Stories of Killybegs Railway, Part 4.

The 130^th anniversary of the Donegal-Killybegs Railway occurred in August of this year.

Railcar No 12 at Killybegs, 17 May 1959, ready for Strabane.

NO RAILWAY FOR ARDARA

Although there was a proposal to lay the railway to Ardara, this did not happen.  The parish priest of Ardara, Rev. Bernard Kelly, was a strong advocate of a line to Ardara.  He stated that the railway would help to develop the fisheries at Rosbeg and Ardara, which had no means of export except by cart to Killybegs, where Mr Drummond iced the salmon. (William Drummond was the leading fish merchant in Killybegs in the 1890s; he owned an extensive grocery and hardware store located in the building now occupied by Mrs B’s café).  The original plan was to take the line from Glenties to Killybegs via Ardara, in two sections.  The first section was to be 15 and two eighths miles long, from Glenties to Killybegs town.  The second was to be two furlongs in length, from the town down to the harbour.   The estimated cost of the first was to be £90,057, and the second £3,349.  There were to be a stations at Ardara, Meentullynagarn, and Killybegs.  This proposal was abandoned, and it was said that the Ardara people missed an opportunity of lobbying for an extension from the Ardara Road Station to their town.  The Station which would be called Ardara Road was established in 1910.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT AT ARDARA ROAD STATION NEAR THE FIVE POINTS

It was here in 1902 that a passenger, Peter Boyle, was killed soon after he disembarked from the train, being practically cut to pieces.  Mr Boyle, who was about fifty years of age, and from Meenavally, left home on the morning of Thursday 3^rd April for Donegal, where he transacted some business.  He returned by the evening train, arriving at Ardara Road Station at eight thirty six.  At a distance of 108 yards from the station two gates closed off the old public road to Ardara when the train was due.  These gates had lamps which were lit at night.  The Station and the Station door were lighted. 

The Stationmaster, Jim Walker, said later that ten or eleven passengers, including Mr Boyle, got off the train.   He thought that Boyle had remained at the Station also, as he had to pay him for the ticket to Donegal and back.  He (Walker) did not have the change in the morning when starting off.  The deceased appeared to be sober; he walked along the path towards the gates and the road home.  The other passengers did not leave the platform until the train had departed.  The night was stormy with hail showers.

The driver said he blew the whistle while starting off.  When the train was crossing the road the driver, Sam Jones, thought that there was some gravel on the line. He applied the brakes, and when the engine stopped the fireman, James Duffy, got out with a hand-lamp but saw nothing unusual.  The journey was continued for a short distance but the driver told the fireman that there must be some stones on the line.  Duffy disembarked again and informed the Stationmaster.  He examined the line as far as the last Gate-house before Killybegs.  (This Gate-house at Straleeny was then occupied by the Sweeney family; later by the Hegarty family).   He found a parcel and some money between the rails at a point 210 yards from the Ardara Road platform. 

Charlie Sweeney from the Straleeny Gate-house, and Bill Walker also joined in the search. They were horrified to find the mutilated body of Mr Boyle, lying on its back between the rails, with some of the limbs missing.  The police were called, and a further search revealed one of the man’s feet at a distance from the body, while the track for about a hundred yards was strewn with pieces of flesh and bone. Sergeant Fallon of the RIC, while searching the line, found a walking stick, some sugar, a muffler and portion of a sock. He spent over three hours collecting the remains. 

It was thought that the man was walking between the rails when he was knocked down and dragged along the line. The remains were taken to Killybegs.

Railcar No 20 at Killybegs Station, 1956. (J. G. Dewing/Ernie’s Railway Archive)

RAILWAY PASSENGERS FINED

At Killybegs Petty Sessions in 1918 two Ardara men, Daniel —– and Patrick —— of Bracky, were fined for ‘having travelled on the railway on the 5^th January, between Ardara Road Station and Killybegs Station without having paid their fares, and failing to produce tickets.

Their defence was that they had paid for tickets from Donegal to Ardara Road, which was the stopping place on the line for Ardara passengers going home.  They claimed they were over-carried.  In those days the Guard on the train would call out the approaching stations so that people would know where to get off.  However the men stated that there was no shout, and that they were carried on to Killybegs.  John Sweeney, the Guard, and Joseph Murray, Stationmaster at Killybegs, gave evidence, and the men were fined ten shillings each, with an additional one pound costs.

CALLING OUT THE STATION NAMES

The late Bertie Boyd used to tell a story about the Guard calling out the name of each approaching station.  Two farmers from Tullaghacullion decided to travel to Dunkineely, and got on at Ardara Road. They asked the Guard how would they know when the train had arrived there.  He told them he would shout out ‘Dunkineely’ when they were getting near.  A couple of ‘corner boys’ from Killybegs, who were in the carriage, were listening to this, and when the train was approaching Bruckless Station they shouted out ‘DUNKINEELY’, and the men got off at Bruckless.

STORIES OF KILLYBEGS RAILWAY, PART 3.

The 130^th anniversary of the Donegal-Killybegs Railway occurred in August of this year.

Railcar No 20 leaving Killybegs between 1957 and 1959

Different Routes Proposed for the Line

In the years prior to 1893 the people of Glenties, Ardara, Killybegs, Inver and Kilcar fought to have the railway laid to their area.   The three main proposals were: Donegal direct to Killybegs; Donegal to Killybegs, with a branch at Inver leading to Ardara and Glenties; and Donegal to Killybegs via Glenties and Ardara.

