 Part of the formerClogher Railway Station that is now used as a commercial units | |||
| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Locale | County Tyrone andCounty Fermanagh,Northern Ireland | ||
| Dates of operation | May 1887–1 January 1942 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) | ||
| Length | 37 miles (60 km)[1] | ||
| Track length | 40 miles 30 chains (65.0 km)[1] | ||
| |||
TheClogher Valley Railway was a 37-mile-long (60 km),3 ft (914 mm)narrow gauge railway inCounty Tyrone andCounty Fermanagh,Northern Ireland. It opened in May 1887 and closed on 1 January 1942 (with the last trains running the previous day).[2]
The railway was mainly situated in rural parts ofCounty Tyrone, which hindered the company's potential profitability. The western terminus wasMaguiresbridge,County Fermanagh,[a] where the line sharedMaguiresbridge railway station with theGreat Northern Railway (Ireland) on theClones toEnniskillen line. It then proceeded in a north-easterly direction through stations atBrookeborough, Colebrooke,Fivemiletown,Clogher andAugher until reachingBallygawley station, at which point the line turned in a south-easterly direction toAughnacloy,Caledon and the eastern terminus atTynan,County Armagh[b] (where the Great Northern Railway was again met, this time on the Clones toPortadown line) Aughnacloy was the line's principal station and the location of the company's headquarters and workshops. Fivemiletown was the second largest station. Like a tramway, the line passed down the middle of the Main Streets of both Fivemiletown[2][3][4] and Caledon. The railway ran alongside the public roadway for nearly all of its length.
It was originally known as the Clogher Valley Tramway, but changed its legal status and its name to the Clogher Valley Railway in 1894. The start was not auspicious, the company required a loan of £44,000 from the Board of Works to enable the line to be finished. It was constructed under the terms of theTramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 43) and theClogher Valley Tramway Order 1884 confirmed by theTramways (Ireland) Provisional Order Confirmation (Clogher Valley) Act 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. ccxviii).
The railway was built to a track gauge of 3 feet. Extensions were planned, including a branch line from Ballygawley toDungannon and an eastwards link to theBessbrook and Newry Tramway, but were never built. Prior to the 1930s the line was worked entirely by steam locomotives, with six tank engines built bySharp Stewart. For almost all of its existence the railway made a loss (and required a subsidy from local ratepayers). The greatest profit ever made by the company was in 1904 – only £791.[2]
From 1921 onwards, the line found itself located entirely withinNorthern Ireland (although running close to the border with theIrish Free State for almost its entire route). In 1922 a commission appointed by theGovernment of Northern Ireland recommended that the loss-making line should be taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), but the GNR(I) declined. The company struggled on, until it was taken over by a committee of management appointed by Tyrone and Fermanagh county councils in 1928. Henry Forbes, the manager of theCounty Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDRJC), was one of the members of the new committee and was instrumental in introducing diesel traction – a then novel form of motive power. To reduce operating costs, two diesel vehicles were built for the railway byWalker Brothers ofWigan – a 28-seat railbus in 1932 and a rail lorry in 1933. The railbus was virtually identical to those operated by the CDRJC (which purchased both vehicles following the line's closure). In 1932 the CDRJC also acquired the CVR's unsuccessful steam tram locomotive built by Atkinson Walker, which was rebuilt as "Phoenix" with a diesel engine. This locomotive is now preserved at theUlster Folk and Transport Museum atCultra. The last trains ran on 31 December 1941, the railway becoming a victim of road competition and cost-saving measures duringWorld War II.[2] The closure was authorised by theClogher Valley Railway and Roads Act (Northern Ireland) 1941 (5 & 6 Geo. 6. c. 13 (N.I.)), with the formal date of closure, 1 January 1942, being set by theClogher Valley Railway: Discontinuation Order (Northern Ireland) 1941 (SR&O(NI) 1941/197).
The company was eventually dissolved by theClogher Valley Railway Company (Winding-up) Act (Northern Ireland) 1944 (c. 11 (N.I.))
