During a holiday in the Southwest of Ireland in July 2003 I managed to visit the Tralee & Blennerville Railway and (regrettably) miss the West Clare preservation project which I will reserve for another time. In 2006 I re-visited Tralee and managed to do a survey of the Tralee & Dingle trackbed as far as Lispole Viaduct. Click HERE to view the Tralee & Dingle survey page.

The Tralee & Dingle Railway is well-known to anyone familiar with the narrow gauge in Ireland. After a chequered career during which it opened up the remote Dingle peninsula, the line was closed by CIE in 1953. The rolling stock was distributed to other railways, notably the West Clare and the Cavan & Leitrim. Already in 1950 the latter received the 2-6-2T no 5T until the C&L itself closed down in 1958. 5T was acquired by an American and put on display in Steamtown, Vermont. In 1988 the loco was returned to Ireland and restored for the Tralee & Blennerville Railway.

The Tralee & Blennerville line for about 2 miles follows the old T&D route and is built using old broad gauge track components. The rail used is rather heavy and the chairs have cast lettering 'GSR' and even 'GS&WR'. All the same the track is in good order. No 5T herself seems quite fine although the years of trundling up and down the tourist line in that salty climate have left their mark as the paint is a bit faded. I arrived at the terminus beside the Aquadome swimming pool around 2:30pm and waited for the train to arrive. Surely, towards the appointed hour there was a slight wisp of steam across the mud flats and 5T came into view with its two former Spanish coaches. The level crossing gates were closed and here I came face to face with a locomotive I have been reading about since I first became interested in Irish narrow gauge about 35 years ago.

I bought a ticket from the guard and travelled the line to Blennerville and back. The surroundings of the little railway are such that the impression of the rural Irish narrow gauge is still very strong, despite the fact that the only original item is the locomotive itself. The railway is on a slightly elevated roadbed as the original line was subject to flooding. At Blennerville I talked to the driver who invited me to have a look on the footplate. When I asked to have a look in the engine shed when the loco would be cleaned, he told me how to drive from the Tralee end to get there.

When I arrived back at Blennerville, there was a bowling game going on along the tarmac road crossed by the spur to the engine shed. The players were very merry - the game had obviously been going on for quite a time. When the engine had to cross the road, a lively discussion ensued between the players and the driver about whether the game had to be interrupted or not, which - predictably - ended with the gates being shut and 5T crossing to the shed.

Here I saw the old lady being coaled up and cleaned, ready for the next day's work. Inside the shed was a bright yellow Ruston diesel bearing Bord na Mona number plates which is used for track maintenance. The line is run by a four-man crew only, three on the train and a gatekeeper at the Tralee end. The track layout is very simple, with a loop each end of the line and two sidings in the shed area.

I hope the photos I made at the shed, courtesy of the friendly train crew, convey some of the atmosphere I found there. If you ever pass through the far West of Ireland and the Tralee area, be sure not to miss this interesting rural narrow gauge railway which is certainly worth a visit.

When we passed through Kilrush on our way from the Shannon ferry that took us from Kerry into Clare, we saw a sign pointing to the West Clare Railway at Moyasta Junction. Regrettably it was late in the day and the sky was grey so we had to push on and find a place to set up camp for the night. Eventually we ended up in a rather depressing mobile home park at Lahinch with a view of the Atlantic Ocean. During the night the wind rose and shook our tent which luckily survived. Near Lahinch I had noticed what looked like an old railway bridge over the road, so the next day I set out to survey the surrounding area. Just over the edge of the huge terraced landfill that had been put down there to create the caravan park I saw the roadbed of an old railway running straight into the earth 10ft below me. Investigation pointed out that this must be the West Clare railway and we were probably camped right over the old Lahinch station site! With only limited time left there was no chance to drive to Moyasta, but next time I visit Ireland I must be sure to go there and see old 5C Slieve Callan back in steam, for this has been rescued from its plinth at Ennis to return to working order on the preserved West Clare Railway.

Ans sure enough, in 2009, much later than had been planned, I learned that Slieve Callan had been restored and was on its way to Moyasta, just before we departed on holiday to Ireland again! I managed to go there and the report is in a separate page named 'Steam on the West Clare' (see index).