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CDRRL News Archive

December 2009

Track Successfully Replaced Near Inver for 31st December Commemoration
The end of this month sees the 50th anniversary of the closure of the County Donegal Railway.  It is nearly 50 years since the track-lifting train passed by the small platform at Mullanbuoys Crossing Cottage near Inver.  Last week, after months of co-ordinated preparation, donations of finance and rails, and careful moving of materials across national boundaries and the Irish Sea, a tracklaying team from the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) was able to lay around 100 metres of track at the cottage alongside the original platform.  The RPSI have also assisted in the repair of the four-seater Wickham motorised permanent-way trolley belonging to CDRRL and this will run trains for invited guests on New Year’s Eve, Thursday 31st December, from 1pm onwards.  All are welcome to come to observe, though for insurance reasons only the invited guests who sign an insurance disclaimer can actually travel on the short length of track beside the old platform.
This running of trains will not only commemorate the 50th anniversary of closure but also prove that the wherewithal and expertise is there to create the long proposed preserved line in Barnesmore Gap.  If Donegal Town has the support and the tourist funding to assist this, then we estimate that such a line would bring back an estimated 40,000 visitors a year to see and enjoy it.   The little line at Mullanbuoys is proof.

Railway Evening 30th December
Another event just before New Year will also commemorate the railway.  On Wednesday 30th December there will be a railway evening at the St John Bosco Centre in Donegal Town, starting at 7pm, with guest the well-known railway historian Charles Friel.  There will be loads of material for those who remember the railway but the evening will also cover what has been preserved and what you can go out and see now.  Entry to the evening is free although the need for donations and supporting membership will be regularly stressed!

Relaying the Track
The recent exercise to relay a small amount of track on the old Killybegs branch at Mullanbuoys clearly illustrates what can be done – in a very short time – with co-operation.  The owner of Mullanbuoys Crossing, Mervyn Johnston, has rebuilt the crossing cottage at Mullanbuoys.  In so doing he has very carefully preserved the original cottage outline while adding an attractive extension.  The unique small railway platform and even the old signal guarding the crossing gates have both been preserved.
Mervyn had always wanted a stretch of track to be put back alongside the platform, and had asked CDRRL at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre to help.  They in turn brought in their friends from the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland whose expert tracklaying team spent two days laying 3-foot gauge track after its 50-year absence.  Not only that, it was the right sort of track, flat bottom rail with real track pins driven into the wooden sleepers – the sort of pins that can still be found during a walk on the old trackbed up in Barnesmore Gap.
Driving in the pins with sledgehammers was not easy.  The team had to use untreated sleepers – no creosote – to comply with Environmental Protection Agency regulations.  So the sleepers got had to be a special untreated hardwood, Azobe.  This handsome tropical hardwood was so hard and dense that it blunted two chain saws and needed bigger pilot holds drilled for the pins to get them driven into the wood. In favourable weather, 250 feet of original type narrow gauge track was put back in two days, demonstrating just what can be achieved with the co-operation of all involved, and just a small team of enthusiasts.  With this kind of approach, and the experience gained, over a mile of the much proposed reinstatement of a line in Barnesmore Gap could be re-laid in just a month.
We have waited fifty years.  Some 15 years ago our fellow enthusiasts at Fintown showed that a railway could be operated again there.  But all that has happened on actually putting the railway back near Donegal Town itself had to date been just talk.  This exercise shows that reinstating the railway could be achieved.  The publicity around the tracklaying and trains on the 31st December should serve to demonstrate this to those agencies who may in future be more willing to sponsor the reinstatement of a passenger carrying tourist line in the Gap.

Other Recent Conservation Work
While the tracklaying has gone on, seriously rotten bargeboards in Donegal Station Roof were repaired in October with help from a Heritage Council grant.  This work will be clearly visible for visitors to the station.
Also sponsored by a Heritage Council grant is the ongoing work on the passenger part of Railcar 15 at the station.  It will be protected from weather once restored by a neat station-like roof.  The purpose of doing this particular restoration is to provide a 40-seater presentation and cinema room.  Unlike the current 9-seater room this will allow the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre to accommodate the much larger groups that it is trying to attract to the Town.

