Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway
Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR), was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland. It opened in 1849 as the Cork and Bandon Railway (C&BR), changed its name to Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway in 1888 and became part of the Great Southern Railway (GSR) in 1924. The CB&SCR served the south coast of County Cork between Cork and Bantry. It had a route length of , all of it single track. Many road car routes connected with the line, including the route from Bantry to Killarney. Following absorption into the GSR and the  network could be referred to as the West Cork Railways or variations thereof, this also encompassing the former previously independent Cork and Macroom Direct Railway and the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Railway. History. The C&BR was formed in 1845 and began operations on the from Bandon to Ballinhassig from 1 August 1849, 25 seat horse omnibuses being used for transfers to and from Cork City. The section from Ballinahassig to Cork opened to public services on 1 December 1851. The C&BR was financially challenged after by building the Bandon to Cork section which had had some cost overruns and future extensions  to the network were undertaken by independent companies some of which operated their own services for a number years. Extensions to the railway. The Cork and Kinsale Junction Railway (C&KJR) company built the first extension to the railway to the port of which opened in 1863 and was operated by the C&BR from the outset. The branch left the main line some from Cork at a station simply called and was notable for some long 1 in 76 and 1 in 80 gradients. The C&BR completed purchase of the line from the C&KJR on 1 January 1880. Due to mounting  losses the branch was closed in on 1 August 1931 with the junction station being renamed Crossbarry. The West Cork Railway (WCR) was formed with the intention of extending the line to Skibbereen, the C&BR being in favour of such an extension but without the ability to raise the capital itself. The WCR opened the section from Bandon to ) in June 1866 and operated the section itself hiring in rolling stock and locomotives from elsewhere. There were ongoing tensions between the WCR and C&BR especially at with independent stations and goods transfer disputes. The WCR itself was unable to resource  the building of the Dunmanway to Skibbereen section which was completed by the Ilen Valley Railway (IVR) opening in 1877. Following arbitration the section was worked by the WCR. The operation situation agreed to was resolved on 1 January 1880 by byof a single operational management, the C&BR leasing the IVR until absorbing it in 1909 whilst concluding terms to absorb the WCR in October 1982. 12 May 1866 saw the opening of the independently operated Cork and Macroom Direct Railway (C&MDR) which initially used the terminus before almost immediately branching off on a line to . Toll charges and sharing  difficulties led to C&MDR to use its own newly built terminus at from 27 September 1879 with the connection C&BR severed soon thereafter. The IVR completed a branch from to Bantry which it leased to the C&BR to operate from 1 July 1881. In 1886 Skibbereen became an interchange with the narrow gauge Schull and Skibbereen Railway. The Clonakilty Extension Railway (from Clonakilty Junction), , opened on 24 August 1886 and was operated by the C&BR. A long siding for a flour mill owned by the Bennett family at Shannonvale about north of Clonakilty was notable for being horse-operated. The  siding was created in 1887 and extended to the mill shortly thereafter and remained horse operated until closure in 1961. Horse traction was used uphill, and trains were worked by gravity downhill. The Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Railway opened and operated as a independent branch from on the branch with stations at , and terminated at the seaside village at . An Act of parliament passed on 5 August 1888 enabled the name of the C&BR to be changed to the Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR) as well as allowing various alternations to the system. 22 October 1892 saw the opening  of an extension of the Bantry branch by by another company, the Bantry Extension Railway, through to the pier at Bantry Bay, the CB&SCR again leasing the line. There was also a pier built in 1909, which was abandoned in 1946. Eugene Hourihan ("circa" 1875–1963) from Ardra, Scart, Bantry recalled seeing the line laid as a child and removed as an old man. An extension from to by the Baltimore Extension Railway was operated by the CB&SCR from May 1893. Baltimore was a port on the southernmost extent of Ireland and increased the length of the CB&SCR to . 