The featured image for this article was taken on the Cavan and Leitrim Railway’s Ballinamore to Arigna branch by James P. O’Dea. on 14th March 1959. This photograph is National Library of Ireland ref.: ODEA 11/30 (www.nli.ie) and is avaiable as (c) Public Domain. [44]

1st February 1961 was a significant date in the history of Irish Railways. It marked the closure of the West Clare Railway, the last survivor of the narrow-gauge lines.

The Railway Magazine of February 1961 noted that, “The construction of many of these railways was facilitated by special legislation, designed to relieve the depressed state of large areas of that country some eighty years ago. Although several schemes failed to mature, more than 500 miles of 3 ft-gauge line were built, and over 30 miles of 5 ft. 3 in. gauge were narrowed. To this total must be added the nine miles of so-called “monorail,” on the Lartigue system, from Listowel to Ballybunion. The decline of the narrow gauge began with the advent of motorbus services in rural areas, and its extinction [was] now complete.” [1: p74]

The first part of an article on this considerable proportion of the railway mileage of Ireland appeared in the February 1961 issue of The Railway Magazine. [2: p75-83]

Patterson says that, “In the Irish railway framework, the narrow-gauge lines formed an integral part. In no sense freaks, they used a gauge of 3 ft. 0 in. which, though it lacked the Parliamentary blessing of the standard Irish 5 ft. 3 in. gauge, was entitled by usage and by total mileage to be regarded as a secondary standard. Only 9.5 miles of Lartigue monorail in County Kerry was an exception to the rule, and its short existence of 36 years likewise singled it out from the others. The 18 other narrow-gauge systems worked away in self-contained independence, with rolling stock that was nearly as commodious as on the standard gauge.” [2: p77]

Patterson continues: “Fittingly enough, the cradle of the Irish narrow gauge was rocked by the mining industry. In the peat-shrouded plateau of County Antrim, the basalt rocks north-east of Ballymena had been shown by geological survey to contain extensive beds of iron ore, and associated with them, accumulations of bauxite. The latter, mined for its aluminium content, was of no interest in the 1870s but iron ore that could be trucked out on to the hillsides was of immediate use to the cross-channel ironmasters. Roads in Antrim were primitive then, and in many of the glens the slipe or slide cart was more often to be seen than wheeled vehicles. Then the boom in iron-ore mining began, and in 1873 the first 3 ft gauge line was made down Glenariff to the sea, linking mines high on the terraced east face of the glen with a pier at the White Arch. It was no fault of the railway that the mines never paid; locally poor-grade ore, and high royalties to the landowner smothered the line, but though it never carried passengers, it was the pioneer.” [2: p77-78]

Apparently, “The first 3 ft gauge railway in Ireland to be authorised by Parliament followed close behind the Glenariff line, as the Ballymena, Cushendall & Red Bay Railway, (BC&RBR). opened in 1875. It ran alongside the 5 ft. 3 in.gauge Belfast & Northern Counties [Railway](B&NCR) main line at Ballymena and was to have conveyed ore to a pier at Red Bay. The descent from the uplands to the coast would have entailed a drop of 1,000 ft. in 5 miles. Probably because of the severe grade this part was never built and the line terminated near its summit level, the station being fittingly named Retreat and situated on moorland honeycombed with iron ore workings. Down at Ballymena, the broad gauge took the ore away for some years, until the Ballymena & Larne came in from Larne Harbour in 1878, and joined the BC&RBR in 1880. The broad gauge B&NCR took the pair of them over in 1884 and 1889.” [2: p78]

“Once the fashion was started by these three narrow-gauge lines in Antrim, similar systems progressed apace. 1877, the Ballycastle Railway Company obtained its Act and made a line from the B&NCR. at Ballymoney to what was then a small fishing port on the rocky northern coast of County Antrim. The line skirted the great flat of the Garry Bog and, after a gentle ascent towards the rounded hills, it started down the Tow Valley to the sea. It never had any prospect of mineral traffic, for it crossed country devoid of ore deposits, but the promoters’ hopes of its developing Ballycastle as a tourist resort were reasonably well fulfilled. With its opening in 1880, the start of a rapid expansion of narrow-gauge mileage had begun.” [2: p78]

