Irish Railway Archive - Loughrea Branch 1968-1975

[@AndreA-ke2id]

Thanks for sharing this. I grew up in a rural area with the line running at the bottom of our land. I remember the day in 1955 when a very shiny silver thing went past on it's own. To us it was like something from another planet It was of course a brand new C Class Metrovick out on test or driver training. We only had two trains a day, worked by either 0-6-0 steam or 2600 class dmu. When the C Class became regular we would run to the local station every evening to see them. Great days, great memories.

[@SouthernYard]

Great memories to have. I understand the C Class had a totally different sound to the A class. They didn’t seem much of an improvement on the steam engine!

[@garethbrennan4374]

Oh wow absolutely beautifull footage.

[@SouthernYard]

Agreed it’s fabulous.

[@noeldoyle4501]

Thanks for the lovely video, I lived in Dun Laoire as a child in the 1960s and as a great treat the family would go out for the whole day on the "Mystery Tour " trains run by CIE, they were always very exciting, and we saw a lot of Ireland that way. I remember Loughrea, my first time to see the West of Ireland, the train journey there and back was great fun, and was very crowded with Dublin families who were friendly and great fun, singing and making jokes all day.

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks, and those mystery trains sounded like good days out.

[@eamonnkennerney4723]

I travelled on this train many times in the 1960's from Dublin to loughrea and back to Dublin. Great to see. Brings back great memories.

[@SouthernYard]

It’s great to have this record of the line. Thanks to Tony Price for taking the time to film it.

[@621douglas]

Thank you for posting this wonderful video. Brought back memories of my ride behind G615 on the evening mixed from Loughrea in June 1971. Never forgotten

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks, I’m sure a trip behind a G class was indeed memorable!

[@joeryan1153]

Brilliant video, wonderful piece of social history

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks, it is indeed. Life was slower back then in every way.

[@domesticterrorist483]

Great to see makes me nostalgic for my childhood. Sad that all in the video are all gone.

[@BRaff-hl4ip]

Excellent footage. Dunsandle station now in private ownership and the wee gate house now currently for sale.

[@SouthernYard]

Yes and great that this footage exists to show the new owners what it was like.

[@jeffcarr9801]

Thanks for this wonderful piece of film. I well remember travelling from Crewe to Loughrea to see my parents in 1975. Picking up the Euston-Holyhead mail train late evening on a Friday and transferring to the ferry for an overnight cabin to Dun Loghaire. Train to Dublin Connolly for the first service to Galway, with a full Irish in the dining car and then meeting the folks at Attymon for the local service to Loughrea. Then the same journey back on a Sunday arriving bleary eyed for work on Monday morning. Great memories.

[@SouthernYard]

That was some trip home! It was an adventure then, long before cheap flights.

[@conwaynoel3715]

Wow, excellent footage. Well done Tony .

[@SouthernYard]

Tony was an excellent film maker. We owe a debt of gratitude.

[@gerryconmy]

Hi Guys. Wonderful video, perfect transfer from film to video. I enjoyed watching the video, can imagine the sound of the C class . Thanks for posting. Gerry

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks Gerry. The original cine footage was already in excellent condition which meant minimal tweaks. Thanks to Tony for capturing this excellent footage that’s now history.

[@CatherineKnight-b6h]

Tom Thank you so much for sharing this amazing video with me BIG HUGS from me to TYOU with 😊

[@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies]

Incredible footage thank you. Just like the Western Rail Corridor, the locals didn't care.

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks and of course the locals didn’t care because the government and CIE cared even less.

[@fieldagentryan]

@@SouthernYard we'll ignore the british army troop movements so and pretend ireland wasnt riddled with nazis after ww2 as well .. not to mention the deliberate diggin of the lines through ancient heritage sites ..

[@RYNT1157]

Brilliant footage by Tony , the pollution from the Crossley would raise eyebrows today . Some difference with the GM engine , from 550 hp to 1,100 HP.

[@domesticterrorist483]

Wow doubled the HP! Did you ever drive one of the 220's or is that a bit before your time Tom?

[@RYNT1157]

@@domesticterrorist483 Drove 4 of them as they were on the Dublin Suburban from 1974 so we would only see the odd one on a per way train in Cork. 227 was the last one I drove. They were plentiful in Cork before that. I was only in the driving grade since 1981 and they were withdrawn in 1984.

[@domesticterrorist483]

@@RYNT1157 Thanks for the reply.

