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The Fenit Branch
After reading the "Tralee to Castleisland, Dingle and Fenit" article by John O'Meara in the Irish Railway Records Society Journal No. 179, October 2012, it struck me that having lived in the County of Kerry for a 12 year period, I had never explored the Fenit Branch. So as I was visiting the Kingdom this weekend I decide to put right that wrong.
The Fenit Branch was an 8 mile line from Tralee to the small village of Fenit located on the edge of Tralee Bay.
The railway line opened on the 5th July 1887 by the Great Southern and Western Railway. Passenger services ceased by the 31st December 1934 but the branch remained open for Freight Traffic and ah-hoc Summer Seaside Specials until the late 1970's.
On the 2nd June 1978 CIE withdrew the freight service on the line and the railway line fell into disuse. An attempt was made in the 1980's by the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society to preserve the railway line but sadly these efforts did not come to fruition and an alternative scheme to rebuild part of the Tralee and Dingle occurred.
Amazingly, like a number of railway lines in the country the Fenit Branch has never been officially closed by CIE / IE and is still mentioned in the current IE Working Timetable.
The track is still intact from North Kerry Junction to Fenit but has been breached in a couple of locations. At Fenit Station itself the track is buried under the tarmac and gravel of the car park which now stands on the site. Between North Kerry Jct. and Tralee the track was only lifted in the past 12 months as the first part of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway Project.
The Greenway project aims to build on the success of similar schemes across the country such as the Great Southern Trail in Limerick and Western Greenway in Mayo by converting the railway line to Fenit into a cycle and walkway. To find out more info about this exciting project please check out http://traleetofenitcycleway.wordpress.com & http://www.facebook.com/TraleeFenitGreenway
Read MoreThe Fenit Branch was an 8 mile line from Tralee to the small village of Fenit located on the edge of Tralee Bay.
The railway line opened on the 5th July 1887 by the Great Southern and Western Railway. Passenger services ceased by the 31st December 1934 but the branch remained open for Freight Traffic and ah-hoc Summer Seaside Specials until the late 1970's.
On the 2nd June 1978 CIE withdrew the freight service on the line and the railway line fell into disuse. An attempt was made in the 1980's by the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society to preserve the railway line but sadly these efforts did not come to fruition and an alternative scheme to rebuild part of the Tralee and Dingle occurred.
Amazingly, like a number of railway lines in the country the Fenit Branch has never been officially closed by CIE / IE and is still mentioned in the current IE Working Timetable.
The track is still intact from North Kerry Junction to Fenit but has been breached in a couple of locations. At Fenit Station itself the track is buried under the tarmac and gravel of the car park which now stands on the site. Between North Kerry Jct. and Tralee the track was only lifted in the past 12 months as the first part of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway Project.
The Greenway project aims to build on the success of similar schemes across the country such as the Great Southern Trail in Limerick and Western Greenway in Mayo by converting the railway line to Fenit into a cycle and walkway. To find out more info about this exciting project please check out http://traleetofenitcycleway.wordpress.com & http://www.facebook.com/TraleeFenitGreenway
The Fenit and North Kerry Line starts with an end on junction with the railway line to Mallow at Tralee. This is Edward Street level crossing looking at the station and former signal box. Sat 17.11.12
