The Narrow Gauge

I was blessed to live opposite the CDR Narrow Gauge Railway station on the Donegal Road in Ballyshannon when I was growing up. As children it was a huge part of our lives. The stationmaster Mr Hugh McMahon and his  family were always a big part of local life. A former stationmaster, although before my time, was a Mr Patterson who was the father of the hugely successful Pattersons singing group who were regulars on BBC Television's the "Morecambe and Wise Show" in the 1960s and 1970s.

We spent many of our childhood days playing in and around the station. What we used to call the "station rocks", a rocky, hilly area beside the station, was ideal territory for games of Cowboys and Indians that lasted for days. The little rail bus used to travel through a gorge in the station rocks and we would pretend we were outlaws like Jesse James or Sundance Kid robbing the train. It was just like in the movies. I ran with the McGarrigle and the McBride gang from Slate Row – an honery bunch ! The McGarrigles always had great guns, which were sent from relations in America and which were exact replicas of the real thing and I envied them, having only the "Lone Star" silver guns myself.

When the warm weather came in May and June my mother used to pack us all on to the rail bus after school at ten to four in the afternoon and for four pence each we could buy a return ticket to Rossnowlagh. Joe Thompson, the driver, would set off at a steady pace making stops at Creevy and Coolmore before arriving at Rossnowlagh. We often got off at Creevy but it was a bit of a walk from the stop to the pier. Mostly we continued to Rossnowlagh where the train stopped on the hill overlooking the Franciscan Friary. We could hardly contain ourselves as we raced down the stony road to the beach. The effect of Rossnowlagh beach is still as invigorating to me today as it was then.

We spent many afternoons on Rossnowlagh beach running in and out of the water, making sand castles and feasting on sand dusted banana sandwiches before beginning the long trek up the Friary Hill to the railway stop at the top. Often, if we had money, we would buy Lucan Ice Cream wafers in Gordon's shop. Lucan ice cream had a very distinctive taste, which I loved although it wasn't everyone's preference. Tired and weary from our day we passed the time waiting for the return train putting our ears to the tracks to see if we could hear it coming. Trips to Rossnowlagh on the narrow gauge were just fantastic.

Of course we had lots more fun in and around the CDR Railway station. With the big turntable to ride on and sometimes a hand operated buggy what more could a boy want? Often Danny Bannigan let us operate the signals in the elevated signal box. Sometimes a steam train would arrive from Letterkenny, which was really exciting. It's hard to believe that you could in those days take a train from Ballyshannon to Letterkenny and onwards to Derry if you so wished and travel through the magnificent mountainous scenery of Donegal.

In late summer we often walked the track to the Washpool picking blackberries and mushrooms from the fields along the way. Many's the pleasant summer afternoon was spent in this way and even in March, Arthur Greene's mother, Alice, would bring us along the track collecting shamrock for St Patrick's Day as we sang " I'm looking over a four leafed clover" being careful not to bring home clover by mistake.

In 1959 the last train pulled out of Ballyshannon CDR Railway station and I can remember how sad we all were to see it go. Bangers were put on the tracks to send off the big steam train and the little rail bus piloted by Joe Thompson followed on. Of course we continued to play around the station for a few more years. When Hurricane Debbie nearly blew away the Station office, the signal box and the storehouse in 1961 the writing was on the wall for the station and it finally fell into decay and it was just too dangerous for us to play around. The narrow gauge railway will live forever in my memory and I still recall the fun we had when it was there. Maybe some day they'll restore it and we can relive our wonderful memories.