Shannon scheme railway

[Killian keane]

This railway was built in 1927 in Limerick, Southern Ireland for the construction of a hydroelectric power station and was subsequently closed (pretty much) in the early '30s, the branch was 1.25 miles in length and there was also a total of 62 miles of narrow gauge railway (600mm gauge), there was a railtour in the early '60s and since then the line was mostly lifted, I was informed by a local ex loco driver, Willie Sherlock that the line had been used for shooting a film some years ago (unsure of what film), on my visit, little if this once extensive system was still extant, however it seems worthwhile to document what little remains

[Nearholmer]

Great finds.

 

There is a very good book on this project, with good coverage of the railways, published, IIRC, by UniversityCollege Dublin. There is also some coverage of it in German books.

 

Most of the construction railways were 900mm gauge,but, as you say, there was also 600mm.

 

So far as I can discover, all of the narrow gauge material was shipped back to Germany.

 

Kevin

[tractionman]

There is a book called "The Shannon Scheme and the Electrification of the Irish Free State", edited by
Andy Bielenber, which is available online as a free PDF download,

 

https://ruralelectric.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/the-shannon-scheme.pdf

 

it has a chapter on the railway system.

Cheers,

Keith

Edited June 17, 2017 by tractionman

[Nearholmer]

That's the book I was thinking of ....... not sure how I misremembered the publisher.

 

K