The history of rail transport in Ireland began only a decade later than that of Great Britain. By its peak in 1920, Ireland had 3,500 route miles (5,630 km). The current status is less than half that amount, with a large unserviced area around the border area between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The Great Southern Railways Company was an Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State.
A wide variety of steam locomotives have been used on Ireland's railways. This page lists most if not all those that have been used in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Irish railways generally followed British practice in locomotive design.
The Western Railway Corridor is a term, used since c. 2003, for a partly disused railway line running through the west of Ireland. Currently two sections of the line, from Limerick via Ennis to Athenry and from Collooney to Sligo, see regular services, with other sections either closed or only technically classed as open.
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the largest of Ireland's "Big Four" railway networks. At its peak the GS&WR had an 1,100-mile (1,800 km) network, of which 240 miles (390 km) were double track.
The MGWR Class D-bogie were first 4-4-0 operated by the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) of Ireland. They were rebuilt from MGWR Class D 2-4-0 locomotives in 1900/01 with the intention to use them on the Dublin to Sligo mainline but they proved underpowered for this work and were allocated to more suitable work around County Mayo, including Achill. This led to their nicknames of Mayo Bogies or Achill Bogies. Following the merger of the MGWR into Great Southern Railways (GSR) they also became designated class 530 or D16.
The Dublin and South Eastern Railway (DSER), often referred to as the Slow and Easy, was an Irish gauge railway in Ireland from 1846 to 1925. It carried 4,626,226 passengers in 1911. It was the fourth largest railway operation in Ireland operating a main line from Dublin to Wexford, with branch lines to Shillelagh and Waterford. The company previously traded under the names Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow & Dublin Railway to 1848, Dublin and Wicklow Raillway (D&WR) to 1860 and Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway (DW&WR) until 1906.
The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway (SL&NCR) was a 5 ft 3 in railway in counties Cavan, Fermanagh, Leitrim and Sligo in north-west Ireland. It consisted of one main line, with no branch lines and remained privately owned until its closure.
Collooney or Coloony is a town in County Sligo, Ireland.
The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of 538 miles (866 km), making it Ireland's third largest network after the Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) and the Great Northern Railway of Ireland.
The MGWR Classes F, Fa and Fb are a group of similar classes of 0-6-0 steam locomotives of the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland which were designed and built between 1921 and 1924. The locomotives could be used to handle goods and also for passenger traffic.
The Dublin to Sligo main line is a railway route operated by Iarnród Éireann in Ireland. It starts in Dublin Connolly station, terminating at Sligo Mac Diarmada railway station in Sligo. The route is a double-track railway as far as Maynooth, being a single-track railway with passing loops between there and Sligo.
Broadstone railway station was the Dublin terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR), located in the Dublin suburb of Broadstone. The site also contained the MGWR railway works and a steam locomotive motive power depot. A Luas tram station opened at the front of the station in 2017.
The Great Southern Railways Classes 372 and 393 were types of 2-6-0 ("mogul") steam locomotives exported to Ireland from Great Britain in 1924. They were designed by Richard Maunsell in 1914 for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) to be members of the SECR N class of mixed-traffic engines. The GSR 372 and 393 classes were part of a batch of N and U class locomotive kits produced under a UK Government contract at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
The Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway (E&BR) was an Irish gauge 5 ft 3 in railway company in north-west Ireland. It linked Bundoran and Ballyshannon on the Atlantic coast of Donegal with the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (L&ER) at Bundoran Junction in Fermanagh. The line was opened in 1868 and closed in 1957.
Ballysodare railway station, currently with only the goods shed remaining, was located on the Dublin-Sligo railway line in Ballysadare, County Sligo. The station opened on 3 December 1862. It was closed to passengers on 17 June 1963 and finally closing to goods on 3 November 1975.
The Limerick–Tralee line, also known as the North Kerry line, is a former railway line from Limerick railway station to Tralee railway station in Ireland. It also has branch lines to Foynes and Fenit. Much of the line today has now been converted into a greenway, the Great Southern Trail.
The Ballaghaderreen branch line connected Ballaghaderreen railway station to Kilfree Junction on the Dublin to Sligo main line. It opened in 1874 and closed in 1963.
The MGWR Class K was a Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) 2-4-0 designed by Martin Atock for passenger work and introduced from 1893. They replaced earlier MGWR Class D locomotives that carried the same names and numbers. The class was also known as the Great Southern Railways (GSR) 650 G2 class.
The Loughrea branch line was a railway line that opened in 1890 and closed in 1975. The 9 mile single track branch ran from the Attymon Junction on the Dublin to Galway main line and terminated at Loughrea. Dunsandle was the single intermediate stop. It was the last rural branch line to survive in Ireland.
