West Clare Railway
Moyasta Junction with water tower
Locale	County Clare, Ireland
Coordinates	52°40′5.09″N9°32′9.97″W / 52.6680806°N 9.5361028°W /52.6680806; -9.5361028
Commercial operations
Original gauge	3 ft (914 mm)
Preserved operations
Length	43.4 km (27.0 mi)
Preserved gauge	3 ft (914 mm)
Commercial history
Opened	1887
Closed	1961
Website
West Clare Railway
Route map Legend Year closed IE Line to Gort and Athenry Ennis IE Line to Limerick Lifford Halt 1921 Ruan Corofin Roxton Crossing Willbrook Clouna Halt Monreal Halt Ennistymon Lahinch Workhouse Private Halt Lahinch Hanrahan's Bridge Rineen Halt Milltown Malbay Annagh No.2 Quilty Kilmurry Craggaknock Doonbeg Shragh Halt Moyasta Junction Moyasta Loop platform Blackweir 1960 Kilkee Kilrush 1916 Cappa Pier

TheWest Clare Railway (WCR) originally operated inCounty Clare, Ireland, between 1887 and 1961. This3 ft (914 mm)narrow-gauge railway ran from thecounty town ofEnnis, via numerous stopping-points along the West Clare coast to twotermini, atKilrush andKilkee, with the routes diverging at Moyasta Junction. The system was the last operating narrow gauge passenger system in Ireland and connected with themainline rail system atEnnis, where a station still stands today for bus and train services toLimerick andGalway. Intermediate stops includedEnnistymon,Lahinch andMilltown Malbay.

A preservation society maintains a railway museum at Moyasta Junction station, and successfully re-opened a section of the railway as a passenger-carrying heritage line with diesel traction in the 1990s, and with steam motive power from 2009.

The Railway was notorious for poor timekeeping, resulting in litigation and a celebrated comic song.

After theGreat Famine ended there was a new growth in local businesses, and the British Government determined that an improved railway system was necessary to aid the recovery of the West of Ireland. The West Clare Railway and the South Clare Railway were built by separate companies, but in practice, the West Clare Railway operated the entire line. The lines met at Milltown Malbay. In due course, the entire line became known as the West Clare Railway.

The 43.4 km long (27.0 mi) West Clare Railway betweenEnnis and Milltown Malbay was built a few years earlier than the South Clare Railway. The first sod was cut on 26 January 1885 at Milltown Malbay byCharles Stewart Parnell, M.P.,^[1][2] although actual work on the line had begun in November 1884.

In late February 1887,^[3] theAthenry and Ennis Railway (A&E) filed an injunction to prevent the West Clare Railway from accessing lands it had built on that the A&E had previously claimed but not yet constructed on for itself. The case went to arbitration in March 1887.^[4] The West Clare Railway initially agreed to pay £51 annually for the right to build on the land, then in a second agreement reached on 27 June 1888, the West Clare Railway was ordered to pay rent at £60 annually to the A&E (which later became part of theWaterford, Limerick and Western Railway) for use of the land.^[5]

The line was opened on 2 July 1887.^[6] The notes for construction of the line were closed in December 1887.^[7]

The South Clare Railway built the extension from Milltown Malbay toKilrush, Cappagh Pier (Kilrush Pier) and Kilrush docks with a branch toKilkee fromMoyasta.^[8] The line was proposed in 1889,^[9][10] with work starting on the extension in October 1890^[11] and opening on 11 May 1892. The extension was worked by the West Clare Railway^[12] and was initially dogged by poor service and time keeping, but this later improved. Some of the service irregularity was attributed, in a report given at the railway's annual meeting in 1894, to a requirement set by the Board of Trade to run separate passenger and goods trains rather thanmixed trains.^[12]

The West Clare Railway was the topic ofPercy French's song "Are Ye Right There Michael, are ye right?" (written in 1902), deriding the poor timekeeping and poor track quality of the time. Though amusing, some^[who?] complained that this jesting nevertheless did little to further the cause for keeping the line open. French wrote the song after successfully suing the railway company for loss of earnings, when a late-running train prevented him from attending a performance on time. The company, in turn, appealed the ruling, but French was over an hour late for the court hearing inEnnis. He informed the judge that his lateness was because "I took the West Clare Railway here, your honour".^{[citation needed]} The railway company's appeal was unsuccessful.

