THE COUNTY DONEGAL RAILWAY
Looking back at the rise and fall of County Donegal’s charming and extensive 3ft gauge railway network.
When thinking of the railways of Ireland, one of those that most likely comes to mind is the 3ft gauge County Donegal Railway – or to give its proper title from 1906, the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDR JC). Running through dramatic scenery with a fleet of large tank engines, and with passenger stock in a smart scarlet and cream, the line is just as well known for its fleet of railcars that transformed the financial decline of the line in the 1920s and kept it as a going concern until 1959. Reaching an impressive mileage of 124½ miles, it was the largest narrow gauge railway in the British Isles.
Route roots
The CDRJC’s origins lie in the Finn Valley Railway, built to the Irish standard gauge of 5ft 3in, which opened between Strabane and Stranorlar in 1863. In 1882, the 3ft gauge West Donegal Railway was opened after a three-year construction period between Stranorlar and a point four miles east of Donegal Town, with the town finally reached seven years later.
In a somewhat belated attempt to improve the economic situation in Ireland, which had been declining since the famine of the 1840s and subsequent mass emigration, the Light Railways (Ireland) Act of 1889 offered government aid to build new railways. The Finn Valley Railway and West Donegal Railway merged in an 1892 Act to form the Donegal Railway Company, and the 1889 Act led to the creation of the West Donegal Light Railway of 1893 between Donegal Town and the port at Killybegs. In 1895, the Finn Valley Railway opened a 3ft gauge line between Stranorlar and Glenties, with the former Finn Valley Railway having converted its 5ft 3in section between Stranorlar and Strabane to 3ft gauge in the previous year. This 75½-mile railway system met with the Irish standard gauge Great Northern Railway of Ireland at Strabane, instead of previously at Stranorlar.
In 1900, a line was opened from Strabane to Derry, with a terminus in the city at Victoria Road on the eastern side of the river and, at the western end of the system, a line was built from a point east of Donegal Town to Ballyshannon in 1905. This period of growth proved – unsurprisingly – expensive, and the railway was jointly purchased by the GNR(I) and Midland Railway of England in 1906, the railway now becoming the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDR JC). The section from Strabane to Derry was solely owned by the Midland Railway, however the entire route was operated by the CDRJC. A final addition to the mileage of the CDRJC came
