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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Some notes and sources about the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway Also known as the Muskerry Tram
By Margaret Lantry May 28 2012
Route of the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway showing stations and halts. Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cork_and_muskerry_light_railway.png. Author: Stabilo boss
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Technical Details
Cork and Muskerry Railway (from www.irishrailwayana.com/pa208.htm)
Cork & Muskerry uniform button. Source: TRA104
Company formed 12/12/1883. Line opened 8/8/1887 from Cork to Blarney, Donoughmore [6/5/1893], Coachford
[18/3/1888]. Gauge 3ft. 18 route miles in 1911. Absorbed in GSR 1925, with rolling stock getting a K suffix.
Closed 29/12/1934.
Rolling stock: 6 locos, 19 passenger and 8 other passenger, 60 goods vehicles in 1911. 9 locos at various stages (5
Falcon, later Brush Electrical Engineering- 1887 2-4-0Ts Wks.Nos. 136-8, 1897 4-4-0T Wks.No. 274, 1904 4-4-
0T Wks.No. 307, 2 Thos. Green- 0-4-4T Wks.Nos. 180 of 1892 and 200 of 1893, 1 Kitson- 0-4-2T 1888 Wks.No.
235, 1 Hunslet- 4-4-0T 1919 Wks.No. 1200). At end 1890 rolling stock totalled 17 coaches (14 from Cravens of
Sheffield circa. 1888, later stock reputed to be from Oldbury, Falcon and Metropolitan), 3 other passenger stock
and 37 wagons. There were 27 passenger and 50 freight vehicles in 1925. In 1929 stock was listed as 3 locos, five
passenger coaches of the saloon type with end platforms, two luggage vans, and 29 goods vehicles of various
kinds. Names of locos were City of Cork, Coachford, St. Annes, Blarney, Donoughmore, Muskerry (originally
The Muskerry), Peake, Dripsey, Blarney (second).
Works: Principal engine shed and small repair shop at Cork terminus (Western Rd.)
Livery: Locos: light green, carriages: green. 2 classes (1st and 2nd, subsequently 3rd).
Staff: Manager - J.B. Wilson 1887-
Signalling: Manual staff and ticket system in conjunction with the telephone and absolute block working.
Sections: Cork -Carrigrohane (staff red), -Coachford Jct.(yellow), -St. Annes (blue), -Blarney (brown);
Coachford Jct.- Dripsey (white), -Coachford (green); St Annes- Donoughmore (bronze).
Further reading: S.C. Jenkins The Cork and Muskerry Light Railway, R.W. Kidner Narrow Gauge Railways of
Ireland, H. Fayle Narrow Gauge Railways of Ireland.
Cork & Muskerry Railway (from www.trainweb.org/i3/locos.htm#l_by_l_cmr)
Locomotive engines:
Name Manufacturer Number
1/1K “City of Cork” Falcon Engine & Car Works No.137 2-4-0T/4-4-0T
2/2K “Coachford” Falcon Engine & Car Works No.136 2-4-0T/4-4-0T
3 “St. Annes” Falcon Engine & Car Works No.138 2-4-0T/4-4-0T
4 “Blarney” Kitson No.235 0-4-2WT
4 (second) /4K “Blarney” Hunslet No.1200 4-4-0T
5/5K “Donoughmore” T. Green No.180 0-4-4T
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
6/6K/6S “The Muskerry” T. Green No.200 0-4-4T
7/7K “Peake” Brush Electrical No.274 4-4-0T
8/8K “Dripsey” Brush Electrical No.307 4-4-0T
More detail including personnel on www.trainweb.org/i3/line_cmr.htm#line_cmr
ing4trainz.greateastern.org.uk/c&mlrhist.htm This has some detailed information about the setting up of the Cork
& Muskerry Light Railway (C & MLR). First train to Blarney was on August 8 1887.
At this site at ing4trainz.greateastern.org.uk/histories.htm there are histories of the other light railways around
Ireland, by Joe Begley
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrigrohane_Straight
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork_and_Muskerry_Light_Railway
Books and Newspapers
Alan Thomas Newham, Cork and Muskerry Light Railway, Locomotion Papers, no. 39 (Lingfield: Oakwood
Press, 1968). 36pp ISBN 0853612218 (on Amazon.com in paperback). Reprinted revised and expanded by
Stanley C. Jenkins (Oxford: Oakwood Press, 1992) ISBN 0853614075
Stephen Johnson, Lost Railways of Co. Cork (Catrine:
Stenlake, 2005) ISBN 9781840333312 (pbk.)
