Cross country route which never happened

[jhb171achill]

Members will be aware of the MGWR Attymon-Loughrea branch, and the short-lived Parsonstown (Birr) and Portumna branch which only ran from 1868 to 1878 before going bankrupt and having much of its track stolen by people it owed money to.

 

In the closing years of the 19th Century there was a proposal to rèbuild it, and continue via Tynagh to Loughrea. This would have resulted in a cross country line from Bàllybrophy to Attymon, with a Newcastle West style reversal at Birr...

 

Cue for modelling idea; such a route survives to the 1980s with trains of ore from Tynagh mines and a three time daily passenger train, the odd cattle or fert special....

Edited February 9, 2016 by jhb171achill

[Old Blarney]

What if? What if the line from Lochrae had been constructed to meet the Parsonstown Line, and thence a further construction to Banagher with running rights to Streamstown and Cavan!

 

Well, I need to find a use for a locomotive with LBSC lettering on it! To justify this purchase, I have created another Irish Railway?

 

The Lochrae Banagher Streamstown Cavan. Locomotives 0-6-2T. Brown with Gold Lining.

[jhb171achill]

Excellent stuff, Old Blarney. I would think that if built, it might have been used as an Attymon - Ballybrophy line with connections at Roscrea. obviously, to the Nenagh branch. Unless traffic had developed a great deal more than expected, I wouldn't think through working from Galway might have happened....but.....it's a "what-if"!

 

I did think it would make an interesting layout project for a cross country line; here's another: Inny Junction - Cavan - Monaghan, survives the GNR Armageddon and becomes a CIE line throughout.....!

[Mayner]

The Dublin-Enniskillen Railway of the Railway Mania era opens up some interesting possibilities a less round-about route from Dubin to Cavan than the Midland or the GNR just might have had the critical mass of passenger traffic to survive the 57 closures.

 

Linking with the Londonderry & Enniskillen, Derry might have developed into a port for trans-Atlantic liners like Cobh and carried heavy freight traffic for Donegal through Stabane, Had it survived long enough it could have carried cement and building products from the Quinn Cement and Glass Plants at Derrylin and Belturbet

 

Cavan would have been a logical junction point with the Ulster Railway main line from Belfast through Armagh and Monaghan opening up the possibility of Dublin-Cavan-Armagh-Belfast passenger service. A direct Portadown Enniskillen line would have served the fertile Clogher Valley and opened up a more direct faster Belfast-Enniskillen route than the GNR lines via Clones or Omagh

Edited February 10, 2016 by Mayner

[jhb171achill]

Linking with the Londonderry & Enniskillen, Derry might have developed into a port for trans-Atlantic liners like Cobh and carried heavy freight traffic for Donegal through Stabane, Had it survived long enough it could have carried cement and building products from the Quinn Cement and Glass Plants at Derrylin and Belturbet

 

An outstanding layout idea.....

[Old Blarney]

I Googled 'Proposed Railway from Dublin to Enniskillen'. This resulted in my finding:-

 

'The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal

 

Click in the above to reveal the information on page 299 and onwards.

 

The article, page 299 and onward, provides some interesting information. Armagh to Port Rush. I have yet to read the remainder of this document, but thought it may be interesting to others on this forum.

 

It continues as below:-

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sQ5AAAAAYAAJ

1838 - ‎Architecture

We give a small map accurately traced with the railways proposed by the Irish ... 31 — Proposed Railway from Dublin to Enniskillen, recommended by the ...The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal.

 

.

 

David.

 

 

Last edited by Old Blarney; 2 Minutes Ago at 07:50 PM.

[jhb171achill]

Another cross country one might have been Belfast - Galway (for a number of reasons, particularly if Galway became a major transatlantic port). The GNR extends beyond Cavan to Roscommon, Athenry and Galway.

 

Trains operate Great Victoris Street to Galway and reverse; after 1958, it's split into UTA and CIE.....