Peat Railway History

[LNERW1]

I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole hole recently, while researching for a school project on Bord na Móna (Different to another project, regarding my local line, mentioned elsewhere), and began to research more in-depth regarding the railways of Bord na Móna. However, I’ve made the unfortunate discovery that, apart from BnM’s three 1949 Barclay locomotives, now preserved at Stradbally, Tywyn and Bushmills, I cannot find any information whatsoever on bog railways in Ireland pre-1950s. As BnM seems to have had a sizeable network by at least the early 50s, and of course was delivered locos in 1949, I assume there was indeed quite a lot going on that simply wasn’t catalogued. However, I don’t have much of a clue as to what it was, and in fact I’m not sure when any system was built, and whether there were any bog railways pre-BnM. My working timeline is as follows:

Pre-1920: I confidently guess nothing. 

1920-1930: Also likely nothing

1930-1940: Possibly a small amount of development, my guess is well under 100km of track, and possibly nothing at all.

1940-1950: Large expansion due to Emergency

1950-1960: Massive period of expansion

1960-1970: Expansion slower but still continuing.

1970-1980: Expansion ends, system reaches peak

1980-1990: Mainly stagnation, minor closures and some layoffs, as well as some small bogs sold to private companies.

1990-2005: Decline accelerates, significantly more closures and layoffs.

2005-2020: Slow decline until harvesting stops in 2020.

2020-Present: End of operation on all BnM railways.

The latter half of the timeline matters significantly less here, as I am trying to fill in the blanks pre-1950, specifically trying to work out when and where exactly the genesis was of peat railways, in Ireland at least, and to try and gain more information about the specifics of these early railways. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I mean any. If you have any material on Irish peat railways that could possibly be pre-1950, please share it here. Thanks so much.

LNERW1

[jhb171achill]

In the 1930s it was the Turf Development Board, which pre-dated bnM. I believe the Dept. of the Taoiseach archives within the National Archives contains detail of that era. But your absolute go-to, who may watch this page, is the BnM expert, Sean Cain.

[Mol_PMB]

After my visits to the dying remains of the BnM railways a couple of years back, I bought several books on the history of the BnM and Turf Development Board. Some are more wordy and some more pictures. But they are all really good.

The best one for a detailed history is this, and it's not expensive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brown-Gold-History-Irish-Industry/dp/0717147525

There's also a fair bit of history on the BnM's own website, though it's not too easy to navigate to all the pages.

When I was there, the oldest loco still in use was LM40 built in 1947:

So by 1947 there were at least 40 locos in use by BnM. The first few locos pre-dated the LM numbering system, but it was introduced fairly early. One of the very first diesels still exists at Dromod - German-built I think.

[Broithe]

  On 5/3/2025 at 4:52 PM, jhb171achill said:

 your absolute go-to, who may watch this page, is the BnM expert, Sean Cain.

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I have mentioned his Twitter on here before, but it's always worth a look through.

https://x.com/seaniecain

[Flying Snail]

Another source of information is the ESB. Many of the bog railways were built to bring fuel to the power stations of the midlands. The ESB owned its own fleet of locos, a few of which have made their way to Stradbally - including their maid of all work Rusty

 

[LNERW1]

AFAIK Seán Cain volunteers at Stradbally- I'm fairly sure he runs the Maryborough Light Railway page on Facebook too. I'll try contacting him through both channels.

  On 5/3/2025 at 5:01 PM, Mol_PMB said:

After my visits to the dying remains of the BnM railways a couple of years back, I bought several books on the history of the BnM and Turf Development Board. Some are more wordy and some more pictures. But they are all really good.

The best one for a detailed history is this, and it's not expensive:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brown-Gold-History-Irish-Industry/dp/0717147525

There's also a fair bit of history on the BnM's own website, though it's not too easy to navigate to all the pages.