October 2009

August 2009

CDR Motive Power

Drumboe was not brought back to Donegal Town following the completion of the Interreg Project because it has proved possible to continue some work at the RPSI to which CDRRL is about to contribute a donation, the rest being done by volunteer work.  The main effort this year has been work on the frames to remove severe rust.  It was deemed more sensible to try to do this before reassembling Drumboe, to prevent need for later re-dismantling of the same parts for essential repair.  It is hoped to bring Drumboe back to County Donegal once that work is done, following which we will need another large slug of funding to repair firebox and boiler, and replace gauges so that she can steam again.
In the meantime Derry City Council are planning a small amount of work on Meenglas to make her safe for those climbing on her.  Meanwhile we are co-operating with Derry City Council and North West of Ireland Railway Society (NWIRS) to determine exact ownership of Meenglas and what option there is to move her to a site such as Donegal Town where we could begin proper conservation work.  The background to this is that two of our benefactors have made a formal offer for Meenglas which has to be approved by the Cox family who Derry believe are still the actual owners.
As shown on the front cover of the last issue of the Phoenix, the one of our five Rustons currently resident at the RPSI in Whitehead is a runner, but still awaits final work on the passenger braking system.  The RPSI, continuing the great spirit of cross-border co-operation with us developed under Interreg, have even laid a few yards of 3-foot gauge test track to try out the Ruston and also our Wickham Permanent Way trolley, shown below.
Peter Scott MBE is shown taking the first test drive of the Wickham following fitment of a new motor to the original drive train, and he is in fact selecting forward or reverse gear in the picture.  Minor adjustment of the brake mechanism is needed plus the fitting of new wood for the seats and we shall then have a four-seater working vehicle.  This will be the prime candidate for running the train services on 31st December at Mullanbuoys to commemorate 50 years since closure of the CDR – but then we have still to lay the track for that!

Other Rolling Stock and Storage

Initial work has begun on the articulated coach section or “trailer” of Railcar 15 currently stored on site at Donegal Town Station.  This has deteriorated considerably over the last few years, despite being wrapped in felt material.  A survey performed by John Darch during the last week shows that we will need to dismantle the bodywork down to chassis level to remove rotten sections and then commence rebuilding.  This was not what was originally planned so we will need to put our proposal to the Heritage Council and we have to complete by November the part of the work they are funding.
Once the dismantling has been done and new materials obtained – at least to do the wooden framework – work will need to be carried on out of the weather.  To that end we are putting a new and innovative proposal to Bus Éireann to make a doorway about 9 feet square in the short side of the goods shed at Donegal Town, allowing us to slide long vehicles into the covered and weatherproof environment.
If this can be permitted, we believe we can store not only Trailer 15 but also at least one or two Rustons and possibly another goods van.  This dry and roomy storage would enable us to work on these items in the dry in a way never previously possible here in Donegal Town.  That in turn may win us some new volunteers – and perhaps the return of some old ones.
We would not in fact plan to put the restored fire-damaged Grey Van 84, nor Grey Van 30, which is currently awaiting fitment of a wheelset sent from the Isle of Man, in the shed.  These we hope to put on rails on display on site, with the kind permission of NWIRS as at present Fintown may not have space to display them.  We plan to assemble railway related dioramas in their weather-proof interiors with previously stored non-exhibited artefacts to provide greater interest for visitors.  Both vans are likely to receive another coat of grey paint in the near future.
A candidate for future storage in the shed would be the van discovered by George Haire near Strabane, though we have yet to complete negotiations for its purchase and removal to us.
We would also hope to protect the long-term future and conservation of the two grey van chassis on site by storing them in the goods shed.

The Exhibition in May

This year’s Model Railway Exhibition took place on 23rd & 24th May at the station and the adjacent St John Bosco Centre.  We had some famous layouts often described in the model railway press including Dingle from the Chester Model Railway Club and Donegal Town from Alan Gee. But we also had other major layout attractions including the remarkable Buggleskelly from member Mike Harris which made a huge centrepiece with 45mm gauge track and live steam locos with an Irish narrow gauge flavour.
Also popular were John Darch’s fine scale Clinkerford, Andy Cundick’s Letterkenny, Robert Coulter’s very busy Everyday Village and John Campbell’s live steam models in 15mm scale.
The non scale model star for the second year was the Hornby ‘O’ Gauge tinplate layout whose bright colours and fast trains – electric and clockwork – seemed to interest young and old.  There were also Dinky Toy, Meccano and Bayko building exhibits and a classic car display.
By our standards this was a large exhibition – the hundreds that attended being a higher proportion of the small local population here than the thousands that attend the UK exhibitions would be of the surrounding population.
Local opinion by visitors was that both young and old and the enthusiasts from the car club very much enjoyed the spectacle.  Our impression from exhibitors and visitors was that they also enjoyed themselves, some even voicing that it was the most enjoyable they had attended.
Below:  Dingle shed, the ‘Killybegs’ part of Buggleskelly, and the fantastic 15mm live steam models of the Swilly.
Special arrangements were made this year to sponsor the travel costs of getting so many distantly-based layouts to come to Donegal Town.  This all worked quite well except for some of the promised sponsorship which has yet to come through.  Given this major cost element, it is probably unlikely that we shall be able to put on a similar further model railway spectacle for a good few years.
While we had such an array of enthusiasts from afar on site, the opportunity was taken to try to co-ordinate a visit for them to Fintown to have a ride on Railcar 18.  The arrangements for this were also successful and on the Tuesday after the exhibition Fintown were kind enough to run a special train for us which everyone enjoyed and appreciated enormously, demonstrating the strength of co-operation. A picture of Railcar 18 on the day is shown below.