Patterson continues,  “The decade 1880-90 witnessed the number of Irish narrow-gauge systems increase from three to 16. This growth was the result both of private enterprise and of state assistance under the Tramways & Public Companies (Ireland) Act of 25th August 1883. Private enterprise put six systems in motion, both steam and electrically hauled.” [2: p78] There were four of the former:

• The West Donegal Railway – which became part of a much larger network.
• The Portstewart Tramway, in Co. Derry.
• The Castlederg & Victoria Bridge Railway, in Co. Tyrone.
• The Dublin & Lucan Railway, west of the capital.

The two electric lines were:

• The Giant’s Causeway & Portrush Tramway, in Co. Antrim.
• The Bessbrook & Newry Tramway , in Co. Armagh.

Unique in design, and steam hauled, was the Listowel & Ballybunion, already mentioned as Britain and Ireland’s sole Lartigue monorail. More about the Lartigue can be discovered here. [3]

The 1883 Tramways Act resulted in six further lines:

• The Cavan & Leitrim Railway – there is a series of articles on this blog about the lines operated by this company – these can be found here, [4] here, [5] here, [6] here, [7] here, [8] here, [9] here, [10] here, [11] here, [12] and here. [13]
• The Clogher Valley Railway.
• The Cork & Muskerry Light Railway.
• The Schull & Skibbereen Railway.
• The Tralee & Dingle Light Railway – an introductory article about two books about the line can be found here. [17]
• The West Clare Railway – a series of articles on this blog about the lines operated by this company – can be found here, [18] here, [19] here, [20] here, [21] here, [22] here, [23] here, [24] and here. [25]

The Act also permitted the West Donegal to complete its line from the unsatisfactory original terminus at Druminnin to Donegal Town. But, the West Donegal struggled financially and in 1892 it amalgamated with the adjacent 5ft 3in gauge Finn Valley Railway (FVR). The merger created the County Donegal Railway Company and within a year or so, the FVR was converted to 3ft gauge.

Similarly the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR) was a 5ft 3in gauge railway which also worked a privately sponsored 3ft gauge line – the Letterkenny Railway opened in 1883. By 1885, the decision had been taken to convert the L&LSR to 3ft gauge.

Later expansion came about more slowly. “Sir John Allport’s Royal Commission of 1886 recommended the development of the Irish railways by the furtherance of light railways. The 1889 Light Railways (Ireland) Act was the outcome, and it authorised further state assistance. As a result, the Donegal Railway benefited by the addition of the Donegal-Killybegs and Stranorlar-Glenties sections, totalling 43.5 miles and opened in 1893 and 1894 respectively.” [2: p81]

The 6.5 mile Cork, Blackrock & Passage Railway (CB&PR) replaced its broad-gauge track by 3ft-gauge in October 1900. Under severe competition from the Cork Electric Tramway, the CB&PR extended its lines 9.5 miles, in stages, to Crosshaven (August 1902 to June 1904).

Remaining expansion centred predominantly in County Donegal. A 14.5 line from Strabane down the East side of the valley of the River Foyle gave access to the city and port of Derry. It opened in 1900.

A 15.5 mile branch from Donegal town to Ballyshannon was opened in 1905. In 1906 the Donegal was “bought out by the combined efforts of the GNR(I) and the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) and was thereafter administered by a joint committee,” [2: p81] (the CDRJC).

The 19.5 mile line of the Strabane & Letterkenny Railway Company linked the two towns in 1909. It allowed some freight traffic to be transferred between the two narrow gauge systems in County Donegal.

