“Drummond was born in Ardrossan, Ayrshire on 1st January 1840. His father was permanent way inspector for the Bowling Railway. Drummond was apprenticed to Forest & Barr of Glasgow gaining further experience on the Dumbartonshire and Caledonian Railways. He was in charge of the boiler shop at the Canada Works, Birkenhead of Thomas Brassey before moving to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway’s Cowlairs railway works in 1864 under Samuel Waite Johnson.” [3]
“He became foreman erector at the Lochgorm Works, Inverness, of the Highland Railway under William Stroudley and followed Stroudley to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway’s Brighton Works in 1870. In 1875, he was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the North British Railway.” [3]
In 1882 he moved to the Caledonian Railway. In April 1890, he emigrated to Australia, establishing the Australasian Locomotive Engine Works at Sydney, Australia. After only a short time he returned to the UK, founding the Glasgow Railway Engineering Company which was moderately successful, Drummond, “accepted the post as locomotive engineer of the London and South Western Railway [LSWR] in 1895, at a salary considerably less than that he had received on the Caledonian Railway. The title of his post was changed to Chief Mechanical Engineer in January 1905, [4] although his duties hardly changed. [5] He remained with the LSWR until his death” in 1912. [3]
“He was a major locomotive designer and builder and many of his London and South Western Railway engines continued in main line service with the Southern Railway to enter British Railways service in 1947.” [3]
Harry Smith Wainwright was the “Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1899 to 1913. He is best known for a series of simple but competent locomotives produced under his direction at the company’s Ashford railway works in the early years of the twentieth century.” [13]
Drummond and Wainwright experimented with steam railmotors/railcars in the early years of the 20th century.
In 1902, Dugald Drummond had two built for a branch line near Portsmouth. [6][7: p7] Intended to provide “an economic service on the LSWR and London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) joint branch from Fratton to Southsea two steam railmotors were built by the LSWR in 1902, entering service in April 1903, and designated as K11 Class.” [6][8: p118, 123]
The 43-foot (13 m) long carriage-element seated thirty in third class and twelve in first class. The total length of the unit was 53 ft 5 in (16.28 m). The first of these railcars/railmotors to be built was lent to the Great Western Railway, returning with favourable reports. [8: p118] “However, when introduced in summer 1903 the units struggled with passengers on the gradients on the line and it was discovered that the GWR had trialed the unit on level track and without passengers. The units were rebuilt with a bigger firebox and boiler.” [6][8: p118-119][9: p22-25]
Rebuilt LSWR railmotor with a horizontal rather than vertical boiler. [10]
Wainwright introduced similar steam railmotors on the SECR in 1904/5. He ordered 8 in total from Kitson of Leeds. The first two for use on the Sheppey Light Railway. Numbered 1 and 2 (WN 4292 and 4293, date 1904), “the engines were ordinary four-wheeled locomotives and could be detached from the car proper if necessary. They were fitted with the first Belpaire fireboxes on the [SECR]. Both engines and cars, were painted lake, the standard colour for the coaching stock on this line. There was accommodation for 56 passengers. all of one, class. ‘One of the cars had been running experimentally on the Deal branch.” [14] Wainwright’s railmotors, while superficially similar to the early Drummond Railmotors were actually articulated vehicles.
No. 3 is shown below on a public domain image found on the Westerham Heritage website. The same image appears on the dedicated webpage for Westerham Station on the Disused Stations website. [15] Disused Stations website tells us that the apparent side tanks on the locomotive portion of the unit “were actually coal bunkers, … with water carried in well tanks. The rail-motors were of the articulated type and the fairly conventional engine portions were built by Messrs Kitson. … Following eventual withdrawal the carriage portions were converted into four two-car hauled sets circa 1923, two of which were articulated twins while the other two were non-articulated push-and-pull sets.” [15]
SECR steam rail-motor No. 3 stands at Westerham in 1907. It was built by Kitson of Leeds was introduced to the Westerham branch of the SECR in April 1906. It was not popular and was withdrawn from the branch later in 1907. [12]
“The coach portion of [SECR] No. 3 was paired with that of No. 8 to form an articulated twin set No.514. The other articulated twin became set No.513, formed from railmotors 1 and 2. Both articulated pairs, which were unique to the Southern Railway, are known to have survived until at least 1959.” [15]
After his experience with the LSWR Railmotors and after modifications had been made, Drummond ordered a further fifteen steam railmotors for the LSWR. These new railcars/railmotors were numbered 1 to 15. The earliest ‘experimental’ Railmotors were ignored in this new numbering system.
The first two were built in 1904 in two parts, “the engines at Nine Elms and the carriages at Eastleigh, and were designated H12 class. These were two feet (600 mm) shorter than the earlier cars, seated eight in first class and thirty-two in third.” [8: p119-120] Nos 1 & 2 “displayed a fully enclosed engine part, encased in a rather severe ‘tin tabernacle’.” [1: p14]
Thirteen more were built in 1905–6 to slightly different design, as class H13. [8: p120-122] These had the boiler pressure increased from 150 psi (1.0 MPa) to 175 psi (1.21 MPa). Engines and carriages were not detachable and these units were capable of towing an additional carriage. [9: p26,28] After the outbreak of World War I limited the work available for railmotors, the joint stock was taken out of service in 1914 and by 1916 only three units remained in service, to be withdrawn in 1919.” [6][9: p24,28] These units had “a very neatly enclosed locomotive portion embodying ‘coachbuilt’ styling.” [1: p14]
A small steam carriage was designed by James Samuel, the Eastern Counties Railway Locomotive Engineer, built by William Bridges Adams in 1847, and trialled between Shoreditch and Cambridge on 23rd October 1847. It was an experimental unit, 12 feet 6 inches (3.81 m) long with a small vertical boiler and passenger accommodation was a bench seat around a box at the back, although it was officially named ‘Lilliputian’ it was known as ‘Express’. [7][8: p16]
The Fairfield Steam Carriage
It seems that the earliest example of a steam railcar to enter service was another “experimental unit designed and built in 1847 by James Samuel and William Bridges Adams. In 1848, they made the Fairfield steam carriage that they sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway, who used it for two years on a branch line.” [1] The Bristol & Exeter Railway was broad gauge.
The Fairfield Steam Carriage was built to the design of William Bridges Adams and James Samuel at “Fairfield Works in Bow, London. It was tested on the West London Railway late in 1848, although it was early in 1850 before modifications had been made that allowed Adams to demonstrate that it was working to the agreed standards. The design was not perpetuated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, instead they purchased small 2-2-2T locomotives for working their branch lines.” [3]
Apparently, the unit worked on the Clevedon and Tiverton branches, and perhaps on the Weston branch too. [3]
“The power unit had a single pair of driving wheels driven through a jackshaft by small 8-by-12-inch (203 mm × 305 mm) cylinders. Originally equipped with a vertical boiler 6 feet (1,800 mm) in height, 3 feet (910 mm) in diameter, this was replaced by a horizontal boiler length 7 feet 7 inches (2,310 mm), diameter 2 feet 6 inches (760 mm). The boiler was not covered by a cab or other bodywork; the two pairs of carrying wheels were beneath the carriage portion. It had seats for 16 first class and 32 second class passengers. It was once timed as running at 52 miles per hour (84 km/h).” [3][4]
Numbered No. 29 in the Bristol and Exeter Railway locomotive list, it was generally referred to as “the Fairfield locomotive”. It was not a great success, and although Samuel & Adams built another couple of steam railmotors at around the same time, the concept did not result in any further orders. [3]
Jenkinson & Lane dismiss this railcar as one of a few “rather weird and impracticable 19th Century ideas.” [2: p9] Nonetheless, it meets their criteria for a railcar. They state that a railcar should “contain within itself the means of propulsion as well as seats for the passengers, … the design should represent an ‘integrated concept’ … [in which] neither could function independently of the other.” [2: p5]
The ‘Enfield’ Steam Carriage
Built at about the same time as the Bristol & Exeter Steam Carriage was one which was purchased by the Eastern Counties Railway. …
The steam railcar ‘Enfield’ which was used by the ECR from 19th January 1849. [6]
‘Enfield‘ was larger than ‘Fairfield’. Built by Samuel and Adams this was used in regular service by the Eastern Counties Railway until the engine was converted into a 2-2-2 tank locomotive. [7][8: p18]
Another Early Example
“More engine and carriage combinations to Samuel designs were built in the 1850s in the Eastern Counties railway works, and another by Kitson & Co. called Ariel’s Girdle. Later, in 1869, Samuel, Robert Fairlie and George England collaborated to build a prototype articulated steam railcar at England’s Hatcham Ironworks that was demonstrated in the works yard. However, England went out of business at about this time and nothing is known about the fate of this vehicle.” [7][8: p19]
William Bridges Adams; “Road Progress, Or, Amalgamation of Railways and Highways for Agricultural Improvement, and Steam Farming, in Great Britain and the Colonies: Also Practical Economy in Fixed Plant and Rolling Stock for Passenger and Goods Trains; George Luxford, London, 1850, p15. George Luxford. p. 15.
“The Fair-Field Steam Carriage“. Illustrated London News. 1849.
This next series of five extracts from the 25″ OSI survey show the Lough Swilly Railway heading North away from Newtowncunningham Railway Station.
The series of five map extracts above show the Lough Swilly Railway to the North of Newtoncunningham and parallel to Back Shore Road. [3]This extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery shows the railway heading North from Newtowncunningham Station, alongside Back Shore Road, and covers the same length of the line as shown in the five map extracts above. [2]A track can be seen on the satellite image above crossing the line of the old railway as it curved round toward Moneygreggan. This photograph shows that lane. The photograph is taken from Back Shore Road running parallel to the line of the railway at this point. The track at this point was probably provided after the closure of the railway. It gives access to what was the old line of the road prior to the construction of the railway. With the construction of the railway the road was diverted to cross the railway further to the North. [Google Streetview, July 2021]This enlarged extract from the OSi 25″ survey shows the changes made at the location of the photograph immediately above. [3]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery shows the same location as the map extract immediately above. [2]
The next three images show the bridge in Moneygreggan which carried Back Shore Road over the line just to the North of the location above.
The road bridge constructed to carry Back Shore Road over the Lough Swilly Railway north of Newtoncunningham. [My photograph, 9th May 2024]The view South across the bridge parapet in the direction of Newtown Cunningham Station. [My photograph, 9th May 2024]The view North across the parapet of the same bridge. [My photograph, 9th May 2024]The next location worth noting along the line is a bridge over another minor road which headed West from Back Shore Road [3]The same location, this time on the satellite imagery from railmaponline.com. [2]The lane and the embankment are shrouded by trees. The line crossed the lane very close to its junction with Back Shore Road. [Google Streetview, July 2021]The next crossing of the line was for what was once a through route of sorts but which now is really no more than a farm access track. On the OSi 26″ survey this appears to have crossed the old railway by means of an over bridge. [3]Railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery shows the rail route in the 21st century shrouded in trees. [2]This image looks West along the access road in 2011. Hidden in the trees over the line of the Lough Swilly Railway there are some masonry remains which might be parapet walls for a bridge. Either side of the track the undergrowth and tree cover is dense.[Google Streetview, August 2011]
A series of three further extracts from the 25″ OSi survey show the next length of the Lough Swilly Railway as it turned to the East.