Donegal Town Station Repairs

We plan to begin the work on the barge-boards sponsored by the Heritage Council within the next few days.  This will smarten and remove rot from a key area of the roof and we have obtained permission from Bus Éireann to go ahead with the work despite the fact that we are still negotiating over a long-term lease.  Two important issues are that the sponsorship took several years to win and must be spent by November this year and secondly that the action does confirm to Bus Éireann our good intentions for the building as there will be no cost to them.
Finally, we hope to have an option for those who had original share certificates supplied in the early 90s.  Please contact us if you have one of these.

Ballymagorry

A meeting was held with the owners recently where it was agreed to hold back on demolition so that legal matters of who would become the new owner can be settled.  Shortly after that meeting, owner Isabel Stevenson received a letter from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency giving advance notice of listing of buildings of special architectural or historic interest, noting that they are currently considering whether or not to include Ballymagorry in their latest listings.

Thanks to John Darch we now have detailed drawings of the inside and outside of the station and would be in a position to dismantle and prepare for re-construction elsewhere.  So, whatever happens, it looks like this pretty station building will be protected either is situ or through the auspices of CDRRL.

Cashelnagore

No more construction has taken place since the Spring since money ran out.  Discussions took place with Údarás na Gaeltachta at the end of May and there was considerable interest in the revival of a visitor attraction run by a resident caretaker at Cashelnagore.  We are in the process of applying for a contribution from Údarás should they have any money in their kitty, meanwhile any further work depends on the owner and benefactors.

Mullanbuoys

Member Mervyn Johnston has almost completed the restoration of the crossing cottage at Mullanbuoys near Inver, making a fine residence without losing the cachet and outline of the original cottage.  An exciting development is that Mervyn has agreed to co-operate with the laying of some 200 feet of track beside the platform at the cottage – one of the rare ones with its own such facility.  Track has been kindly obtained through the auspices of Peter Marsden of the RPSI and, with Neil Tee, Peter is working on obtaining sleepers so a short construction programme, part financed by personal contributions from member Bill Thrush,  can provide Mullanbuoys with track by the end of Autumn 2009.

Commemoration of Closure

Provided all goes well with tracklaying at Mullanbuoys, the plan is that the end of December this year will see two major events to commemorate 50 years since the closure of the original County Donegal Railway.  Currently the plan is for an evening presentation on 30th December to be given by the renowned Charles Friel, probably in the St John Bosco Centre on the history of the CDR and Swilly and the positive heritage they have left us with.  Then, on the afternoon of 31st December, there will be trains run for invited guests, members and donors on the new section of track at Mullanbuoys, probably using the Wickham permanent way trolley but possibly including the Ruston.  It being New Year’s Eve it is likely there will be some sort of celebration locally!

Model Improvements

John Darch has made and put in place a new and neat Perspex screen to protect the 5.5mm to the foot Killybegs model from unwanted enthusiast attention, and at the same time completed the base of the layout with new panelling.  The whole is a great improvement on the original while still protecting the model.

Miniature Railway Developments

When we originally laid the point on our passenger-carrying miniature railway to allow the engine and coaches direct access to the storage shed, the sharpness of the bends ion the track had to be guessed as track bending was done in Anglesey!  As luck had it the bends were to sharp for our early, heavy and somewhat unwieldy Cromar White coaches which have hitherto had to be manually lifted round the track which was too sharp for their bogie movement.  Again it was John Darch who led the staff team of Seamie McIntyre and Christie Elliot to organise track relaying with a gentler curve.  The engine and coaches were tested but just as training of drivers including our shop staff was to begin the engine’s electronics decided to have a fit.  Our local electronics wizard Paul has diagnosed the problem to a transistor needing replacement and at the time of writing we await this before beginning fun services for visitors for the rest of the summer season.
The team are shown below testing the new track just before the loco packed up.

May 2009

Model Railway Exhibition at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre

Model Railway Exhibition at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre and the adjacent St John Bosco Centre on Sat 23rd and Sun 24th of May 2009. Open 11am to 5pm each day. Planned exhibits include three layouts recently featured in the Railway Modeller and will provide:

Garden Railway & 7¼” Gauge Railway (both weather permitting).  A fun and interesting day for all ages so please do come along and see us!

May 2008

Model Railway Exhibition at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre

Model Railway Exhibition at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre and the adjacent St John Bosco Centre on Sat 24th, Sun 25th and Mon 26th May 2008. Open 11am to 5pm each day Planned exhibits include two layouts recently featured in the Railway Modeller and will provide

• Garden Railway & 7¼” Gauge Railway (both weather permitting).

