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Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway
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The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (The L&LSR, the Swilly) is an Irish public transport and freight firm, incorporated in June 1853. Despite the company's name, it does not operate any railway services, its last railway line having closed in July 1953. However, its successor company, the Lough Swilly Bus Company, still operates bus services over much of its old routes between Derry and northern County Donegal, as well as some services in County Londonderry.
ially planned as the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company when an application for incorporation was filed in 1852 after spurning the construction of a canal network to connect the two inlets, the company opened its first line, a standard gauge link between Derry and Farland Point on 31 December 1863.
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Encyclopedia
The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (The L&LSR, the Swilly) is an Irish public transport and freight firm, incorporated in June 1853. Despite the company's name, it does not operate any railway services, its last railway line having closed in July 1953. However, its successor company, the Lough Swilly Bus Company, still operates bus services over much of its old routes between Derry and northern County Donegal, as well as some services in County Londonderry.
History
Initially planned as the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company when an application for incorporation was filed in 1852 after spurning the construction of a canal network to connect the two inlets, the company opened its first line, a standard gauge link between Derry and Farland Point on 31 December 1863. A branch line to Buncrana followed in 1864, with much of the Farland Point link being closed in 1866. An extension to Letterkenny was constructed in 1883, and the network was converted to narrow gauge in 1885.
Carndonagh was served by an extension constructed in 1901 and Burtonport in 1903. These two lines were constructed as joint ventures with the British Government, with ownership and liabilities shared between the two parties. During this period the company did not turn a profit, and struggled to meet its debts.
Locomotives
| Number | Name | Built | Manufacturer | Configuration | Notes |
|---|
L&LSR No. 1 | J T Macky | 1882 | Black, Hawthorn & Co | 0-6-2T | scrapped 1911 | L&LSR No. 2 | Londonderry | 1883 | Black, Hawthorn & Co | 0-6-2T | scrapped 1912 | L&LSR No. 3 | Donegal | 1883 | Black, Hawthorn & Co | 0-6-2T | scrapped 1913 | L&LSR No. 4 | Innishowen | 1885 | Black, Hawthorn & Co | 0-6-2T | scrapped 1940 | L&LSR No. 5(A) | | 1873 | Robert Stephenson & Co | 2-4-0T | scrapped 1899 | L&LSR No. 6(A) | | 1873 | Robert Stephenson & Co | 2-4-0T | scrapped 1904 | L&LSR No. 5 | | 1899 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1954 | L&LSR No. 6 | | 1899 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1954 | L&LSR No. 7 | Edward VII | 1901 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1940 | L&LSR No. 8 | | 1901 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1954 | L&BER No. 1 | | 1902 | Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. | 4-6-0T | scrapped 1954 | L&BER No. 2 | | 1902 | Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. | 4-6-0T | scrapped 1940 | L&BER No. 3 | | 1902 | Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. | 4-6-0T | scrapped 1954 | L&BER No. 4 | | 1902 | Andrew Barclay & Sons Co. | 4-6-0T | scrapped 1953 | L&LSR No. 9 | Aberfoyle | 1904 | Kerr Stuart | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1928 | L&LSR No. 10 | Richmond | 1904 | Kerr Stuart | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1954 | L&LSR No. 11 | | 1905 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-8-0 | scrapped 1933 | L&LSR No. 12 | | 1905 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-8-0 | scrapped 1954 | L&LSR No. 13 | | 1910 | Hawthorn, Leslie & Co | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1940 | L&LSR No. 14 | | 1910 | Hawthorn, Leslie & Co | 4-6-2T | scrapped 1943 | L&BER No. 5 | | 1912 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-8-4T | scrapped 1954 | L&BER No. 6 | | 1912 | Hudswell Clarke | 4-8-4T | scrapped 1954 |
Routes
Routes eventually included:
Foyle Road Station, Middle Quay and Graving Dock Stations to Pennyburn level crossing, all in Derry where the depot was. Then east into Inishowen to Galliagh Road, Harrity's Road (approximate site of border between NI and the Republic), Bridge End, Burnfoot and Tooban Junction. At Tooban Junction (as the name implies) the railway branched, north into Inishowen and south into County Donegal proper. Northwards it ran through Inch Road, Fahan, Buncrana, Ballymagan, Kinnego, Drumfries, Meendoran, Clonmany, Ballyliffin, Rashenny, Carndoagh Halt, and Carndonagh. Southwards it ran through Carrowen (near Farland Point), Newtowncunningham, Sallybrook, Manorcunningham, Pluck, Letterkenny, Oldtown, New Mills, Fox Hall, Churchill, Kilmacrenan, Barnes Halt, Creeslough, Dunfanaghy Road, Falcarragh, Cashelnagore, Gweedore, Crolly, Kincasslagh Road, Dungloe and terminating in Burtonport.
