Portlaoise-Kilkenny line

[LNERW1]

Just looking for sources on the Portlaoise-Kilkenny line for a CBA I’m doing in school at the moment. Wikipedia doesn’t have much info, and so doesn’t seem to have any very useful sources beyond a YouTube video on Attanagh station. I may also turn the project into a YouTube video as I believe it has potential to do well, but at the moment just focusing on the school side of it. So, if anyone has sources, be they online, physical or anecdotal, please do share them. Any history or enthusiast website is fine, but forums would have to be listed as anecdotal. This isn’t a massive problem of course as it’s not a Junior or Leaving Cert CBA. Also if supplying photos of book pages, please provide the title, authors, ISBN and page number, if any of this is not already visible.

Thanks for your time and i hope with all my picky demands some useful information can squeeze in. All the best, 

LNERW1.

[Flying Snail]

Portlaoise-Kilkenny was originally part of the Waterford & Central Ireland Railway. It was absorbed into the GSWR in 1900 so there's not so much info as other railways (especially on its the early days). However, there are references in some books and a few articles in journals like the IRRS. 

This thread Where to find images/drawings of Waterford & Central Ireland Railway rolling stock? has some information on the lines history suppled by some of the learned members on here - including scans from an IRRS journal article (which would be good strong references to include).  I'll also have a look through material others have shared with me on the line.

Edited January 27 by Flying Snail

[Broithe]

https://abbeyleixbog.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/a-railway-ran-through-it-2/

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2019/09/14/campaign-underway-to-re-open-laois-train-station/

And Eiretrains has pictures of many locations.

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway Stations A/Attanagh/IrishRailwayStations.html

My mother's people originated in Waterford and journeys down there involved a pony and trap from Rathdowney to Attanagh, rather than Abbeyliex. Whilst Abbeyliex seems rather nearer on modern roads, Attanagh is actually only a few hundred metres further and there would have presumably also been a lower cost for the tickets from there.

 

[Flying Snail]

There's a nice anecdotal source here of the latter days of the line here from A community project in Abbeyleix: https://abbeyleixbog.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/a-railway-ran-through-it-2/ 

Oops - post crossed with Broithe - he has the same link to Abbeyleix above

Edited January 27 by Flying Snail

[DoctorPan]

35 minutes ago, Flying Snail said:

There's a nice anecdotal source here of the latter days of the line here from A community project in Abbeyleix: https://abbeyleixbog.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/a-railway-ran-through-it-2/ 

Oops - post crossed with Broithe - he has the same link to Abbeyleix above

There's a great interview Ronnie gave on youtube as well. A true genleman.

 

 

[Flying Snail]

6 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

There's a great interview Ronnie gave on youtube as well. A true genleman.

 

Thats a lovely video - very informative too!

[LNERW1]

5 hours ago, DoctorPan said:

There's a great interview Ronnie gave on youtube as well. A true genleman.

 

 

I happen to know Ronnie- he gifted me this:

As well as many books on railways across the world. I may talk to him for the project. A true gentleman indeed.

Edited January 27 by LNERW1

[LNERW1]

On 27/1/2025 at 3:05 PM, Broithe said:

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2019/09/14/campaign-underway-to-re-open-laois-train-station/

I love things like this. Entirely good-hearted and well-meaning people asking Irish Rail to bend over backwards to replace a 15-minute drive with a 3-minute train ride. All the best to Paddy Brazil and I hope he gets his way sometime soon.