April 2007

Rail and Tourist Trail Event

To celebrate the work on the restoration of Drumboe, one of the famous steam locomotives, and its centenary this year, there will be a special event in Donegal Town at Donegal Railway Heritage Centre, Donegal Town. We have setup a completely new web site click here.

November 06

Level of Activity

Much has taken place since we last sent out a report and because of the delay in getting out the latest issue of the “Phoenix”, it is even more important to keep you updated on the latest happenings.

Sad News

We have some sad news since the last Phœnix, namely the death of one of our directors, Councillor Peter Kennedy, just before our June 2005 AGM, at which one minute’s silence was held for him. Peter had in the previous couple of months persuaded Balcas Timber to provide us with cut and treated sleepers to complete our 7¼ gauge railway project and had for years been a great supporter of the CDRRL aims. Peter will be much missed, certainly not least by us since he had been working for the community as an influential Donegal County Councillor for many years.

Board Changes

There have also been retirements from the Board including elder statesman, raconteur and historian Arthur Thompson, and our hard-working minutes taker and volunteer helper Frank Murphy, whose daughter also helped us by undertaking an interview in Irish on TV about the aims of CDRRL.
Neil Tee has decided to stand down from the Board in order to concentrate more on the rôle of Chief Operating Officer which is currently taking up a full week’s work each week. The new Chairman is Chris Romain.

Strategy & Objectives

We have decided to devote some more energy to the original Barnesmore Gap proposal – there being no doubt that if it can be achieved, the scenic location is a winner. A study over the last year by several of us has shown no real and insoluble showstopping reason for the apparent total abandonment of the original proposal and its disappearance rather than amendment. The trackbed has therefore been resurveyed and two meetings held with Biddy’s, the famous pub half way up the Gap, who might be a very suitable terminus facility on a win-win basis. We also discovered that there is continuing sentimental and indeed business appeal of the proposed restoration of a 3-foot gauge tourist train in Barnesmore Gap.

Interreg & Drumboe

Although work on Trailer 5 began later than anticipated, it is now proceeding apace and the roof has been removed, wood and covering ordered, and the areas where extra side runners are needed have been exposed. An original pair of doors has been supplied as a pattern for remaking and fitting with a proper closing and locking mechanism. The roof covering consists of narrower than normal t&g sections so they can be curved to fit the curved shape and these have had to be made specially.
The work on Drumboe’s tanks continues. A key feature is the hot pressed rivets used to hold the metal sections together. This project has safeguarded the existence of the technology and skills to do this work and Whitehead in one of the few places in the 32 Counties where this facility is now available. Drawings and planning for the forgings has been completed but it has been ascertained that the best forging facility will not be available, possibly until January, due to the refurbishment of their factory.

3-Foot Gauge Work

Two sections of 3-foot gauge track have been laid over the last few months. As we reported in November, member Bill Thrush kindly sponsored some extra track for us. Three years ago our friends at the West Clare Railway provided us with some sleeper off-cuts which we made into the “stockade” base for the garden railway here. At that time they said they would help us with any track needs and, true to their words, they provided us last summer with a 45-foot and a 40-foot length of track made especially for us to 3-foot gauge from ex-Íarnród Éireann parts.

ROLLING STOCK

Ruston loco

Our “main” Ruston came to us two years ago after storage at the Cavan & Leitrim. This does not have the usual Gardner engine but has at some time been re-engined with a Lister, which is air cooled so we have not had problems with having to drain the cooling system for storage etc. The Ruston is ready to go to the RPSI at Whitehead for servicing to get it to run “on the button” and for what we hope is a fairly minor gearbox repair. In addition, and very importantly for us in passenger service in future, the RPSI will be asked to fit a braking system that will fit the health and safety requirements for its use for hauling passenger trains. All this work will be grant aided to 75% under the Interreg grant we have won.

Ex Bord na Mona Rustons

After a long period of negotiation with Bord no Mona at the isolated Belacorick operation which was due to close we managed to obtain three complete 4-cyl Ruston locos and one almost complete for spares. All engines are now in store temporarily at Donegal Town under tarpaulin. But they cannot stay this way now that Bus Éireann want some of their space back. Luckily we have been able to broker an arrangement with local member Mervyn Johnston who is restoring the crossing cottage at Mullanbuoys on the Killybegs branch. Mervyn is willing to store at least two of the locos and a couple of our wagon bodies which will relieve the current pressure on storage space as well as giving him immediate access to a Ruston. We also hope to help Mervyn lay some track as he has a considerable length of old trackbed on his property. We then hope to repair the third as a stand by and the fourth, already in pieces will be a source of parts, both for us and for our fellow enthusiasts in Donegal running Gardner engined vehicles, such as at Fintown.

