Tralee and Dingle Railway

The Tralee and Dingle Light Railway was incorporated on 17 September 1888. The railway was built as cheaply as possible, largely following adjacent roads, resulting in some very tight curves and severe gradients. Nearly all of the thirty one miles of railway ran next to the roadway – with no fencing for much of the way. The rails also crossed from one side of the road to the other from time to time. There were mostly no gates and trains assumed the right of way. Speeds rarely exceeded 12 miles per hour.

The railway opened on 31 March 1891, but from the start income failed to cover operating expenses. In March 1893, the Board of Trade held an inquiry into poor management and operating practices. The railway continued to require public subsidies from local ratepayers, and a grant from the Treasury was received in 1898.

By 1925, the line was in a poor state and was taken over by the Great Southern Railway. The road between Tralee and Dingle was improved in the 1930s, allowing buses and lorries to effectively compete with the railway.  Passenger and goods traffic continued until the outbreak of Second World War when the Castlegregory Branch closed completely and passenger services withdrawn on the remaining sections. The fuel shortages brought on by the War caused the line to run “as required” from 1944 to 1947, and thereafter trains, for cattle, ran only on the last Saturday of each month for the Dingle Fair until 1953 when the line finally closed.