Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway
| Locale | south Donegal, Republic of Ireland, west Fermanagh, Northern Ireland |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1866–1896 |
| Successor | Great Northern Railway |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) |
| Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway (E&BR) was an Irish gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) railway company in north-west Ireland. It linked Bundoran and Ballyshannon on the Atlantic coast of Donegal with the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (L&ER) at Bundoran Junction in Fermanagh. The line was opened in 1868 and closed in 1957.
In 1862 the UK Parliament passed an Act authorising a railway to link the L&ER near Enniskillen with the Midland Great Western Railway (MGW) at Sligo. Construction began in 1866 and the section between Bundoran Junction and Bundoran opened in 1868. The Irish North Western Railway (INW), which since 1866 had worked the L&ER, also provided the train service on the E&BR. The journey between Bundoran and Enniskillen was about 43 miles (69 kilometres). Bundoran Junction was triangular, giving the branch access northwards to Omagh and Derry as well as southwards to Enniskillen and Dundalk.
The E&BR renamed itself the Enniskillen, Bundoran and Sligo Railway in anticipation of its extension to Sligo. This would have given stations on the E&BR a direct main line link with Dublin via the MGW instead of the INW’s indirect and rather meandering route to Dundalk where it connected with the Dublin and Drogheda Railway’s main line to the city. A direct link to Sligo would have benefitted not only Bundoran and Ballyshannon but also the considerable pilgrim traffic to Pettigo, the nearest station for St Patrick's Purgatory on Lough Derg. It would also have enabled the E&BR to carry substantial cattle traffic from the west of Ireland to the north-east, both for domestic consumption in and around Belfast and for export to Scotland and England.
...
Wikipedia