Wickham Trolley

Our Wickham Trolley has had a new chassis made by the RPSI under our Interreg Grant and a search is being made for a suitable engine. This trolley has the potential to become our first, lightest and probably most convenient motive power for any new rail operation we can manage to get going. However, in order to meet spend targets, the Wickham work was shelved for a few months in order to do some of the more costly work on Drumboe which fitted the requirements of the European grant budget strategy.

Trailer 5

Like Drumboe, Trailer 5 has also been moved to the RPSI at Whitehead using Patsy Meehan’s recovery lorry. Trailer 5 has already had road wheels fitted making manoeuvring much easier – a necessity since it was damaged several years ago via careless moving on site in Donegal Town. A new roof is now being fitted to replace the original leaking one, and the roof bracing is being made to fit properly. The metal cladding on the sides of the trailer was really not well done in a previous attempt at restoration some years ago and will be replaced competently by the RPSI experts.
We hope the work on Trailer 5 will be finished by the end of September, after which it will come back to Donegal for its use as a potential snack bar and tea room and a welcoming place as visitors reach the site.

Other Items

A lot of effort has gone into the collection and renovation of a number of items of rolling stock. coach 28, grey vans 30 & 31, red van 12, coach 58 and railcar trailer 15 have all had attention in one way or another. The details of the tremendous work being carried out will be outlined in the next issue of “The Phoenix”.

Autumn 2005

Level of activity

We believe there has been more activity here recently than has occurred since the old station reopened as a museum 10 years ago. So much, in fact, that we realised we had our heads down working here and were not writing to tell members about it. A Phœnix was planned for this month and is still in preparation, but with the threat of a mail strike here we thought it best to get some news and our mail order list out to our members while still possible and this has been done. The Phœnix will still appear, with lots of colour, before Christmas. For those accessing our web-site, here is a summary of the news.

Miniature Railway Attraction

The 7¼” gauge line is now laid along the full length of the old station platform. In a mad rush it was made ready for the Festival in June, but the pounding of the heavy Damhead steam loco exposed our amateur efforts at ballasting and in July a volunteer team of John Darch, (seen below) Dietmar Steiner and Neil Tee took up the track and reballasted the whole length. We now have an operational miniature railway with electric Ruston look-alike locomotive and red ride-on coaches. The loco awaits a repaint in CDR colours. Special insurance has been arranged so we can use the railway for more than just Open Days.
Later we hope to have a live steam loco, hopefully a Drumboe look-alike. A training programme is being agreed with Damhead so several staff will be trained as drivers and guards. This will complete the smaller scale attractions to bring visitors to the museum.

Reinstatement of the 3-foot

To help progress further local action on reinstating the 3-foot gauge line here, we took the Mayor of Donegal Town, Ciaran Twomey on an official visit in October to the Chemin de Fer de Vivarais, a highly successful French preserved narrow gauge steam line south of Lyon in the Rhone Valley, France. We also viewed a number of possible useful spare parts in the Vivarais yard and discussed the possibility of applying for a joint European grant.
The Mayor is backing our Park-and-Ride scheme and has suggested we now make full planning application for the first stage of the reinstated line, the loop at Donegal Town Station platform.

Trail of the Rail Festival 05

The second Trail of the Rail Festival was run over the first weekend in June. There were more facilities than ever including a visit by a working steam traction engine, steam rides on our miniature railway, a classic car display, and the special display of the original Lydia nameplate.

Track laying in 3-foot gauge

For three years we have planned to have a siding alongside Drumboe to store Coach 28 and a wagon. Coach 28 needed to move onto this to allow room for the extension to the station.
Member Bill Thrush kindly sponsored some extra track for us. With this and co-operation from the West Clare Railway in Moyasta we managed to bring a length of 45 feet and a further length of 40 feet of ready made up 3-foot gauge track to Donegal Town. We used an artic belonging to local recovery specialist Patsy Meehan. The artic actually broke down near Knock on the way to the West Clare but Patsy and the Chairman fixed it by the roadside!
Local builder Liam Duffy dug out and made the formation for the laying of the siding alongside Drumboe, using 100 tons of hard core as a base! Thanks to further co-operation from Liam, a teleporter was ready on site when the artic arrived from the West Clare. This allowed the 45-feet siding to be passed from the lorry over the fence onto the formation beside Drumboe. The 40-feet track length was then moved behind the bus garage for neat storage of the Rustons from Bord na Móna.

