Slieve Callan

On a very wet, or, as the Irish say, a very ‘soft’ Friday, my host Dan and I, together with Mark and Marlous, a young couple who also were his guests for a few days, set off from Lauragh on the Beara peninsula to Killarney, Tralee and the Shannon ferry at Tarbert, to see Slieve Callan in steam. This is quite a journey by car, but we comfortably made it out and back inside a single day. Surely enough we arrived at Moyasta in time to see Slieve Callan slowly reverse the single carriage into the platform. We also met Joe Taylor, a driving force behind the WCR project and the one who does the guided tour of the original station and the stationmaster’s quarters in the building. I talked to Mr Taylor briefly, before having a look at the engine. This certainly is one of the most beautifully restored locomotives I have seen, all polished and very new.

For a narrow gauge engine it is huge, and it towers above the tiny carriage it hauls up and down the mile-long track. One may wonder at the difference in size, but looking at the old pictures in my books on the West Clare the original carriages were barely taller and wider than the home-built ones used by the preserved railway.

After a word with the engine crew, I was given permission to go out on the line for a short photo and video session. And there I was, out in the fields not far from the Shannon, with a real West Clare train rolling towards and past me, as if nothing had changed since 1961.

Regrettably, a few days later all my photo and video material was destroyed by a very unfortunate occurrence. Luckily, Dan, Mark and Marlous had made excellent photos which they allowed me the use of in this web page.

The present Moyasta station is part of the original tri-angular junction joining the Kilkee-Miltown Malbay line to the Kilrush branch of the South Clare Railway. At Miltown Malbay this connected to the original West Clare line to Ennis. The combined system eventually was known as the West Clare Railway. The atmosphere of the station is very well preserved, with a water tower, stand pipe and the reconstructed signal box all adding to the picture. The station building contains many memories of the West Clare system. Even the wet weather added to the atmosphere during our visit!

With the locomotive restored, they tell me they will now attend to a second carriage which has been condemned because it has rusted right through. There are plans to rebuild the side sheets in aluminium before putting it back in service. The one in use looks hardly better, but that will be seen to as well. In addition, the West Clare people are on the track of some original 3ft gauge carriage frames and bogies. Finally, they want to extend the line towards Kilrush in stages.

These are all plans, of course, which may take quite a few years to be put into practice. But the West Clare has strong cards in its hands with a locomotive like Slieve Callan, so I have no doubt things will be moving at Moyasta. The locomotive is in steam on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and a visit is very much recommended to everyone interested in the Irish narrow gauge. Moyasta is not very far from the beach at Kilkee, and the Cliffs of Moher further north near Lahinch, so it should be very easy to fit a visit in with a day tour of Co Clare.

Photos: copyright D.Dusoswa 2009.

.