Foyle Valley Railway
Coordinates: 54°59′31″N 7°19′18″W / 54.99197°N 7.321529°W
The Foyle Valley Railway is a closed railway museum in Derry, Northern Ireland.[1]
Foyle Valley Railway Museum was initially opened in 1990 on the site of a part of the disused Derry to Donegal railway line of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee (CDJRC). The museum has been closed since April 2002 due to insufficient visitor numbers and difficulties in organising volunteers to run the museum, after the council ended funding paid staff, when the city council fell out with the Foyle Valley Railway Society, with which it jointly founded and operated the museum.[2]
The exhibition consisted of a recreated railway station platform and within the displays visitors could find out about the various railway companies which once operated out of the city.[3]
The steam locomotive exhibited in front of the museum is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge locomotive built for the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee in 1907 by Nasmith & Wilson, originally numbered No. 16 and named "Donegal". She was superheated in 1926 and then renamed and renumbered as No. 4 "Meenglas" in 1937. The locomotive was withdrawn from service on the 31 December 1959, when the CDJRC ceased to exist as a railway company.[4]
Initially a former County Donegal diesel railcar ran along a three-mile stretch of track along the riverbank.[5] This railcar has now been relocated to the Fintown narrow gauge railway in County Donegal by the North West of Ireland Railway Society in 2002, before the society appears to no longer be functioning.
Rolling stock
| Number | Type | Build date | Original operator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2-6-4T steam locomotive | 1907 | CDRJC | named Meenglas, stored outside |
| 6 | 2-6-4T steam locomotive | 1907 | CDRJC | named Columbkille |
| 2 | 4wDM diesel shunter | 1956 | Motor Rail | |
| 12 | diesel railcar | 1934 | CDRJC | built by the GNR at Dundalk |
| 30 | third class carriage | 1901 | CDRJC | |
| 14 | composite carriage | 1893 | CDRJC | |
| 18 | composite carriage | 1885 | LLSR | |
| ? | hand-worked crane | ? | LLSR | |
| 19 | goods van | 1881 | CDRJC |
Original use
The current railway structures were the Londonderry Foyle Road railway station terminus of the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) route into the city on the west bank of the river Foyle from Strabane and Omagh.
References
- ↑ "Foyle Valley Railway Museum". Derry City Council. Archived from the original on April 13, 2015.
- ↑ Paul Gosling: Derry City Council unveils plans to sell off the Foyle Valley Railway Museum. Museums Association, Issue 104/8, p.8, August 2004.
- ↑ "Foyle Valley Railway Museum (Heriatge Trail)". ni2012. Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012.
- ↑ Wilson Adams: Outside the Foyle Valley Railway Museum, Londonderry.
- ↑ "The Foyle Valley Railway Museum". Culture of Northern Ireland. April 20, 2006.