Motive power for the 3-foot

Negotiations with Bord na Móna in Bellacorick actually took place for over a year. It is sad to reflect on the fact that 10 years ago there was a thriving 3-foot gauge line there with visitors being carried in an ex-West Clare coach. Now the whole operation is closing down, turf-cutting and all, and the place has a depressed air about it, particularly in the days of heavy rain when the Chairman and Patsy Meehan visited with the artic to pick up the Rustons. These weighed between 5.9 and 6.5 tons each so a calculation showed the rig coming back from Bellacorick weighed a total of some 37 tons! The Rustons now await tarpaulins on our new storage siding.
We would like to set up working parties for the initial cosmetic protection and repainting of these, while awaiting full diesel servicing from a specialist. Anyone interested, please contact CDRRL.

Coach 28 on bogies

Once the new storage siding was in place beside Drumboe in the station garden, it was time to move the bogies into place on the siding ready for mounting Coach 28 on them - not as simple as it sounds as the bogie pivot pins were missing their bearings and bearer plates. The Coach is in fact resting on blocks on the bogies and not mobile, but it looks ready to run and a much improved display. The bogies are the correct 1893 versions with 4’3” wheelbase. A platform with wheelchair access is being built alongside the coach.

Collection of rolling stock

At last we have been able to embark on the rolling stock collection project and we have already collected wagons 30 and 31, and red wagon 12. In the picture you see Nos. 30 & 31 sitting together in the station yard now, no 30 being the one in good condition. A while ago we put a picture in the Phœnix of a narrow gauge wagon that did not fit any of the CDR or Clogher Valley designs. There are two like this in the Mountcharles area, and we went to case them ready for collection. Director John Darch was with us on the day and spotted a faded CIE logo on one of them. To us that means they must be West Clare wagon bodies and they have the right diagonal metal bracing you can see in some photos of West Clare vans.
There are some stories behind the goods van collections! We went first for no 30 with a 6-wheel lorry with mounted 3.5 ton crane. We got everything ready but the crane would not lift the wagon! So our team left everything, thumbed a lift back to Donegal Town and came back with a bigger crane. – mounted on the same lorry that was the tractor on the artic that went to the West Clare and Bellacorick. Wagon 30 belongs to NWIRS and is by far the best CDR example outside of a museum. We then went to collect No 31 during a howling gale from a field on St John’s Point. At least it was dry or the 6-wheel lorry (but only 1-axle driven) would have stuck in the field. A huge gust during lifting blew the wagon onto its side – it was already in such poor condition that we were lifting it through its roof! We could not right it and it was brought back to Donegal Town still on its side on the lorry! It now sits alongside its twin No 30 in the yard except that they are not exact twins and there are some interesting differences in the bracing. One thing we did notice was the wonderful condition of the long wooden chassis members of all the wagons collected.
Red Wagon 12 looked very weak and was at the bottom of a garden in Castlefin. Member Brian Moriarty and a team built an internal wooden bracing and we bought a dozen round strainer posts for rollers. We winched the wagon across the length of the garden using the rollers pulling with a strap round the strongest part of the buffer beam. Then when we could reach with the crane, we lifted it onto the lorry using the 3.5 ton crane, thus proving the lighter weight of the red wagons. We also used the spreaders specially made for us to ensure that when lifting we did not do any more damage to already weak rolling stock.

Extension

Everything always happens at once it seems. So while we were collecting and laying track and project managing the rescue of rolling stock from around the County, we also had to begin clearing the site at Donegal Town Station for the extension. First we had to remove a tree, which was actually cut down for us by the man restoring Mullanbuoys Crossing Cottage on the Killybegs branch, then we brought in Quinn’s cranes to move the signal box and the signal/telegraphy hut. The latter registered over 5 tons on the crane!
Local builder Liam Duffy then dug out the foundations, laid footings and then laid blocks ready for placing Coach 58 and Railcar Trailer 15 in their new positions where they will be restored as part of the station extension.
When this is completed it will effectively double the covered display space at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre. We are going to need more sponsorship to complete the work and the Mayor has already spoken to IFI on our behalf with a positive sounding result. A formal application will be made during November.

Interreg

As if this was not enough, our schedule agreed with the Cross-Border administration of Interreg required that the grant-aided work start in October. Our Wickham trolley has therefore been moved to the Giants Causeway workshops in readiness for restoration work to start. Trailer 5 has proved more difficult and it has been decided that it would be much easier if the budgeted-for wheelset was fitted prior to moving it to the Giants Causeway for roof renewal and bodywork attention. This will be a road wheel set as indeed once fitted to Trailer 5 after its removal from the railway in 1960. This will make it mobile as a display both on site and around the County where there is some demand for CDR display vehicles.
After the Wickham and Trailer 5 are tackled, the Interreg grant will sponsor addition of air brakes to our best Ruston and a new dome, chimney, smokebox door and water tanks for Drumboe.

