Glentis Peat Works. Co.Donegal. 1993.
The peat work at Glentis in County Donegal was by far the remotest of the bogs worked by Bord na Móna (Irish Peat Commission). It was also one of the oldest belonging originally to the Peat Development Board when it opend in 1939 before BnM was formed in 1946. It was one of only two BnM sites to use 2ft gauge tracks before 3ft was adopted as standard. In 1989 the site passed from Bord na Móna to a workers cooperative, the Glentis Turf Cooperative Society. This change had been driven by BnM concentrating its business on three defined bulk sectors, Energy Peat (peat for power), Horticultural Peat (Shamrock peat for gardeners) and Briquette production (domestic fuel bricks). This left the Sod Peat sites cutting turf purely as domestic fuel sold loose by weight as surplus to the main business. These sites passed to workers cooperatives with an aging wagon and loco fleet in need of serious investment. Sadly the Glentis site closed in 2002 when the business ceased trading.
Here two of the original Ruston diesels built in the 1940's 4wDM's LM20 (RH 243387/1946) and LM26 (RH 248458/1947) sit either side of LM198 (RH 398076/1956) which was originally owned by a tunneling contractor who sold it to Bord na Móna in 1962.
Glentis Peat Works. Co.Donegal. 1993.
The peat work at Glentis in County Donegal was by far the remotest of the bogs worked by Bord na Móna (Irish Peat Commission). It was also one of the oldest belonging originally to the Peat Development Board when it opend in 1939 before BnM was formed in 1946. It was one of only two BnM sites to use 2ft gauge tracks before 3ft was adopted as standard. In 1989 the site passed from Bord na Móna to a workers cooperative, the Glentis Turf Cooperative Society. This change had been driven by BnM concentrating its business on three defined bulk sectors, Energy Peat (peat for power), Horticultural Peat (Shamrock peat for gardeners) and Briquette production (domestic fuel bricks). This left the Sod Peat sites cutting turf purely as domestic fuel sold loose by weight as surplus to the main business. These sites passed to workers cooperatives with an aging wagon and loco fleet in need of serious investment. Sadly the Glentis site closed in 2002 when the business ceased trading.
Here two of the original Ruston diesels built in the 1940's 4wDM's LM20 (RH 243387/1946) and LM26 (RH 248458/1947) sit either side of LM198 (RH 398076/1956) which was originally owned by a tunneling contractor who sold it to Bord na Móna in 1962.