Claremorris

Claremorris in Co.Mayo, once had a busy Midland Great Western Railway station reflecting its former importance on the line to Westport. The station once had lines radiating out of it in five directions, but currently only the through Dublin to Wesport line remains in use. The other lines included that to Collooney opened in 1895 and closed in 1975, the Ballinrobe branch opened 1893 and closed in 1959, and the 1860 built line to Athenry which remained in use for freight until the late 1990s, now disused but still in situ.

Claremorris Station has five platforms, but only the up and down see regular use. The signal cabin is now redundant following the introduction of Centralised Traffic Control signalling, and the goods yard is now disconnected. CTC also brought simplification to the junction with the Athenry line and station yard.
201 Class loco No.214 is seen arriving at Claremorris Station with a Westport to Dublin service. The single storey station building and attached canopy are located on the up platform. 214 takes its Dublin bound train east out of Claremorris Station. Today such services are now operated by 22000 Class railcars. The disused line to Athenry diverges to the right. Another 201 Class loco, this time No.221 named 'Abhainn na Feilge' or in English 'River Fealge', is seen at Claremorrs Station at the head an empty branch train for Manulla Jct and Ballina. At this time the Ballina branch service was locomotive hauled, using the 1963 built Craven coaches seen here. The service is now operated by 2700 Class railcars.
Close up detail of the British Rail built Mk1 generator van, seen at Claremorris Station in the summer of 2004. 201 Class loco No.205 is seen at the head of a Dublin to Westport service. Built by General Motors in Canada, No.205 entered traffic with Irish Rail in late 1994. Seen at the east end of Claremorris Station is 071 Class loco No.079, heading an Irish Railway Record Society special from Westport. The up starting signal is in the 'off' position. 079 is seen in the company of 141 Class loco No.168 which can be seen stabled on the Athenry platform.
A closer view of 141 Class 168 at the east end of Claremorris Station, seen stabled with the old weed spraying train. This characteristic weed spraying train set has since been replaced. Here we see this former passenger coach converted to house the spaying equipment and crew. This coach was replaced by a converted ex BR Mk1 generator van. Another unique vehicle since replaced was the last of the 4-wheeled luggage vans, once common on Irish passenger trains up to the late 1970s. This last example was used for the weedspraying set, complere with standard CIE container to the right The chemicals of the weed sprayer are houses in these yellow tanks, mounted onto flat wagons. These have been retained for the current weed spraying train set.
This is the large Claremorris signal signal, built by the CIE in the early 1950s. The impressive lever frame within Claremorris signal cabin. Mechanical signalling has since been made redundant on the line to Westport and Ballina. The staff token machines located within Claremorris Station. This cabin once issued tokens for the Westport, Dublin, Sligo and Athenry lines, as well as the Ballinrobe branch. The complex layout of Claremorris Station. The trackwork has since been simplified with the rationalisation and replacement of the mechanical signalling.
A view of the IRRS special from Claremorris signal cabin. The Mk2 coaching stock was built in the early 1970s, and have since been scrapped. A general view of the east end of Claremorris Station, showing the then recently simplified junction with the Athenry line. Originally this was a double track junction, as evident by the missing arms on the pair of bracket semaphore signals. The west side of Claremorris Station, from the Athenry platform. The platform visible in the background with the water tower once served trains on the Ballinrobe branch, closed 1959. This was the locomotive facility area at Claremorris Station, nowadays little used.
The turntable at Claremorris Station remains in situ, and still connected to the main line. Viewed from the IRRS special, an empty ballast train is seen stabled in a siding at the north end of Claremorris. The up home semaphore signal controlled from Claremorris signal cabin. All the semaphore signals on the line to Westport have been removed. This is the disused line to Athenry just south of Claremorris Station. The Great Southern & Western Railway once had a station here until closure in 1925.
A view of the level crossing on the R331 road in south Claremorris town, showing the disused state of the Athenry line. The lever frame for operating the level crossing on the Athenry line south in Claremorris town.