Clare Railways

[Morello Cherry]

A few years back I was doing some work in the archives at UCD and I came across an angry letter from around 1900 decrying the refusal/failure to build a branch from Ennis to Tulla in Clare.  I have often wondered about this proposal  - a bit of a long shot but does anyone know anything about the idea? The letter is vague - it doesn't talk about who was going to build it or where it was going to go to, the writer is a landlord (later a Senator after independence) in Tulla, and generally angry with a lot of things but mostly Dublin and London for not recognising the importance of a branchline to Tulla. If no one knows anything about this, does anyone know any good sources on the railways of Clare. I have in my idle mind a 'what if' model.

[jhb171achil]

This would have ben one of hundreds of requests by all sorts of people to all sorts of railway companies, local authorities and the British government (in terms of seeking grants for construction), which prevailed throughout the 19th century, often to the irritation of railway companies who (correctly) took the view "Don't you think WE would have built this, if it was worth building?".

 

Still, like so many of the other ideas put forward like this, while the practicalities in real life came to nothing, and usually for good financial reason, such ideas can act as great fodder for the imaginations of us "what-if" modellers!

 

So - in your case, may we hope that the seed of an idea for the Tulla branch is born!

[Nearholmer]

Extract from “In the tracks of the West Clare Railway”.

 

My favoured ‘might have been’ for a model would be a branch of the WCR itself to Carrigaholt. The first time I went there, I looked at the harbour and castle and straight away thought “the only thing missing here is the railway”,

 

[jhb171achil]

Indeed - that would be a truly excellent idea for even a small-space shunting layout, as the train in steam days would probably have been mixed - one or two six-wheel carriages and maybe a fish van or two in tow. In diesel days, probably a single walker railcar (you'd need a turntable, though!) and perhaps towing a van or two, Donegal-style............. good idea.