Abandoned Bridge, Kilcumney, Co Carlow, Ireland.
A forgotten relic of the Bagenalstown & Wexford Railway dream to create a 44 mile inland railway route to Wexford. Built in 1858 as part of the first opening 8 miles to Borris, the dream quickly stuttered as the railway only made it to Ballywilliam by 1862.
Running through the totally unremunerative, but beautiful and sparsely populated rolling hills of South Carlow and Kilkenny and with only four stations it earned the least of any railway in Ireland and early closure envitably followed in 1864.
A fresh impetus in the 1870’s revived the line and with the line operated south of Ballywilliam by the Dublin Wicklow & Wexford Railway the line eventually made it’s connection to Wexford just north of Palace East.
Unfortunately for the line these developments never really improved the financial situation of the line and the Bagnelstown - Palace East section was the first in Ireland to lose it’s passenger service under Great Southern Railways ownership in 1931, full freight services following in 1947. Surprisingly for a line with such a perilous existence, it was kept open and in place for occasional passenger special and seasonal sugar beet traffic till the axe finally came down in 1963.
Today with one side of it’s embankment removed, it really is a bridge to nowhere.
Canon 5D - August 2025.
Abandoned Bridge, Kilcumney, Co Carlow, Ireland.
A forgotten relic of the Bagenalstown & Wexford Railway dream to create a 44 mile inland railway route to Wexford. Built in 1858 as part of the first opening 8 miles to Borris, the dream quickly stuttered as the railway only made it to Ballywilliam by 1862.
Running through the totally unremunerative, but beautiful and sparsely populated rolling hills of South Carlow and Kilkenny and with only four stations it earned the least of any railway in Ireland and early closure envitably followed in 1864.
A fresh impetus in the 1870’s revived the line and with the line operated south of Ballywilliam by the Dublin Wicklow & Wexford Railway the line eventually made it’s connection to Wexford just north of Palace East.
Unfortunately for the line these developments never really improved the financial situation of the line and the Bagnelstown - Palace East section was the first in Ireland to lose it’s passenger service under Great Southern Railways ownership in 1931, full freight services following in 1947. Surprisingly for a line with such a perilous existence, it was kept open and in place for occasional passenger special and seasonal sugar beet traffic till the axe finally came down in 1963.
Today with one side of it’s embankment removed, it really is a bridge to nowhere.
Canon 5D - August 2025.