When I was there, the oldest loco still in use was LM40 built in 1947:

So by 1947 there were at least 40 locos in use by BnM. The first few locos pre-dated the LM numbering system, but it was introduced fairly early. One of the very first diesels still exists at Dromod - German-built I think.

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A very good point which I would not have thought of. It's a great pointer actually. The problem I have with using this method is that I don't really have access to the information that makes it possible. The best way to do so seems to be site visits, and these just aren't an option for me, not least because of school taking up almost all of my time, but also because at this point more and more of the information I would glean is disappearing. I envy you for having seen the larger BnM bogs before they were shut down- all I ever saw pre-closure were a couple of Wagonmasters on Coolnamona. I have been to Shannonbridge post-closure, though.

Also, I neglected to mention in the original post that I did submit a form via BnM's Contact Us page on their website enquiring if there were any records regarding railways pre-1950. I'll be honest, I'm not confident it'll yield that much but hopefully it will have a few nuggets of useful information.

Thanks all for being so forthcoming in information and advice so far. Please do keep it coming- I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

[Mol_PMB]

There are quite a few books on BnM railways and these are the ones I have:

For the history, Brown Gold is by far the best. The railways were such a key part of the operation that they get detailed coverage in the history of BnM as a whole. You can get it for about 10 Euro and I would highly recommend the book for anyone with an interest in BnM railways. It’s a thick tome but worth working through!

 

[Mol_PMB]

Very briefly, the industrialisation of the Irish turf harvesting started in the mid-1920s, at Turraun, using German equipment on a fairly small scale. This used a narrow-gauge railway with 2 locos and 24 wagons. It proved uneconomic but continued in use for a decade or so.

Lullymore was the next bog developed, by the Peat Fuel Company in the mid-1930s. They also constructed a briquette factory. Their equipment was mostly designed and made in GB. At that stage a lot of the machinery was still experimental, although some turned out to be very successful, such as the giant Garrett Disc Ditcher of 1935 (that behemoth on the front cover above). 

It's important to note that once you have started to develop a bog by cutting drains, there is a considerable lag time (several years) before the turf being dry enough to harvest, or indeed before the surface will support anything heavy like harvesting machinery. By 1939 the Peat Fuel Company was in financial trouble, having invested a huge amount of money and not really got to the stage of being able to harvest anything.

Meanwhile, the Turf Development Board had been established in the mid-1930s by the Irish government; they had a much wider remit including marketing turf and encouraging hand-harvested turf. But the future was in machine-won turf and they visited Germany and Russia to learn how it was done. They started to develop the bog at Clonsast in 1936, using machinery supplied from Germany (ordered in a hurry as the war clouds were on the horizon). Although the machines arrived, there were many delays in commissioning it and production didn't start until 1939, and produced disappointing quantities that were uneconomic. The German machines weren't ideally suited to Irish conditions.

The TDB acquired Turraun in 1935 and Lullymore in 1939, and also started to develop Glenties, which got its first Ruston in 1940. Other bogs where development was beginning in 1939 were Lyrecrumpane, Timahoe, Attymon and Carrigcannon. Some were more successful than others, but none of the bogs were economically successful at this stage. Whilst production did increase during the war, supply of machines and spare parts was near-impossible, and there were a lot of problems.

In 1946, the TDB was reconstituted as the BnM and there was a large expansion in the late 1940s and 1950s.

 

The early narrow-gauge locos used in the turf industry (pre-BnM) included:

• German Ruhrthaler diesels, one of which survives at Dromod. This was built around 1936 and later became LM11. 
• Motor Rail 'Simplex' diesels, details not known, did not survive to receive LM numbers in 1954
• Ruston & Hornsby diesels, one in 1939 and two in 1940 (later LM13/14/15) all for Clonsast, also another in 1940 (later LM16) for Glenties. 
• Whitcomb diesel, built 1945 (later LM12) for Kilberry

 

[LNERW1]

Just to confirm, the network peaked at around 1200 to 1300km?

[Mol_PMB]

  On 8/4/2025 at 4:47 PM, LNERW1 said:

Just to confirm, the network peaked at around 1200 to 1300km?

