The first ever in-depth account of the gloriously scenic Galway-Clifden Railway which ran through the heart of Connemara from 1895 to 1935 will be launched this weekend in Maam Cross Railway Station.
This volume deals with all aspects of this major infrastructural and engineering achievement of its time – emigration, conflict, tourism, and its lasting affect on this most remote part of the Atlantic seaboard. Remarkably almost 90 years after closure the course the line is still mostly discernable..
Published by Oakwood Press, the 192-page tome, written by acclaimed railway historian and author, Jonathan Beaumont tracks the history of this line from inception to completion, and describes its operation throughout its life, following its closure, and the return to the community’s dependence on buses and lorries on atrocious roads.
Attention is given to its conversion in places to widen roads, to create greenways in others, and the railway revival scheme at Maam Cross today www.connemararailway.ie The result of many years of painstaking research, the book is copiously illustrated with maps, diagrams and photographs of all stations and all the types of trains which operated on the line.
Mention is also made of how the railway began to attract wealthy tourists to the area, and the erstwhile railway hotel at Recess.
The book will be launched at 3pm, on Saturday by TD Eamon O Cuiv.
