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Silvermines Branch & Kilmastulla Siding
This gallery looks at two former freight only sidings in Co. Tipperary on the Limerick to Ballybrophy Railway. Both sidings were located in the Birdhill to Nenagh section. The first to open was the 1 1/4 mile spur to Silvermines in 1966. The second freight spur opened in October 1982 to serve a shale quarry at Kilmastulla.
The Silvermines line was a short branch of 1¼ miles, off the Ballybrophy – Killonan line, at Silvermines Jct, between Nenagh and Birdhill. It opened in 1966 to serve a barytes mine. The mine and branch closed in 1993. While the track remains in situ the branch is heavily overgrown and impassable on foot. The pictures come from around Shallee Road Level Crossing and Silvermines Junction. The branch was disconnected from the Nenagh Branch on the 31st July 2009.
In August 1982, a short spur was built off the Nenagh Branch at the 40 3/4mp to serve a quarry to bring shale by rail in specially built bogie tippler wagons to Castlemungret Cement Works. The main line became the shale siding with the main line slewed to parallel it.
The plan required three trains each way. On arrival from the Limerick direction an empty train would precede into the headshunt and propel back to the loop road. The locomotive would then be uncoupled and proceed though the main road to collect the laden rake at the loading pad. The loco would haul the laden shale wagons onto the through road adjacent to the loop and be uncoupled, it would then shunt across to the empty rake and propel them into the loading pad. Once this was complete the locomotive would then be coupled to the Kilmastulla end of the laden train. Once train preparation checks were complete, the laden train would be propelled to the headhsunt before proceeding to Limerick Cement Factory.
With the opening of the M7 motorway this traffic ended suddenly in December 2009 with Kilmastulla Siding now disused since that date and the wagons are stored at Limerick. The ground frame at Kilmastulla was removed in the spring of 2012.
It is one of my regrets that I never got down to the Limerick area to photo the shale trains before they ceased running.
UPDATE: July 2021 new photos and a video of the Silvermines Branch.
Read MoreThe Silvermines line was a short branch of 1¼ miles, off the Ballybrophy – Killonan line, at Silvermines Jct, between Nenagh and Birdhill. It opened in 1966 to serve a barytes mine. The mine and branch closed in 1993. While the track remains in situ the branch is heavily overgrown and impassable on foot. The pictures come from around Shallee Road Level Crossing and Silvermines Junction. The branch was disconnected from the Nenagh Branch on the 31st July 2009.
In August 1982, a short spur was built off the Nenagh Branch at the 40 3/4mp to serve a quarry to bring shale by rail in specially built bogie tippler wagons to Castlemungret Cement Works. The main line became the shale siding with the main line slewed to parallel it.
The plan required three trains each way. On arrival from the Limerick direction an empty train would precede into the headshunt and propel back to the loop road. The locomotive would then be uncoupled and proceed though the main road to collect the laden rake at the loading pad. The loco would haul the laden shale wagons onto the through road adjacent to the loop and be uncoupled, it would then shunt across to the empty rake and propel them into the loading pad. Once this was complete the locomotive would then be coupled to the Kilmastulla end of the laden train. Once train preparation checks were complete, the laden train would be propelled to the headhsunt before proceeding to Limerick Cement Factory.
With the opening of the M7 motorway this traffic ended suddenly in December 2009 with Kilmastulla Siding now disused since that date and the wagons are stored at Limerick. The ground frame at Kilmastulla was removed in the spring of 2012.
It is one of my regrets that I never got down to the Limerick area to photo the shale trains before they ceased running.
UPDATE: July 2021 new photos and a video of the Silvermines Branch.
The former Silvermines Branch at Shallee Road Level Crossing. The short 1 1/4 mile branch was opened in December 1966 with the opening of a mine and closed in October 1993 when the mine had closed. Sun 05.05.19