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Locos and Railcars of BnM, published 1996, says 'it is estimated that there is some 1200 miles of track in use'

Memories of the BnM railways, published 2022, says 'BnM once had a network of permanent railway stretching 960km and some 240km of temporary rail tracks throughout the bogs'; also 'there is now approximately 500km of rail remaining'.

'Brown Gold', published 2010, says 'At its largest extent it was estimated to be 1360km in length, of which 850km was permanent way and the rest temporary track connecting different stockpiles to the main line ...  at one point there were 340 locomotives and 5300 wagons in operation.'

Take your pick on which number to believe! Brown Gold is the official history of the BnM.

[LNERW1]

After asking Microsoft Copilot (AI chatbot built-in to MS Edge) it has returned with 1000 miles/1600 km, citing kildarelocalhistory.ie. Not sure how reliable this is but sure I'll put it in anyway. It sounds cooler and it's a school project that doesn't even affect the Junior Cert score, so it can hardly be classified as misinformation and even if it was, my geography teacher is apparently friends with the chair of BnM so likely wouldn't be fooled if I am wrong.

Edited yesterday at 17:41 by LNERW1

[Mol_PMB]

  On 8/4/2025 at 5:40 PM, LNERW1 said:

After asking Microsoft Copilot (AI chatbot built-in to MS Edge) it has returned with 1000 miles/1600 km, citing kildarelocalhistory.ie. Not sure how reliable this is but sure I'll put it in anyway. It sounds cooler and it's a school project that doesn't even affect the Junior Cert score, so it can hardly be classified as misinformation.

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I wouldn't trust anything from AI! Certainly not as much as a figure quoted in the official history of the company. For the best marks, you would quote all four sources, and explain why they might be different from each other (e.g. track layouts changing frequently and the figures are from different dates)

[LNERW1]

  On 8/4/2025 at 5:43 PM, Mol_PMB said:

I wouldn't trust anything from AI!

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Fair enough, but with a quick look at its source, I appear to instead be trusting Seán Cain, who seems to be fairly, well, trustable.

In fairness, the article may not have been proofread by Seán.

One thing, though- BnM has a larger network than IÉ, right? Surely that would place it at over 2000km?

Yet more confusingly, Wikipedia lists the stats as below:

So, it appears there is no consensus and as such I can do whatever I want (laughs in politician). In all seriousness though, it is probably just best to stick to the figure (just <2000km) that I already have as it does the only job I really need it to- conveys the sheer enormity of the BnM network.

Edited yesterday at 17:55 by LNERW1

[Mol_PMB]

Please use more original sources than Wikipedia and AI! 

CIE 2023 annual report states 2200km

CIÉ Group Annual Report Year Ended 31 December 2023

Or you could go back to before the 1960s branch line closures which gives (on p26) a total of around 2150 route miles and 2900 track miles:

CIE_1959.pdf

The CIE annual reports are all online and have some interesting stats.

[LNERW1]

I do understand your concern, and rest assured were I writing to inform rather than to check a box, I would try to find better sources, but again, I am only writing to check a box, and the person who I intend to read this is already knowledgeable on many things, but especially Bord na Móna and railways. As well as that, most people won't go past the summary they get when searching Google, so this will still be substantially more informative than most of its competitors. And in fairness both are designed to relay fairly to very accurate information- it's better than asking Xitter, Reddit or Facebook.

Also, I have always been under the impression that the BnM network is larger than that of IÉ. Where does this come from? It appears not to be true.

[Mol_PMB]

OK, it's quite disappointing that you asked several questions, I spent a fair amount of time looking up the answers in my books and official online sources, and providing references, and you have decided to ignore them and rely on AI and wikipedia instead. It doesn't make me enthusiastic to help you again in future.

