Foyle Valley Railway

The Foyle Valley Railway is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway in Derry, Northern Ireland.[1]

Foyle Valley Railway 2016
County Donegal Railways Joint Committee locomotive on the railway tracks, 1995

Foyle Valley Railway was initially opened in 1990 on the site of Foyle Road station of the GNR (Ireland). In August 2016, Destined Ltd, a charity for adults with learning disabilities, secured a lease on the premises and reopened the railway which had been closed to the public since 2002. A number of Destined members were trained by a staff member of Derry & Strabane District Council's Museum Service.[2]

The exhibition consists of a recreated station platform and visitors can find out about the various railway companies which once operated out of the city.[3]

The steam locomotive exhibited in front of the engine shed is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge locomotive built for the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee in 1907 by Nasmyth, Wilson &Co., originally numbered No.16 and named "Donegal". She was superheated in 1926 and then renamed and renumbered as No.4 "Meenglas" in 1937. The locomotive was withdrawn from service on 31 December 1959, when the CDRJC ceased to exist as a railway company.[4]

Initially, a former County Donegal diesel railcar ran along a 3-mile (5 km) stretch of track along the riverbank.[5] in 2002, the North West of Ireland Railway Society relocated the railcar to the Fintown narrow gauge railway in County Donegal.

Rolling stock
Railway vehicles at the Foyle Valley Railway
Number Type Build date Original operator Notes
42-6-4T steam locomotive1907CDRJCnamed Meenglas, stored outside
62-6-4T steam locomotive1907CDRJCnamed Columbkille
24wDM diesel shunter1956Motor Rail
12diesel railcar1934CDRJCbuilt by the GNR at Dundalk
30third class carriage1901CDRJC
14composite carriage1893CDRJC
18composite carriage1885LLSR
 ?hand-worked crane ?LLSR
19goods van1881CDRJC

Original use

The current railway structures formed the Londonderry Foyle Road railway station, terminus of the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) route into the city on the west bank of the River Foyle from Strabane and Omagh.

See also

References
  1. "Foyle Valley Railway Museum". Derry City Council. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015.
  2. Paul Gosling: Derry City Council unveils plans to sell off the Foyle Valley Railway Museum. Museums Association, Issue 104/8, p.8, August 2004.
  3. "Foyle Valley Railway Museum (Heritage Trail)". ni2012. Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012.
  4. Wilson Adams: Outside the Foyle Valley Railway Museum, Londonderry.
  5. "The Foyle Valley Railway Museum". Culture of Northern Ireland. 20 April 2006.

54.99197°N 7.321529°W / 54.99197; -7.321529

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