The Cavan & Leitrim Railway

[rogerfarnworth]

The Extension

 

I have started work on a study of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway and hopefully the first post on the two main lines will be ready soon. While I was reading various sources on-line and Patrick Flanagan's book about the line, I became aware of a series of attempts to extend the tramway which ran from Ballinamore to Arigna through to Sligo. None of these attempts was successful. 

 

In the end an extension line was built to aid transport of coal from the Arigna mines down to the tramway station. This extension was under 5 miles in length and was soon truncated to a much shorter version. It was known as the Arigna Valley Railway.

 

The story is worth reading. For much of it I am indebted to Patrick Flanagan and his contributions are referenced throughout.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/26/the-cavan-leitrim-railway-arigna-valley-railway

[rogerfarnworth]

This is first of the main series of posts about the Cavan & Leitrim Railway. I have enjoyed reading Patrick Flanagan's little book published by Pan. It is rather dog-eared and falling apart now. The text of the book has helped me explore the line, even though I have done so from my armchair. References to the text of his book abound, and these are all credited in the blog.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/09/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-a-short-history-and-a-look-at-dromod-station

 

In this post we review the history of the line and then, with the aid of a good few pictures, we look round Dromod Station as it was.

[rogerfarnworth]

The second post on the Cavan & Leitrim takes us from Dromod to Mohill:

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/19/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-dromod-to-mohill

[Dava]

Roger,

This is an interesting thread, having read the same books & visited the line [closed & preserved]. But just one version of the thread in one topic area is surely enough?

 

David

[rogerfarnworth]

The next post on the C&L takes us to the central junction station at Ballinamore.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/24/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-mohill-to-ballinamore

[rogerfarnworth]

On 19/05/2019 at 21:53, Dava said:

Roger,

This is an interesting thread, having read the same books & visited the line [closed & preserved]. But just one version of the thread in one topic area is surely enough?

 

David

Hi David

 

I thought I had already replied to you. It seems as though the reply has gone astray. My apologies.

 

I had a discussion about this in the past and at the time was advised to post on all relevant threads as people do not always look at more than one thread.

 

If moderators say that I should not do so, then I am very happy to comply.

 

Kind regards

 

Roger

[Dava]

Thanks Roger, I'll aim to follow one of the threads.

 

Good to see 'Nancy' is now operational at Dromod at last. Hopefully the remaining C&L loco will return from the USA ere long.

 

Dava

[rogerfarnworth]

Yes, good to see that.

 

This next post takes us onwards to Ballyconnell! ....…......................

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/29/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-ballinamore-to-ballyconnell

[rogerfarnworth]

The last length of the mainline of the Cavan & Leitrim railway is covered by this next post - the length form Ballyconnell to Belturbet.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/06/07/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-ballyconnell-to-belturbet

[rogerfarnworth]

This post covers the tramway from Ballinamore to Arigna and completes the full length of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway empire. I am working on one further post which will pull together a few different things relating to the C&L.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/06/15/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-the-arigna-tramway

[Porkscratching]

This is brilliant! ..we have family in Ballinamore and was looking for some info on the C&L, which is ( or, sadly, was ) a fascinating little railway,  great stuff and keep on posting..!

[rogerfarnworth]

This is my final post about the Cavan & Leitrim Railway. It includes details about locos and rolling stock but starts with some information about the preservation society at Dromod and the heritage centre at Belturbet.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/07/01/the-cavan-and-leitrim-railway-a-miscellany

[rue_d_etropal]

Really got me interested, especially as there hasn't been a book published abou the line for a while, with drawings of stock.

That bus conversion to create coach 7T.Would be find drawings of the original buses - type N ? Is it similar to the railcar trailer on the West Clare, that has only one door each side which is a bit like one of the coaches now preserved.

[Dava]

Enjoyable. A visit to Dromod for the preserved line and to Cultra to sit in coach 5 and see 'Kathleen' is recommended .

 

Did anything come of the project to repatriate 'Lady Edith"?

 

Dava

[Porkscratching]

On 01/07/2019 at 19:49, Dava said:

Enjoyable. A visit to Dromod for the preserved line and to Cultra to sit in coach 5 and see 'Kathleen' is recommended .

 

Did anything come of the project to repatriate 'Lady Edith"?

 

Dava

Are they running anything on the bit of track at Dromod at the mo?

 

[Dava]

Quote

 

'Nancy' is restored and steamable at Dromod. 

 

https://cavanandleitrim.wixsite.com/home

 

[Damo666]

My uncle on the west coast of Ireland found this in his shed recently, An oil (Paraffin maybe?, would be interested to know though) lamp from the Great Northern Railway he said.

[jhb171achil]

That’s the innards of a railway oil lamp.

[Lambeg Man]

I once had a GNR(I) signal lamp that came from Lambeg station when it was de-staffed. It did not look anything like the above - angular corners, four glass plates that slid in from the top on each of the four sides. Could the above (assuming the "GNR" plate is genuine) be a GNR of England product?

[jhb171achil]

Come to think of it, it is an English one. Here, it would have had GNR(I) on it.

 

However, that’s not the reason it looks different. The above is the innards of s lamp - the oil burner bit, which would have been housed inside the lamp casing. It’s therefore just part of the whole lamp.

[pippindoo]

I have an identical lamp and always understood it was intended to fit inside the housing on top of a level crossing gate, hence the light showing in 4 directions. The main housing would have 2 red and 2 white lenses dependent on the gates being open or closed. I may be wrong of course....

Edited August 19, 2019 by pippindoo