[LNERW1]

I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude, I've just become quite sick of the project as it's been hovering over my head for months and I've had so much going on it's been a bit inconvenient to do it, and at this point I'm more worried about just getting it done than having it be accurate, whereas when I started out I was attempting to make it accurate. I really am so sorry for doing that and I apologise if you feel I've wasted your time. I think you're brilliant, very intelligent and very reliable, and a really helpful guy, so I hate to disappoint. My stomach actually dropped when I saw your post. Again, I genuinely am sorry and can only offer that. Once more, it is basically just a race to complete it at this point and I'm trying to find every reason to justify cutting corners so I can finish it. Please don't see this as laziness, it's just that I am now under time pressure as I haven't been able to do it until now, and as the quality was never particularly important to the person checking the box that it was done, the only thing keeping the quality up was my choice to make it good. At this point that's taken a back seat and I am rushing now. Please don't be offended.

All the best,

LNERW1

P.S. I am sorry if this seems rushed, I just want to clarify ASAP that I do not mean any ill by my cavalier attitude to accuracy.

Edited yesterday at 18:28 by LNERW1

[Ironroad]

If you can't do it right then don't do it at all. Writing drivel makes no sense no matter who the audience is, have some respect.

[DJ Dangerous]

  22 hours ago, Ironroad said:

If you can't do it right then don't do it at all. Writing drivel makes no sense no matter who the audience is, have some respect.

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[Mayner]

Academically your Tutor Examiners are likely to be more interested in your research methods and how you arrived at your conclusions than the accuracy of the data present or project findings.

If you use AI or Wikipedia clearly state it & any reference to the source of the original data. e.g. Sean Cain as the source of the data from your use of Microsoft Trust Pilot

Your school/examiners cannot reasonably expect you to research material thats not readily available from your school, local public library or an accessible on-line source, or reasonably expect you to buy the BNM books referred to by Paul. You can only be expected to use research resources you can readily access.

If you are working to a deadline to submit the project, you need to draw a lne that you have completed your research and submit the project.

As someone who once made a (good) living by researching & writing reports to tight deadlines, I quickly relaised that it was necessary to draw and line and only consider the most relevant information in order to complete my reports on time.

If its any consulation my wife ran into a lot of hassle from her Academic Supervisor in 2007 over my wifes use of AI and an unusual presentation style in her final Doctorate Thesis, effectively refusing to sign off on my wifes work.   

The head of the Faculty advised my wife to submit the thesis if she (my wife) felt confident about the thesis.

Interestingly my wifes Acedemic Supervisor who previously disowned my wifes thesis, jumped on the bandwagon to take the credit for my wife's success when my wife was awarded a distinction because of her use of AI and the graphic presentation style of her project.

So my advice is if you believe in your have completed your research to the best of your ability, submit your project and ignore the background noise.

My secondary school project when I was 14-15 was a proposal for a Heuston-Clondalkin suburban train service using a Railway World article on CIE as my sole source. The only criticism was that the external examiner did not consider a surban rail service an original subject for a project (at the time CIE had plans for an Underground system for Dublin which was never built!)

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Mayner

[irishrailways52]

 

here is a film made by BNM from the late 50s early 60s that might be of interest. there is a good chance that the last BNM train has not yet run. many of the currently still in situ railway lines are to be turned into greenways and it is from what i know lighty that they will use the railway in the construction of the greenway. unfortunatly the line will be lifted in the prosess

also you could visit the stradbally woodland railway and the cavan and letrim railway and ask about it. alot of the people there have an intrest in BNM stuff. also Sean Cane and ted mc avoy on facebook are also very knolageable in BNM

[Ironroad]

  11 hours ago, Mayner said:

Academically your Tutor Examiners are likely to be more interested in your research methods and how you arrived at your conclusions than the accuracy of the data present or project findings.

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This is probably true but what piqued me was the "check the box" comment.  

Edited 8 hours ago by Ironroad
typo

[LNERW1]

I’m sorry, but this thread has gone out of hand and so to avoid starting any arguments by attempting to clarify matters, as seems to happen here all too often, I will only say that I would like to:

1: Apologise for abusing this forum and wasting the time of several members,especially @Mol_PMB recently.

