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Tracing the Navan to Kingscourt railway line on Google satellite and street view

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Opened in stages from 1872 to 1875, the Kingscourt branch line was intended to connect with the Great Northern Railway, ultimately connecting to Cookstown. This would have meant coal from the mines around Coalisland making its way to Dublin via Navan, but this was never completed. The result was a branch line serving a sparsely populated part of the country, and its primary use was freight, principally moving Gypsum from Kingscourt to Drogheda for processing at the Platin cement works. Gypsum is still mined at Kingscourt today, but after an Irish Rail strike in 2001 the mining company switched to using road transport and never went back to rail.
Today it would be good to see this kind of freight running on the rails again.
The tracks were never fully lifted, so reopening this line would not be the most difficult or most expensive project. The crossing gates were manually operated by the train crews, I'm sure they could be automated now. The viability of this line would be boosted if it could be extended farther north to the likes of Castleblayney, assuming that town could be reconnected by rail to Armagh, which in turn would be predicated on getting the Portadown-Armagh line reopened. Reopening this line for passenger use is very much a long term proposition.
Gibbstown station
eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/R...
Wilkinstown station
eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/R...
Nobber station
eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/R...
Kilmainham Wood station
eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/R...
Kingscourt station
eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/R...

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7 июл 2021

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Комментарии : 22

@paulobrienmus 3 года назад

Hi Eamonn, I really enjoy watching these videos. Thank you for your work & research producing them. I'm from Ardee, & used to watch some of the freight trains when I was young. I've also been on a few excursions too, including the last one which was a trip to Dublin.

@paulradford4100 2 года назад

This is such a great video with some good links to pictures. I'm struggling to find pictures of how it was in the past.. The line will never be open now, some of the crossings have had lines lifted "for road safety" and the only stations left have become private houses. Unfortunately the Irish powers that be are not forward thinking and brush off the nations history like mud from trousers. Even the castles (which ireland is known for) are left for ruin.. if the preservation society was given these lines, they could have been restored to their glory and become a tourist attraction, as many have in England - one of the most famous being worth valley railway, used on many TV shows.. The only way this line will ever operate again is within a simulator such as Dovetail's Train simulator 2022. This is something I am looking into and why I'm searching for those elusive pictures of stations in their prime..

@twinboo529 2 года назад

I don’t see the purpose of a greenway, as they say it’ll open up possibilities of a higher economy with tourists around; but I don’t see why tourists would choose this greenway over the many others being constructed around Ireland right now. Maybe Irish Rail shouldn’t reopen it as a passenger line as of now because they’d have to automate all the level crossings, but, like you said in the video, I think it would see fair use as a freight terminal with the Saint-Gobain, Kingscourt Brick and Kingspan factories all being in Kingscourt. Also it would keep the line open for the later chance of reopening the Midland Great Western Railway’s original plans for a Dublin to Belfast Line via Navan, Kingscourt, Carrickmacross, Castleblayney and Armagh to ease up traffic a bit and re-establish links to once rail-oriented parts of the country.

@martinkearns8205 2 года назад

@3:40 that line has been lifted just this week to clear for what I believe is a green way extension

@rocon86 2 года назад

It's an absolute disgrace turning this line into a green way. You'd swear there was nowhere else to walk in the country. Greenways are an excuse to permanently close these lines. Billions of euro revenue brought in so far this year and it's all being spend up in Dublin. Kingscourt is the commuter belt, we need this transport desperately.

@joshuaW5621 Год назад

It’s lines like this, Shillelagh, Monaghan and Tullow that need to reopen in some way or another.

@martinwalsh3228 3 года назад

They should reopen the line to cut down on 1) Traffic Jams, 2) Pollution & 3) Car Accidents/Road Deaths.

@martinkearns8205 2 года назад

line isnt suitable for traffic would require a new track be layed

@martinwalsh3228 2 года назад

@@martinkearns8205 The government needs to look into it and for 24 hour service in Summer & St. Stephen's Day trains too.

@joshuaW5621 Год назад

It should, even if it means converting it to tram, similar to the Harcourt Street line and Broadstone (which are now part of the Luas green line).

@martinwalsh3228 Год назад

@@joshuaW5621 24 hour trains in summer a limited St Stephen's Day service are also needed.

@joshuaW5621 Год назад

@@martinwalsh3228 yeah. And while we’re at it, let’s also reopen the branches to Shillelagh and Tullow.

@ajarms86 Год назад

It's such a shame to see all these lines closed, and as much as I like the addition of all these cycle greenways, everytime one goes in it means a train line will not re-open. What's your opinion of the recent greenway built over the nobber train line?

@eamonnca1 Год назад

I'm not opposed to greenways where a line is definitely not going to have trains running on it again, and it was hard to see a case for reopening the Kingscourt line. Maybe in the far off distant future it'll reopen and connect to the network at Castleblayney, but we're a long way off that. I see bikes fitting into the rail network as feeders. Every rail station should be safely accessible by bike on protected bike lanes and paths.

@donkdjs Год назад

Tracks are lifted now on this line near kingdcourt under the bridge with fresh stone put down for a greenway

@simonmccann1120 2 года назад

Lovely video. I was working for Irish rail around 2001 and I vaguely remember the switch of freight from rail to road. I think the main reason was cost but flexibility and reliability would have been part of it also. I live in Navan now and go cycling along parts of the line. Can't see it ever opening again but the greenway is something at least. Shame, it'd be a nice peaceful rural trip along it by a train. Not spectacular but charming in its own way.

@martinkearns8205 2 года назад

talk of a new track being laid as they need a dual road. The old line wont open

@paulobrien7209 2 года назад

There was no switch to road.the line closed because irish cement stopped using gypsum and it being the only traffic doomed the line.where the gypsum was loaded was closer to the gypsum mine that the factory which made plaster board and bagged plaster.hope that helps explain some of your questions.

@martinkearns8205 2 года назад

Tara still operates it

@paulobrien7209 2 года назад

@@martinkearns8205 tara only to navan.navan to kingscourt closed when irish cement stopped using gypsum