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Waterford, Limerick & Western Railway
Ian Allan

Waterford, Limerick & Western Railway

Regular price £20.00 Unit price per

By the time of its amalgamation with the Great Southern & Western Railway in 1901, the Waterford, Limerick & Western was the fourth largest railway company in Ireland. The geographical centre of its operations was Limerick, whence lines ran north to Sligo, south west to Tralee and south east to Waterford. By 1900 its trains were working over 350 route miles of track though only about half of these were owned by the company, the rest consisting of other minor companies' lines which it worked. This activity accounted for about a third of the WL&W's revenues.

The territory served by the company was not the most promising from an economic point of view. The line straggling down the west coast from Sligo to Limerick passed through areas devastated by the Great Famine and its aftermath. Long stretches of single line were served by two or three trains a day and the history of the company was punctuated by the need for economy.

This well illustrated volume describes the complex history of the WL&W and its constituents in detail. Separate chapters deal with topics such as locomotives and rolling stock, the course of the line and accidents. Whilst dealing expertly with the complexities of the railway politics of the era, the book also provides many insights to the economic and social life in Ireland at this time.

Author Ernie Shepherd is perhaps the foremost historian of Ireland's railways writing today. In Waterford, Limerick & Western Railway he has produced the first serious and fully researched study of the WL&W to be published, filling one of the major gaps in Irish railway history.

Hardback, 160 pages, black & white photographs

Condition: Good/Very Good

ISBN: 9780711031470