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks Tom. The Crossley engines weren’t much of an improvement on the steam engine in some ways. Great film by Tony. He left a wonderful legacy.

[@RYNT1157]

@@SouthernYard 550 HP was useless , I often wondered how a C class pulled a goods out of Bantry as the gradient out of Bantry was 1 in 60 for a bit and the C was breaking down a lot. I did the projection for Tony for his many shows in Cork.

[@stevehull787]

Wonderful footage great day's

[@SouthernYard]

Days never to be repeated, so great to have this memory.

[@davecarson8256]

Fantastic video! Memories of that unique branch. I’ve walked it twice and met Margaret Whelan who was station mistress and crossing keeper at Dunsandle.

[@SouthernYard]

Thanks. Is that Margaret at Dunsandle towards the end of the video?

[@davecarson8256]

@@SouthernYard I'm not sure as I only met Margaret in the 1980s a few years before her death.

[@keithmccormac158]

Amazing footage of a line which somehow survived into the 70s.

[@SouthernYard]

Agreed an unusual survivor, there obviously was enough goods traffic to keep it going with the local fairs etc.

[@oceanfroggie]

Fab video. Nostalgia gold. Wow look at the acrid exhaust fumes that old Crossley diesel was belching out, its more like a steam locomotive's chimney. Thankfully our rail network these days seems destained to be electrified and diesel belching NoX a thing of the past. Priceless coverage of a time gone bye.

[@SouthernYard]

It’s priceless footage indeed. We owe Tony a great deal for taking the time to record this.

[@caffjohn]

Makes me sad looking at those films. The Crossley certainly could smoke they were a terrible engine.

[@SouthernYard]

Not the cleanest engine invented!

[@TheDaf95xf]

Great video capturing the past 😊 It’s ironic that I’m going there this week visiting Railway vets with a mobile MRI scanner opposite the old goods shed that’s boarded up 😩 I see the road in is used on the old track bed ☹️ Anyway they call it progress ripping up railway lines 😮

[@SouthernYard]

This branch did well to survive as long. There’s no significant industry around Loughrea, say unlike Ballina which generates freight traffic.

[@jameshowitt2463]

What a piece of history. Were the various crossing keepers (well past retirement age for some!) basically given free accommodation in the houses in return for opening the gates I wonder?

[@SouthernYard]

Yes they would have been accommodated in the house beside the crossing. It was common for the man of the house to work on the railway, while his wife worked the gates, while also cooking, cleaning, washing and raising kids!! The railway women were the unsung heroes of the railway.

[@johnoconnor9742]

Its strange to see a one coach train (for me) in the 90s I remember working 13 piece cravens and MKIIs after match's and bank holiday weekends

[@SouthernYard]

Different times, modernisation didn’t really make it to the Loughrea branch. Ideally suited to a railcar.

[@thomasburke2683]

​@@SouthernYard A railcar would not have been suitable for hauling goods vehicles, although the UTA then NIR, had multi purpose (MPD) railcars which hauled freight from Belfast to Derry (for onward conveyance to county Donegal). Three power cars of 265hp each, were adequate for the goods train. On the Loughrea branch, C class were not the first choice, it was a waste of their 550hp, the G class of 130hp never seemed to have difficulty with one coach on the level route limited to 25mph. Perhaps it may have slightly struggled when four or five wagons were added.

[@SouthernYard]

@@thomasburke2683 I assume that’s why they kept the c class because there it was a mixed train. Those G class were useless really.

[@CianIrwin]

Southernyard do you think they should re open it

[@SouthernYard]

It’s unlikely ever to happen

[@almondoTG]

Those Crossley engined C's were smokey yokes alright 😅

[@SouthernYard]

They were, and the fumes supposedly very poisonous.

[@thomasburke2683]

Not as bad as an A class which was twice the power and expected to use it. I recall standing on the footbridge at Bray level crossing, some children were jumping up in excitement, "it's the steam train", as an A class pulled its commuter train up from the Dargle bridge.

[@JB-yw8ot]

Fantastic!

[@CatherineKnight-b6h]

2:40 2:41

[@SouthernYard]

Brilliant footage by Tony.

[@joshuaW5621]

What’s the line like today?

[@SouthernYard]

Parts of it gone with a motorway running through it. Check it out on Google earth.

[@joshuaW5621]

@@SouthernYard the alignment is mostly untouched besides the N65 running through most of the section between Dunsdale and Loughrea, and there’s some rolling stock preserved at Dunsdale. Maybe this could be incorporated into a heritage railway sometime, even though it probably won’t happen anytime soon.