More about the railways of County Donegal can be found in a series of other articles on this blog. These can be found here, [26] here, [27] here, [28] here, [29] here, [30] here, [31] here, [32] here, [33] here, [34] here, [35] here, [36] here [37] here, [38] here, [39] here, [40] here, [42] here, [43] and here. [44]

Patterson tells us that, “With the opening of the Strabane & Letterkenny line, the construction of passenger-carrying narrow-gauge lines in Ireland was complete, though the fact that the public had not lost interest was evidenced from time to time when local bodies advocated the extension of existing lines.” [2: p82-83] He cited as an example, the deaf ear turned by the CDRJC to local entreaties to extend the Glenties line to Ardara.

One final extension was to be built. 3 miles from the Cavan & Leitrim’s railhead at Arigna (just inside County Roscommon) adits were driven into coal deposits and, as the operation grew, a 4.5 mile extension from Arigna to Dereenavoggy and Aughabehy was opened in June 1920. That extension was, 10 years later cut back to a length of only 1.5 miles. For more about the extension please look here. [4]

During WW1, the British government took control of all Irish railways (December 1916 to August 1921). During those years wages rose by 250%! Fares were raised, doubling in stages. Patterson tells us that, “The slim profits of pre-war days vanished and a combination of higher rail fares, and higher rail freight charges, drove potential customers on to the roads. There, the expanding motor industry was ready to provide vehicles for both public and private transport. The position was the same in Great Britain, but in Ireland the rate of change was restrained by the lack of suitable roads to carry the new traffic.” [2: p83]

Patterson continues: “In the remoter parts of Ireland, where the narrow-gauge lines were situated, and where they had been built by reason of the physical and economic geography, road improvements came slowly. Surfaces in the 1930s were shockingly bad by present day standards, but in spite of the limited amount of money that the county councils had to spend, change was working.” [2: p83]

Politics also intervened: rebellion against British rule broke out in 1916. “By mid-1920, some engine crews were refusing to work trains which carried British troops or munitions and, in the December, this had virtually paralysed rail services in County Donegal and in other parts of the west. The formation of the 26-county Free State in December, 1921, did not end the unrest, for almost two years of civil war followed, during which there was wide-spread damage to rail systems, and train services ceased in Kerry and Cork.” [2: p83]

The new international border which was formed in 1921 and the accompanying customs tariffs adversely affected traffic and trade to the West of Derry.

Patterson continues: “The two companies faced the new situation quite differently. Henry Forbes, managing for the CDRJC, introduced petrol and then diesel railcars, and thereby obtained striking economies in operating costs. By stopping his trains almost anywhere to pick up passengers in the sparsely-peopled country, he gained an unequalled degree of public support. On the Londonderry & Lough Swilly, H. Hunt, and later James Whyte, decided that the future was on the roads and an expanding fleet of omnibuses and lorries began to trade over the north of the county. The contrasted policies were undoubtedly linked with the different ownerships. Behind the CDRJC., the LMS and the GNR (I) were essentially railway minded. The locally owned L&LSR was less traditional and more-over was working a line with stations often miles from the villages.” [2: p96]

After WW1, closures of Ireland’s narrow gauge railways began.

Patterson tells us that, “Three concerns came to an end in the decade between 1920 and 1930. First to go was the monorail between Listowel and Ballybunion. The company had been bankrupt since 1897, damage had been suffered during the ‘Troubles’, and the line had not been included in the Great Southern Railways merger. The concern lacked a profitable future and it was closed in mid-October 1924. … The Dublin & Lucan, altered from 3 ft. to 3 ft. 6 in. gauge in 1896 and electrified about ten years later, went down under bus competition at the end of 1924. It was resurrected by the Dublin United Tramways three years later, but it ceased to be narrow gauge and became linked to the city’s 5 ft. 3 in.-gauge tram system. It lasted thus until 1940.” [14: p169]

Patterson continues: “The Portstewart Tramway Company had only managed to remain solvent from 1882 until 1897. Ownership then went to the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway, passing to the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1903 and the LMS (NCC) in 1923. It functioned merely as a link between the seaside town and the railway station, and it was easily and economically replaced by substitute road services in January 1926.

