 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2025) |
The Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway was a former tourist attraction based on a narrow-gauge industrial railway in the Midlands of Ireland.
| | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2025) |
The Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway was a former tourist attraction based on a narrow-gauge industrial railway in the Midlands of Ireland.
Adapted from an industrial line constructed for hauling newly-cut peat, this 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railway was operated by the peat-harvesting company Bord na Móna and conveyed visitors over a (5.5 mile) 9-km line running through Blackwater Bog, near Shannonbridge, County Offaly. The tour was described as a "journey across this desert of modern cutaway" ... "like a journey through time". [1] A small diesel locomotive hauled a single 53-seat passenger coach. [1]
Facilities included a small shop with art and craft goods, a cafe and a museum of machines. [1]
The railway was a tourist attraction in County Offaly. However, it closed permanently at the end of 2008 as operation of the line was interfering with the heavy flow of peat traffic bound for the Electricity Supply Board's West Offaly Power Generation Station.
The railway and associated visitor services aimed to reflect the historic importance of peat as an indigenous fuel in Ireland and to show visitors how milled peat was produced and transported to power stations.[ citation needed ] Bord na Móna has reportedly investigated the provision of an alternative tourism facility for the area.[ citation needed ]
The railway was also sometimes known (and described on road signs) as the Blackwater Railway, the Shannonbridge Bog Railway, and the Bog Railway. It was promoted as "the only one of its kind in Europe". [1]