This section of the line ran North from the access road noted above. Back Shore Road crosses the old railway at a level-crossing at the top of this map extract. The stream that has followed the road North emptied into the Lough by means of a stone arch under the of railway. A photograph taken by Willie Rodgers of the stone-arched bridge carrying the old railway over the stream can be seen below. [3]Then curving round to the Northeast, the line crossed a long embankment over part of Lough Swilly. Open water was to the Northwest of the line, a lagoon and saltmarsh prone to flooding was to the Southeast of the line. [3]This extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows the line leaving the embankment and curing further round to the East. [3]The same length of the Lough Swilly Railway as shown in the three map extracts immediately above, as it appears on railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. What was saltmarsh to the Southeast of the line has been reclaimed and is now in use as arable land. [2]Looking Southwest along the line of the embankment in the 21st century. Back Shore Road ends today in a small unmetalled carpark and a gate into the farmland visible to the top-right of this photograph. [My photograph, 9th May 2024]The small unmetalled carpark at the end of Back Shore Road. The route of the old railway is marked by the orange line heading out onto the embankment. [Google Streetview, July 2021]The stone-arched bridge at the Southwest end of the embankment which carries the route of the L&LSR over the drainage stream which empties into the Lough at this point. This image was shared on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Facebook Group by Willie Rodgers on 19th November 2021. [5]Looking Northeast along the line of the Lough Swilly Railway from a point 100 metres out along the embankment form the carpark noted above. [My photograph, 9th May 2024]
An aerial image taken by Michael Roulston in February 2021 looking Southwest along the embankment and showing the curve of the old line on its Southwestern approach can be seen by following this link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vEEn4ViuBhW5QiTD6
A photograph taken by David Hughes in July 2020 from a point about halfway along the embankment can be found on this link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zb85mGUaBZRqafHa6
A similar photograph taken by David Hughes on the same day shows the view along the embankment from the location of the sluice gates. The railway began to curve away from the line of the embankment at this point. The photograph can be found on this link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/o6TbpWy19muqJypu8
This enlarged extract from the 25″ OSI shows the old railway curving away from the straight line of the embankment. [3]The railway curved away from the straight line of the embankment. [Google Maps, May 2024]This view looks South from just to the North of the Northeast end of the embankment. The L&LSR can be seen curving away to the East and crossing the access road to the location of the photographer via a stone-arched bridge. [Google Streetview, September 2010]A better image of the bridge seen above, also taken from the North. This image was shared on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Facebook Group by Willie Rodgers on 19th November 2021. [5]The same bridge, seen this time from the South. This image was shared on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Facebook Group by Willie Rodgers on 19th November 2021. [5]The same structure seen from further to the South along the lane. The tree line to the right of the bridge marks the line of the Lough Swilly Railway. [Google Streetview, September 2010]The next significant location was a little further to the East where another minor road crossed the lien fo teh railway on a bridge. This enlarged extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows the location. [3]This enlaregd extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery shows the same location in the 21st century. [2]This view from the South shows the bridge parapets in place in the 21st century. The L&LSR cutting has been infilled and returned to arable use. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
The next three extracts from the 25″ OSI survey show the line turning first to the Northeast and after a short distance reaching Carrowen Railway Station.
These three extracts from the 25″ OSI surveytake us as far as Carrowen Station. [3]This extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery covers the same length of line as appears in the three map extracts immediately above. [2]When the L&LSR was in use it was bridged by a minor road which linked roads to the North and South of the line and provided access to the complex of buildings shown on this enlarged extract from the 25″OSi survey. [3]A wider view of the same location in the 21st century as provided by railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. Both the road and the old railway have been ploughed back into the landscape. [2]Approaching Carrowen Railway Station, the line was carried over a road close to Carrowen School. [3]Railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery shows the same area as covered by the map extract above. [2]Trees appear to form an arch over the narrow road at the point where the L&LSR was carried by a bridge across the road close to the site of what was Carrowen School. [Google Streetview, July 2021]An enlarged view of Carrowen Railway Station as shown on the 25″ OSi survey. [3]The Station site as shown on an enlarged extract from railmaponline’s satellite imagery. The old station househas been extended out across the line of the railway. [2]Carrowen Station Hose and platform viewed from the West. The building was not of the same design of other larger station houses that we have encountered in our journey along the line of the L&LSR. This photograph was shared on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Facebook Group by Conor Harkin on 27th April 2022 courtesy of Fahan Inch & Burt Parish. [6]The modern private dwelling on the site of Carrowen Station House includes the original station house It is seen here viewed from the village road to the East of the L&LSR. The photograph looks along the old station approach. The extension to the right of the building sits over the formation of the old railway. [Google Streetview, July 2021]This next extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows the old railway heading North-northeast away from Carrowen Railway Station and bridging a local road. [3]The same length of the line as it appears on modern satellite imagery. The rail-over-road bridge was sited at the top-right of the image. The bridge has gone a a minor realignment of the road carriageway has taken place. [2]Looking Northwest through the location of the bridge. The bridge and the line’s embankments have been removed. The orange line indicates the approximate line of the L&LSR. [Google Streetview, July 2021]Continuing North-northeast, the L&LSR ran through two level crossing close to Drumgowan. [3]the location of each of the crossings can easily be picked out on the modern satellite imagery of railmaponline.com. [2]This photograph taken from the closest metalled road shows the first crossing encountered. It was about 50 t0 100 metres down the lane at the centre of the image. The approximate line of the L&LSR is shown as an orange line beyond the trees. [Google Streetview, July 2021]From a very similar location to the last photograph but this time looking North-northeast. The line of the L&LSR crossed the field to the right of the photograph and ran through the trees which appear left of centre towards the top on the image. The track on the left of the image meets the line o0f the old railway at the first of the trees and then runs along what would have been the formation of the old railway to the coast of Lough Swilly, this can be seen on the next satellite image below. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
The next three extracts from the 25″ OSi survey show the L&LSR curving round to the East to run along the side of Lough Swilly. The earthworks of the earlier line from Derry to Farland Point can be seen to the North of the line.
The station at Farland Point opened on 12th December 1864 when the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway built its line from Londonderry Middle Quay railway station to a terminus at Farland Point. The L&LSR owned ferries which operated from Farland Pier. [7]
The L&LSR curved round to the East to run along the side of the Lough. Close to the flood gates earthworks from an abandoned line serving Garland pier would have been visible from trains running between Letterkenny and Derry. [3]
John McCarton comments on the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Facebook Group: “The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company opened a railway service from Derry to Farland Point (Inch Level Wildlife Reserve today) in December 1861. From Farland Point, a paddle steamer service took train passengers acrossLough Swilly, to Ramelton or Letterkenny.Paddle steamers were chartered in from existing Lough Foyle and Clyde companies to inauguratethis new service. In September 1864, theline was extended from Tooban Junction to Buncrana, with a spur to Fahan, extending Into sidings at the pier for the transportation of goods and passengers to and from the paddle steamers.The ferry service moved to Fahan in 1866, which then became the hub for the L&LSR’s passenger and freight services, to Ramelton, Rathmullan and Portsalon.” [8]
These two extracts from the OSi 25″ survey show the L&LSR running along the South side of what became Inch Wildfowl Reserve. [3]This railmaponline.com satellite image covers the same length of the old railway as the two map extracts immediately above. [2]Looking East along the line of the old railway about 200 metres further along the embankment, (c) Roy Smyth. [Google Streetview, January 2023]Looking East-northeast along the line of the old railway as it curves with the embankment towards the Northeast, (c) Roy Smyth. [Google Streetview, January 2023]Looking Northeast at a point close to the right side of the railmaponline.com satellite image above, (c) Roy Smyth. [Google Streetview, January 2023]
The next few map extracts follow the old railway heading Northeast towards Tooban Junction Station. …
These three extracts form the OSi 25″ survey show the remaining length of the embankments alongside Lough Swilly as the line heads Northeast towards Tooban Junction. After turning to the Northeast the line can be seen running on a secondary embankment to the East of that facing the sea. [3]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery shows the length of the L&LSR covered by the three map extracts above. [2]Looking back to the Southwest along the L&LSR formation from the Inch Wildfowl Reserve car park. The railway ran along a low embankment to the East of the main embankment and to the East of the modern walkway. [Google Streetview, September 2010]Looking Northeast along the L&LSR formation from the Inch Wildfowl Reserve car park. The line ran, approximately, along the tree line close to the centre of this photograph. [Google Streetview, September 2010]Looking Northeast along the L&LSR formation again. (The line ran to the right of the path ahead.) As is evident in these last few images, the old railway was protected from the worst of the weather over Lough Swilly by a high embankment. We are closing in on the curve taking the line into Tooban Junction Station, (c) Roy Smyth. [Google Streetview, January 2023]
Inch Wildfowl Reserve
The story of the Wildfowl Reserve is told on its website: [9]
“Inch Lough is a brackish lagoon cut out from Lough Swilly by embankments, and penned between Inch Island and extensive flat agricultural polders (slobs) on the mainland of County Donegal by a third long embankment.
Historically there was a large area of Lough Swilly between Inch Island and Burt, which lies at the foot of Grianan Mountain (the site of the famous Iron Age hillfort, Grianán of Aileach). In 1836 it was proposed to claim this shallow expanse of tidal estuarine mud from the lough. Work started around 1840 and was complete by 1859.
The first stage was the construction of the Tready Embankment across the centre of the area, from Tooban Junction near Burfoot in the east, to Farland Point in the west. It would also serve as the route of the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway – a narrow-gauge line connecting Carndonagh and Derry in the north-east, with Letterkenny and Burtonport in the far west. The line operated between 1863 and 1953.
North of Tooban was a point where the mainland was close to Inch Island, and where a causeway, the Inch Embankment, was built to link the island to the mainland.
The third stage was to construct a parallel embankment in the west, between Farland Point and the island, the Farland Embankment, or as it is now generally called, the Farland Bank.
So between these three embankments and Inch Island there was a section of water cut off from Lough Swilly, and also from the mud flats to be drained. This area would be kept as a holding tank, to receive the waters drained from the south and keep out the tidal extremes of Lough Swilly. Thus Inch Lough was created, and over the years has become steadily less salty.
South of the Tready Embankment, between it and Grianan Mountain, all that area of Lough Swilly now isolated from the tidal waters could be drained through a complicated system of large and small drains, to create agricultural land. This huge expanse of flat polderland is locally known as The Slobs, or more formally as Inch Level. The drainage was not initially very successful. Until the late 1950s the patchwork of small fields were very marshy, and included some areas of unambiguous marshland.
At that time, industrialist Daniel McDonald, started to buy up the small properties and by 1961 had amalgamated all into Grianán Estate, the largest arable farm in Ireland at around 1200ha. The fields could then be enlarged and the drainage system re-vitalised.
There have been a few changes of hands since then. Most notably, a consortium of businessmen bought the estate in 1980 and announced plans to drain the northern half of the lake. A local campaign was immediately launched to resist this – mainly defending Inch Island’s status as an island, but concerned also about the threat to wildlife from the loss of half of the lake. The consortium claimed that the scheme proved to be technically unviable, and whether or not that was the real reason, or they were overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, they abandoned the scheme and sold up in 1989.