“Some fifteen miles east of Portstewart, ill fortune had overtaken the Ballycastle Railway Company by 1924, and it closed the line down on 4th April. After some uncertainty, and a summer without trains, the line was taken over by the LMS (NCC) and was reopened in August 1924. Under the new regime, coordination with the neighbouring narrow-gauge lines at Ballymena became possible and some exchange of locomotive and coaching stock resulted. … During the 1930s the old Ballymena, Cushendall & Red Bay section of the NCC ground to a stop. The iron-ore traffic which had started it was finished, as it had become cheaper to import a higher-quality ore from overseas. Passenger traffic ended in October 1930. The line from Rathkenny to Retreat was closed completely in 1937, and the Ballymena to Rathkenny portion three years later.” [14: p169-170]

The formation of the Great Southern Railways incorporated two narrow-gauge lines which served Cork city. “Neither of them went far enough to serve a wide community and they were particularly subject to pressure from road services. The only double-track Irish narrow-gauge section, that from Cork to Blackrock, was singled in 1927 and the system was shut down in two stages during 1933. Two years later it was followed into the shadows by the Cork & Muskerry section, a line remarkable in that it survived the competing electric tramway by three years. … In Tyrone, the Castlederg & Victoria Bridge line had been fortunate in making contact with the Great Northern’s Omagh-Londonderry line. Its roadside position made it a target for its successors, and the end was defined by the 1933 railway strike, for the company never resumed operations after it.” [14: p170]

Patterson tells us that, “The end of the Clogher Valley Railway had been in sight for twenty years before it closed. A 1927 Government enquiry, instituted because of the burden which the CVR was placing on the rates, resulted in the line being placed under a committee of management. The presence of Henry Forbes from the CDRJC produced a temporary rejuvenation, but with the formation of the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board in 1935 bus and lorry competition increased. The end was in sight and the Government ordered the closure at the end of December, 1941.” [14: p170]

On the Ballymena & Larne section of the NCC, passenger services, which included the express boat trains, had been throttled by the strike of 1933. In 1942 working ended on the Ballyboley Junction-Ballymena section and two years later the Ballyclare to Doagh section was lifted. An infrequent service of goods trains continued to operate between Larne and the Ballyclare Paper Mill until July 1950. [14: p170]

This trend of closure continued: the CDRJC lost the Glenties Branch in 1949. The Strabane to Letterkenny line closed at the end of 1954 with the rest of the network gone by 1959. Under the CIE, the Tralee & Dingle and the Cavan & Leitrim were allowed to deteriorate. The Tralee & Dingle had a period when it saw only one good train a month (in connection with Dingle Cattle Fair), but that finally ceased in June 1953. Coal trains from Arigna kept the C&LR branch active until 1959. In the last years of the C&LR, its depot at Ballinamore became a gathering place for narrow-gauge locomotives and rolling stock.

1960 saw a demolition train stripping the rails from the Barnesmore Gap in the heat of summer. The West Clare was struggling on. Patterson goes on to relate, succinctly, the history of the West Clare section which eventually fell as result of the May 1957, 259-page report from a committee of inquiry which stressed the population movement away from rural areas. The report suggested that all Ireland needed “was the main-line skeleton radiating from Dublin, and a cross-country line from Limerick to Rosslare. Clearly, the branches on the 5 ft. 3 in. gauge and what was left of the narrow gauge were redundant.” [14: p175]

In November 1960, “it became known that C.I.E. proposed to close in early 1961, among other minor lines, the West Clare. The announcement was greeted with regret rather than with surprise, for all things considered, it was a little remarkable that the West Clare survived as long as it did. With it [went] the Irish narrow gauge, evolving during nearly ninety years from the little mineral line in Glenariff to a total of around 570 miles of track and then degenerating step by step as social changes and mechanical developments created new conditions which had no use for it.” [14: p175]

