Proudstown

Proudstone, Co.Meath, was a small halt located on the Navan to Kingscourt branch line, which had opened in 1872. In 1914, the Midland Great Western Railway constructed a single platform here on the up side of the line to serve the nearby Proudstown Park Racecourse. The small halt was closed by the Great Southern Railway in 1939, and today very little remains. The line to Kingscourt itself remained in use for gypsum traffic until 2001, but today the track lies derelict and disconnected from the main line.
This is roughly the site of Proudstone Halt on the disused Kingscourt branch. It only had a single platform on the up side of the line. This view is looking south towards Navan. A view looking north towards Kingscourt from the adjacent accommodation crossing near the former Proudstown Halt. A view along the grass covered tracks near Proudstown Halt, looking south towards Navan. The last train to traverse the branch was in 2002. The approach to the accommodation crossing at the former Proudstown Halt, complete with UK style level crossing sign.
A modern Irish Rail warning sign, seen hidden in the shrubs adjacent to the former Proudstown Halt. The rails are not even visible in the undergrowth. The level crossing number, XK029,at the former Proudstown Halt on the Kingscourt branch. Milepost 33 on the up side of the line at Proudstown, measured from the former Midland Great Western terminus at Broadstone, Dublin. The majority of mileposts on the Kingscourt branch are mounted on wooden sleeper posts, as seen here at Proudstown. Over the years the track on the infrequently used Kingscourt branch was maintained using second hand materials from elsewhere on the Irish Rail network. This is a pre-1906 Dublin Wicklow & Wexford Railway rail chair.
A semaphore distant signal just north of the former Proudstown Halt, possibly a condidate for the most basic and cheaply made signal in Ireland, which warns of a crossing giving access to Randalstown lake.