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Dingle Train, The Tralee & Dingle Railway Ireland by Rowlands McGrath Francis
Dingle Train, The Tralee & Dingle Railway Ireland
By David Rowlands, Walter Mcgrath, And Tom Francis
Hardbound With Dustjacket
160 Pages
Copyright 1996
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1A Short History Of The Railway
Chapter 2Three Major Accidents: The Curraduff,
Baunogue And Lispole Disasters
Chapter 3The Route Described
Chapter 4The Photographic Record And `Railfan' Visitors
Chapter 5Locomotives
Chapter 6Carriages And Wagons
Chapter 7Lore And Legend Of The Dingle Train
Chapter 8Three Colourful Incidents
Chapter 9Locomotive No. 5t's Last Run On The Dingle Railway
Chapter 10Steaming Back To Blennerville
PostscriptThe Tralee And Dingle Today
Appendix OneWay And Works
Appendix TwoRules And Regulations
Appendix ThreeTimetables
THE DINGLE TRAIN
It was a unique line! How often have you heard that said of an inde-pendant rural railway? Yet the Tra-lee & Dingle Railway could most reasonably justify this claim. Not only has its spirit of adventure and at times comic persistence appealed mightily to the railway enthusiast in search of something different and original, but it has featured far more than any other minor railway in literature, and has secured a permanent place in the annals of Kerry.
The Dingle train was many things to many people, but most importantly it played a major role in the development of the area.
This is not designed to be a "standard" history of the Railway, although railway historians and enthusiasts will still find much of interest; rather it is intended to show what manner of railway it was. Although the locomotives and other hardware is well covered, it is concerned as much with people, both those who ran the railway, and those who visited and recorded their observations in words, photographs and occasionally on film. Numerous references are included for those who wish to savour its contribution to the history of Kerry.
INTRODUCTION
`To the little station of the Dingle line the country people come at the tail of a market day with their motley purchases; you forget London and Dublin, all the cities of the earth, and with Gaelic faces and Gaelic voices about you, stand in the gateway of an older and simpler world.'
With these words, Robin Flower introduced the Dingle Railway, a narrow-gauge2 line which was unique in its appeal to connoisseurs of railway practice throughout the world, and which served the people of Corkaguiny and Tralee for more than 60 years (18911953).
It is more than fifty years since the last regular passengers left Tralee for Dingle by train,' and over forty years since any sort of train made its undulating way westward. For, with the coming of the motor bus and the re-surfacing of the roads in the 1930s, it was no longer the 'easiest and quickest way to get to Dingle', as advised C. P. Crane in 1907.4 Far from it - the numerous speed restrictions applied on a railway of sharp curves and steep gradients and numerous crossings,6 made the journey time excessive by comparison with road transport. So the passenger service ceased. Such a comparison was inevitably made - as it had been fifty years earlier between mail coach and train - because 'this little up-and-down narrow gauge line follows as closely as possible the old mail coach route'.' In fact of the total 31 miles and 52 chains of main line to Dingle, some 27 miles and 61 chains were alongside the public road, the exceptions being where gradients or curves on the road were so severe as to make rail traction impossible. Then the railway would diverge on to its own right of way.
An excellent history of the railway by P. B. Whitehouse and A. J. Powell,' albeit directed to the interests of the railway enthusiast, was published in 1958, but is long out of print and unobtainable, so that a brief synopsis of the railway's history would seem to be
appropriate here. Further to this there has been a pictorial album portraying the journey from Tralee to Dingle and the locomotives and rolling stock in some detail'. Two more recent books of considerable interest are Tom Ferris's "The Irish Narrow Gauge: a Pictorial History", volume one of which contains a section on the Tralee & Dingle'and Patrick Taylor's "The West Clare Railway" which covers the history of those Tralee & Dingle locomotives and stock that were transferred to that Sectionu.
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