Additions to the museum

Apart from the larger acquisitions of rolling stock we have been stocking the museum with other items of interest. A number of Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension tickets, never previously on the museum’s asset register, have been purchased for display. The Donegal Railway Heritage Centre has also acquired rare old Railway Magazines with articles on the CDR and L&LSR. These came handy recently after a visitor had queries on the Carndonagh extension and they went away with copies of the articles and a timetable of the extension’s railway services.
Also on the register are examples of the Corgi model of a Swilly bus and a GNR period double-decker. We also have a number of CDRJC reports from the 1950s as well as a much older one from 1912.

County Donegal's Railway Heritage

One of our objectives is the protection of key remaining railway buildings. Gordon Morrow has cleared the brush from the parapet of the old road overbridge visible at Clar. In July Brian Moriarty brought a team to clear Falcarragh Station Platform as part of the Creeslough Festival in July, and also arranged a well-attended walk along the old Burtonport Extension trackbed from Cashelnagor to Gweedore.
As most members know, Killybegs branch Crossing Cottage No 9 at Drumark on the outskirts of Donegal Town was restored a few years ago by Connie and Jack Denne. Mullanbuoys Crossing Cottage No 16 has been purchased by Mervyn Johnston and is undergoing restoration. Unusually this cottage has a platform and we were able to locate a supply of spare coping stone for the new owner. Formal offers have now been made by benefactors for Keeney’s Crossing Cottage No 11 on the Killybegs line and Cashelnagor Station on the Burtonport Extension.

CDRRL finances

There has been considerable expenditure during the Summer and Autumn to finance all this activity. The effect of this is always compounded by late arrival of the sponsoring grants which never come till after the expenditure had been proven. This means that while overall the figures balance we are having to finance a costly overdraft. The major Dublin Show at the end of October, our biggest single source of income in a year, required as much effort as ever, but returned only ⅔rds of the revenue of last year, basically due to poor attendance. Our stand was still lively and takings proved how essential it is to have a stock of Thomas the Tank items, sales of which were our main source of income.

Spring 2005

So successful was the first Trail of the Rail Festival in getting this started that a second one is being organised for the Bank Holiday Weekend of 4^th- 6^th June this year. While obviously one purpose of the event is to build further on the promotion of the Trail of the Rail concept and provide more visitors with details of places around Co Donegal which would give them an adventure in railway history, CDRRL know it is important to ensure that the Festival activities in Donegal Town will themselves be a family attraction. So for the Festival, there will be all kinds of other attractions in addition to the railway exhibits at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre.

Let’s look at some of the planned attractions.

Summer 2004 News

It has been a busy year so far for the narrow gauge enthusiasts in County Donegal. The first railway festival, sponsored by North West Tourism, was held over the Irish Bank Holiday weekend of 5th-7th June in Donegal Town. On the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre site there were a series of model and garden railway trains running, visits to the footplate of one of the ex-CDR steam locomotives on static display, bouncy castles for the children, face-painting, a palmist, bric-a-brac and book sale, a half-size steam traction engine, and a full classic car display.

The objective of the Festival was to launch the Trail of the Rail, a new initiative from County Donegal Railway Restoration Ltd (CDRRL) to safeguard and promote the remaining railway heritage across the whole of County Donegal. This has begun with a Heritage Council sponsored review of all remaining railway structures in the County. The review, which is being continually developed and updated, currently runs to 200 pages with some 400 colour photos, and a recommendation is given on every structure. Already there have been two days of follow-up discussions with the County’s Heritage Officer on listing some structures in original condition and action is beginning on some sites to protect unique station canopies and on others to clear brush and ivy off bridges to protect the structures. The report is available at £37.50/€55 including postage to UK or Ireland. A free leaflet on the Trail of the Rail is available from the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre if requesters send an addressed envelope to the Centre with an unattached 2nd class UK stamp.

History was also made with a special co-operative exercise forming a star attraction at the Festival. One of the original Leyland coaches brought in to replace the County Donegal Railway in the 1960s was on site. In a superbly co-operative gesture, Bus Éireann agreed to adopt the bus for the Sunday of the Festival allowing it to carry fare-paying passengers again. A lucky group were then taken from Donegal Town around the old bus route to Glenties and then on to Fintown where all had a trip on restored County Donegal Railcar No 18. This is owned by North West Of Ireland Railway Society who themselves are co-operating with Cumann Traenach na Gaeltachta Lair (CGTL) who operate the two miles of original County Donegal formation from Fintown towards Glenties. So the bus that replaced the train was used to bring passengers back to the reinstated train.