Michael H.C. Baker, Rails around Cork and Kerry: an Irish railway pictorial (Hersham: Ian Allan, 2005) ISBN
9780711031586 (pbk.)
Irish Railway Record Society, London Area, The railways of Cork (Irish railways in pictures, no. 3) (Surrey: Irish
Railway Record Society, London Area, 1997)
Colm Creedon, Cork city railway stations, 1849-1985: an illustrated history 3rd
ed. (Cork : [s.n.], 1986) First
published: 1985
R.W. Kidner, Narrow Gauge Railways of Ireland 4th ed. (Lingfield: Oakwood Press, 1965)
Harold Fayle, Narrow Gauge Railways of Ireland (London: Greenlake Publications, 1946); repr. Wakefield: S. R.
Publishers, 1970, ISBN 0854096272 (hbk)
Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society: view tables of contents online at www.irrs.ie The archivist can be
contacted by email at [email protected] The library, in Dublin, is open each Tuesday 19:30 to 21:45
(September to June incl.). The London branch can be contacted at [email protected]
Bibliography of Irish rail transport at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_Irish_rail_transport
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Cork Constitution Saturday, August 6 1887
This newspaper and the Cork Examiner (1841+) is available on microfilm at the Cork City Library, Grand
Parade, Cork, and Cork County Library, Local Studies, County Hall, Carrigrohane Road, Cork.
Film
Mitchell and Kenyon in Ireland features a Ride from Blarney to Cork on Cork & Muskerry Light Railway (1902)
BFI catalogue entry: ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/731015?view=synopsis
Available for purchase from BFI online shop for £10
The detail relating to footage of the Muskerry tram are:
Leemount station (fenced, creepers growing up the
trellis, a gaslight). To the right is a single rail track and
a hill beyond. The camera is at the rear of the unseen
train. The train pulls away from the station and passes
heavily wooded scenery. There is snow [sic] on the
ground (00.34). A uniformed station worker walking
along the track, which is now no longer single. The
train passes a truck on the line and two horse-drawn
carts on the road at the side of the track (00.50). A
wide road with buildings to the right with signs on the
walls, which include `Sunlight Soap’ and `Sutton’s
Coal’ [adverts]. Train passes a horse-drawn cart, a tram
(marked W.S.10), a bridge and the backs of gardens or
allotments (1.20 mins).
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
British Pathe films – Blarney stone:
Blarney Stone (1949) www.britishpathe.com/video/blarney-stone/query/blarney
Irish Material (1948) www.britishpathe.com/video/irish-material-3 (no sound)
Picture Gallery
Photos from the Irish Examiner website are available for purchase from photos.examiner.ie/
Cork & Muskerry Light Railway on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/abandonedrailsireland/sets/72157627277045795/ A nice collection of photos showing
various places along the route of the light railway as they are today. Click on the map tab to see the locations of
photos overlaid on a Google map.
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Alighting from the 'Muskerry Tram' at Blarney railway station circa 1910. Ref. 10 Old black and white trains
transport. Ref: The Evening Echo 880019.jpg
Free State troops and railway workers recover mail following a raid by Republicans on a train travelling on the
Cork-Muskerry railway during the Irish Civil War in August 1922. Old black and white. Ref: Irish Examiner
trainwork.jpg
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Cork and Muskerry light railway - a hurling special rounding the Vagabond Rock bend between Coachford
Junction and Healy’s Bridge on its way to Cork. Old black and white. Ref: Irish Examiner muskerry.jpg
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Steamroller collides with Muskerry train at the Carrigrohane Road, Cork 6/9/1927 Ref. 83A. Old black and white
Ref: Irish Examiner steamtrain.jpg
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
One of the last trains to leave Cork city on the Muskerry line before its closure, seen passing gates of U.C.C on
the Western Road 30/12/1934 Ref. 445B. Old black and white. Ref: Irish Examiner traincol.jpg
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Site of old railway station, Blarney, Co. Cork in 1939. Ref. 218C. Old black and white farming. Ref: Irish
Examiner station.jpg
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
From Michael Lenihan’s book Hidden Cork: Charmers, Chancers and Cute Hoors (Cork: Mercier Press, 2010).
Available on Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Cork-Charmers-Chancers-
Hoors/dp/1856356868/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338140727&sr=1-1:
Michael Lenihan Hidden Cork: Page 40
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File created May 28 2012. Cork & Muskerry Light Railway: some sources by Margaret Lantry [email protected]
Michael Lenihan Hidden Cork: Pages 41 and 42
