Roscrea

The town of Roscrea, north Co.Tipperary on the branch line to Limerick, was served by railway as early as 1854, with the opening of the Roscrea & Parsonstown Railway, which diverged from the Great Southern & Western's Dublin to Cork line at what is now Ballybrophy. The section to Parsonstown (later renamed Birr) opened in 1858, however when the line was extended further south towards Limerick by the GSWR, who had now taken over the original railway, a junction was created at Roscrea, and the line to Birr became a branch.

The branch to Birr, which diverged north just south of Roscrea town closed completely in 1963. Roscrea Station still retains much of its GSWR architecture, including the large but underused stone built station building, up & down platforms, and brick built signal cabin. The goods shed and yard was upgraded in the 1970s for handling container freight, but this ceased in 1991 and it is now disused.
141 Class locomotives Nos.171+152 stand at Roscrea Station with an Irish Railway Record Society tour to Limerick. Only the down platform is regularly used, the up, from where the Birr branch trains usually departed, is no longer in use. A better view of the large Great Southern & Western Railway stone built station building at Roscrea, as seen from the road overbridge. This view is looking north towards Ballybrophy. 071 Class loco No.073 stands on the up side of Roscrea Station with an engineers train from further south at Birdhill. On the right is a typical GSWR brick built signal cabin. Another view of No.073, standing in the loop at Roscrea Station with an engineers train from Birdhill. The disused and overgrown cattle loading bank can be seen in the background.
The rather large station building at Roscrea, as viewed from the forecourt. The building is underused with the relatively sparse service on the branch. The mid 1980s built Mk3 coaching stock forming the IRRS special to Limerick at Roscrea Station. The Birr branch train would sometimes be stabled in the siding adjacent to the former goods shed, note the disused crane also. The disused goods yard on the down side of Roscrea, located at the north end of the station. Freight continued to be handled here until 1991, when the Limerick liner train ceased operating. 071 Class locomotive No.072 arrives into Roscrea Station with the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's 'Province of Leinster' tour from Dublin to Limerick, consisting of Mk2 stock.