The last article left us at Newtowncunningham Railway Station. We continue from that location in this article.
Newtoncunningham to Tooban Junction Station
This next series of five extracts from the 25″ OSI survey show the Lough Swilly Railway heading North away from Newtowncunningham Railway Station.
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.
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.
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
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.
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]
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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]
The next few map extracts follow the old railway heading Northeast towards Tooban Junction Station. …
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]
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.”