Glenmore and the New Ross to Waterford Railway Line

The Dublin Wicklow and Wexford Railway Company built the Dublin to New Ross line in stages down the coast. Dan Doyle, formerly of Ballyverneen told Danny Dowling in 1977 that the Bagnalstown station opened in 1848 and the railway bridge and tunnel between Ballywilliam and New Ross were built in 1885. The date is on the Kilkenny side of the bridge. It was in 1887 that the first train arrived in New Ross from Dublin.

Danny explained today, that planning for the building of a railway line between New Ross and Waterford commenced about the time the New Ross station opened. Originally the Glenmore station on the line was to have been built in Ballyverneen nearer the Glenmore Village. The landlords, Strange, of Aylwardstown House and Conn, of Mount Ida, lobbied and got the Glenmore station placed in Aylwardstown nearer their estates and further from Glenmore Village. Work began from the New Ross end of the Ross-Waterford line in 1899 and the line was opened in 1904. Although the Ross-Waterford line connected New Ross and Waterford City, the New Ross station was in Rosbercon, Kilkenny and the Waterford City station was in Ferrybank, Kilkenny.

Dan Doyle in his 1977 interview explained his family connections to the building of the railways. His grandfather, Dan Doyle of Ballywilliam, was the first of the family to work on the railway. He was a ganger on the Ballywilliam line and lived in the crossing gate house known as the Red House from the colour of its roof. Dan Doyle’s father, Ned Doyle, used to bring “grub” to Dan’s two elder brothers, Jack and Tom, when they were building the railway bridge between Ballywilliam and Ross. Later, Ned Doyle was responsible for a section of the Ross-Waterford railway line. A length of railway line was 3 ½ miles plus crossings and sidings. Ned Doyle’s section was from the station gates in Rosbercon to the Forristalstown Bridge in Glenmore. He had four men under him: Murt Cashin, of Mudhouse; Willie (Crows) Forristal; Tom Mullally and Bill Fortune, all of Shambogh.

During the building of the Ross-Waterford Railway line there was an influx of strangers into Glenmore and at least one skeleton was discovered. In 1977 Nicholas Forristal, of the Mill, Graiguenakill, Glenmore told Danny that a body was dug up during the building of the railway at Rosbercon. At the time it was said that the corpse was that of Nicholas* Gaffney of Glenmore Village. Nicholas* Gaffney lived in the late 18^th century in the house [next to the house]* now occupied by Danny Dowling in Glenmore Village. Nicholas* Gaffney participated in the 1798 Rebellion, was captured, was hanged from the New Ross bridge and it was said that his body was buried in unconsecrated ground near the bridge by the British authorities.

*Corrections–Danny on 29 February 2020 asked that corrections be made. The first name of the man hanged in 1798 was William Gaffney. Nicholas Gaffney was a son of William Gaffney. A link to Danny’s 1983 article concerning William Gaffney may be found on the Link’s page.

Shortly after railway workers dug up the body in Rosbercon, Jim Comerford, of Ballyhale, Kilkenny was killed in the Shambogh cutting. Nicholas Forristal in a 1963 interview revealed that a man named O’Donnel was the ganger in charge of the work crew.  

In addition to the obvious impacts on the landscape such as bridges and tracks cutting through fields and dividing farms, there were some subtle impacts. For example, in 1980 Richard Dunphy of Ballyverneen informed Danny that there is a field on Denis Dwyer’s farm in Ballyverneen that still bears the name it acquired during the building of the Ross-Waterford railway line. The 25 acre field comprised of a long, narrow strip of land was called the Magazine because powder and explosives were stored in it. Patrick Forristal, of Graiguenakill in 1980 also told Danny that when the Ross-Waterford railway was built, the line of track cut across the double ditch at Ballyverneen. This double ditch was used for a considerable time as a Mass Path for the people of Forristalstown to walk to mass in Glenmore. At this point of intersection, the railway company provided a wooden footbridge, to link both sides of the double ditch.

With the coming of the railway came the workers and businesses attempted to cash in on their steady incomes. Nicholas Forristal, of the Mill, in 1972 described some of the entertainment that travelled to Glenmore. He identified McCormack’s Show as a stage show that annually came to Glenmore. “A family concern they gave months here at one time during the building of the Ross-Waterford Railway line.” They used to set up at the back of Peggy Gaffney’s house in Glenmore Village.

