County Donegal Railway request

Hugh Dougherty announces a request for train-related tales from those involved with the County Donegal Railway down the years.

The County Donegal Railway Heritage Centre’s manager Niall McCaughan wants to hear from a wide variety of people who remember the County Donegal Railway in action. That includes anyone who worked on, travelled on the line, or has heard stories of the railway passed down through their family.

“Although the railway closed in 1959, we know that there are still many people alive who travelled on, worked on or knew the railway well. We’re planning an audio resource and display at the centre for later this year, and we need to capture these memories before it’s too late so that they can be included.”

Niall says that he’s very keen to hear from enthusiasts as well. “We always imagine that we’ve heard all there is to hear from the enthusiasts who remember the CDR, and that we’ve seen just about every picture ever taken of the line. But the truth is that new images are continually coming to light along with the stories behind them, so I’m appealing to enthusiasts to dig as deeply into their memories as they can.”

The centre manager believes that it’s vital for the heritage railway movement to capture the true spirit and essence of the railways it preserves, to avoid the way they’re represented today failing to present a true picture of how the lines actually were in their heyday.

“That’s why we need to hear from everyone with eye-witness memories and experiences to ensure that we do present as true a picture as possible of the past, and bear in mind that our visitors are as interested in the human story of our railway as in the technical artefacts that we also preserve,” he added.

Anyone who would like to contribute to the audio and written memory archive can contact Niall at manager@donegalrailway.com

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