An Grianan Farm is now in the hands of Donegal Creameries plc., and managed as an organic dairy farm. Parts of it are leased to local farmers. In 2002 the National Parks and Wildlife Service took on a thirty year lease of Inch lough and its surrounding wet grasslands. Since then, NPWS along with various stakeholders have developed the site, with ongoing work in conservation management, community involvement, and development of visitor infrastructure. The aim now is to sustainably develop Inch Wildfowl Reserve for the future, integrating conservation with community and farming, whilst allowing limited access for the public.” [9]
This extract from the 25″ OSi survey covers the next length of the line. Included in this extract is Tooban Junction and its station and the start of the branch to Cardonagh. [3]An enlarged extract focussing on Tooban Junction. The L&LSR line to Derry is the more northerly of the two line leaving the right of this image. The other line is a long storage line or headshunt. [3]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery covers the same length of the L&LSR as shown in the map extracts immediately above. It centres on the location of Tooban Junction Station. [2]Facing Northeast along the L&LSR formation again. This time on the curve round to the location of Tooban Junction Station, (c) Roy Smyth. [Google Streetview, January 2023]Facing East along the line of the old L&LSR through the location of Tooban Junction Station from the modern footbridge over the drainage channel. Note the signal post with two arms which stands on the station site, This is a reconstruction by Buncrana sculptor John McCarron as part of the Ghosts of Tooban Junction project, (c) Roy Smyth. [Google Streetview, January 2023]Tooban Junction Station seen from the West. This image was shared by Donegal Railway Heritage Museum in their Facebook Page on 6th February 2020, (c) Edward PattersonLooking West at Tooban Junction on 20th April 1953. The line to Letterkenny is to the left of the water tower, that to Cardonagh is to the right. This photograph was shared on the Fahan Inch & Burt Parish Facebook Group on 6th September 2015. [16]
The ‘Disused Stations’ website has a series of pages focussing on Tooban Junction Station. [10][11][12][13] These pages include a history of the station and a number of photographs of the station from various sources. Click here to visit the first of these pages.
Ernie’s Archive includes a number of photos of the station. [14] Click here to access these images.
Wikipedia notes that “the station opened on 9th September 1864 when the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway built their line from Londonderry Middle Quay to Farland Point. It closed for passengers on 23th October 1935. Freight services continued until 10th August 1953.” [17]
We take a break at Tooban Station and await the next train!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooban_Junction_railway_station, accessed on 27th May 2024. However, note comments made in response to this article by Martin Baumann: “The Derry to Buncrana line saw passenger services on bank holidays after regular services had ceased. The last day this happened was 6th September 1948. … Freight traffic ceased on 8th August 1953, not the 10th but it was possible to travel on freight services as the Swilly had no Goods Brake Vans so a Passenger Brake with some seats was always in the formation.”
Letterkenny once had two railway stations immediately adjacent to each other. One was the terminus of the County Donegal Railways Strabane to Letterkenny branch. The other was a through station on the Lough Swilly (when operation in the first half of the 20th century it’s formal title was the ‘Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway’).
The two railway stations in Letterkenny lay side by side. That to the North was the terminus if the County Donegal Railways branch which connected Letterkenny to Strabane. That to the South was the Lough Swilly station through which passed trains between Burtonport and Derry. OSi 6″ to 1 mile last series. [3]The same area as shown on the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. Contrary to what appears on the image, both railway lines ran on the South side of Ramelton Road. That shown in Orange is the Lough Swilly line. [4]
In an East-Southeast direction, the two companies’ lines ran parallel for some distance, before the Co. Donegal line headed away to the South through Convoy and Raphoe before crossing the border at Lifford and meeting the other Co. Donegal lines at Strabane. The Loch Swilly found its way to Derry via Tooban Junction where a significant branch line to Buncrana and Cardonagh left the line to Derry.
To the West, the Lough Swilly’s Burtonport Extension Railway meandered across the moors and between small villages nearer the coast.
Three articles cover the Strabane to Letterkenny branch of the Co. Donegal Railways. They can be found on the following links. ….
The Lough Swilly’s line between Derry and Letterkenny was built in stages and included a change of track gauge from 5ft 3in to 3ft.
“The railway was initially planned as the Derry and Lough Swilly Railway Company when an application for incorporation was filed in 1852, … The company opened its first line, a 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) link between Derry and Farland Point, on 31st December 1863. A branch line between Tooban Junction and Buncrana was added in 1864 and much of the Farland Point line was closed in 1866.” [1][2: pxiv]
Wikipedia’s history of the railway company goes on to say that “in 1883, the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge Letterkenny Railway between Cuttymanhill and Letterkenny was opened and the L&LSR connected with it by reopening the Tooban Junction – Cuttymanhill section of its Farland Point line. The L&LSR worked the Letterkenny Railway, and in 1885 it converted its track from 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge to 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge to enable through running. In 1887, ownership of the Letterkenny Railway passed to the Irish Board of Works, which continued the agreement by which the L&LSR operated the line.” [1][2: pxiv & p3]
“Carndonagh was reached by an extension completed in 1901 and Burtonport by a one completed in 1903. Both lines were constructed as joint ventures with the UK Government, with ownership and liabilities shared between the two parties. During this period the company did not make a profit, and struggled to meet its debts.” [1][2: p2 & p3]
Letterkenny to Newtoncunningham. The L&LS railway is shown on this extract from OSi mapping of the mid-20th century. [3]
The first map extract from OSi mapping which appears close to the top of this article shows the Co. Donegal and the Lough Swilly stations in Letterkenny. The 6″to 1 mile series as digitised is not the clearest mapping. An earlier 25″ to 1 mile series shows only the Lough Swilly line but is of a higher quality.
Ernie’s Railway Archive on Flickr has a range of photographs of the L&LS Letterkenny Railway Station site from the 1950s, the links are embedded here below, click on each link to see the image in Ernie’s Railway Archive on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/p/2nMqBvu – The L&LSR Station site from the East in 1952. The carriage shed is closest to the camera on the right of the image. The locomotive shed and turntable are hidden behind the carriage shed. At the centre-top of the image, the Goods Shed can be seen.
https://flic.kr/p/2nM8xYs – The Goods Yard of the L&LSR in 1952. Beyond wagons L&LSR No. 124 and L&BER No. 73 the Goods Shed and the passenger station building can be seen.
https://flic.kr/p/2nWyB5y – The L&LSR Goods Yard in 1952. The side elevation of the Goods Shed is visible beyond the wagons in the yard. Prominent in the picture is L&LSR Wagon No. 71.
https://flic.kr/p/2nCR8dg – L&LSR No. 12 is featured in this image from 1952. No. 15 is just poking its nose into the shot on the left.
https://flic.kr/p/2kHNdD9 – L&LSR No. 8 is being turned on Letterkenny’s turntable on 27th June 1952.
https://flic.kr/p/BWoyiF – L&LSR No3 at Letterkenny. On the left, the image is framed by the wall of the Goods Shed. The crossing gates at the West end of the station are visible beyond No. 3’s train. The passenger facilities are on the right. Note the coach acting as a brake van for the train. (c) JW Armstrong/ARPT
https://flic.kr/p/BvajsP – L&LSR No. 12 in the Engine Shed at Letterkenny, (c) JW Armstrong/ARPT
https://flic.kr/p/2ma5Lo3 – The L&LSR Station at Letterkenny on 1st July 1959 after the rails had been lifted. The Goods Shed door is closed (on the left) and the station buildings are on the right.
https://flic.kr/p/2k1hGvQ – The L&LSR operated a daily goods service by lorry after the closure of the line. A company rail lorry bearing the number plate IB7024 is shown standing where trains would once have passed, adjacent to the station building at Letterkenny. The photograph was taken on 23rd August 1954.
Other photographs of Letterkenny’s L&LSR railway station can be found on Flickr or elsewhere on line:
Dave Bell and Steve Flanders describe the use of the bridge arches in the 1980s like this: “The present owner of the filling station has made good use of the … bridge by bricking up one side and building a garage against the other. In effect he now has a garage with three bays, the roof of which is actually the side road.” [18: p47] There are two pictures of the arched bays in Bell and Flanders book.
Kerry Doherty also very kindly supplied this photograph which shows the arches of the old bridge inside the garage facility, (c) Dave Bell. [17]
A short distance to the South East the CDR branch crossed the Lough Swilly and turned away to the South.
A short distance to the East of the over bridge the Lough Swilly line crossed another road at a level crossing.
The site of the level-crossing as shown by Google Maps [May 2024]At the site of the level-crossing, this view looks back towards Letterkenny along the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Also at the level-crossing this view looks ahead to the Southeast along the line of the railway. [Google Streetview, August 2021]
A few hundred metres to the Southeast the line crossed Clanree Lane at the level.
Anticipating that the Sallybrook Station House would’ve been fully renovated, we drove down the access road and discovered that no further work had been undertaken since the July 2031 photo was taken. Two pictures of the building are included here.
The station forecourt side of Sallybrook Station building, [My photograph, 10th May 2024]Looking West along the line of the Lough Swilly Railway along the platform side of the Station building. [My photograph, 10th May 2024]Looking Northwest from the minor road across the level-crossing at Sallybrook Station. [Google Streetview, July 2021]Looking ahead, East, at Sallybrook Station, towards Newtoncunningham. [Google Streetview, July 2021]The next extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows the length of the line immediately yo the East of Sallybrook Station. Land levels are such that the Lough Swilly Railway [passed over the next road. [15]Google Maps shows the same location in the 21st century. [Google Maps, 15th May 2024]Looking North along the minor road which appears in the map extract and the image above. The trees to the right and left of the road mask the embankment which carried the old railway. The bridge at this location has been removed. [Google Streetview, October 2021]
This next series of extracts from the 25″ OSi survey shows the Lough Swilly Railway crossing opens country between Sallybrook Station and Newtoncunningham Station.
The seven map extract above show the Lough Swilly Railway traversing open country/farmland in a generally Northeasterly direction. [15]This satellite image from Google Maps shows that same length of the line as covered by the seven extracts immediately above. Field boundaries remain as they were at the time of the 25″ OSi survey. Over parts of this length of the line, hedgerows which used to flank the old railway have disappeared. [Google Maps, 16th May 2024]This next extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows the point at which Castleblaugh crossed the line. [15]A similar area to that shown on the map extract immediately above as it is shown on Google Maps satellite imagery in the 21st century. [Google Maps, 16th May 2024]Looking East along Castleblaugh, the only indication of the old railway at this point is the crest in the road alignment at the point where the road bridged the line. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
From Castlebaugh heading North to Milltown much of the old railway formation has been ploughed back into the landscape. The next few 25″ OSI survey extracts show the line as it was.
The eight extracts from the 25″ OSi survey show the length of the railway between the road bridge carrying Castleblaugh and that at Milltown. [15]The length of the Lough Swilly Railway from Castleblaugh to Milltown as shown on railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. Much of the formation of the old railway has been ploughed back into farmland. [4]The Flax Mill at Milltown and the road bridge over the Lough Swilly Railway. [15]Railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery shows the same area close to the old flax mill, as it appears in the 21st century. [4]The bridge at Milltown as it appears in the 21st century. This view looks from the East over the bridge towards the location of the flax mill. [Google Streetview, July 2021]Looking South from Monad Road along the line of the old railway. The curtting at this location has been infilled and only the bridge parapet remains visible. [Google Strettview, July 2021]Looking North from Monad Road along the line of the Lough Swilly Railway towards Newtoncunningham. More of the cutting of te old railway can be seen in this direction. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
The next 4 extracts from the 25″ OSi survey cover the length of the line as far as Mason Lodge and the overbridge at that location.