Nicholas Forristal, of the Mill, in his 1977 interview identified and discussed some of the navies (laborers) who came to Glenmore during the building of the railway. Christy Lennon was a navie. He brought with him his wife, son Paddy and daughter Maryanne who was then about 30 years of age. Fred Bell, also a navie, was a native of Wexford Town. He brought his wife, daughter and son-in-law with him driving an ass and car. They lived for a long time in the wood in Ballyverneen. Bell left and went across the road on to railway property. Bell built a sod hut. All the walls were built of sods, reeds were on the roof, a hole in the wall for a window, the bare earth for a floor and a sod chimney with a railway sleeper holding up the chimney breast. There was a hole in the roof for the chimney. There was a kind of door. They slept on bags of straw and at night they stuffed the window with a bag of straw. Paddy English was Bell’s son-in-law. Another navie on the railway was a man named Coughlan who also built a sod hut in the same area nearer to the marsh. Hamilton Dick was a ganger on the railway and Hamilton Jim worked on the railway. They lived in Glenmore during the building of the railway and later moved to Rosbercon.

In the same interview Nicholas Forristal stated that Peter Kennedy of Rathinure told him that Kennedy and his cousins the Heffernan’s of Aylwardstown got a wagon of 11 tons of coal delivered at Aylwardstown Station shortly after the railway line opened. They paid 11/6 per ton carriage paid from Morrises of Waterford. It was the first wagon of coal delivered at Aylwardstown Station in 1904.

Mernagh has become a well known name in Glenmore. The Glenmore Mernaghs can trace their arrival to John Mernagh who was known as Jack. He was a ganger with the railway and according to the 3 April 1911 Census for Ballyverneen, Glenmore, he and his family arrived in Glenmore in about 1906. Jack Mernagh died in the autumn of 1911. According to his granddaughter Jo Doyle née Mernagh he came home from work, ate his supper and went out to help a neighbour named Forristal with the threshing. He was on the thresher feeding the oats into the machine when he lost his footing and fell into the machine. He was only on the machine for about 10 minutes when he was killed. The 1911 Census reveals that he was 53 years of age and had been married to Mary (aged 42) for 26 years. They were both born in Wexford and were the parents of 16 children, but only 12 of the children were alive in 1911. The ten children living with them in 1911 included: Patrick, aged 23; John, aged 21; James, aged 19; Stephen, aged 17; Bartholomew, aged 13; Thomas, aged 10; Adain, aged 8; Nicholas, aged 6; Mary, aged 5 and Lizzie, aged 3. The eldest three boys were employed as railway miler men and Stephen was employed as an agricultural labourer. All the children except Mary and Lizzie were born in Wexford. The 1911 census records that there were 12 members of this family living in a three room house owned by the Dublin and South East Railway.

On the same page of the Census also living in a three room house owned by the railway is the James Delaney family. James was 26 years of age and was a native of the Queen’s County. He was married for 3 years to his 23 year old wife Kate and the couple had two children. Patrick Delaney, age 2, born in Kilkenny and Mary Delaney, aged 9 months.

In 1919, Dan Doyle first went to work in a temporary capacity in New Ross station. The stationmaster was Daniel O’Brien a native of Bray. He had three clerks on goods side, one clerk on passenger side. There was a herd porter, checker, four porters and generally an extra man. There were also two platform porters, two signalmen and one night watchman.

New Ross in 1919 was a busy station, everything went by rail—people, food, and cattle. On the week before the Fair, 100 wagons were brought to Ross. Each of these had to be cleaned, washed, disinfected and whitewashed. The night before a fair a Dublin Special Train arrived with 30 wagons. The morning of the fair the Wexford Special with 30 wagons arrived and at least two specials from Waterford arrived with each Waterford train having 30 wagons. In May and October, when the big fairs occurred, three special trains would arrive the morning of the fair from Waterford.

The fixed time table of train arrivals and departures 100 years ago was:

6:30 A.M. IN…Goods train from Wexford

8:30 A.M. IN…Night goods train from Dublin.

9:30 A.M. Dep… Night food from Dublin with passengers from Ross de/. for Waterford

8:10 A.M.  Passenger train out of Waterford. IN… at 8:30 in Ross.

10:25 A.M. IN…Mail, Passenger from Dublin.

11:05 A.M. Passenger out of Waterford. IN… at 11/30.

2:15 P.M. Passenger from Waterford for Dublin. IN…at 3:40.

3:15 P.M. Mail out of Waterford for Dublin. IN… at  3:40.

6:15 P.M. Mixed train to Waterford. Dep passenger and foods

5:05 P.M. Dep. Waterford food. Arrive Ross at 5:50.

Today, Danny stated that he often travelled by train from Waterford to Glenmore. He recalls that the trip between Waterford and New Ross took about 30 minutes. He believes that passengers trains stopped running in 1963 and freight continued, but all trains ceased in the early 1990’s. Danny has a list of the stationmasters of the Aylwardstown station and as soon as he can locate the list he will share it.

Special thanks to Jacqueline Walsh for the old photos of the Aylwardstown Station and the photo of the steam engine is from the National Library of Ireland.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh