Plans for steam at Maam Cross… and it’s narrow gauge

THE Connemara Railway Project’s (CRP) grand vision to reopen a stretch of the Midland Great Western Railway’s long-closed Galway to Clifden branch took a step closer to fruition in mid-February when 5ft 3ingauge track returned to Maam Cross station in County Galway for the first time since 1935.

Six 40ft track panels on wooden sleepers have been laid on the original alignment at the western end of the station site, between the platforms and the Maam Cross to Maam Village road, where a temporary, but original, MGWR buffer stop has been put down.

In due course the project group intends to reinstate the level crossing over this road, and extend the track towards Clifden; the formation is clear for the next three miles.

Galway County Council granted planning permission for the Maam Cross revival last summer, which includes rebuilding the signal cabin (with an 18-lever McKenzie & Holland lever frame from Mogeely), restoration of the water tower, goods shed and cattle dock, and the re-laying of track to the 1930s layout.

In parallel with the 5ft 3in track laying, the group has also laid a temporary 3ft-gauge ‘pop up railway’ through the station from the eastern boundary, allowing trains to return to Connemara later this year.

Negotiations are currently underway for a visit by an Ireland-based narrow-gauge steam locomotive and privately owned carriages, which will be the first steam-hauled train to operate at Maam Cross for 85 years, and 125 years since the line opened.

“Once we have successfully launched the project with the return of a steam-hauled train, we will remove the temporary rails and complete the permanent 5ft 3in layout,” CRP spokesman Jim Deegan told The RM.

“Hopefully we will have the track down by the end of the year.”

To help fund the revival of the Republic of Ireland’s only

5ft 3in-gauge heritage line, the Connemara Railway has launched a €300,000 GoFundMe appeal to help maintain this early momentum.

Full details of how to donate can be found at: www.gofundme.com/f/ connemara-railway-project

BOTH: CRP Right: Work underway on the temporary 3ft-gauge railway at Maam Cross, which will carry steam-hauled trains later this year.

Above: Rails returned to Connemara on February 18 when the Connemara Railway Project began track laying at Maam Cross, 85 years after the last train ran.