The Rocky Valley Railway, Wicklow

[AllThingsDiesel]

Hi all,
A friend of mine came across this article from the 1960s about a 3½-inch miniature railway located in Kilmacanogue, County Wicklow.

I can't find any more information beyond this single page. Would anyone know what became of it? Is it still there?

[murrayec]

The track still exists but is in very poor condition.

Mr Wilkinson moved to the UK many years ago to live with one of his children due to health reasons. He donated two of his 3.5'' live steam locos to the local Historical Society, these models are sometimes shown at the Kilmacanogue Horse Show.

The track was vandalized with some of the rails being pulled out of its fixings for about a 6 meter section, also a tree branch fell in a storm and smashed two of the concrete arches. It now sits completely encased in ivy which will eventually destroy it.

I know the present owners of the property and I had discussions on restoring the track to running condition a few years ago. Our discussions went nowhere as the conditions they set were not acceptable to me.

The historical society has organized tea afternoons at the property with the two locos sitting on a section of the track. The locos are in a non running state and the cost of getting them running is prohibitive for the society.

I do have some photos of the track in it's current state and if I can locate them I'll post them up.

Very sad.....

Eoin.