The Gillogue railroad

Gillogue, in Co Clare, is the site of a former Burlington factory and of a Clare entrance to the University of Limerick. It is also the site of a lock on the Plassey–Errina Canal, a section of the old Limerick Navigation, and of quarries, gravel pits and lime kilns.

And, according to the 6″ Ordnance Survey map, of around 1840, Gillogue also had a railroad.

The Gillogue rail road

The Gillogue rail road (click to enlarge)

The railroad was almost certainly not for carrying passengers; it may have been a light railway, with small wagons pushed by men or pulled by horses, and designed to be taken up and moved elsewhere fairly easily. However, I have no hard information about who owned it, who built it or what it was for. I can make guesses, based on its closeness to the canal and to the quarries, but it would be nice to have evidence.

If, Gentle Reader, you know anything about it, do please leave a Comment below.

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2 responses to “The Gillogue railroad

  1. andrew.irishrail@btopenworld.com

    Brian.

    Thanks for posting this one to the site, i would be very interested should anything else come to light on same.

    I see on the map, that the rail road crosses the track at the canal end and terminates at what might be a quarry or lime kiln, hence the goods from there went out to a road, one would have thought the closeness of the canal, would have been the route the goods went, yet the tramway does not go to the canal as such.

    Should you get anymore, i would be very glad of it.

    Regards.

    Andrew Waldron.

    ________________________________

  2. If anything comes up I’ll let you know. bjg

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