A Line Less Travelled - Ballaghaderreen to Kilfree Branch Line

Ballaghaderreen Station with train facing towards Edmondstown

The Ballaghaderreen to Kilfree Junction branch line opened in 1874 and closed on Saturday 2 February 1963. The distance from Ballaghaderreen to Kilfree was 9 miles. The speed restriction was 25mph and half an hour was the time allowed for the journey. The basic passenger service was three or four round trips per day until 1947 when it decreased to two round trips in the morning and early afternoon.

I grew up a few hundred yards from Edmondstown Railway Station and travelled on the train to Ballaghaderreen regularly. One of my enduring memories as a child is running with my mother to catch the train and being late. I can still see the guard, Christy Plunkett, or Joe Dorrington, I think, gesturing to us to hurry up! The guard was kind enough to hold the train for us.   

It was exciting to travel on the train with its sounds and smells of a time now long gone. I loved to open and close the windows which were held in position by a brown leather strap. Strangely, the compartment light fitting was filled with water probably because of a leaky roof.

No trip to the town was complete without calling into Nonny and Tess O’Donnell’s for a cup of coffee and a cake before catching the train home. I also remember going there after I made my confirmation. Life was simple in those days. Sadly, the premises were burned down some time later.

There was no need for a watch to tell the time when we worked on the bog all those years ago. The sound and sight of the steam train signalled lunchtime. I was enthralled by the sight of the old locomotive puffing out clouds of white steam against a blue sky. Sometimes the engine would proudly blow its whistle as if saying “Look at me!” If, by chance, the train was running late, my mother would wave something bright or colourful to attract our attention and let us know that lunch was ready.

Edmondstown Station

The railway line ran alongside our land near Edmondstown Station. When haymaking, it was always a thrill to watch the train as it passed, and I was guaranteed a ‘front seat’ view. On the other side of the track was Kelly’s field which had a spring well where we could get water to quench our thirst. Further up in the woods, and behind The Four Altars, was Taaffe’s well where the water was ice-cold even on the hottest of summer days.

One of the highlights of the year was the ‘excursion’ train to Strandhill. Local people, adults and children, gathered on the platform at Edmondstown to catch the train which took us to Sligo via Kilfree Junction. We were then transferred by bus to Strandhill for a day on the beach.

In the evening, there was time to visit Woolworth’s in Sligo before taking the train home. The store was noted for its collection of cellophane-wrapped chocolate rabbits and Guinness bottles which were always popular with the children.

The railway crossing at Edmondstown Station, with its large wooden gates, was a popular meeting point for local youngsters in the evening. Looking along the railway line towards Ballaghaderren, you could see the tall trees that marked the children’s burial ground at Caltragh. In the other direction was Island Road Station and Lough Gara. The line ran close to the shore giving an excellent view of the lake.

Kilfree Junction

On Saturday 2^nd February 1963, the train made its last return trip from Ballaghaderreen to Kilfree Junction, hauled by 0-6-0 steam locomotive 574, departing at 11:50am. I joined the 160 children and 30 adults who made the journey marking the sad end of an era. On the return from Kilfree Junction a local band played a farewell. The last train was a special cattle train which left Ballaghaderreen at 3:22pm.

Many years later I met an old lady who, together with her son, had a farm on the border between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. When she heard that I came from Co Roscommon she told me that her late husband travelled to Ballaghaderreen to buy cattle which were then sent to England by cattle train. What a small world, indeed.