The direct line from Donegal to Killybegs was finally pushed through, and the rest is history.  When the route was agreed, Father Michael Martin, parish priest of Killybegs, persuaded Arthur Balfour, Chief Secretary of Ireland, and ‘provider’ of the railway, to allow work to start on the line even before any contracts were signed.

At the end of 1890 the line was marked out and lockspitted, and the fencing began. The late Bertie Boyd of Tullaghacullion said that his father ‘drove every fencing post’ along the route.  These posts, and later the sleepers, were provided by John Gardiner, who had a steam sawmill at Mountcharles.  

By early January 1891 over 150 men were employed, and excavation of the earthworks along the route was well under way. The folklore of the area indicates that men who lived at a distance from the line would sleep overnight in barns and outhouses – this in the depth of winter.  Even so, the clergy and policemen were urging the gangers to employ extra men.  At Seahill, Dunkineely the line had to be bridged over the Burnlacky River, and the ground filled at each side.  For this work, temporary rails were laid and earth-carrying vehicles used to transport the filling.  Twenty four wagons, with suitable rails came into Donegal Railway Station and were transported to the Seahill site to move earth and stones for the works. On Sundays people came from long distances to have a close-up view of the works.

Guard Tommy Kenny and driver Cahir Kennedy at Dunkineely Station

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT ON THE KILLYBEGS RAILWAY

A MAN BLOWN TO PIECES – SEVERAL INJURED.

On Saturday evening, 4^th April 1891, shortly before quitting time, a terrible accident occurred on the railway works at Castlereagh, midway between Bruckless and Killybegs. A man named John McDaid, a native of Keelogs, Inver, was instantaneously killed and several badly injured.  The men were blasting rock with dynamite, and had nine charges set.  Eight of the charges went off, but the ninth missed.  They thought that all the charges had gone off, and despite warnings from the ganger, the men approached the workface again just in time to receive the full effect of the ninth charge exploding. McDaid’s head was severed from his body by a clean sweep, and his brains and portions of his skull scattered in several directions for thirty yards. William Hamilton, 20, of Tullaghacullion, had to be carried home. His wounds which were stitched by Dr Gallagher, Killybegs, and Dr Pollard, Dunkineely, extended from the mouth down along the throat to the chest.  The chin was greatly mutilated. John Gallagher had his jaw bone broken, and one of his cheeks and eyes shattered.  Rev. John Doherty, C.C., administered the last rites to him.  Four others, O’Donnell, Harkin, Herreran, and McCallig, were also injured. Medical aid arrived quickly to attend to the relief of the injured, but the situation looked hopeless for Gallagher, who happened to be a neighbour of McDaid. These two men were lodging in the house of William Buchanan, Castlereagh, to which the deceased and Gallagher were taken after the accident.  Rev John Doherty administered the last rites to Gallagher.  He also visited the other sufferers. 

Local feeling was strong against Harkin, the ganger, on the grounds that he should have been more careful. He was arrested by the police.  But it seems that that the inexperience of the victims in the use of dynamite was to blame for the occurrence.

In July William Hamilton took an action for damages against Dixon the contractor. Describing the scene of the accident, he said: ‘We were blasting on the railway works near Killybegs.  After one charge had been fired the men went back to work, and some undischarged dynamite exploded. The plaintiff wore blue glasses when giving evidence, and his lower jaw bore traces of the injuries.  He said that Frank Gallagher, who was known as ‘the blaster’ put several cartridges into holes in the rock prepared for them.  The workers then took cover and Gallagher put a fuse to the cartridges.  The charges exploded and the men were ordered back to work by a ganger named Harkin.   About half an hour later when they were working away with picks, another explosion went off. McDaid was killed. He believed that himself or McDaid must have struck the unexploded cartridge with a pick. Later he went to the eye hospital in Belfast where one of his eyes was taken out.  Dr Gallagher, Killybegs, gave evidence as to Hamilton’s injuries.  The doctor’s fee for attendance was twenty guineas. The jury found against Hamilton but ‘recommended him to Mr Dixon’s consideration’.  He was later employed as a porter on the railway.  John McDaid left a widow and seven small children to mourn him.  She eventually received about £80 from private and public sources.

Mountcharles man injured (1)

On Friday 20^th March 1891 Patrick Byrne, of Mountcharles, a Hackman at a cutting near Mountcharles on the Donegal to Killybegs line, was working at the bottom of the excavation.  The sides were undercut, and suddenly a large heap of earth fell from the top, almost burying the unfortunate man and the pick with which he was working. The force of the falling clay came against his leg and broke it.  The labourers at once proceeded to dig away the earth, and had him extricated and removed as quickly as possible.  Dr Smith set the leg, and the poor man was removed on a cart to the Donegal Infirmary.

Mountcharles man injured (2)

Ten months later, on Monday 25^th January 1892 a young man named William Campbell, employed on the railway works at Mountcharles, was badly injured.  His job was to remain behind on the wagon filled with clay from the cutting to the tip-head.  Before the wagon reached its destination, and while going at high speed, it tipped up, throwing Campbell right over the waggon.  He fell heavily on his chest on the rail and sustained serious injury.  It was some time before he could rise.  The accident occurred owing to the rails not being level at the joint, one being high and the other low.  The injured man was assisted home in a very precarious state.