Westcorkrailway

Personally I would reccomend being an IRRS member as not only will you have access to more photos then you’d ever have with books by a factor of 100, but - The various journals going back might be come available on the new website they have set for release soon ish

I can’t remember the exact details. Only that it was blocked due to the want for a successful competing bus service

There was a crowd who tried to buy the W&T for preservation from the UK. CIE shot the idea down

I can’t speak on their behalf. Though Infairness. Standard gauge has to go in as that was the original plan and with all this rolling stock and motive power due in, I can see why they would be eager to put it down. Many of the volunteers there also have a fondness for the standard gauge stuff.

There hasn’t been an update here in a minute. And while I have no right to speak on behalf of the railway, I thought some of you guys might be interested. a recent storm has done some damage. Pulling the roof off the old factory, knocking slates and gates down etc. the day I was there, most of the remaining debris was large pieces… 2421 and 1916 are currently number one priority at the moment. The intirior of the coach is being deep cleaned. At the moment, the old RPSI bar car being the most important asset and to get this as an open mini cafe would be of huge importance. with the bathrooms now also in place, this will make the former junction bar into a fully functional cafe…and yes even a pub… for now 3 foot persists, but probobly less then 12 months until 5 foot 3 will have to be laid

Thinking in this year 2025. How many preservation scenes have succeeded vs how many failed? Yes you have success stories like the DCDR, RPSI, ITG, C&L. But equally the GSRPS, Westrail, Tralee and blenerville and maybe even places like Moyasta and Derry come to mind. I have massive respect for those who were involved in the previous organisations. Without the GSRPS, an awful lot more may have been lost to preservation. Without the GSRPS and Westrail. There mightn’t be number 90, 131 would have been in far worse condition, and so on. I would be more than happy to see maam cross can succeed. It certainly has a lot of things on paper going for it, even if the realities - as ever - are bogging things down. Ultimately the main goal though should be to keep what’s there going.

I wouldn’t call the arrival of the railways in Ireland late as such. There was certainly a decent network built. I think it has something to do with the underlying railway=British=Bad thing. The ROI also has no interest in industrial heritage compared to the pre-18th century sites

I’ll take that any day of the week

Not to worry, maam cross is only 4 and a half hours away. As a pose to 5 hours to get to Downpatrick

maam cross is aiming to be one next year I always found that the drogheada to navan branch would make a superb heritage line. Considering it’s not going to be used for the new line to navan. Perhaps if the RPSI were kicked off the mainline one day It could be considered

Probobly a good idea to make it for more then they could have in for so they could work on Dublin sets there to be fair

Depends on how desperate you are for it. Time is money. But you can definitely get a better deal elsewhere. I might send some interesting exerts from it this evening via PM. See if it’s worth it for you!

In terms of reading material, You’re not going to get much better. Especially that 3rd one. Which is written less like a history and more like a week by week diary of what was happening in the last 10 years of the West Cork. The book is dated. Handrawn diagrams and not great quality photos. But definitely my favourite series of books of all time! if you want them for a good price. Just be patient. “Abe books” usually has them at a decent price. A copy of the 3rd book sold on here in the last year for a tenner! I purchased mint copies at the Donegal meuseum once for peanuts! the first one is the rarest but also there is a free scan of the whole book online here https://durrushistory.com/2012/10/16/colm-creedon-chronicler-of-west-corks-railways/1986-colm-creedon-history-the-cork-bandon-and-south-coast-railway-vol-1-1849-1899/ His Macroom book is also good, but by far the most rare being published in 1960. He was working in a remake of it before he passed away. Colm creedon was a fascinating man. The west cork railway had a magazine run for a few years written and edited by him. It’s my dream to release these 3 books as one book with updated editing, photos and such

Meanwhile yesterday….

What exactly are they supposed to do other than preserve Irish diesel traction?