Schull and Skibbereen Railway

Schull and Skibbereen Railway
Schull and Skibbereen Railway
	No. 2 0-4-0T with train
Overview
Status	Closed
Coordinates	51°31′46″N 9°32′26″W / 51.5294°N 9.5406°W
Termini	Schull; Skibbereen;
History
Opened	1886
Closed	1947
Technical
Line length	15+1⁄2 miles (24.9 km)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	3 ft (914 mm)

The Schull and Skibbereen Railway (also known as the Schull and Skibbereen Tramway and Light Railway) was a minor narrow gauge railway in County Cork, Ireland.^[1] It opened in 1886 and closed in 1947.^[1] The track gauge was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge.^[1] The formal name of the company was The West Carberry Tramways and Light Railways Company Ltd.^[1]

Route

The S&S's main line was 15 ½ miles long.^[2] It was one of several in Ireland built under the terms of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 43).^[1] It largely ran alongside roads, although a large 12-arched masonry viaduct was built over an inlet of Roaringwater Bay, and at times using gradients at steep as 1:30.^[3]

The line linked the small harbour and village at Schull (in Irish: Scoil Mhuire) with the town of Skibbereen (An Sciobairín).^[1] The only sizeable intermediate village was Ballydehob (Béal Átha an dá Chab), although the station was located inconveniently far from the village.^{[citation needed]} The line was single track, with a passing place at Ballydehob station.^{[citation needed]} Other halts were built at Newcourt, Church Cross, Hollyhill, Kilcoe and Woodlands (of which only Hollyhill had a station building).^[1]

The station at Skibbereen was built on a cramped site adjacent to that of the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway.^{[citation needed]} The S&S trains had to reverse out of the station into a headshunt, before proceeding towards Schull.^[4] (A similar reversing operation is still required at Killarney railway station on Iarnród Éireann's line from Mallow to Tralee).^{[citation needed]}

Early years

Construction was begun in 1885 and soon proved to be substandard.^{[citation needed]} The Inspector of Railways refused to allow the line to be opened for public service in August 1886.^{[citation needed]} Following some remedial work and a subsequent inspection, the line opened in September with a restricted speed limit of only 15 miles per hour.^{[citation needed]} In October the service had to be suspended for 10 days owing to problems with both the track and the locomotives.^[5] Services had to again be suspended in April 1887, with local ratepayers having to subsidise the company.^[5] The Inspector of Railways gave a highly critical report of the line's standards of operation.^{[citation needed]}

Following further losses, in 1892 the Grand Jury of County Cork appointed a committee of management to run the line.^{[citation needed]} In 1893 a short extension to Schull Pier was built, qualifying for a grant as it was an existing railway, the justification being fish traffic.^[4]^[a]

Ownership by the GSR and CIÉ

In 1925 the company was incorporated into the new Great Southern Railways.^[1] Owing to a shortage of coal during World War II (known as The Emergency in neutral Ireland), services had to be suspended between April 1944 and December 1945.^[4] In 1945 the GSR was incorporated into Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ).^[7] A further shortage of coal resulted in a renewed suspension of services on 27 January 1947.^[4] The line never reopened; CIÉ formally abandoned the railway in September 1952.^[4]

Rolling stock

The line was operated by steam locomotives throughout its existence:

SSLR 1 to 3 – Dick, Kerr 0-4-0T tramway locomotives of 1886 named Marion, Ida and Ilen.^[8]
SSLR 4 – Nasmyth, Wilson & Co. 4–4–0T of 1888.^[9]
SSLR 1 and 3 – Peckett and Sons 4–4–0T of 1906,^[8] and 1914.^[9]
GSR 6S – ex CMLR 6.^[10]

Services

The standard train service, journey time 80 minutes, were two mixed trains a day. morning and evening, except Sunday were there was one, supplemented by additional trains on fair days.^[4]

References

Notes

^ Rowledge claims stock remained around until abandoned in 1954.^[6]

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Casserley 1974, p. 118.
^ Schull and Skibbereen Light Railway 1906, p. 150.
^ Casserley 1974, p. 119.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Bairstow 2012, p. 49.
^ ^a ^b Bairstow 2012, p. 46.
^ Rowledge 1995, p. 141.
^ Rowledge 1995, p. 43.
^ ^a ^b Schull and Skibbereen Light Railway 1906, pp. 150–151.
^ ^a ^b Casserley 1974, p. 120.
^ Casserley 1974, pp. 120–121.

Sources

Bairstow, Martin (2012). Railways in Ireland. Vol. Part Five:Cork, Bandon & South Coast, ... ISBN 978-1871944426. OCLC 931336727.
Casserley, H. C. (1974). Outline of Irish Railway History. Newton Abbot & North Pomfret: David & Charles. ISBN 0715363778. OCLC 249227042.
LM (15 September 1906). "Schull and Skibbereen Light Railway". The Locomotive Magazine. Vol. 12, no. 169. OCLC 762067807.
Rowledge, J. W. P. (1995). A regional history of railways. Vol. 16–Ireland. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-906899-63-X. OCLC 164930974.