Fintown Railway, Co Donegal

a revived section of the Co Donegal Railway (5km or so) using an original railbus No 18 coupled with a diesel loco, both had drivers and were driven both ways, with a horn communication system (although there was a radio fitted I noticed) presumably this way they get around the need for coninuous brakes. No station at the far end and we had to endure a very dreary tape recorded history of the line whilst we sat at the end of the line before we reversed direction,which wasn't appreciated by the 4 and 5 yr olds aboard...we couldn't get out so had no choice. Friendly staff who made a point of blowing the horn and waving to any children watching our progress.

No stream although there was a plan to use a loco belonging to the Scottish RPS, which has stalled. If you've seen Fair Maid of Foyers, you'll probably think it's far to small to use anyway and I don't know if the increased costs of using steam would be met by more passengers. The current operation can't cost much to run.

 

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Good to see the Fintown line still going. Thanks for the pics.

Steve

 

aas you can see the weather and countryside were fabulous. Spent the night parked on the quay in DOnegal Town and it pee'd rain all night and all the way home today....(6 1/2 hour drive

 

just to add, it was well worth the long drive and must be one of the most authentic experiences around. You can also see traces of this and other CDR lines over a wide area especially in the Barnesmore Gap and on the Ballyshannon line. CDR Museum in Donegal Town too, worth a visit.

Railcar 18 has been restored internally, not exactly very authentic as regards the wall and ceiling cladding and the window frames but it's acceptable and the seats look genuine to me. Loved the bell push "push once" just like an old bus. Running with the bonnet open is authentic too.

Quite a few CDR railcars survive

 

Are you sure they were "driven both ways". AFAIK all the CDR railcars had bus gearboxes with a very low gearing in reverse. That is why they were always turned at the end of the journey and, nowadays, are hauled backwards in neutral by the small diesel loco. The IMR (ex CDR) railcars 19&20 ran back to back with the lead car driving and the other just trailing. Could it be that No 18's engine was just ticking over in neutral but gave the impression of being driven in reverse? Nice pics though - thanks for posting them.
Ray.

 

i'd say it definitely powered backwards out of the station, maybe it just gives an initial push and then neutral is selected. I was actually surprised as I'd assumed the loco would pull in one direction and the railcar in the other. The speed is in any case very slow and low gearing in reverse may not be a problem. I photographed the train mid section and then returned to my vehicle (which isnt fast itself) and beat the train back to the station

 

All the Irish 3ft gauge railcars were single ended. Unlike the back-to-back operation of ex-CDR Nos 19/20 on the Isle of Man, Irish practice was to run two railcars coupled facing the same way. The solitary 5ft 3in gauge SLNCR Walker Bros example, surviving at Downpatrick, is the only bi-directional railcar built to this general pattern (and is in sore need of some TLC.... I'm sure the D&CDR would welcome both contributions and ideas on how to restore this unique machine).

Here's a clip from You Tube. The railcar footage is two thirds lf the way through:


Here's a photo (from the D&CDR Wikipedia page) of the SLNCR railcar:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downpatrick_and_County_Down_Railway#/media/File:Downpatrick_4.jpg

 

It's a beauty (to my eye anyway!). I found this 'ere image (by artist David Briggs) of a print I'd love to lay my hands on. It adorns my PC as wallpaper:
https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/...757&.crumb=mSwCo/Y6HFl&fr=mozmob1&fr2=piv-web

 

Fintown is a lovely little railway (I wish there was rather more of it) and the railcar sounds like an 03 shunter. The day I went there was torrential rain and it was dripping through between the body and cab parts. Very atmospheric.

 

there does need to be more of it, in particular another station. My ticket described the journey as to Glenties.....wouldn't that be nice!

 

From what I have been told there is a plan to extend the line to Glenties and possibly beyond a bit more, but it is all down to funding, there have also be on off talks about having a steam loco here for years, but so far nothing has happen.
There was at one time a discussion about taking the line back to as close as they can to Stranorlar, but it has been built up since then and Ballybofey would be as close as you could get today, that will give you a 24 mile (each way) ride.

The big problem as I understand it is getting volunteers, the main reason is they don't exist in that part of Ireland. Also they need a workshop and bigger covered storage as well.

If they do get back to both Glenties and Ballybofey then they are going to need a lot of new infrastructure.

 

Have to say that Ballybofey is only a pipe dream, but Glenties or near to it looks feasible. Are they all-volunteer? Somehow I got the idea that they weren't, I hope I'm wrong.

Their workshop is of adequate size I'd say with a second road laid into it but not connected. I saw no sign of the tramcars that were for sale, so I assume they're gone which leaves a diesel , a railcar and one coach to be accomodated plus the BnM loco parked up in the yard.