Four extracts from the OSi 25″ survey take us as far as Mason Lodge and the bridge over the line at that location. [15]The length of the line covered by the four map extracts above as it is shown on railmaponl;ine.com’s satellite imagery. [4]An enlarged extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery focussed on the location of the bridge over the line adjacent to Mason Lodge. [4]Looking West across the old bridge over the Lough Swilly Railway adjacent to Mason Lodge. This 21st century image shows the bridge parapets still in place. [Google Streetview, July 2021]Looking South along the old railway the cutting is heavily overgrown in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2021]Looking North over the bridge parapet in 2021a private property straddles the old formation with the line running close to the hedge in the foreground and through the out-building ahead. {Google Streetview, July 2021]From a point a little further to the North on the minor road which ran parallel to the old railway, it is possible to make out the stone arch which carried the road over the line. It is masked by the landscaping of the private garden. [Google Streetview, July 2021]The line continued Northward in cutting. [15]As this next extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows, where the cutting came to an end and before the line ran North onto embankment there was a further road crossing, this time at level. [15]This extract from railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery covers the same length of the old railway as the two map extracts immediately above. The bridge close to Mason Lodge appears at the southern edge of the extract, the level crossing noted above appears at the top of this image. [4]This photograph shows the view looking West across the line of the old railway at the location of the lvel-crossing. [Google Streetview, March 2011]Looking South along the line of the Lough Swilly Railway from the levle-crossing noted above, the formation continues to be defined by boundary hedges although, in the 21st century, it is in private hands. [Google Streetview, March 2011]Looking North from the location of the level crossing. The approximate route of the old railway is shown by the orange line. [Google Streetview, March 2011]This next extract shows that the line North of the level crossing was on a relatively significant embankment. [15]Continuing to the North, this next extract from the 25″ OSi survey shows a significant viaduct which carried the line over a stream. [15]The line then crossed a more significant road by means of another bridge. This road was to become the N13 linking Letterkenny to Derry. [15]The location of the level-crossing appears at the bottom of this next extract from railmaponline’s satellite imagery, the N13 at the top and the viaduct location just above the centre of the image. [4]Looking Northeast along the N13 through the location of the bridge which carried the Lough Swilly Railway over the road. [Google Streetview, November 2022]Looking South from the N13 the rail embankment has been removed for some distance from the modern road, but the embankment can be seen in the distance. Railway land at this location was wide enought o accommodate the full width of the embankment and remains delineated by the modern hedges seen in this image. [Google Streetview, November 2022]Looking Northwest from the N13, the embankment has not been removed. The stonework of the bridge abutment and the springing at the base of the arch which spanned the old road before its widening can clearly be seen. [Google Streetview, November 2022]The two extracts from the 25″ )Si survey show the southern approach to the station at Newtowncunningham. [15]Newtowncunnigham Railway Station as shown on the 25″ OSi survey. The station was sited in the area known as Moyle. [15]The site of Newtowncunningham Railway Station as shown on railmaponline.com’s satellite imagery. The bridge at the North end of the station has been removed and the road realigned. The Station House and the Water Tower remain. The Station House in private hands. [4]
(c) National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (@niah_ireland [Instagram], @NIAH_Ireland [Twitter])
Two views of Newtowncunninham Railway Station House, now in private ownership, (c) National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (@niah_ireland [Instagram], @NIAH_Ireland [Twitter]). [22]
Newtowncunningham Station Water Tower. The National Inventory of Architectural heritage describes this as a “freestanding single-bay two-storey former railway water tower associated with Newtowncunningham Railway Station, built c. 1883, having rendered platform over surmounted by timber-clad metal water tank.” (c) National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (@niah_ireland [Instagram], @NIAH_Ireland [Twitter]). [22]
The Station House seen from the road. [My photograph, 9th May 2024]
We complete this article here at Newtowncunningham Railway Station. The next article in this series will look at the line from Newtowncunningham to Derry.
In 2020, Kerry Doherty of Ballindrait very kindly sent me a series of pictures of the Co. Donegal Railways Strabane and Letterkenny Railway route. Each of these, in this article, bears the reference number [17].
Dave Bell and Steve Flanders; The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway: A Visitor’s Guide; County Donegal Railway Restoration Society.
Images of traffic on the line when it was still operating seem to be few and far between. I am continuing to look for images and may post an addendum if sufficient come to light in due course.
The 1940s 1″ OSi mapping below shows the length of the covered in this third article.
This first segment covers Cashelnagor Railway Station via Falcarragh Railway Station to Lough Agher. [2]This next segment runs from Lough Agher via Dunfanaghy and Creeslough Railway Stations, across the Owencarrow Viaduct and through Barnes Gap. [2]Our starting point for this part of the journey along the Burtonport Extension Railway is at Cashelnagor Railway Station. This is an extract from the 25″ OSi mapping of the early 20th century. [2]A very similar area as covered in the map extract above. This is how the site of Cashelnagor Railway Station appears on the satellite imagery provided by Google Earth [May 2023]Cashelnagor Railway Station viewed from the crossing location to the South of the Station in April 2023. As we noted in the lst article about the line, the station building has been refurbished and is in use as a holiday let. [3][My photograph, 24th April 2023]
The length of the line from Cashelnagor Railway Station to Falcarragh Railway Station is best seen on the 6″ OSi mapping of 1901 as one sheet of the 26″ mapping covering the route is not available on line. The quality of the reproduction of the map extracts below is not as good as it might be, but it is the best available at present. [2]
The 6″ OSi mapping shows the old railway heading almost due North away from Cashenagor Railway Station. [2]A similar length of the old line as it appears on Google Earth in 2023. [Google Earth, 31st May 2023}At Milepost 56 (56 miles from Derry) the line begins to curve round to the East. [2]Another Google Earth satellite image which shows the route of the old line as it appears in 2023. [Google Earth, 31st May 2023]Looking back Southwest from the minor road which appears on the Google Earth satellite image above. The route of the old railway is shown by the superimposed yellow line. [Google Streetview, August 2021]At the same location, looking Northeast along the route of the old railway. The minor road on which we are standing was no more than a track in the days when the railway was operating. The map extract above shows it petering out after crossing the line. It linked in to another track to the North of the line. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The old railway crossed the Tullaghobegly River on embankment while running in a Northeasterly direction. We are on the next OSi 6″ map sheet from 1901 and the detail is a little easier to make out. In the bottom left of the extract there is a track crossing the old railway. [2]This extract from the Google Maps satellite imagery shows the same length of the old railway as the map extract above. The Tullaghobegly River is easy to make out running across the image from South to North. The old railway route is still clearly visible as well running from the lower left of the image to the top-right. [Google Maps, 31st May 2023]This enlarged extract from Google Maps satellite imagery shows the minor road crossing the line of the old railway which appeared in the bottom-eft of the image above. [Google Maps, 31st May 2023]Looking back Southwest from the minor road shown on the Google Maps extract above. [Google Streetview, August 2021]From the same location, looking Northeast towards Falcarragh Railway Station, with the line of the old railway superimposed. The house here is not recorded as a crossing keeper’s hose so the track will have crossed the line at an ungated crossing. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The railway bridge over the Tullaghobegly River still stands in 2023. We did not get a photograph of this bridge when we walked to Falcarragh Railway Station. [Google Maps, 31st May 2023]
“The Tullaghobegley River (also known as the Bawaan River) flows for some 9 miles, emptying into Ballyness Bay and thence to the sea. The source of the river is Lough Altan at the base of Mount Errigal in Glenveagh National Park. … The Tullaghobegley, though small, is a productive salmon and sea trout fishery recording around 300 salmon per season. The river fishes from June onwards. During spates there are some nice pools above the Main Road Bridge, above the old Railway Bridge and at Meendarragh.” [4]
The railway continued in a Northeasterly direction, running to the Northwest of Creenlougher and on past Milepost 54. [2]A similar area on Google Maps satellite imagery to that shown in the extract above. Note the bridge over the old railway in the bottom-left of this image. [Google Maps, 31st May 2023]Looking North from the road which bridged the old railway, at the bridge which still carries that road. AS can be seen, the arch has been infilled with concrete. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Looking back to the Southwest from the road bridge at Creenlougher. {Google Streetview, August 2021]Looking Northeast from the bridge over the old railway at Creenlougher in 2023. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Curving a little to the East, the railway approached Falcarragh Station at Fiddler’s Bridge. [2]A very similar area to that shown on the map extract above, as it appears on Google Maps in 2023. [Google Maps, 31st May 2023]A closer view of Falcarragh Railway Station from above. The line of the old railway is superimposed. The station building was immediately adjacent to the road with the goods shed behind it (to the North), both are still in use in 2023. [Google Maps, 31st May 2023]This station layout appears in Dave Bell and Steve Flanders book about the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. The layout of the station is such that should it have been required to allow a train from the opposite direction to pass, laying back into the goods loop, or pulling into the goods loop would be possible. [5: p77]The view Southwest along the old railway from just to the West of the R256. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The view East across the R256 into the site of Falcarragh Railway Station. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The view East along the line if the old railway from the location of the level crossing on what is now the R256. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]This photograph shows Falcarragh Railway Station after final closure of the line in 1947. It was shared by Joe Begley on the Memories of Falcarragh/Gortahork Facebook Group on 30th January 2018. [9]Falcarragh Railway Station as seen in the early 2000s. This picture was included in E. M. Patterson, Joe Begley and Steve Flanders book about the line. [6: p167]A similar view to the monochrome image and the early 2000s image above as the Station appears in 2023. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]
“Falcarragh railway station served the village of Falcarragh, 4 km (2.5 mi) away. … [It] opened on 9th March 1903 when the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway opened their Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension Railway, from Letterkenny to Burtonport. It closed on 3rd June 1940 [to passenger traffic] when the LLSR closed the line from Tooban Junction to Burtonport in an effort to save money.” [7] Final closure to all traffic occurred on 6th January 1947. [8]
Two further views of Falcarragh Railway Station in April 2023. Notice the Station Nameplate now on the platform face of the building. [My photographs, 27th April 2023]The house facing the Railway Station. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The Falcarragh Goods Shed/Store as shown in Patterson, Begley and Flanders book. This view is from the East. [6: p167]The view of the old goods shed/store and the passenger station building from the R256 looking East. [Google Streetview, November 2022]The approach to Falcarragh Railway Station from the East. The ford across the River Ray is to the left of the line. The station buildings were on the other side of the line facing the house visible in the distance. This photograph was shared on the Memories of Falcarragh/Gortahork Facebook Group on 30th January 2018 by Joe Begley. [9]The same location as it appears on Google Maps/Google Streetview on 2nd June 2023 on my mobile. The top half of this image is the view at the location marked by the red flag and looking in the direction of the white on blue arrow indicates in the bottom half of the image. We are looking West across the bridge over the River Ray. The trees on the left camouflage the house opposite the Station, those immediately beyond the bridge hide the Station site.[Google Streetview, August 2021]This is the only picture that I have been able to find which shows the old railway bridge from river level. It was shared by Carmel Boyle on the Memories of Falcarragh/Gortahork Facebook Group on 24th September 2021. [11]The River Ray Bridge viewed from the South, on the old road where it forded the river, in 2023. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Looking East from the throat of the ols railway station across the moderm road bridge which replaced the old railway bridge. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The OSi 6″ Map shows the old railway heading sinously East from Falcarragh. [2]RailMapOnline shows the route of the old railway East of Falcarragh Railway Station. [10]The view East from the bridge over the River Ray. Pedestrian access is permitted beyond the fence line ahead. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Looking East along the old railway formation. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The old railway continues to run East. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Two level crossings and a relatively significant structure appear on the next extract from the 6″ OSi mapping of 1901. As will be seen on the Google Maps extract below, the first of these, approximately at the centre of this image, seems to be of lesser importance in the 21st century than it was at the beginning of the 20th century. The second, more Easterly, of the two crossings seems to be on a slightly more used track in the image below. The building adjacent to the crossing is a B&B now. [2]The old railway formation continues East. [10]The fenceline marks the end of the permissive length of the route over private land. The building in the distance is the B&B marked on Google Maps to the right of the satellite image immediately above. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Closer to the B&B the line crosses a moorland river. the low parapet walls belie the substantial nature of the structre. [My photograph, 27th April 2023] The bridge carrying the old line across a moorland river, (The Lough Agher River). [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The line continues in an Easterly direction. [2]The moorland river/stream (The Lough Agher River) crossed to the West of the B&B closely follows the old railway formation; passing under it once again through the bridge shown below. [10]Two images of the bridge which we noted on the RailMapOnline.com image above. The first is taken looking East, the second looks from the South across the line of the old railway. [My photographs, 27th April 2023]Looking Southeast from the line of the Burtonport Extension close to the right edge of the RailMapOnline.com image above. The ropad/track heading South appears both on the above satellite image and on the left side of the one below. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The old railway continues eastward. [2]The old railway continued East as this next RailMapOnline.com satellite image shows. [10]Looking East at the point where a track crosses the line of the old railway. This location appears at the right side of the satellite image above. [27th April 2023]Walking these long straight sections of the old line takes time. The distant hills only gradually appear closer. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The view North from the track running on the South side of the old railway. The very shallow embankment carrying the line at this point can just be made out. This image comes from a point on the track at the right-hand edge of the RailMapOnline.com image above and the left-hand side of the satellite image below. [Google Streetview, October 2009]The old railway turned to the Northeast just beyond the small bridge shown in images below. [2]Another moorland stream is crossed on this next length of the route of the old railway, as shown on RailMapOnline.com, and the line turns to follow as East-Northeast alignment. [10]This picture is taken looking East from the bridge over the moorland stream mentioned above. The line curves towards the North ahead taking an East-Northeast alignment. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The view from the Northwest of the culvert/bridge which takes the stream under the old railway formation. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The view from the Southeast of the same culvert/bridge. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Further round the curve seen ahead on the view along the line across the stream culvert/bridge above. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Now beyond the curve, the line ran straight towards Lough Agher ahead. a careful study of the phto will shw that the line is crossed by a fence line ahead. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]This next extract from the 6″ OSi mapping of 1901 shows a further straight length of the line crossing a moorland track at a shallow angle by means of an ungated crossing and then following the southern shoe of Lough Agher which appears in the top-right of the extract [2]As this satellite image shows, alongside Lough Agher the line curved further to the Northeast and followed the shore of the lough. As we will see below the route of the old railway is metalled to the East of the moorland road shown here. [10]Approaching a moorland lane which crosses the old railway route at a shallow angle we reached the length of the old line which had very recently been metalled. Lough Agher is just beyond the horizon at the left of the image. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]A similar view to that shown above looking along the line of the old railway. This time from 2009. Lough Agher can just be seen close to the horizon in the centre of this image. This and the following image are provided to give an indication of the dramatic change in the accessibility which has been achieved in recent years. [Google Streetview, October 2009]Looking back West towards Falcarragh in 2009! [Google Streetview, October 2009]The line followed the southern shore of the lough. [2]A similar area as shown on the satellite imagery provided by RailMapOnline.com. [10]The mettalled track follows the southern shore of Lough Agher. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The powers that be have provided some excellent amenities along the route. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]At the Northeast end of the Lough the railway curved round from its Northeasterly trajectory towards the Southeast. [2]A similar area as shown on the modern satellite imagery with the route of the railway superimposed in yellow. [10]These two images show the metalled footpath on the old railway line approaching the Northeast corner of Lough Agher. The line curves round between the two hills directly ahead of the camera in the second shot. [My photographs, 27th April 2023]The line beginns to curve round to the Southeast. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The 6″ OSI survey of 1901 shows little in the way of features around the old railway as it ran first in a Southeasterly direction and then began to curve round to the Northeast again. [2]The same area as shown by RailMapOnline.com with the route of the old railway shown in yellow on the Google satellite imagery. [10] The Foot of Muckish Trailhead provides a some parking and access to a number of local footpaths. [10] Examples of the walking available can be found here. [12]
The Foot of Muckish Trailhead provides a some parking and access to a number of local footpaths. Examples of the walking available can be found here. [12] The sequence of photographs immediately below follow the tarmacked trail to the car park at the Muckish Trailhead.
