West Cork Railways: Birth, Beauty and Betrayal

This wonderful publication provides a unique visual and historical record of the West Cork Railway as rail enthusiast and historian Chris Larkin warmly remembers the lifetime of the rail system in a travelogue which allows readers to hop onto a West Cork train and savour the journey of a bygone era. Highly illustrated with 188 images, while on board, you might even meet a celebrity!

Fully illustrated throughout, material from Irish Railway Records is complemented by unique and rare images from private collections and the London Illustrated News. Photographs, vintage posters, postcards, colour slides, tickets, advertisements and images of railway paraphernalia fill the pages.

West Cork Railways takes the reader time travelling from the famine right through to the rocking 1960s. Sit on a seat and be whisked from your West Cork home to villages and towns carrying along the dreams, needs and aspirations of bygone travellers. Observe railway life and the harmonious existence of dogs, cats, hens, ducks and geese at the level crossings. Railway enthusiasts will savour detailed accounts of railway stations, length of lines together with steam locomotives and wagons, while those interested in social history will enjoy accounts of halt-keeper's houses and lists of people including those that worked on the Cork - Beara line.

The railway brought much prosperity to the region; however, decades have passed since its 1961 demise and the rapid physical decay of the line. West Cork life continued, albeit in a different way. While today connectivity is measured in speed, this railway is fondly remembered for linking its people. Heartbreakingly, if it had held its ground for a further 12 years until EEC entry (1973), the railway right of way for future generations would have been preserved.