1 January  1912 saw Cork City Railways creating a connection between the CB&SCR and the rest of the Irish rail network by running a road tramway across the road bridges over the River Lee from immediately before across to the Great Southern and Western Railway at Glanmire Road. The CB&SCR was subject to various damaging incidents during the 1922—1923 Irish Civil War, the most impacting to the railway being the partial destruction of the Chetwynd Viaduct on 9 August 1922 with services only restored on 20 February 1923 services over the network on completely resuming in May GSR and CIÉ years. The  CB&SCR and the various became absorbed into the amalgamations that formed the "Great Southern Railway" in 1924 and ultimately the Great Southern Railways in 1925. An early action of the new combined management was to re-instate connect of the former CB&SCR and C&MDR railways so the line from could use the terminus at to achieve some operating economies. The GSR was consolidated into Córas Iompair Éireann in 1945. CIÉ introduced AEC railcars to the railway in the 1950s, which helped reduce operating costs. Closure. Due to economic problems, competition from road traffic and falling passenger numbers, the line closed  on 1 April 1961. The planned closure of the railway network met with strong local opposition, including the establishment of the West Cork Railways Association. At a meeting of Cork County Council's Southern Committee on 3 October 1960, Councillors were very critical of CIÉ's running of the line. A report published by a local pressure group in 2022 suggested that the railway in West Cork could feasibly return. Route. The system was completely built as single track with passing facilities provided at most stations. As a condition of loans from the Board of Works some infrastructure on the  main line was built to accommodate later conversion to double track, this had implications for costs particularly at Gogginshill Tunnel. Rocksavage works. The Rocksavage works and yard serviced the CB&SCR rolling stock and was situated at the south end of the site encompassing the terminus complex. The works built a single locomotive, the CB&SCR No. 7/GSR No. 478 in 1901 that was composed mostly of parts salvaged from other locomotives. On amalgamation to the GSR in 1925 major repair work was transferred to Inchicore with Rocksavage being used for light repairs. Major infrastructure. Chetwynd Viaduct. The Chetwynd Viaduct carried  the line over a valley and the main Bandon road (now the N71) between the townlands of Chetwynd and Rochfordstown about southwest of Cork city. It was designed by Charles Nixon (a former pupil of I.K. Brunel), and built between 1849 and 1851 by Fox, Henderson and Co, which also built the Crystal Palace in London. The cast iron ribs were cast on site. When "in situ" they had transverse diagonal bracing and lattice spandrels that supported a deck of iron plates. These in turn supported the permanent way. The viaduct is high, has four spans, each span composed of  four cast iron arched ribs, carried on masonry piers thick and wide. The overall span between end abutments is . The structure was seriously damaged in the Irish Civil War in 1922, but was subsequently repaired. It was in regular use until the line was closed in 1961, though "recovery" trains continued to use it during the dismantling of the line until at least 1965. The bulk of the decking was in place as late as 1970, other than at the ends, but this was all subsequently removed for safety reasons. Gogginshill Tunnel. The Gogginshill Tunnel near Ballinhassig in Co. Cork , was constructed between February 1850 and December 1851 by 300 men working day and night. There are three ventilation shafts and the tunnel is lined with brick, which was added between 1889 and 1890 after some minor collapses of the rock face. It is the longest abandoned railway tunnel within the Republic of Ireland, measuring 906 yards (828 metres) end to end. Halfway Viaduct. The Viaduct is located at Halfway, between Innishannon and Ballinhassig, c.30m above the valley floor. It is a three arch viaduct of masonry construction. Kilpatrick Tunnel. The Kilpatrick (Innishannon) tunnel is 122 meters in length  and located less than 1 km west of Inishannon, just before the River Bandon crossing. Services. Passenger services on the C&BR and CB&SCR were of low frequency with most routes seeing up to a handful of trains each way a most, with connections being of poor quality at times. Regular Diesel Railcar operations began on the Cork to service from 28 May 1954 and permitted a reduction in journey time of 38 minutes. Railcars and the 550 hp C-Class diesel locomotives had replaced steam on all but a freight service to by July 1957. The large A class locomotives  were used on 2 trial runs. One going to and another going to 1948 Timetable. On the right is the Cork to Bantry passenger timetable that was operational from 1948 until the closure in 1961. A few points may be noted from it: Rolling stock. Following the 1924 grouping the Great Southern Railway inherited 20 locomotives CB&SCR. At some point the CB&SCR was recorded as having 68 coaching vehicles and 455 goods vehicles. Locomotives. Over 40 steam locomotives were used by the C&BR/CB&SCR, mostly of the tank variety though some early examples had tenders. The most notable are generally  considered to be the "bandon tanks" build by Beyer, Peacock and Company between 1908 and 1920. Also of note are two Baldwin locomotives, the design of 1900 being the only instance of steam locomotives supplied from America to Ireland. Livery. The locomotives and carriages were various shades of olive green often with yellow lining.