The sequence of photos above shows the route of the old railway as it appears in the 21st century, approaching the Muckish Trailhead and car park. [My photographs, 27th April 2023]The information board at the Muckish Trailhead. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]A few metres beyond the information board stands a trail marker for the tarmacked length of the old railway formation. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The view ahead to the Northeast along the line of the old railway which runs on shallow embankment for much of the next kilometre. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]A panoramic view looking South from adjacent to the Muckish Trailhead Car Park with Muckish Mountain right-of-centre and the old railway embankment visible across the middle of the image. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The 6″ OSI survey of 1901 now shows the old railway meandering Northeast on embankment. [2]This RailMapOnline.com extract shows the same area as it appears in 2023, as the map extract above. [10]A view of the old railway embankment from the Muckish Miner’s Path Trailhead. The line of the embankment is below the horizon and just above the top of the signpost. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Still 49km from Derry, the line continued East-northeast.The same area, once again, as in the map extract above. [10]
Before moving on, it is worth noting that Begley and Saunders [6] number the next two crossing-keeper’s cottages differently from Bell & Saunders [5]. In order to reflect both of these opinions the Bell & Saunders numbers are referred to in brackets below.
These two extracts from the OSi historic mapping show the next length of the old railway. The first is from the 6″ survey and shows Gatehouse No. 12 (14) just to the East of the join between two map sheets. The second covers a length eastwards from a point just to the West of Gatehouse No. 11 (13). It is taken from the 25″ survey. [2]This satellite image from RailMapOnline.com shows the same length of the old railway as covered by the two images above. Gatehouse No. 12 (14) is just to the right of centre and guarded access across the line on the lane which meanders around to the South of the route of the old line. [10]Gatehouse No. 12 (14) as shown on Google Maps with the old line superimposed. [Google Maps, June 2023]Two images of Gatehouse No. 12 (14) as it appeared in 2021. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Gatehouse No. 12 (14) in 2023. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Looking back to the West along the old railway formation with renovation being undertaken at Gatehouse No. 12 (14) which encroaches across the line if the railway. [My photograph, 27th April 2023]Looking East along the old railway formation from the track outside Gatehouse No. 12 (14). [My photograph, 27th April 2023]The 25″ OSi survey of 1901 shows the old line continuing first in an Easterly direction and then turning to the Northeast. [2]RailMapOnline.com shows the same length of the old line as the two map extracts above. [10]A much closer view of Gatehouse No. 11 (13) as seen on Google Maps satellite imagery. [Google Maps, June 2023]Gatehouse No. 11 (13) at the turn of the 21st century. [6: p166]Gatehouse No. 11 (13) in 2023. The site around the building was relatively rundown. [27th April 2023]This sequence of three map extracts from the OSi 25″ mapping show the line maintaining its Northeasterly direction of travel. [2]The same length of line is represented by this single extract from RailMapOnline.com’s satellite imagery. [10]These two map extracts are both taken from the OSi 25″ 1901 Survey. They show the line curving round from an Northeasterly trajectory to a Southerly one. [2]The last two map extracts from the 25″ 1901 OSi Survey are covered by the scope of this satellite image, the old railway route is shown again by the yellow line. [10]The old line continued South. This extract from the 25″ OSi survey of 1901 shows both Dunfanaghy Road Station and Faymore Viaduct. [2]The same location in 2023 as shown on RailMapOnlone.com’s satellite imagery with the route of the old railway superimposed. [10]Dunfanaghy Road Railway Station as shown on the 25″ OSi mapping of the turn of the 20th century. The station had no passing loop, but did have a single goods siding which could be used to allow trains to pass. [2]The view Southwest from the N56 into what was Dunfanaghy Road Railway Station. [Google Streetview, August 2021.Faymore Viaduct seen in 1937 from a train which has just left Dunfanaghy Road Station heading for Letterkenny. [5: p70]A little further South on the N56, we get a first view of what remains of Faymore Viaduct. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The two remains stone piers of Faymore Viaduct. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Two images of the remaining parts of Faymore Viaduct. [13]
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records the structure as follows:
Faymore Viaduct is now a “series of freestanding piers formerly supporting multiple-arch railway viaduct, built c. 1903, formerly carrying the Letterkenny to Burtonport section of the Derry (Middle Quay) to Burtonport railway line over road and the Faymore River. Viaduct now out of use with railway deck now removed (closed 1947). Piers constructed squared and snecked stonework with drafted margins to corners, and with projecting stringcourse to girder level. Spans road (N56) and Faymore River in the rural landscape to the north\north-west of Creeslough.
This series of impressive piers that formerly supported a long railway viaduct that spanned the road and the Faymore River. The piers are well-built using good-quality mildly rock-faced and snecked stone masonry that is a feature of Victorian and Edwardian railway engineering and architecture in Ireland. The piers now stand almost like pieces of sculpture, and are interesting features of some historic merit in the scenic rural landscape to the north\north-west of Creeslough. The viaduct was originally built to serve the Letterkenny to Burtonport section of the Derry (Middle Quay) to Burtonport railway; this section was built by the Letterkenny to Burtonport Extension Railway Company and was opened in 1903. This railway line was built to the 3 foot narrow gauge, a feature of many of the former railway lines in Donegal. The railway line was closed from Gweedore to Burtonport in 1940 but the Letterkenny to Gweedore section remained in use until 1947. This former railway forms part of a group of structures associated with this railway line in the area, and is an integral element of the built heritage and transport history of County Donegal. It was probably built to designs by Taggart Aston of Belfast who was responsible for the design and construction of many of the bridges on the Letterkenny to Burtonport narrow gauge railway line.” [13]
To the South of the River Faymore the old railway line continued in a southerly direction towards Creeslough Railway Station just a short distance to the South.
This series of three map extracts, from the 25″ OSI mapping of 1901, show the length of the line from Faymore Viaduct (at the top of the first extract) to Creeslough Railway Station which just creeps onto the bottom-right corner of the third extract. [2]This satellite image from RailmapOnlime.com shows the same length of the old railway as appears in the three map extracts above. [10]
At Massinass a side road leaves the N56 and would once have passed under the old railway. The bridge abutments still remain.
The abutment of the old bridge remain. This view is from the West. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The same bridge but from the East. [Google Streetview, August 2021]
This picture of Creeslough Railway Station is embedded from Andrew Lance’s flickr stream. This is the view from the North end of the station some time after closure. [18]The view South from the road bridge along the cutting that defined the throat of Creeslough Railway Station. The rock cutting is now filled with vegetation. [Google Streetview, August 2021]Creeslough Railway Station site, seen from the East, as it appeared in 2021. The old railway line curved round behind the house and garage seen here. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The good shed is still standing. This telephoto image was taken from the road to the North of the station site and is as a result not as sharp as it could be. [Google Streetview, August 2021]The view South from Creeslough Railway Station taken from the train. The engine is No. 12 and it heads the 8.30am service from Burtonport to Letterkenny on 24th June 1937. [5: p68]
South of Creeslough Station the line curved round to the Southwest and then back towards the Southeast heading for the Owencarrow Viaduct which was the site of a notorious railway accident in the early 20th century. [14] The first three map extracts below are taken from the 25″ survey of 1901. The next map sheet at that scale is not available online at present. The subsequent map extracts come from the 6″ OSi survey of the early 20th century.
These two map extracts show the old railway heading Southwest and then running along the East shore of Lough Natooey South (named Creeslough on modern satellite imagery).This RailMapOnline.com satellite image covers the same length of the old railway as covered by the map extracts above.This Google Streetview image from 2009 shows the route of the old railway. The photo looks North from the point where the old railway line met the old mainroad, now the N56). The drive on the right of the picture follows the line of the old railway. In later images the vegetation has grown considerably to mean that this view is not available in the 2020s. [Google Streetview, August 2009]
For a short distance, the old railway and the old road ran alongside each other and then the railway crossed the old road at a level crossing with an adjacent crossing-keepers cottage (No. 10), which can be seen on the enlarged map extract, before then running along the shore of the Lough Natooey South (Creeslough).