Owencarrow Viaduct disaster
Disaster occurred on the night of 30 January 1925 at around 8pm at the Owencarrow Viaduct, Donegal. Winds of up to 120mph derailed carriages of the train off the viaduct causing it to partially collapse. The roof of a carriage was ripped off throwing four people to their deaths. The four killed were: Philip Boyle and his wife Sarah from Arranmore Island, Una Mulligan from Falcarragh and Neil Duggan from Meenbunowen, Creeslough. Five people were seriously injured. The remains of the viaduct can today be seen from the road (N56) which carries on from the Barnes Gap on the road to Creeslough.
Transfer to road operations
Starting in 1929, the company began to acquire bus assets throughout Donegal. Further expansion followed rapidly. It entered profitability in the early 1930s off the back of these ventures. Acquisition of freight operations followed, and this led to a reduction of rail services, and eventual closure of lines. The Carndonagh branch was closed circa 1935, with the Burtonport line closing entirely in 1940, with a section temporarily re-opening in 1941 to Gweedore, closing finally in 1947. The Buncrana section of the line lost its passenger service in 1948, with its freight service, and the remaining Letterkenny services all closing on 8 August 1953.
Following this entire cessation of rail services, the company moved solely to road transport. Second hand vehicles were purchased from a number of operators including Ulsterbus, and vehicles were obtained on loan from CIE. However, it failed to be profitable throughout the 1970s, and was purchased from bankruptcy by Patrick Doherty, a Buncrana businessman, in 1981.
The company exists to this day, operating passenger bus services, freight services, and holiday tour services; as well as providing the school bus services for many schools in Donegal. However, problems still exist for the company, with an attempt to withdraw bus services from Donegal in June 2003 met with resistance, and it is believed that the services are now being subsidised by the Irish Government, as they are seen as crucial to the often elderly and rural population they serve in Donegal. Their Northern Irish domestic services are generally subsidised by the Rural Transport Fund
The company has offices in Derry City at the Foyle Street Bus Depot. They also have offices in the Letterkenny Bus Depot. The company also has a large garage area in Derry and Letterkenny, where their fleet of buses is kept. The majority of their bus fleet, with the exception of those used for holiday touring, is more than 10 years old; mainly considering of 1994 registered Dennis Dart vehicles. The firm has no web presence, with timetables and contact information being generally difficult to obtain. Their registered offices are in Letterkenny. The bus service offered by Lough Swilly is of very poor quality. Even to this day the company still uses the old-fashioned ticketing service rather than upgrading to the new electronic ticketing service which other bus services, including Translink & Bus Éireann have done in recent years.
The end of rail operations
The last train to run on the line was the 2.15pm from Letterkenny to Derry, on 8 August 1953. It was laden with 14 wagons of cattle and turned in 50 minutes late! Bob Turner was the driver with Paddy Clifford as fireman. As the Derry Journal reported at the time "... the guard, Mr. Daniel McFeeley, or anyone else, did not call out 'Next Stop Derry'. Everyone knew that the next stop would be the last stop - the last ever."
Source: The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway - Edward M. Patterson, 1964.
In the media
An episode of the Channel 4 short documentary series Small Railway Journeys was based on the L&LSR giving many first hand accounts of the railway, including the viaduct accident. It detailed alleged cross border contraband smuggling and some irregular payment methods using local produce. The railway apparently had a reputation of treating freight with greater priority than passengers, evidenced by the distance of some stations from their served populations, and the delays caused due to the shunting of goods trucks attached to the passenger trains. It detailed the difficulties of running a railway in such an impoverished and inaccessible part of the country, with the frequent use of peat to fuel the trains, and the practice of handing down valued jobs on the railway from father to son.
See also
Other narrow gauge railways in Ulster
External links
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