A group company called the Cork and Waterford Railway was established in the 1840 which explored a route between the two major south coast cities via Youghal and Dungarvan.

[4][5] The C&YR was initially under the chairmanship of Isaac Butt, member of Parliament for Youghal, and leader of the Irish Party in the House of Commons.

[b] Lewis had grand plans to turn Youghal into a "Brighton-by-the-sea" resort and approached the project with gusto, not only buying C&YR shares at a 40% premium, acquiring a pleasure steamer for trips up the Munster Blackwater, and culminating in the purchasing of most of the town of Youghal from William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire in 1861.

[6][7][c] 10 November 1859 saw the Dunkettle to Midleton section of the line opened for traffic by George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who also cut the first sod of the Cobh branch and knighted John Arnott, the incumbent Lord Mayor of Cork and a C&YR director, all on the same day.

[8] Passengers were conveyed the two miles from King Street in Cork to Dunkettle by horse omnibus, an extra 40 minutes being allowed.

From 1 October 1860 until May 1861 a temporary way was laid to the new terminus at Cork Summerhill, passing over the tunnel of the Dublin main line and convenient to the GS&WR Penrose Quay station, carriages on that section being hauled by Flemish horses.

His only assets being C&YR shares this contributed to the GS&WR taking over operation of the railway from 1865 and buying it completely in 1866 for £310,000.

Up to the 1960s Cobh had been the main departure point for Irish Emigrants to America, thereafter transatlantic air travel began to dominate and the liner trade died off.

The last regular scheduled passenger train between Cobh Junction to Youghal ran on 2 February 1963 and was subsequently replaced by a bus service.

They indicated they supported a greenway as it would free them from existing maintenance costs whilst retaining a license to re-open the route in the unlikely event that became an option.

[15] By April 2020 a €15 million euro project to open the Midleton to Youghal Greenway had begun but was being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[18] A more recent accident was the overrun of a General Motors Diesel into the part of the Cobh station converted into a heritage centre - there were no injuries but one outcome was locomotives were required to have working speedometers or be retired from service until fixed.

An assistant platelayer, James Walsh, was struck by the buffer of the engine of an express passenger train travelling from Cork to Queenstown (Cobh).