The steam loco mentioned is Fair Maid of Foyers, as I said earlier it's a tiny thing and I doubt it would be Man (or Maid) enough for the job.I'd say they are better off staying diesel railcar operated, I reckoned they took over €100 on the trip I took and that must have handsomely covered the Marked Gas Oil cost. (Railcar was not even half full). There's a lot to be said for original stock on original route.

As an aside, nice to see the station nameboard displayed at Stranorlar station, now a bus depot.

 

Are we talking 'firm plan' or 'aspiration'? Volunteers have historically been thin on the ground in Ireland at the best of times, and in an area as sparsely populated as Co.Donegal, this is even more true. Time was when the lovely C&L station at Dromod (do pop in if you're in the area), with it's 1/2 mile run up the old line had aspirations to reach Mohill, 6 miles towards Ballinamore. Dromod is a small town on the picturesque River Shannon, still served by mainline train services (within a stone's throw of the IE station) and on the main Dublin to Sligo road. Glenties, although larger, is in even more rural Co Donegal. There is a superb museum at the old CDR Donegal Town, which is well worth a visit too.

At Derry, the Foyle Valley Railway has now closed (and, note, that was on the outskirts of a large city). Ex-CDR loco 'Meenglas' looks to be moving from there to RPSI HQ at Whitehead and I'm uncertain of the current location of sister loco 'Columbkille'. Another CDR loco 'Drumboe' is already at Whitehead (in bits at the moment), probably destined for Donegal Town and which may steam again, one day. There's another one, 'Blanche' in the Ulster Folk Museum at Cultra, along with the curious diesel-ex-steam loco 'Phœnix' and many other ex-CDR artifacts.

The point of my ramblings is, that it's harder..... much harder to get the volunteer labour in Ireland. The Tralee & Blennerville line has been moribund for the best part of a decade, with ex-T&D No.5 lying in pieces (Tralee is a large place, bang on the Co Kerry tourist trail). The revived West Clare operation is making headway, thanks to a very determined owner, but if you expect to find a Ffestiniog (1955) type operation, you won't. Steam, in the form of 'Slieve Callan' is strictly for high days and holidays.

The most regular sevice on the 3ft is to be found on the Waterford and Suir Valley Railway, a diesel operation using purpose built carriages on the one time 5ft 3in gauge line to Dungarvan.

For a narrow gauge steam 'fix', head for the Stradbally Woodland Railway, lovingly created by volunteers including many former railwaymen.

I frequently read criticism that many websites are hopelessly out of date, which is often true, but this is indicative of the difficulties heritage operations face in Ireland. The volunteer base simply doesn't exist on the same scale as England and Wales.

What a heritage line in Ireland needs is to be useful. This means providing jobs serving the tourist trade. Sentiment isn't a luxury rural Ireland can afford in the kind of quantities needed to run a railway.

 

super pics, thank you.

 

Yes indeed and the one most likely to make a proper restored line is the T&D which runs from The Aquadome near to the Town Centre to the restored windmill at Blennerville, it's paralell to the Tralee Ship Canal and passes through the Wetlands centre and has the Mountains as a backdrop and is right on the Wild Atlantic Way...it's a superb location and the one most likely to suceed. The trouble is, the Council own it and won't take any action to re-open it despite enthusiast and local backing. They see it as a train ride and haven't the vision to transform it into a decent preserved line. It's very sad.

 

Aye... That's accurate as far as it goes, but things are (as always) somewhat knottier than that. Just wait till Darragh C spots this conversation. The moderators will need to put the libel lawyer on danger money!

You're dead right though.....Properly run and, just as importantly, properly marketed, the T&B could be a real jewel of a line, bringing tourist bucks into Co Kerry.

 

While it is not narrow gauge we should not forget Downpatrick.

A lot of what I have said was reported back to me years ago and I think you will find that the Fintown Railway is operated on a fully paid employment basis, as it does not have volunteers as I understand it, this was one of the issues that stopped the Dongeal Heritage Group becomig more involved with them.

As for sister loco 'Columbkille'. I think she was inside of the Foyle road building stuffed and mounted at present, the new group who have taken over the building intend to reopen it as a museum at some point

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foyle_Valley_Railway

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/de...develop-foyle-valley-railway-museum-1-7113431

 

The whole saga of the Foyle Valley Railway/Museum is, to put it mildly, convoluted. There was indeed a scheme proposed a couple of years ago, although I can find no online activity over the past year. A review on Trip Advisor from this week (9th August) contains the words "Soon To Re-open", though containing nothing whatsoever to justify the claim.

If "Columbkille" is still there, it seems the best we can hope for, at present, is that it's secure and doesn't go the same way as the last Baltic tank, "Erne", which survived closure of the County Donegal, only end up being illegally dismantled for scrap.