CGTL are operating trains on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays all summer using the NWIRS railcar, which is now free to operate after being removed from the Foyle Valley Railway Centre in Derry. Although the Centre opened on a few dates last year, it appears to be closed for the duration this year, despite efforts by all the enthusiast groups to find a way of co-operating with Derry City Council to open it. More tragic still was the arson, which caused the destruction earlier this year of an original CDR wagon body in store at the compound just south of the Foyle Valley Centre. Efforts by CDRRL and NWIRS to persuade Derry City Council to release the remaining chassis so CDRRL can put a replacement body on it and store it safely for display at Donegal Town have not yet succeeded.

More and more 15mm and 16mm to the foot scale models of the County Donegal rolling stock are being introduced to the garden railway completed a year ago at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre in Donegal Town and a 7¼” gauge line is occasionally laid for children’s ride on trains. It is hoped this will become more permanent by next year.

Meanwhile at the 3 foot gauge level, funding has been sought from Interreg for completion of the restoration of a Ruston diesel loco, a Wickham trolley, Railcar Trailer 5, and partial restoration of steam locomotive Drumboe. A submission to the local Donegal Town Plan has ensured the incorporation in that of the CDRRL’s scheme for a ¾-mile Park-and-Ride system along the old trackbed out from Donegal Town station. CDRRL are in the process of forming a new associate company which be allowed to have share capital currently not permitted under the grant aid rules governing CDRRL. Plans have also been drawn for extending the old station house using the rescued Coach 58, with its two halves placed together again for the first time for 40 years, and articulated Railcar Trailer with their restored bodies joined through the corridor connections.

Finally CDRRL have created a new video of the railway and the life around it in 1958 from kindly donated old cine film. While the expensive and sophisticated technology was not affordable, CDRRL co-operated with Altan Studio in Creeslough in old Burtonport Extension country to create a 57-minute video all previously unpublished, entirely with their own resources. This is available at £15.50/€23 (DVD version is also available at £19/€27.50) including post for UK and Ireland.

	Below: The motor coach that replaced some of the County Donegal Railway services picks up passengers at Donegal Town station to go to the reinstated railway at Fintown for a ride in ex-County Donegal Railcar No 18
	Below Right: The garden railway at Donegal Railway Heritage Centre with some of the scale models of the County Donegal stock and an LGB train run for younger enthusiasts.
	Digital copies of these and similar photos are available if required.

22 February, 2002

There has been a lot of work carried out recently at the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre. Some of the recent events and improvements that we have carried out are outlined below. A cosmetic restoration of our showpiece 43-ton steam locomotive, Drumboe, was completed before Christmas and the engine are now back to its former glory. A computer game which can be played in real time for around 45 minutes has been set up in the Heritage Centre. The game is a simulation in which you drive a steam train over the famous Barnesmore Gap pass and is available for members of the public to use. Copies of the game can also be purchased by members of the society. New stock has been purchased for the shop which, includes Thomas the Tank Engine items that appeal to children. A working model railway has also been set up which will further increase the popularity of the centre with children and therefore encourage new visitors. New exhibits will include the history of Donegal Tweed and the story of how it traveled by rail. During the recent Christmas Holidays the Centre had four “Santa days”. On these days children were able to take a ride on a model train, which was a replica of an original railcar no. 10, to visit Santa while their parents were able to relax and have a hot drink of Tea, Coffee or Mulled Wine. These days were a large success and a great time was had by all. With the closure of the FAS scheme a business consultant was hired to write a business plan. This plan produced over 80 new business ideas. It was accepted by the Social Economy who will fund a manager and four employees. Many of the improvements mentioned are as a result of this plan. The scheme also offers employment opportunities for a manager and four other members of staff. Although the improvements and events mentioned above were both successful and profitable they are by no means the end of our task. The Committee and the Manager of the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre remain committed to the improvement of services here at the centre and to the restoration of the railway. Our future plans include the complete rejuvenation of Drumboe and a plan to reinstall the CDR from Donegal Station for ¾-mile out to the proposed new Dunne’s shopping complex at Drumlonagher on the Donegal by-pass. We have obtained outline planning permission to do this and the proposal means we could have a year-round tramway operation for local people with steam trains supplementing it in the tourist season and at other key times of year such as Easter, Hallowe’en and for Santa Specials. This is a unique combination of an environmentally sound transport proposal plus a tourist railway. We would plan to use a restored Drumboe for the tourist services. The North West of Ireland Railway Society are in fact the owners of this loco and we have signed a co-operative agreement with them and they are preparing an agreement to lease Drumboe to us. Our agreement with them will also entitle us to apply for Cross-Border funding. Using the railway to link the proposed Dunne’s shopping complex with Donegal Town means that the operation would not be confined to a short season and is much more likely to be sustainable than the typical limited season tourist railway that does not actually joint two useful points. We have the support of the developers Bennett Construction in the form of a large donation. We still, however, require a substantial amount of additional funding and support in the form of our members is essential to the future of both the Heritage Centre and the CDR.

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