Many myths have arisen concerning the Percy French incident. The facts are that French had arrived in Kilkee four-and-a-half hours after the scheduled time for a show he was due to give at Moore's Hall on 10 August 1896. He had been due there at 3:25 pm, having begun his journey at Broadstone Terminus in Dublin that morning. The show was late starting as a result, and with a much-reduced audience. French won his case at the Ennis Quarter Sessions in January 1897, and was awarded £10 plus expenses. The Clare Journal's headline for the court hearing was, 'An Hour With Percy French "free of charge"'. The case has since been re-enacted by the Corofin Dramatic Society atEnnis Courthouse.^[13] His award was subsequently upheld in a reserved judgment when the railway company appealed the case two months later at the Clare Spring Assizes, before the Rt. Hon. Chief BaronChristopher Palles, by which time French had the germ of a song in his head: the line, 'If you want to get to Kilkee, you must go there by the sea' was repeated in court although it failed to make it in the song's final version. The Railway had a disastrous policy of defending litigation. In another case heard on the same day as the Percy French case, Mrs. Mary Ann Butler, from Limerick sued the Railway successfully when she was struck by adonkey on the Railway platform in Ennis.^[14]

In 1925, the company was merged into theGreat Southern Railways. In 1945 the GSR was taken over byCóras Iompair Éireann. In the same year, a survey of local businesses was conducted with a view to the possible replacement of the railway by road services. CIE was nationalised in 1950. Local campaigners urged that the railway be converted to the standardIrish gauge of5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), but CIÉ rejected this on cost grounds.

The West Clare Railway operated a fleet of eighteen steam locomotives. Some historical confusion is caused by the reusing of fleet numbers (when locomotives were withdrawn, their numbers were reallocated). Each entry in the table below is a separate locomotive, even where fleet numbers are repeated.

In the early 1950s, under CIÉ management, the West Clare Railway became a pioneer in the use of diesel traction. Passenger services were largely operated by four new articulated diesel railcars, built byWalker Brothers ofWigan, England (almost identical to units built for theCounty Donegal Railways). These were followed by three diesel locomotives (also built by Walkers). The use of diesel traction reduced operating costs, yet the investment in new rolling stock would largely be wasted by the early closure of the line.

Despite thedieselisation of passenger services in 1952 and freight in 1953 the system was still closed. On 27 September 1960,CIÉ gave notice of its intending closure with effect from 1 February 1961. CIÉ said that the West Clare was losing £23,000 (€1.2M 2006 equivalent) per year, despite the considerable traffic handled. In December it was announced that the line would close completely on 1 January 1961. Eventually, the line closed on 31 January 1961 with CIÉ starting work on dismantling the line the day after the closure on 1 February 1961.

By the time of its closure, the West Clare Railway was the last narrow-gauge railway in Ireland offering a passenger service; various lines operated byBord na Móna continue to operate in connection with the peat industry.

Starting in the mid-1990s, efforts were made by a preservation society to recreate part of the original route. This group succeeded in acquiring Moyasta station, and 5 km (3.1 mi) of the track bed. Passenger services were resumed using two new steel coaches with bench seating, parallel to the direction of travel, built by Alan Keef Engineering and outfitted locally in wood by WCR engineers. A small but powerful diesel locomotive built forChannel Tunnel construction work hauled the trains.

On 5 July 2009 the West Clare Railway's original steam locomotive No 5Slieve Callan was returned to the West Clare Railway at Moyasta Junction following restoration in England byAlan Keef Engineering Ltd ofRoss-on-Wye. This engine had previously been a static exhibit at the mainline railway station in Ennis. The locomotive was steamed for the first time on 14 July marking the return of steam to the West Clare Railway after an absence of over 57 years.

The railway has since acquired a number of redundant diesel locomotives, mostly from the Irish Bord na Móna; these are being gradually restored and returned to service.

In addition to the steam locomotiveSlieve Callan, the railway owns twelve diesel engines, of which two are currently in service, the others awaiting restoration. Those in service are a 4-wheel Channel Tunnel shunting engine and a four-wheel formerBord na Móna shunter. Awaiting restoration are a further nine such Bord na Móna shunters, plus a six-wheel mine shunting engine dating from around 1948.

Two passenger coaches are in service, and assorted maintenance vehicles including a tank wagon, four flat trucks, and four tipper wagons.

In 2008, anIrish standard gauge ex-Irish Rail001 class diesel loco, No.015 (formerly A15) and201 class, that being C227, were acquired for static display.^[15][16]

There are also three standard gauge passenger coaches on-site as static exhibits. One of these is used as a reception centre and cafeteria for visitors, and another as a lecture theatre for group visits.^[17]

The5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge coaching stock located here consists of:

• Great Southern Railways Side Corridor carriage No.1325.
• Iarnród ÉireannMark 2AB carriages Nos.4108, 4110 and 4402 (restaurant).

A collection of mainline diesel locomotives owned by theIrish Traction Group has subsequently been located to the preserved railway (during 2009 and 2010) for storage, or as static exhibits. These locomotives include:

• 121 class locomotive No. 124
• 141 class locomotive No. 152
• 181 class locomotive No. 190
• 001 class locomotive No. A3R

The heritage railway has been closed since June 1st 2022 until further notice.^[18] The museum may reopen in 2024.^[19]

• List of heritage railways in the Republic of Ireland
• History of rail transport in Ireland
• List of narrow-gauge railways in Ireland
• Worsley Works, who produces kits for those who model the West Clare Railway

• Official website

• Heritage railways in the Republic of Ireland
• Transport in County Clare
• Closed railways in Ireland
• 3 ft gauge railways in Ireland
• Tourist attractions in County Clare
• Defunct railway companies of Ireland
• Railway lines closed in 1961

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from January 2012
• Use dmy dates from December 2020
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from May 2020
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2020