The Schull and Skibbereen Railway (also known as the Schull and Skibbereen Tramway and Light Railway) was a minor narrow gauge railway in County Cork, Ireland.[1] It opened in 1886 and closed in 1947.[1] The track gauge was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge.[1] The formal name of the company was The West Carberry Tramways and Light Railways Company Ltd.[1]
Route
Ballydehob Viaduct across Roaringwater Bay
The S&S's main line was 15 ½ miles long.[2] It was one of several in Ireland built under the terms of the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 43).[1] It largely ran alongside roads, although a large 12-arched masonry viaduct was built over an inlet of Roaringwater Bay, and at times using gradients at steep as 1:30.[3]
The line linked the small harbour and village at Schull(in Irish: Scoil Mhuire) with the town of Skibbereen(An Sciobairín).[1] The only sizeable intermediate village was Ballydehob(Béal Átha an dá Chab), although the station was located inconveniently far from the village.[citation needed] The line was single track, with a passing place at Ballydehob station.[citation needed] Other halts were built at Newcourt, Church Cross, Hollyhill, Kilcoe and Woodlands (of which only Hollyhill had a station building).[1]
Construction was begun in 1885 and soon proved to be substandard.[citation needed] The Inspector of Railways refused to allow the line to be opened for public service in August 1886.[citation needed] Following some remedial work and a subsequent inspection, the line opened in September with a restricted speed limit of only 15 miles per hour.[citation needed] In October the service had to be suspended for 10 days owing to problems with both the track and the locomotives.[5] Services had to again be suspended in April 1887, with local ratepayers having to subsidise the company.[5] The Inspector of Railways gave a highly critical report of the line's standards of operation.[citation needed]
Following further losses, in 1892 the Grand Jury of County Cork appointed a committee of management to run the line.[citation needed] In 1893 a short extension to Schull Pier was built, qualifying for a grant as it was an existing railway, the justification being fish traffic.[4][a]
Ownership by the GSR and CIÉ
In 1925 the company was incorporated into the new Great Southern Railways.[1] Owing to a shortage of coal during World War II (known as The Emergency in neutral Ireland), services had to be suspended between April 1944 and December 1945.[4] In 1945 the GSR was incorporated into Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ).[7] A further shortage of coal resulted in a renewed suspension of services on 27 January 1947.[4] The line never reopened; CIÉ formally abandoned the railway in September 1952.[4]
Rolling stock
The line was operated by steam locomotives throughout its existence:
SSLR 1 to 3 – Dick, Kerr 0-4-0T tramway locomotives of 1886 named Marion, Ida and Ilen.[8]
The standard train service, journey time 80 minutes, were two mixed trains a day. morning and evening, except Sunday were there was one, supplemented by additional trains on fair days.[4]