References

1. The Editorial, in The Railway Magazine, Volume 107, No. 718, February 1961.
2. E. M. Patterson; The Narrow Gauge in Ireland: Its Growth and Decay – 1; in The Railway Magazine, Volume 107, No. 718, February 1961, p75-83 & p96.
3. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/12/31/the-listowel-and-ballybunion-railway.
4. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/26/the-cavan-leitrim-railway-arigna-valley-railway/
5. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/09/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-a-short-history-and-a-look-at-dromod-station/
6. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/19/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-dromod-to-mohill/
7. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/24/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-mohill-to-ballinamore/
8. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/29/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-ballinamore-to-ballyconnell/
9. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/06/07/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-ballyconnell-to-belturbet/
10. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/06/15/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-the-arigna-tramway/
11. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/07/01/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-a-miscellany/
12. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/04/28/the-cavan-and-leitrim-cl-railway-again-belturbet-railway-station/
13. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/12/27/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-at-dromod-again/
14. E. M. Patterson; The Narrow Gauge in Ireland: Its Growth and Decay – 2; in The Railway Magazine, Volume 107, No. 719, February 1961, p169-175.
15. https://picryl.com/media/clogher-valley-railway-1093b4, accessed on 17th October 2026.
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lartigue_Monorail, accessed on 17th October 2026.
17. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/07/09/the-tralee-dingle-railway.
18. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/08/the-west-clare-railway-part-1-ennis-to-corofin/
19. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/15/the-west-clare-railway-part-2-corofin-to-lahinch/
20. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/20/the-west-clare-railway-part-3-lahinch-to-miltown-malbay/
21. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/30/the-west-clare-railway-part-4-miltown-malbay-to-quilty/
22. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/05/the-west-clare-railway-part-5-quilty-to-moyasta/
23. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/09/the-west-clare-railway-part-6-moyasta-to-kilkee/
24. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/07/07/the-west-clare-railway-part-7-moyasta-to-kilrush-and-cappagh-pier/
25. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/07/16/the-west-clare-railway-part-8-a-miscellany/
26. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/05/16/the-lough-swilly-railway-continued-letterkenny-to-derry-part-1/
27. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/05/27/the-lough-swilly-railway-continued-letterkenny-to-derry-part-2/
28. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/10/22/the-lough-swilly-railway-continued-letterkenny-to-derry-part-3/
29. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/14/the-llsr-once-again-a-perspective-from-the-19th-century-the-railway-magazine-november-1899/
30. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/05/27/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-1-the-glenties-branch-stranorlar-to-ballinamore/
31. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/22/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-2-the-glenties-branch-ballinamore-to-glenties/
32. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/12/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-3-petrol-railmotors/
33. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/07/27/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-4-strabane-to-letterkenny-part-a-strabane-to-raphoe/
34. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/05/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-5-strabane-to-letterkenny-part-b-raphoe-to-convoy/
35. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/29/co-donegal-railways-ireland-part-6-strabane-to-letterkenny-part-c-convoy-to-letterkenny/
36. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/04/26/teelin-bay-teelin-pier-and-co-donegal-railways/
37. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/04/30/the-donegal-railway-heritage-centre/
38. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/06/26/the-donegal-railway-heritage-trail/
39. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/09/10/derry-history-the-harbour-tramways-railways/
40. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/04/28/the-burtonport-extension-of-the-londonderry-lough-swilly-railway-part-1/
41. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/05/05/the-burtonport-extension-of-the-londonderry-lough-swilly-railway-part-2/
42. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/04/30/the-burtonport-extension-of-the-londonderry-amp-lough-swilly-railway-part-3/
43. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/07/13/the-burtonport-extension-of-the-llsr-londonderry-and-lough-swilly-railway-part-4-barnes-gap-to-letterkenny/
44. https://picryl.com/media/i-see-the-train-a-coming-a-coming-down-the-line-17256090891-393fc9, accessed on 22nd October 2026.