A community heritage project, Waterford Suir Valley Railway has enabled the magic of rails golden age to be brought to life in Kilmeadan. A heritage narrow gauge railway runs along 10 kilometres of the abandoned Waterford Dungarvan line.

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Generations of the same family worked for the railways with sons and sometimes daughters following in their parents footsteps. The railway offered well paid, secure employment, sometimes with accommodation provided, and reasonable chances of promotion. For rural Ireland the railway network provided a very important link with the outside world as a carrier of news, produce and loved one.

Waterford was the best served provincial City with no less than six railway lines servicing the City at one time. The Waterford Railways were Limerick, Kilkenny, Dublin, Cork, Rosslare and Tramore. There are only two railway lines operating today, Dublin and Limerick, and a third if you include the Waterford Suir Valley Railway. The first Station within Waterford City was Manor Street Station, serving Tramore. The Waterford & Tramore Railway (WTR) line opened with great celebrations on 5th September 1853.

This was followed by more celebrations in 1854 when Waterford City was finally after many delays, connected to Limerick and Kilkenny. The Waterford Limerick Railway (WLR) and Waterford Kilkenny Railway (WKR) were extended from their temporary station at Dunkitt, about two miles outside Waterford City to Sallypark, site of the present goods yard. On 26th August 1864, the terminus was moved to the current location, Plunkett Station or Waterford North as it was known then. While the terminus was at Sallypark, WLR operated a free steamer service for passengers to cross the river Suir to the City Quay, avoiding it’s passengers paying the toll on the 1793, built timber bridge known locally in Waterford as “Timber Toes”.

The much loved Waterford & Tramore Railway remained an isolated branch for the 107 years of its life. Its closure on the 31st December 1960 was in hindsight shortsighted. This line was very dear to the hearts of the Waterford people as they recall happy childhood excursions to the seaside on the train. The original Waterford railway restoration group had commissioned research on the possibility of restoring the Waterford Tramore Railway but the station at Poleberry and huge chunks of the route had been built over making this an impossible task.

Waterford & Suir Valley Railway

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