Ballysodare

Irish Railway Record Society

Ballysodare - Sligo

50^th Anniversary of Singling

The inauguration of the new improved service to Sligo coincides with the 50^thanniversary of the singling, in 1958, of the last section of double track in Connaught, and indeed the last such section anywhere west of the Shannon.

The lines of the former Midland Great Western Railway as built were provided with a surprising mileage of double track, as described by Oliver Doyle in JOURNAL 144, February 2001, “Double Track on the Midland”. With the sole exceptions of the short portion from Dublin (Broadstone and North Wall) to Clonsilla and also Ballysodare to Sligo, arguably also the short length between Mullingar Nos. 1 and 2 signal boxes, all of the double track sections were singled between 1918 and 1930.

Ballysodare - Sligo was not dealt with in JOURNAL 144 and neither is it mentioned in Ernie Shepherd’s book, “The Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland”. With the Sligo line now seeing a greater number of passenger trains than has been the case for more than half a century, and enjoying more through services than at any time in its history, it is appropriate to complete the story of Midland double track.

The 4¹/₂ miles between Ballysodare and Sligo appear to have been double from the opening of the line in 1862. With the arrival of the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway from Enniskillen in 1882, which had entered into an agreement to make use of the Midland’s tracks into Sligo from Carrignagat, 1 mile south of Ballysodare, the double line was extended to a new double track junction at that location, the provision of the additional track being funded by the SL&NCR, although the track itself became the property of the Midland.

In 1895, yet another railway arrived in the area, the long extension of the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway from Claremorris. This joined the Midland at yet another junction, Collooney Junction, ³/₄ mile south of Carrignagat Junction, but only a little more than ¹/₄ mile north of Collooney (MGW) Station. The single track from Collooney Junction to Collooney (MGW) was protected by electric train staff, surely one of the shortest such sections in Ireland. There appears to have been no consideration given to extending the double line from Carrignagat to either Collooney Junction or the MGW station.

The small town of Collooney, population in 1920 320, was thus served by no further than three separate passenger and goods stations, each belonging to an independent company, and train movements were controlled by no fewer than four signal boxes, with two more at Carrignagat Junction and Ballysodare. The complex trackage in the area was further added to by a direct link from the Collooney (WL&WR) to the SL&NCR station of the same name. The roadbed of this link and the bridge by which it passed under the Midland are still to be seen just north of Collooney (MGW), since 1963 the only survivor of the Collooney stations. To complete the picture, Ballysodare also had a lengthy private siding which trailed on the down side north of the station though a rock cutting to reach the Pollexfen Mills, close to the main street of Ballysodare town.

Infrastructure of such a lavish nature obviously wasn’t going to last. After 1925, with the amalgamation of the MGWR with the Great Southern and Western Railway to form the Great Southern Railway, later Railways, the direct spur between the WL&WR and SL&NCR Collooney stations fell largely into disuse. It had been built for interchange of cattle traffic, but under the GSR, transfer now took place in Sligo. Some use is recorded during the 1940-44 period, but after 1944, the connection appears to have served for wagon storage only.

Collooney and Carrignagat Junction cabins were destroyed during the Civil War. Ad hoc replacements were provided, but in 1930, Carrignagat was closed as a junction and the tracks to Ballysodare used as separate individual single lines for the SL&NCR (former up track) and GSR (former down line) respectively.

The temporary signalling facility at Collooney Jct. went in 1931, the points and signals thereafter being operated remotely from Ballysodare by hand generator-driven motors. Prior to that, the block post at Collooney (MGW) had closed, the section becoming Collooney Jct. – Ballymote, later Ballysodare – Ballymote. At some stage, probably around the same period, Collooney (WL&WR) likewise ceased to be a block post, only the SL&NCR continuing to feature a fully signalled station in Collooney.

Double track remained however between Ballysodare and Sligo, and as can be seen from the table of services in July 1938, functioned several times a day to allow up and down trains to meet without conflict or delay.

From 1940 on, traffic on the Claremorris line shrank to just two trains a day, one passenger, one goods, but there was little change in the frequency of Dublin or Enniskillen services. However, in 1957, the SL&NCR went out of business, and with train n umbers dwindling to no more than eight or nine per day thereafter, the last remaining portion of Midland double track outside the Dublin area was singled, fifty years ago this year.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 165, published February 2008.