Taken on the same day as the last photograph but a little further South on the N56, the route of the old railway can be seen running away from the road. Creeslough (or Lough Natooey South) can be seen on the right side of this image. [Google Streetview, August 2009]A very similar view in 2022. The track which follows the old railway formation can still be seen beyond the galvanised steel gate. [Google Streetview, November 2022]South of the Lough, the line crossed a minor road junction as shown on this extract from the OSi 25″ Survey of 1901. Crossing-keeper’s Cottage No. 9 can be seen to the South of the road junction. [2]From this point southwards there is no 25″ OSi Survey Sheet. Only 6″ OSi survey mapping is available for the next section of the old railway. This 6″ extract shows the road and railway running close together. The track from the N56 to Terlin crosses the old line on the level at an ungated crossing. At the bottom of this extract, road and rail run immediately next to each other. [2]This satellite image shows the same length of the line as covered on the two map extracts immediately above. [10]A view North along the formation of the old railway from the minor road which has a junction with the N56 just off to the right of the image on the opposite side of the old railway. [Google Streetview, August 2021]
South of the junction mentioned above the line and the road ran immediately next to each other, as shown below.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes the structure as being a:
“Former railway viaduct taking former Letterkenny to Burtonport line over road, erected c.1903, comprising two rusticated arches to southeast and two freestanding rusticated stone piers to northwest, formerly carrying steel girders. Rusticated stone voussoirs forming round arches, with coursed rusticated masonry with drafted margins to spandrels and extending to low parapet having concrete copings with string course at springing level of arch to northwest. Coursed rusticated piers with drafted margins and ashlar rusticated copings. Set adjacent to, and crossing, N56 road to south of Creeslough.
This is an impressive structure of considerable architectural, social and technical significance to the region. The remains of the Barnes Gap Viaduct represent the latest expansion of transport networks in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. It was built to carry the Letterkenny to Burtonport railway line, which opened in 1903 and closed in 1947. The viaduct exhibits high-quality stone masonry and the robust texture of the rusticated stonework enhances the visual aesthetics of the structure in the landscape.” [17]
This brings us to the end of this length of the old railway. In the next post we will continue on towards Letterkenny.
Dave Bell & Steve Flanders; Donegal’s Railway Heritage Guide No. 2, The Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway: A Visitor’s Guide to the old railway and all the bits that can still be seen; County Donegal Restoration Society, Donegal Town, Co. Donegal, 198….. The Donegal Railway Heritage Trust hold the copyright of this book and images are used here with the kind permission of Jim McBride, a director of the Museum Trust.
Joe Begley, Steve Flanders & E.M. Patterson; The Lough Swilly Railway: Revised Edition; Colourpoint Books, Newtownards, 2017.
The Great Northern Railway recognised the value of ‘mixed traffic’ locomotives in the 19th century. Lindsay says that seventy five locos of this class were built. One source says that a total of 117 Class 18 locos were built. [4] The Great Northern Railway Society says that 153 were built. [5] The different sources seem to agree that fifty of the class were out-sourced from locomotive builders, the remainder were built in-house at the Great Northern’s Doncaster works. [1]
Side Elevation [1]Front Elevation [1]Tender – Front and Back Elevations [1]
The specification sent to outside loco constructors differed in at least one respect from that used in-house – the total heating surface of the outside builders locomotives was 543 sq. ft rather than 537.5 sq ft. [1]
Delivery of locomotives from outside firms was in the following order:
1875 – Nos. 551-556 from Sharp, Stewart & Co. (Works Nos. 2564-2569)
1876 – Nos. 557-580 from Sharp, Stewart & Co. (Works Nos. 2570-2575, 2585-2594, 2646-2653))
It should be noted, however, that there was no direct correlation between the sequence of Works Nos. and the locomotive fleet numbers. “For instance, engine Nos. 563 and 564 bear makers’ Nos. 2586 and 2585 respectively.” [1]
Messrs Sharp, Stewart & Co. locomotives were recorded as being 31 tons 13 cwt in weight. [1]
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) “was … By incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took leases of, many local railways, whether actually built or not. In so doing, it overextended itself financially.” [2]
“Nevertheless, it succeeded in reaching into the coalfields of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, as well as establishing dominance in Lincolnshire and north London. Bringing coal south to London was dominant, but general agricultural business, and short- and long-distance passenger traffic, were important activities too. Its fast passenger express trains captured the public imagination, and its Chief Mechanical Engineer Nigel Gresley became a celebrity.” [2]
There was a significant amount of cross-country good traffic which saw these locomotives being well-used. I believe that they were designated ‘Class 18’ within the GNR’s fleet. They were “the first type of loco to actually be built at Doncaster, rather than by outside contractors … they were used on goods trains and certain secondary passenger trains,” [3] and at times were referred to as ‘luggage engines’, because they were used to bring a second train carrying larger trunks and other passenger luggage in the day when carriages carried regular luggage on their roofs.[3].
References
T.A.Lindsay; Great Northern Railway Engine No. 551; in Model Railway News Volume 40 No. 748, October 1964, p532-533. (Non-commercial use of drawings authorised.)
Looking through a number of 1964 Model Railway News magazines, I came across drawings of Sharp, Stewart & Co. 2-4-0, built in 1870 for the Furness Railway Co. and numbered 58 on their roster.
Side elevation and half plan of Locomotive No. 58 [1]Front elevation. [1]Tender, front and back half-elevations. [1]
Originally conceived as a mineral railway, the Furness Railway later played a major role in the development of the town of Barrow-in-Furness, and in the development of the Lake District Tourist industry. It was formed in 1846 and survived as an independent, viable concern until the Grouping of 1923. [4]
The Furness Railway contracted out the building of its locomotives until Pettigrew became Chief Locomotive Engineer in 1897. He put his first locomotive on the line in 1898.
2-4-0 Locomotive No. 58 had inside cylinders (16 in by 20 in), 5 ft 6 in diameter coupled wheels. It operated with a boiler pressure of 120 lb and weighed 30 tons 5 cwt. Its tender was 4-wheeled with a 1,200 gallon water capacity.
The locomotive, as designed, had no brake blocks, the only brake being a clasp type on the tender.
This relatively small locomotive was one of a series of 19 locos built to the same design. The class fulfilled the needs of the Furness Railway as passenger locomotives. The class was given the designation ‘E1’ by Bob Rush in his books about the Furness Railway. Rush’s classification was his own not that of the Furness Railway, but has become accepted generally. [2]
A photograph of one of this class can be found by clicking on the link immediately below. No. 44 was built in 1882 by Sharp Stewart & Co., Works No.3086. It was rebuilt in 1898, presumably in the Furness Railway works. Renumbered 44A in 1920, it became LMS No. 10002 – but was withdrawn in April 1925. [5]
Later, seven of the class were converted to J1-class 2-4-2 tank engines in 1891. [3]
References
T.A. Lindsay; Furness Railway Locomotive No. 58; in Model Railway News, Volume 40, No. 480, December 1964, p608-609. (Permission to copy granted for any non-commercial purpose.)
Towards the end of March 2024, I stumbled across a number of journals of the New Zealand Model Railway Guild. One of these, the March 2021 edition, included a pictorial article about J1211 North British 4-8-2 Locomotive No. 24534 of 1939. [6] The June 2021 issue included a history of the class [7: p13-15] and General Arrangement plans as originally carried in the Railway Gazette in 1940. [7: p22-24] Also in that journal are four photographs of J1211 in service between 1960 and 1970. [8]
40 No 4-8-2 locomotives which were built in 1939 by the North British Locomotive Company and became the New Zealand Railways (NZR) J class.
They were designed to provide a mixed traffic locomotive suitable for running on the lighter secondary lines of the NZR network, and for express passenger trains in major routes.
“The J class incorporated roller bearing axles, hydrostatic lubrication and twin Westinghouse brake pumps. … They had bar frames instead of plate frames and were equipped with Baker Valve-gear. The locomotives were attached to Vanderbilt tenders and were outshopped with distinctive bullet-nosed streamlining.” [1] The streamlining also encompassed the full length of the top of the boiler between the cab and the smoke box door and the area immediately beneath the smoke box door.
The J Class locos were out shopped with a distinctive streamlining from the cab to the top of the smoke box door and with a bullet-nosed smoke box door. [2]
New Zealand’s North Island benefitted from the first thirty of the class placed into service. The South Island hosted the remaining ten locomotives which apparently were used “The first 30 of the class in service were allocated to the North Island, with the remaining ten locomotives allocated to the South Island where they were used “on the hilly section between Dunedin and Oamaru. They were immediately placed into service on the main trunk routes in both islands in order to help move wartime traffic during the Second Word War. Although used on freight trains as well, the class was well suited to high-speed running on the passenger trains of the era.” [1]
Apparently, the streamlining became “burdensome for maintenance and the skyline casing, which was open at the top proved to be a trap for soot from the locomotive’s exhaust. After a time, the skyline casing started to be removed from some examples of the class leaving them with just the bullet nose.” [1]
Ultimately the bullet nose was also removed from the majority of these locomotives.
The locomotives of the class had their streamlining removed in the war years. [2]
Members of the class “were generally considered to be a very reliable engine and well suited to their task. … They were capable of speeds of over 60 mph with a 300-ton express train. …. However, today surviving engines being used to haul excursion trains are restricted to 80 kph. … On favourable grades a single J could move a 1000-ton train.” [7: p14]
“The design was successful enough that NZR opted to build an improved variant … in its own Hillside workshops from 1946.” [1] These ‘Ja’ class locomotives were numbered 1240 to 1274 and became “the mainstay of the South Island rail services. Meanwhile North British were commissioned to build another 16, numbered from 1275 to 1290, also classified ‘Ja’, but they were oil fired and to be based in the North Island. … The sixteen ‘Ja’ from North British were the last steam locomotives to enter service with the NZR.” [7: p15]
Three J Class 4-8-2 are noted by Trainweb [2] as having been preserved:
J 1234, North British #24557/1939. For some time based at Glenbrook Vintage Railway, Auckland.. This locomotive is owned by Steam Incorporated of Paekakariki, and was leased to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway in 1998. The locomotive was returned to Paekakariki in June 2015. [4] It is now in storage awaiting a 2nd restoration at Paekakariki. [5]
J 1211 “Gloria”, North British #24534/1939. Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, Auckland (Operational). [3]
J 1236, North British #24559/1939. Mainline Steam Heritage Trust, Auckland (Being Restored). [2]
The 950mm-gauge line from Massawa on the coast, inland to Agordot, was built during colonial occupation by the Italians with some steep gradients which meant that Mallets were considered to be suitable motive power.
The line should not be confused with the metre-gauge line running from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. A metre-gauge railway that was originally built by the French from 1894 to 1917 which has since been replaced by a Chinese built standard-gauge line. [5]
In 1907, Maffei built three 0-4-4-0T locomotives for the Massawa to Agerdot line.
Ansaldo the “supplied twenty five further engines of the same class between 1911 and 1915, and in 1931 and 1939 Asmara shops assembled a nominal three new engines from d components of earlier withdrawn engines. All these were standard European narrow-gauge Mallet tanks, saturated, slide-valved and with inside frames.” [1: p64]
In the mid-1930s, a series of fifteen larger 0-4-4-0T locomotives were built. These were “built to a superheated, simple expansion design, of which ten had piston valves and Walschearts gear and the other five, Caprotti poppet valves driven from outside cardan shafts.” [1: p65] A later series of “eight engines built by Analdo in 1938 reverted to compound expansion, retaining the superheater and piston valve features.” [1: p65]
The last of the Eritrean Mallets was built in their own shops in 1963, making it the last Mallet built in the world. [6]
The line closed in 1975. Eritrea was occupied by Ethiopia for many years. After gaining independence in 1993, some of the former railway staff started to rebuild their totally destroyed railway. Some of the Mallets, built by Ansaldo (Italy) in 1938, were brought back to life. Also one of the small Breda built shunters, two diesel locos and two diesel railcars (one from 1935) were put back into working order. [7]
A section of the line, between Massawa, on the coast, and Asmara, was reopened in 2003 and has offered an opportunity for Mallet locomotives to be seen in operation in East Africa. Indeed, an internet search using Google brings to light a list of videos of locomotives heading tourist trains in the Eritrean landscape.
