50 years since railway closure

Next Monday will represent the 50th anniversary of the closure of the West Clare Railway in 1961.

The railway opened on July 2, 1887. It was a steam-driven rail service between Ennis and Kilrush and the journey took about three hours. Charles Stewart Parnell was invited to lift the first sod in the laying of the tracks and the silver spade he used is exhibited in the county museum.
Pat Kirby, who now lives in Limerick, worked as a bus conductor out of Kilrush 50 years ago. In fact, he was working on the day the railway closed. The last rail journey was from Kilkee to Ennis but there was no return journey for the West Clare Railway train that day. Pat remembers January 31, 1961 as a bad winter’s evening. He recalls a huge crowd of people waiting at the station in Kilrush that evening for a lift to Kilkee, albeit not by train.
“There were about 60 people waiting at the station in Kilrush to go to Kilkee. They were expecting the train, I think,” Pat told The Clare Champion.
“There was an awful rumpus at the time. It was an awful shame it was ever closed,” Pat, who worked in Kilrush for three and a half years, reflected.
Businessman Jackie Whelan has since re-opened the Moyasta Railway Station. In 2009, the Slieve Callan engine returned to Moyasta Junction.
The 40-tonne engine had been undergoing refurbishment work in England for the previous decade and following an appearance at the national truck show in Ennis, the 117-year-old steam engine headed into the west.