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This page shows images of the revived 3 km section of
the Tralee & Dingle Light Railway (TDLR) reopened in 1993 between the
Aquadome in Tralee and Blennerville Windmill. The railway has not operated
properly since 2007 and faces a very uncertain future.
The Tralee and Dingle Light Railway and Tramway was a 51 km (32 mi), 914 mm
(3 ft) gauge narrow gauge railway running between Tralee and Dingle, with a
10 km (6.2 mi) branch from Castlegregory Junction to Castlegregory, in
County Kerry on the west coast of Ireland. It operated between 1891 and
1953, the Castlegregory branch closed shortly prior the outbreak of the
Second World War. It was the most westerly railway line in Europe.
The line was 31 miles long, broken into approximately 10 mile sections at
Castlegregory Junction and Annascaul, where the locomotives would take water
if required, and where trains could pass each other. In 1910, at the peak of
the line's usage, there were two return passenger trains, morning and
evening, which on market days, Tuesday and Saturday, made a third midday
trip. The trains passed one another at Castlegregory Junction, apart from
the morning trips which passed at Annascaul. Journey time was 2 hours 30
minutes. The Castlegregory branch train met every train at the junction for
the 6 mile branch. On Saturday afternoons it ran an extra trip through to
Tralee and back. On Sundays only the morning trip from Tralee and the
afternoon return from Dingle operated, plus two connecting round trips from
Castlegregory.
By 1922 there were just the morning and afternoon return trips on the main
line, which passed at Castlegregory Junction, and two round trips on the
branch to connect, Journey times were still the same. Sunday services had
ceased.
By 1938 there were still two round trips daily on the main line, still
taking the same time, but the times were altered so in the morning a Tralee
based train ran out to Dingle and back, while in the afternoon a Tralee
based train did the round trip. The Castlegregory branch train ran through
to Tralee and back in the morning, as there were no convenient main line
trains to connect with, but in the afternoon made a shuttle to the junction
as before.
Despite the rundown in the line's usage over time, all the timetables
required three locomotives to operate the passenger services each day. In
addition there were freight services, normally a round trip each day with
general freight, plus extra services on market days to move cattle between
Tralee and Dingle, which were the last trains to use the line. The cattle
trains to the end were of sufficient size to require two locomotives.
In the 1930s the road between Tralee and Dingle was improved, allowing buses
and lorries to effectively compete with the railway. The infrastructure of
the railway becoming increasingly dilapidated and, in parts, unsafe. The
passenger train service was timetabled to run from Dingle to Tralee in 155
minutes (for a journey of little over 31 miles), whilst the competing bus
service took 105 minutes.
On 17 April 1939, all passenger services were withdrawn and the
Castlegregory branch was closed completely. A single daily goods train
continued to run until 1947, when coal shortages forced its temporary
withdrawal. Thereafter a special train (for cattle) was operated once per
month in connection with the fair at Dingle. These trains finally ended in
June 1953. (Ref: Wikipedia)
To the delight of many a steam train began running over a short stretch of
the old Dingle line in 1993. What is more incredible is the steam loco is a
genuine survivor of the Tralee and Dingle Railway. The Hunslet-built 2-6-2T
no 5 is back on the line it was built for, despite being moved away to the
Cavan and Leitrim Railway upon closure of the home line. When the Cavan line
closed, no 5 was acquired for the Steamtown museum in the United States and
was shipped across the Atlantic. On display for many years, the fairy tale
continued when the loco made the return journey to Kerry, was restored to
full working order and in 1993 re-commenced duties on the relayed Tralee to
Blennerville section. More recently, the delay in the heavy overhaul of No
5T has caused partial or total closure of train services. Services
re-commenced in August 2009, using a diesel locomotive formerly in use at
the West Clare Railway but were only to last a short time before closure
once again. (From:
www.tdlr.org.uk)
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