My wife and I were due to spend a couple of weeks walking in Co. Donegal in Ireland in April and May 2020. Instead, we remained at h in Ashton-under-Lyne, continuing to do the jobs we love! I would have been writing a blog about our journeys and walks but instead I have started a series about the 3ft-gauge Co. Donegal railways. ..... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/05/2...the-glenties-branch-stranorlar-to-ballinamore
In my spare time I am working on the next length of the Glenties Branch of the Co. Donegal Railways, making up in some way for not being able to walk the route in the early summer this year. I wanted to have a look, as well, at some of the railmotors/railcars on the Co. Donegal Railways. This post covers the petrol-powered railmotors which were used on the network in the early part of the 20th century. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/12/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-3-petrol-railmotors
At one time I was very active with N scale. I model, primarily these days, in HOn30 (HOe). Which HOn30 is often quite whimsical in nature. We are always spotting items such as that #1, which provoke interesting thoughts.
This post covers the remaining length of the Glenties Branch. I have been unable to find early photographs of the locations along the line. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/2...2-the-glenties-branch-ballinamore-to-glenties
After completing the first two articles in the series, covering the Glenties Branch, I was put in touch with Kerry Doherty who lives in Co. Donegal and he provided a few images of the branch. I have updated the two linked articles with a total of four photographs, three of which come from Kerry Doherty and the fourth from the Co. Donegal Railway Heritage Centre. .... For ease of access I have repeated the two links here. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/05/2...the-glenties-branch-stranorlar-to-ballinamore http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/2...2-the-glenties-branch-ballinamore-to-glenties
This next post about the Co. Donegal Railways is the first looking at the Strabane to Letterkenny Railway. It begins at Strabane and runs as far as the town of Raphoe which was an ancient seat of temporal and spiritual power. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/07/2...bane-to-letterkenny-part-a-strabane-to-raphoe
This next post is the second in a series about the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway Line. There will be a further post in due course. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/0...rabane-to-letterkenny-part-b-raphoe-to-convoy
This next post completes the length of the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/2...e-to-letterkenny-part-c-convoy-to-letterkenny A Journey Along the Line - Strabane to Letterkenny - Part C - Convoy to Letterkenny We return to Convoy Railway Station which sits to the East of the Village. While we are waiting for our train, a railcar from Letterkenny stops at the station.
Were the crossing gate houses built to a standard plan? There certainly appears to be great similarity in some of those article views.
This next post about the railways of Co. Donegal. It focusses on one viaduct on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR) - the Owencarrow Viaduct - and specifically on an accident which occurred there in 1925 https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/05/30/the-owencarrow-viaduct-accident-in-1925 In the February 1963 edition of The Railway Magazine there was a letter from L. Hudlass which said: "The accident on the Owencarrow Viaduct, on the Letterkenny & Burtonport line, Ireland, of January 30, 1925, involved a westbound train running from Londonderry to Burtonport, on the Burtonport extension of the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. The 380 yd.-long viaduct, sited between Kilmacrenan and Creeslough in County Tirconaill is in wild and open country and, on the day in question, a gale of 100mph caught the train broadside on and one carriage plunged through the parapet, pulling another with it. The couplings held and neither of the vehicles fell into the valley, but roof destruction caused several passengers to be thrown out, three people being killed outright.
It is always a nit of a shock, when I see photos of a very substantial structure, and then it is no more.
Reminds me of some of the Milwaukee Road in Eastern Washington, some of the old bridges are gone, just the bases.
