo and caused them to discontinue their passenger service in 1859.
By 1860 the railway companies MGWR and The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) agreed to discontinue their passenger service. Yet The Duchess of Argyle still provided a service between Killaloe and Athlone three times a week. This service was short lived and soon after in 1865 the passenger vessels, including The Lady Lansdowne were described in a report, to the Select Committee on Navigation, as being in a wretched state and rotting at Killaloe. Most of these vessels were tied-up or moored at this time and were unlikely to have had much subsequent use.
Photographs from about 1900 shows a ship on the Tipperary side almost opposite the Pier Head.

Wonder if the railway-owned steamers are still there? Buried in the mud maybe?

jacksie66

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gobnaitolunacy

jacksie66 wrote: »

After the shannon scheme in the 1920's, the water level in Killaloe was raised substantially. I'd say these ships are long, long gone.

The Lady Lansdowne, or whats left of her, is under the Marina.
http://www.irishshipwrecks.com/shipwrecks.php?wreck_ref=2

Grizzly 45

Judgement Day wrote: »

We were eyeing up the Ardnacrusha branch for a narrow gauge line back in 1989, the track was still in situ - even had the owners (ESB) agreeing to go along with the project but the then proprietor of "The Tailrace" put us right about what we could expect from some of the locals - I'll say no more.

Just saw this thread here;
Considering that part of the line ran thru his now back lawn and garage, built on the lease of the ESB, of that gentleman who owns the above-mentioned establishment.I think he was the landowner who would have had the biggest objections.;)
As a landowner not too far from him and where the line originally ran thru our property,I would have welcomed this idea to keep that line open as a great little tourist attraction to Ardnacrusha from Limerick by rail.
But since it was destroyed with Limerick corporation putting the Longpavement tip head on top of the branch line to the power plant in the 1980s.it was a never to happen project.

Del.Monte

The rails did go to a preservation scheme in the end - possibly the Waterford & Suir Valley Rly. It would have been a pretty little run and the ESB were very keen on the idea.


Some pictures of the branch here: https://esbarchives.ie/2017/02/06/irrs-tour-of-ardnacrusha-september-1962/