A Tale of Three Sidings

ST. JOHN’S, ENNISCORTHY; ATHY BRICK; SROUGHMORE

Introduction

In the heyday of the railways as common carriers, sidings were essential elements in the handling of goods traffic. In Ireland, most goods sidings were features of stations handling both passenger and goods traffic. Stations catering for goods only were relatively rare in Ireland, apart from the cities and some larger towns, e.g. Ballymena and Omagh, where freight was handled at a location separate from the passenger station.

Public service sidings, for the delivery or reception of specific traffics, were however provided at more numerous locations, while private sidings, catering for the needs of specific industries or businesses, were also a feature of the rail network, and indeed a few still survive.

Barry Carse’s reference to Athy Brick Siding, Journal 191, p 175, has led to research into that long-gone facility, the second of our ‘three sidings”. Finally, Norman Campion’s article following prompted further study of the ephemeral siding at Sroughmore, Hence the third part of of our “Tale of Three Sidings”.