Enniskillen

Enniskillen, county town of Fermanagh, was one of the most important stations on the Great Northern Railway's Irish north west line, which ran from the east at Dundalk, west to Bundoran and Omagh. Unfortunately the extensive INW lines lost their passenger services in 1957 when the Northern Ireland government withdrew their support for such rail services. The rest of the INW closed completely in 1959 because of this, decimating many rural areas. Enniskillen was also once the junction for the 1881 built line to Sligo, which was operated by the Sligo Leitrim & North Counties Railway, who also their offices at Enniskillen Station. Until recently all that remained of the once large station was a stone built storage building, but even this has been demolished. Just south of the town, the SLNCR line crossed the River Erne on the Killyhevlin viaduct to which only the stone piers remain. Recently, to mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of the INW line, streets and roads adjacent to the former station were named in railway terms.
Great Northern Railway UG Class 0-6-0 No.48 is seen on the centre road at Enniskillen Station in the late 1950s, heading an eastbound service to Belfast. ©Headhunters Barbershop Museum This is the site of the one time Enniskillen Station. This is a similar view to the previous image, and the stone built shed just visible on the extreme left can be seen in both photos. GNR U Class 4-4-0 No.201 stands at Enniskillen Station with a westbound service in this early 1950s picture. To the right can be seen the main station building, dating from February 1859. ©Headhunters Barbershop Museum This was the site of the temporary terminus of the Sligo Leitrim & Northern Counties station at Enniskillen, located adjacent to the Great Northern station. This temporary station served as the SLNCR headquarters after their trains began to serve the GNR station in 1883.
Today no buildings associated with the station at Enniskillen survive, except for such places as the 'Railway Hotel' located across the way from the station site now occupied by a supermarket. A few items dating from the days of the Great Northern Railway can still be observed in the the 'Railway Hotel' in Enniskillen town. Amongst the items included are GNR style signalling staffs/tokens. This is the site of Poundbare Rd overbridge, which was just north of Enniskillen Station on the line to Omagh. The stone wall is roughly the former bridge abutments. The remains of the stone built retaining wall of the railway near the Poundbare road overbridge at the north end of Enniskillen Station.
A view of the trackbed of the former Great Northern line to Omagh just north of the Enniskillen station site. The adjacent road A32 road has partially removed a section of the former line. On the southside of Enniskillen town the 1881 built Sligo Leitrim & Northern Counties railway line crossed the River Erne on a fine cast iron viaduct. Today only the stone supporting piers remain. A close up of the stone built piers which once supported the viaduct of the SLNCR's Enniskillen to Sligo line. The SLNCR line was closed in October 1957 and the viaduct was dismantled in 1960.