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Donegal Railway Company

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Donegal Railway Company
Overview
HeadquartersStranorlar, Donegal
Dates of operation27 June 1892–1 May 1906
PredecessorsFinn Valley Railway, West Donegal Railway
SuccessorCounty Donegal Railways Joint Committee
Technical
Track gauge3 ft (914 mm)
Previous gauge5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)

The Donegal Railway Company (DR) was a 3 ft (914 mm) gauge railway in Ireland.

History

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Donegal Railway Act 1892
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for the Amalgamation of the Undertakings of the Finn Valley Railway Company and the West Donegal Railway Company and for other purposes.
Citation55 & 56 Vict. c. clxi
Dates
Royal assent27 June 1892

The company was formed via the Donegal Railway Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. clxi) on 27 June 1892 by a merger of the Finn Valley Railway and the West Donegal Railway.[1]

One of the first acts of the new company was to convert the former Finn Valley Railway from Strabane to Stranorlar from 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) to 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, which it completed on 16 July 1894.[2]

Further new lines were built with a Government grant of £300,000 (equivalent to £41,200,000 in 2023),[3]:

Other extensions followed later:

In 1906 it was obtained by the joint interest of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland and the Midland Railway Northern Counties Committee which set up a new company, the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Patterson, Edward M. (1962). The County Donegal Railways (1972 ed.). England: Pan Books. p. 32. ISBN 0-7153-4376-9.
  2. ^ The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, William Alan McCutcheon, Northern Ireland. Dept. of the Environment, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984
  3. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  4. ^ The County Donegal Railway, a Visitor's Guide by County Donegal Railway Restoration Society ISBN 1 874518 04 1