Jim McBride’s new book recalls the long lost days of the Lough Swilly train

Pennyburn Station in 1952. A homeware store and car park is now located here.

While it is nearly 70 years since the popular service drew to a close, a fascinating new book - jam-packed full of amazing old photographs - allows us to take a trip down memory lane to recall the days when the train was the way to travel.

‘The Lough Swilly Remembered’, by local railway historian and enthusiast Jim McBride, is published by County Donegal Railway Restoration (CLG). Proceeds from the new book go towards the running of the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre, the only railway museum in Co. Donegal dedicated to rescuing, restoring, celebrating and showcasing the unique railways that, for many years, operated across the county.

Jim McBride (pictured above) has a lifelong interest in railways and has been involved in railway preservation in Derry and Donegal over the last 30 years.

A busy Buncrana Station, looking south towards Derry, in the summer of 1950.

Jim says the ‘Swilly’ - or, to give it its official title, the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company - was a remarkable railway company for many reasons.

He explains: “After the partition of Ireland in 1921, the Lough Swilly became the largest independent railway company in Ireland by 1925. By the late 1920s, it was already receiving grants from both Irish governments to maintain an essential public transport service to the remote parts of Donegal that it served.

“During the 1930s, whilst its neighbour, the County Donegal Railway, pioneered the use of diesel railcars, the Lough Swilly, instead, developed the use of bus services to replace railway services. With the closure of the Carndonagh Extension in November 1935, all regular passenger traffic was switched from trains to Lough Swilly buses - even on the Buncrana branch.”

The Buncrana branch, reveals Jim, saw a revival of railway passenger services in the 1940s due, in particular, to the impact of World War Two. In June 1940, the line from Letterkenny to Burtonport was closed completely along with the end of passenger services from Derry to Letterkenny.

'The Lough Swilly Remembered', by Jim McBride.

Jim takes up the story: “Due to what was called the Emergency in the Irish Free State, the Lough Swilly was forced to reopen the line from Gweedore to Letterkenny, from 1941 to 1947, mainly for goods traffic. Unlike the County Donegal Railway, the Lough Swilly was operated only by steam engines until what was left of its system finally closed in August 1953. However, the Lough Swilly survived until August 2014 as a bus company that was officially a railway company with no trains since 1953.”

The new book will be launched at Derry’s Central Library on November 15 (6.30pm) and at the Railway Tavern, Fahan, on November 16 (6.30pm).