Wikipedia notes that the line has a track-gauge of 950mm and that locomotives operate over a 118 km section of the old line. Italian law from 1879 officially determined track gauges, specifying the use of 1,500 mm (4 ft 11 1⁄16 in) and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge track measured from the centre of the rails, or 1,445 mm (4 ft 8 7⁄8 in) and 950 mm (3 ft 1 3⁄8 in), respectively, on the inside faces. [4]
Between Arbaroba and Asmara in November 2008, a single coach is headed by one of the surviving Mallet locomotives. This is an extract from an image on Wikimedia Commons (public domain). [13]
Steam operation on the line is over, no regular services are provided but occasional tours still take place with plenty of caveats about the availability of any form of propulsion. An example is a German-speaking tour planned (as of 24th March 2024) for November 2024. [8]
Tanzania (Tanganyika)
The metre-gauge line inland from Dar-es-Salaam was built by the Ost Afrika Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (East African Railway Co.). A.E. Durrant tells us that its first main line power “was a class of typical German lokalbahn 0-4-4-0T Mallets, built by Henschel in 1905-7. These were supplemented in 1908 by four larger 2-4-4-0Ts from the same builder, after which the railway turned to straight eight-coupled tank and tender engines.” [1: p67]
R. Ramaer notes that the first locomotives used by the Usambara Eissenbahn (UE) on the Tanga Line were five 0-4-2 locos which arrived on the line in 1893. Rising traffic loads led the UE “To look for something more substantial and in 1900, Jung supplied five compound Mallet 0-4-4-0T’s as numbers 1-5, later renumbered 6-10. … To provide enough space for the firebox and ashpan, the rigid high-pressure part, comprising the third and fourth axles, had outside frames, whereas the low-pressure part had inside frames.” [9: p19]
UE engine No. 1 (0-4-4-0T – supplied by Jung) with an early passenger train ready for departure at Tanga station in 1890. This image was posted on the Urithi Tanga Museum Facebook Page [10] and is also reproduced in R. Ramaer’s book. [9: p19]UE Mallet 0-4-4-0T No. 8 heading a passenger train at Mombo. This image was shared in error on the Old Asmara Eritrea Facebook Page. [11] It also appears in R. Ramaer’s book. [9: p20]
On the Central Line (Ost Afrikanische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft – or OAEG) which ran inland from Dar-es-Salaam, construction work started in 1905 and the first locomotives used by the OAEG were four 0-4-0T engines built by Henschel, a further four of these locomotives were supplied in 1909. These small engines had a surprisingly long life. Mallets were first supplied in 1905 by Henschel and were suitable for both coal and oil firing. These were 0-4-4-0T locos (four supplied in 1905 and one supplied in 1907). “The problem with this type of engine was the restricted tractive effort and running was not satisfactory because of the lack of a leading pony truck. … Therefore Henschel supplied a second batch of four locomotives in 1908 as 2-4-4-0Ts with larger boilers and cylinders. They also had a higher working pressure of 14 atmospheres (200lb/sq in) in comparison to 12 atmospheres (170lb/sq in) for the earlier engines, while the bunker capacity had been increased from 1.2 to 2.2 tonnes of coal. (Oil fuel had been discarded).” [9: p21-23]
OAEG 2-4-4-0T No. 27, in the last Mallet class to be built for German East Africa. This locomotive appears in the Wikipedia list of Henschel steam locomotives. [12] It also appears in R. Ramaer’s book [9: p23] and A.E. Durrant’s book. [1: p66]
Kenya-Uganda
An ‘MT’ class locomotive in ex-Works condition at the Queen’s Park works of the North British Locomotive Co. [1: p66]
Mallets were the first articulated locomotives to operate in East Africa. Mallets were introduced on the Uganda Railway in 1913. A.E. Durrant notes that they consisted of “a batch of eighteen 0-6-6-0 compound Mallets to what was the North British Locomotive Co’s standard metre-gauge design, as supplied also to India, Burma, and Spain. They had wide Belpaire fireboxes, inside frames and piston valves for the high pressure cylinders only. Built at Queens Park works in 1912-1913, these locomotives entered service in 1913-14 and remained at work until 1929-30, when they were replaced by the EC2 and EC2 Garratts.” [1: p66]
North British Class ‘MT’ Mallets arrived in Kenya just before the start of WW1. [2]
These locomotives were given the classification ‘MT’ within the Uganda Railway fleet. Disappointing performance and high maintenance costs led to them being relegated to secondary duties and eventually being scrapped in the late 1920s as the Beyer Garratt locomotives began to arrive. [2] Their presence on the system was heralded by, “Railway Wonders of the World,” with the picture shown below. [3]
An ‘MT’ class Uganda Railway locomotive as illustrated in ‘Railway Wonders of the World’. [3]
References
A.E. Durrant; The Mallet Locomotive; David & Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon, 1974.
Kevin Patience; Steam in East Africa; Heinemann Educational Books (E.A.) Ltd., Nairobi, 1976.
Uganda has begun restoring a disused branch of a railway line built under the British Empire, which it hopes will offer a cheaper way to transport goods to neighbouring countries. … Work has begun to restore nearly 400 kilometres of the tracks between Tororo in eastern Uganda, near the border with Kenya, and Gulu in the north, near South Sudan.
“Our ambition is to move all long-distance bulk cargo transportation onto rail from roads in a few years because rail is cheaper in terms of cost and time,” a spokesperson for for state-run Uganda Railways Corporation, John Linnon Sengendo, told Reuters news agency.
Uganda decided to revamp the old network after plans to build a separate, modern line failed to secure funding from China.
The government cancelled its contract with a Chinese firm earlier this year and is now seeking a new contractor for the project, which would see the construction of a standard gauge railway linking the Ugandan capital Kampala to the Kenyan border, where it would join up with Kenya’s modern lines.
Another Chinese contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation, will repair the old line over two years at a cost of 200 billion shillings (50.6 million euros) to the Ugandan government, Sengendo said.
Uganda’s railway network fell into disrepair during the country’s economic collapse in 1970s and early ’80s.
Ugandan officials hope once the link is restored, rail will replace trucks in shipping transit goods to South Sudan and north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Under its East African Railway Master Plan, the East African Community regional bloc is aiming to revive lines serving Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and extend them to Rwanda and Burundi. Ultimately it hopes to add South Sudan and Ethiopia to the network too.
A recently relaid section of metre-gauge track in Kampala, (c) Sylvia Katushabe
Uganda’s planned overhaul of the metre gauge railway to cut transport costs on the Northern Corridor and improve trade competitiveness has entered its final stages, even as the country faces a shortage of equipment, wagons, and trains.
The EastAfrican has learnt [that] Spanish firm Imathia Construction has completed replacing steel sleepers with concrete beams on the Namanve-Kampala section of the line, which is expected to be handed over this month, Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) publicist John Lenon Sengendo said, adding that the contractor will then embark on the final section, Namanve-Mukono.
This will be the second section of the track to be completed after rehabilitation of the Tororo-Namanve line, including the line to Jinja Pier, which was completed a year ago. While the Malaba-Namanve metre gauge track is now in fair condition, importers, exporters, and shippers remain sceptical about switching to rail, citing a shortage of rolling stock and inefficiency, which has resulted in 90 percent of traffic on the Northern Corridor being carried by road and only about seven percent is carried by rail because of the poor state of rail infrastructure.
As a result, transport costs are comparatively high on the Northern Corridor, ranging from 20 cents to 25 cents per tonne per kilometre for road transport, while the cost for rail transport ranges from US cents 6 to US cent 12 per tonne per kilometre, depending on the type of cargo.
The shortage of rolling stock is partly blamed on URC. A June 2022 Uganda’s Auditor General after reviewing URC’s asset register, had 521 wagons located in different parts of Kenya.
But only 128 wagons exist, leaving a balance of 393 wagons unaccounted for, raising fears of a possibility of URC overstating its asset values in the financial statements.
[A] URC accounting officer explained that “there were many wagons left in Kenya by RVR (U) Ltd upon concession termination. A repatriation exercise to return these assets to Uganda commenced in July 2021 and by December 2021, a total of 243 wagons had been brought back.”
Under this project, Uganda is to buy 3,000 horsepower locomotives by 2026. The number of Uganda government-owned wagon ferries is also expected to increase from the current two to four, a development set to help URC meet the growing traffic demand on Lake Victoria.
The other financiers are the African Development Bank, which will provide $233.2 million, and the African Development Fund to provide $100.7 million – both concessional loans to finance the construction and purchase of rolling stock, which includes locomotives, wagons and coaches.
URC’s target is to move cargo from road to rail, and we expect to be moving six million tonnes a year.
In its efforts to revamp the metre gauge railway, Uganda is also reviving the route from Tororo in Eastern Uganda to Gulu City in the north. The line is currently under construction. Significantly, the city also hosts the Gulu Logistics Hub, whose phase one is also under construction. … The hub – which will be rail-linked – was planned as a strategic location connecting to the growing markets of Congo and South Sudan.
Kenyan government to spend $731m on new trains, SGR revamp
An SGR cargo train at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot in Kenya. Kenya’s National Treasury report shows Transport ministry will receive $714.7 million for the “Development of Standard Gauge Railway” between July this year and June 2026. [2]
The government of Kenya has stepped up expenditure on the Nairobi-Mombasa standard gauge railway (SGR) with a plan to hit Ksh100 billion ($731.53 million) in the next three years to revamp the line, build new sidings and buy more locomotives and cargo wagons.
A report by Kenya’s National Treasury shows that the country’s Transport ministry will receive an additional Ksh97.7 billion ($714.7 million) for the “Development of Standard Gauge Railway” between July this year and June 2026.
This reverses a trend where the previous government had cut allocations to the SGR and will push the spending related to this line beyond KSh780 billion ($5.7 billion) by June 2026.
Beginning July, the Kenyan government has allocated Ksh37.4 billion ($275.79 million) from the Railway Development Levy Fund (RDLF) for the Nairobi-Mombasa SGR.
A Mombasa-bound SGR passenger train on the extended viaduct in the ‘Maneaters Area’. The line is set at high level to allow the safe passage of wildlife, (c) Wachira Mwangi. [2]
The bulk of the allocation, according to the breakdown shared with the Business Daily from transport, has been earmarked for the acquisition of additional locomotives and freight wagons at a cost of Ksh11.9 billion ($87.1 million).
Kenya last bought its 1,620 locomotives and wagons from China in 2018.
State had no plans for extension – The allocations to transport ministry show that the government had no plans to extend the SGR beyond Naivasha to Kisumu and finally Malaba in the next three years.
The rest of the funds, which have been allocated under the “Mombasa to Nairobi SGR” vote will largely be used to build new feeder lines and rehabilitate the old metre gauge railway (MGR) lines.
Charged at the rate of two percent, the Railway Development Fund (RDF) is levied on all goods imported into the country for home use.
“The purpose of the levy shall be to provide funds for the construction of a standard gauge railway network in order to facilitate the transportation of goods,” reads part of the Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act which establishes the kitty.
Budgetary allocations for the acquisition of locomotives and wagons are projected to increase to Ksh16 billion ($117 million) in Financial Year 2024/25 and Ksh22.2 billion ($162.4 million) in the Financial Year 2025/26 taking the total allocations for the three years to Ksh50.1 billion ($366.5 million).
Another Ksh5.9 billion ($43.16 million) will be spent on the rehabilitation, remanufacturing or overhaul of locomotives, wagons and coaches, according to a breakdown of the Ksh37.4 billion ($273.6 million) allocation.
The new feeder lines will link some of the sections of the modern railway such as the Mombasa SGR Terminus to critical urban centres.
