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Heritage railway in County Clare, Ireland

The West Clare Railway (WCR) originally operated in County Clare, Ireland, between 1887 and 1961. This 3 feet narrow gauge railway ran from the county town of Ennis, via numerous stopping points along the West Clare coast to two termini, at Kilrush and Kilkee, with the routes diverging at Moyasta Junction. The system was the last operating narrow gauge passenger system in Ireland and connected with the mainline rail system at Ennis, where a station still stands today for bus and train services to Limerick and Galway. Intermediate stops included Ennistymon, Lahinch and Milltown Malbay. A preservation society maintains a railway museum at Moyasta Junction station, and successfully re opened a section of the railway as a passenger carrying heritage line with diesel traction in the 1990s, and with steam motive power from 2009. The Railway was notorious for poor timekeeping, resulting in litigation and a celebrated comic song.

The Famine was over and there was a new growth in local businesses. The British Government determined that an improved railway system was necessary to aid in the recovery of the West of Ireland. The West Clare Railway and the South Clare Railway were built by separate companies, but in practice, the West Clare Railway operated the entire line. The lines met at Milltown Malbay. In due course, the entire line became known as the West Clare Railway.

The West Clare Railway between Ennis and Milltown Malbay was built a few years earlier than the South Clare Railway. The first sod was cut on 26 January 1885 at Milltown Malbay by Charles Stewart Parnell, M. P., although actual work on the line had begun in November 1884. In late February 1887, the Athenry and Ennis Railway (A&E) filed an injunction to prevent the West Clare Railway from accessing lands it had built on that the A&E had previously claimed but not yet constructed on for itself. The case went to arbitration in March 1887. The West Clare Railway initially agreed to pay £51 annually for the right to build on the land, then in a second agreement reached on 27 June 1888, the West Clare Railway was ordered to pay rent at £60 annually to the A&E (which later became part of the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway) for use of the land. The line was opened on 2 July 1887. The notes for construction of the line were closed in December 1887.

The South Clare Railway built the extension from Milltown Malbay to Kilrush, Cappagh Pier (Kilrush Pier) and Kilrush docks with a branch to Kilkee from Moyasta. The line was proposed in 1889, with work starting on the extension in October 1890 and opening on 11 May 1892. The extension was worked by the West Clare Railway and was initially dogged by poor service and time keeping, but this later improved. Some of the service irregularity was attributed, in a report given at the railway's annual meeting in 1894, to a requirement set by the Board of Trade to run separate passenger and goods trains rather than mixed trains. His award was subsequently upheld in a reserved judgment when the railway company appealed the case two months later at the Clare Spring Assizes, before the Rt. Hon. Chief Baron Christopher Palles, by which time French had the germ of a song in his head: the line, 'If you want to get to Kilkee, you must go there by the sea' was repeated in court although it failed to make it in the song's final version. The Railway had a disastrous policy of defending litigation. In another case heard on the same day as the Percy French case, Mrs. Mary Ann Butler, from Limerick sued the Railway successfully when she was struck by a donkey on the Railway platform in Ennis.

In 1925, the company was merged into the Great Southern Railways. In 1945 the GSR was taken over by Córas Iompair Éireann. In the same year, a survey of local businesses was conducted with a view to the possible replacement of the railway by road services. Local campaigners urged that the railway be converted to the standard Irish gauge of , but CIÉ rejected this on cost grounds.

The West Clare Railway operated a fleet of eighteen steam locomotives. Some historical confusion is caused by the reusing of fleet numbers (when locomotives were withdrawn, their numbers were reallocated). Each entry in the table below is a separate locomotive, even where fleet numbers are repeated. NumberNameClassClass (GSR)Wheel arrangementBuiltNotes1Original0 6 0T1886 BagnallThe original four tank engines were too light; scrapped in 19122Original0 6 0T1886 BagnallThe original four tank engines were too light; scrapped in 19003ClifdenOriginal0 6 0T1887 BagnallThe original four tank engines were too light; scrapped in 19154BesboroughOriginal0 6 0T1887 BagnallThe original four tank engines were too light; scrapped in 19015Slieve CallanIN15C0 6 2T1892 Dübs & CoPreserved and returned to service on the WCR since 2009.6Saint SenanIN15C0 6 2T1892 Dübs & CoIdentical to preserved locomotive 5 (above).7Lady InchiquinIN15C0 6 2T1892 Dübs & CoIdentical to preserved locomotive 5 (above).8LisdoonvarnaPN12C2 6 2TDübs & Co9FergusPN12C2 6 2TT Green2EnnisPN12C2 6 2TT Green4LiscannorPN12C2 6 2TT Green10LahinchBN110C4 6 0TKerr, Stuart & Co11KilkeeBN211C4 6 0TBagnall1KilrushBN31C4 6 0THunslet3EnnistymonBN43C4 6 0THunslet7MalbayBN43C4 6 0THunslet62 6 0THunsletAcquired second hand, shortly before closure.82 6 0THunsletAcquired second hand, shortly before closure.

Despite the dieselisation of passenger services in 1952 and freight in 1953 the system was still closed. On 27 September 1960, CIÉ gave notice of its intending closure with effect from 1 February 1961. CIÉ said that the West Clare was losing £23,000 (€1.2M 2006 equivalent) per year, despite the considerable traffic handled. In December it was announced that the line would close completely on 1 January 1961. Eventually, the line closed on 31 January 1961 with CIÉ starting work on dismantling the line the day after the closure on 1 February 1961. By the time of its closure, the West Clare Railway was the last narrow gauge railway in Ireland offering a passenger service; various lines operated by Bord na Móna continue to operate in connection with the peat industry.

Starting in the mid 1990s, efforts were made by a preservation society to recreate part of the original route. This group succeeded in acquiring Moyasta station, and of the track bed. Passenger services were resumed using two new steel coaches with bench seating, parallel to the direction of travel, built by Alan Keef Engineering and outfitted locally in wood by WCR engineers. A small but powerful diesel locomotive built for Channel Tunnel construction work hauled the trains. On 5 July 2009 the West Clare Railway's original steam locomotive No 5 Slieve Callan was returned to the West Clare Railway at Moyasta Junction following restoration in England by Alan Keef Engineering Ltd of Ross on Wye. This engine had previously been a static exhibit at the mainline railway station in Ennis. The locomotive was steamed for the first time on 14 July marking the return of steam to the West Clare railway after an absence of over 57 years. The railway has since acquired a number of redundant diesel locomotives, mostly from the Irish Bord na Móna; these are being gradually restored and returned to service.

In addition to the steam locomotive Slieve Callan, the railway owns twelve diesel engines, of which two are currently in service, the others awaiting restoration. Those in service are a 4 wheel Channel Tunnel shunting engine and a four wheel former Bord na Móna shunter. Awaiting restoration are a further nine such Bord na Móna shunters, plus a six wheel mine shunting engine dating from around 1948. Two passenger coaches are in service, and assorted maintenance vehicles including a tank wagon, four flat trucks, and four tipper wagons.

The heritage railway has been closed since June 1st 2022 until further notice. The museum may reopen in 2024.