2: Apologise for the sloppy response to being called out on such yesterday

3: Apologise for instances before wherein I have not delivered on a deadline or promised project and so caused number 1 to occur

4: Invite any and all members who believe I am out of line for any of my behaviour to PM me informing me of their disapproval and explaining how they believe I can avoid this inappropriate behaviour in future.

I still hold interest in Bord na Móna and so will still be sharing any findings I come across here regarding the history of peat railways both here and worldwide, and any others similarly interested are welcome, but not expected or obliged to. This interest means I still hold value in the information shared here.

Please do not reply to this post except by PM and only express your opinion publicly through the react button in the corner of the post.

Please do not allow this to become any sort of drama that overshadows any of the extremely helpful, insightful and intelligent discussion on this forum. Thank you.

All the best, LNERW1.

Edit: I should clarify I don’t appreciate the somewhat provocative tone of some of the replies to yesterday’s post. If I can be called out on what phrases I use, I can call out others. PM me if you feel I am wrong, otherwise do not post anything else regarding this in this thread, thank you.

Edited 4 hours ago by LNERW1

[DJ Dangerous]

  4 hours ago, LNERW1 said:

I’m sorry, but this thread has gone out of hand and so to avoid starting any arguments by attempting to clarify matters, as seems to happen here all too often, I will only say that I would like to:

1: Apologise for abusing this forum and wasting the time of several members,especially @Mol_PMB recently.

2: Apologise for the sloppy response to being called out on such yesterday

3: Apologise for instances before wherein I have not delivered on a deadline or promised project and so caused number 1 to occur

4: Invite any and all members who believe I am out of line for any of my behaviour to PM me informing me of their disapproval and explaining how they believe I can avoid this inappropriate behaviour in future.

I still hold interest in Bord na Móna and so will still be sharing any findings I come across here regarding the history of peat railways both here and worldwide, and any others similarly interested are welcome, but not expected or obliged to. This interest means I still hold value in the information shared here.

Please do not reply to this post except by PM and only express your opinion publicly through the react button in the corner of the post.

Please do not allow this to become any sort of drama that overshadows any of the extremely helpful, insightful and intelligent discussion on this forum. Thank you.

All the best, LNERW1.

Edit: I should clarify I don’t appreciate the somewhat provocative tone of some of the replies to yesterday’s post. If I can be called out on what phrases I use, I can call out others. PM me if you feel I am wrong, otherwise do not post anything else regarding this in this thread, thank you.

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No need to castigate yourself and drag it out in public. You apologised yesterday, that’s good enough, so let’s move on.

The lessons here are to think of the consequences your actions may have on others, and to pause for thought before typing.

You (and we) have a rich resource here, with an immeasurable amount of knowledge and experience from some incredibly well-informed people.

[Mol_PMB]

LNERW1, no need to apologise. I'm sorry that my comment seems to have stirred up trouble. Let's get this thread back on the rails!

 

[LNERW1]

  4 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

LNERW1, no need to apologise. I'm sorry that my comment seems to have stirred up trouble. Let's get this thread back on the rails!

 

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No problem. I was out of line and disrespectful, and you were right to be disappointed. Thanks for being so forgiving, I do really appreciate it as I look up to you as a great modeller and hugely intelligent person.

  4 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

No need to castigate yourself and drag it out in public. You apologised yesterday, that’s good enough, so let’s move on.

The lessons here are to think of the consequences your actions may have on others, and to pause for thought before typing.

You (and we) have a rich resource here, with an immeasurable amount of knowledge and experience from some incredibly well-informed people.

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I wasn’t happy that my apology covered everything, and some people came back a bit snarky so I assumed I had come across wrong. I want to be as mature as possible about any disagreement I have and leave my intentions and regrets perfectly clear, and prevent further bad blood.

All the best,

LNERW1.