This includes Ksh4.48 billion ($32.77 million) for the construction of the Riruta-Lenana-Ngong Railway Line and Ksh2.96 billion ($21.65 million) for the construction of a Railway Metro Line linking Embakasi Station and Ruai town.
In the next 12 months, the government will also build a new 2.8-kilometre Metre Gauge Railway (MGR) link from Mombasa SGR Terminus to Mombasa MGR station at a cost of Ksh2.5 billion ($18.29 million).
These funds will also be used to construct a railway bridge across the Makupa causeway that links Mombasa Island to the Kenyan mainland.
New MGR line – A new Metre Gauge Railway (MGR) line linking the Naivasha Inland Container Depot to the existing Longonot Railway Station has been allocated Ksh1.6 billion ($11.7 million) in the next financial calendar.
The construction of a Railway Metro Line connecting Athi River Station to the East African Portland Cement has been allocated Ksh400 million ($2.93 million).
This is projected to rise to Ksh1.17 billion ($8.56 million) in the Financial Year starting July next year and Sh1.36 billion in Financial Year 2025/26.
Another Railway Metro Line connecting Athi River Station to NSSF and Mavoko will absorb Ksh450 million ($3.3 million), a figure that is set to increase to Ksh1.56 billion ($11.4 million) and Ksh1.89 billion ($13.83 million) in 2024/25 and 2025/26.
The money will also be used to rehabilitate the line between Longonot and the Western border town of Malaba, which is aimed at facilitating the movement of cargo from the port city of Mombasa to Uganda.
Also in this border town, which is prone to congestion, the State plans to build Malaba Cargo Handling Yard. Around Ksh474 million ($3.45 million) has been set aside for this project.
Other spending items will be the acquisition of plant and equipment, which shall take up Ksh3.8 billion ($27.8 million) in the next fiscal year, Sh1.1 billion in Financial Year 2024/25 and Ksh600 million ($4.4 million) in the Financial Year 2025/26.
Logistics Hub – A logistics hub is planned for Athi River with the state putting aside Ksh1.125 billion ($8.23 million).
The allocation for this planned logistics hub will reduce to Ksh375 million ($2.74 million) in the year ending June 2025.
Initial plans were to extend the SGR to Uganda; however, this has since stalled with the Treasury not getting funds for the extension to Kisumu and finally to Malaba.
Murkomen at the beginning of this year said the Kenya Kwanza administration in partnership with the Chinese government is keen on extending the SGR from Naivasha’s Mai Mahiu to the border of Uganda through a five-year plan that will see the multibillion-dollar railway line run through Narok, Bomet, Nyamira, Kisumu, and Malaba.
“In the long run, we would like to complete the connection of the SGR from Suswa to Kisumu through Bomet, Nyamira, parts of Kisii and later to Malaba. Later, we can think of upgrading the existing MGR via Nakuru to Kisumu and via Eldoret to Malaba,” he said on December 15, 2022.
With the additional expenditure, the government hopes the country’s most expensive piece of infrastructure will help to grow the economy and improve the standard of living for Kenyans.
The administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta borrowed Ksh656.1 billion ($4.8 billion) in three tranches for the construction of the two phases of the SGR, contributing to a major build-up of Kenya’s stock of debt.
Kenya will use Ksh11.9 billion ($87 million) to acquire rolling stock that will be used to ferry cargo on the SGR from Mombasa to Naivasha.
Grand $15 billion plan to expand Kenya SGR to Kisumu, Malaba, Isiolo
The standard gauge railway line at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot, a transhipment hub for Kenya’s SGR from Mombasa, which is to extend to the proposed Malaba railway line in Uganda. [3]
Kenya has set sights on a Ksh2.1 trillion ($15.3 billion) plan to extend the standard gauge railway (SGR) to Kisumu, Malaba and Isiolo by the end of June 2027, a government document seen by the Business Daily shows.
According to the plan, the State Department of Transport will build another 2,746 kilometres of the SGR at $15.3 billion, a move that will push the total spend on the modern railway to more than Ksh2.75 trillion ($20 billion).
The plan, lifted from the Jubilee Government’s grand scheme on SGR (so far Kenya’s most expensive project), is part of the Ksh3.42 trillion ($24.9 billion) Lamu Port South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset).
Lapsset is aimed at opening up northern Kenya and revamping the northern corridor by spurring movement within Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
It is an ambitious scheme that will not only see the modern railway reach the border town of Malaba via Kisumu, as it was initially envisioned, but also Isiolo, Moyale and the island of Lamu.
The line will move from Mariakani in Mombasa County to Lamu to Isiolo. From Isiolo, the SGR will be connected to the northeastern town of Moyale which borders Ethiopia.
From Isiolo, the government will extend the SGR to Nairobi, connecting the country’s capital city and commercial hub to northern Kenya and finally to Ethiopia.
From Naivasha, the SGR is extended to Malaba through Kisumu.
The bulk of the financing for these additional kilometres of the SGR, around Ksh1.8 trillion ($13 billion), will be from external financiers that the document has not revealed while the rest will come from the Kenyan government.
So far, the SGR from Mombasa to Naivasha has been financed by the Chinese at a total cost of Ksh656.1 billion ($4.7 billion)
The longest stretch of the planned SGR, 753.2 kilometres, will be from Isiolo to Nakodok, a small town near the border between Kenya and South Sudan.
The Transport Ministry, headed by Kipchumba Murkomen, has cost this phase of the SGR at Ksh443.2 billion ($3.2 billion).
From Lamu to Isiolo, a distance of 544.4 kilometres, the Ruto administration plans to build the rail line at Ksh348.7 billion ($2.5 billion).
From Isiolo to Moyale, a distance of 475.9 kilometres, the country is expected to use Ksh317.8 billion ($2.3 billion) to build a new SGR line.
The line connecting Mariakani to Lamu of 325.3 kilometres will cost Ksh257.3 billion ($1.8 billion).
Locations on Kenya’s planned SGR network. [3]
There will be another line of 278 kilometres connecting Nairobi to Isiolo that will consume Ksh239.2 billion ($1.7 billion).
Phase 2B of the SGR from Naivasha to the lakeside city of Kisumu will cost Sh380 billion while the last leg, 2C, from Kisumu to Malaba bordering Uganda will take another Ksh122.9 billion ($896 million).
The document from the State Department of Transport reveals what appears like a near-impossible feat of the government wanting to complete the entire transport circuit in four years from 2023 to 2027.
Although the ministry’s document indicates that construction of these railway lines is to begin at the start of July this year, no budgetary allocation has been made for the SGR for the next three financial years.
In 2014, the government entered into a tripartite agreement with the governments of Rwanda and Uganda to construct a standard gauge railway from Mombasa through Kampala to Kigali, Rwanda.
However, the SGR ended abruptly in Naivasha with China reportedly declining to finance the last leg of the modern railway after failing to strike an agreement with Uganda.
The new administration of President Ruto has rekindled plans to complete the SGR.
Through a partnership with the Chinese government, Mr Murkomen said earlier this year the government wanted to extend the SGR from Naivasha’s Mai Mahiu to the border of Uganda through a five-year plan that will see the multibillion-dollar railway line run through Narok, Bomet, Nyamira, Kisumu, and finally Malaba.
“In the long run, we would like to complete the connection of the SGR from Suswa to Kisumu through Bomet, Nyamira, parts of Kisii and later to Malaba. Later, we can think of upgrading the existing MGR via Nakuru to Kisumu and via Eldoret to Malaba,” the CS said in a statement on December 15 last year.
The Transport Ministry has been allocated Ksh100 billion ($729 million) from the Railway Development Levy Fund (RDLF) for the next three years to revamp the existing SGR line from Mombasa to Naivasha via Nairobi and build new sidings.
The money will also be used to buy more locomotives and cargo wagons, which are aimed at improving the freight capacity of the modern railway which is still facing cut-throat competition from trucks.
Plans to revamp the SGR involve mostly building new metre gauge railway (MGR) or rehabilitating them.
New Concrete Sleepers for the Metre-Gauge in Uganda
New Vision reported that, on 1st September 2023, President Yoweri Museveni opened a new Concrete sleeper making facility at Kawolo, Buikwe District, Kampala. The sleepers are to be used in the rehabilitation of the metre-gauge railway line.
The traditional steel sleepers are no longer in favour. Thefts and vandalism mean that alternatives have had to be sought. [6]
The old steel sleepers on the right. The new concrete sleepers in ballast on the left. [7]
The sleepers are being used on the Kampala to Namanve line before being rolled out to other projects. The construction of the factory valued at over 19 million Euros (about 76 billion Uganda Shillings) started in June 2020.
On-going work on the Kampala to Namanve line. [8]
The use of concrete sleepers on the suburban lines will be supplemented by the procurement of diesel multiple units and additional coaches.
“In August 2020, URC said the Government had secured funding from the Spanish government and African Development Bank (AfDB) to the tune of shillings 1.3 trillion to revamp the Metre Gauge Railway by rehabilitating about 250 kilometres from Malaba to Kampala.” [6]
On 1st February 2024, work on the Kampala to Namanve line was close to completion and a predicted opening in March 2024. [9]
Kenya Railways puts proposed Lapsset SGR costs at $16 billion: bulk on Isiolo-Nakodok line
Kenya will need at least Ksh 2.4 trillion ($16 billion) to construct a proposed Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) on the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) corridor, according to projections by the Kenya Railways Corporation.
According to the parastatal, it would cost Ksh 523.05 billion ($3.49 billion) to build a 544.4 km SGR link to connect Lamu and Isiolo and a further Ksh 476.7 billion ($3.178 billion) to extend the line from Isiolo to Moyale over a distance of 475.9 km.
The largest spending would be on constructing the SGR line from Isiolo to Nakodok town on the border between Kenya and South Sudan over a distance of 753.2 km at a cost of Ksh664.65 billion ($4.431 billion).
Kenya Railways has estimated that a further Ksh 358.8 billion ($2.392 billion) will be required to link Isiolo and Nairobi via SGR over a distance of 278.6 km and a further Ksh 385.95 billion ($2.573 billion) for the 325.35 km stretch between Lamu and Mariakani.
The entire stretch will cover a total of 2,377.45 km, translating into a cost of Ksh 1 billion ($6.667 million) for every kilometre of the SGR.
But the cost of undertaking such a colossal venture, which would be by far the most expensive in Kenya’s history, will be far higher than Kenya Railways’ estimates considering the company did the costing at an exchange of Ksh150/US dollar.
The parastatal has nonetheless expressed confidence in raising Ksh275.9 billion ($1.84 billion) or 11.4 percent of the total project cost by the financial year 2027/28 through funding from the government, collections from the Railway Development Levy Fund (RDLF) and loans.
Kenya in 2014 began construction of Phase 1 of the SGR line between Mombasa and Nairobi covering 472km. Phase 2A Nairobi-Naivasha (120km) was constructed in 2017. The project was funded by a $5.08 billion loan from China.
“The SGR line has led to expansion of the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi at Embakasi, and construction of the ICD – Naivasha at Mai Mahiu,” said Kenya Railways.
The firm added: “This has contributed to decongestion of the seaport of Mombasa and facilitated seamless transit of goods destined to Western Kenya and neighbouring countries.”
Already, two studies have been undertaken to explore the feasibility of a Lapsset corridor railway by Japan Port Consultants in 2009 and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (2015). The latter study estimated the cost of the project at $10.4 billion with a financial rate of return of between nine percent and 12 percent.
The proposal to build an SGR line along the Lapsset corridor is however not feasible yet as the Lapsset project has failed to take off due to lack of funding as well as insecurity. Kenya is also facing a huge debt pile which has been worsened by the rapid depreciation of the Kenyan shilling leading to a surge in foreign currency external loans.
Roger Farnworth 
