[5] The Great Southern and Western Railway Company (GS&WR) had opened its Killarney to Tralee section in 1859,[5] and in 1871 the independent Killorgan Railway company was formed to construct a line from the GS&WR Farranfore station but in the event was unable to raise the finance.

[3] The GS&WR was to acquire that authority to build the line in 1880,[6] and opened the 12.5-mile-long (20.1 km) rail link between Farranfore and Iveragh Road in Killorglin with the Irish gauge of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) on 15 January 1885.

The line was extended by 27 miles (43 km) to Valentia Harbour commencing in 1890 and formally opened on 12 September 1893.

[7][8] It was announced in June 2013 that the section of the disused and disassembled railway linking Cahirciveen to Reenard would be signed over by Irish Rail's parent company, CIÉ to Kerry County Council for building the 3.57-mile-long (5.75 km) Fertha greenway, a combined walking and cycling path which features on Lonely Planet's best things to do in time.

[3][18] The terminus at Valentia Harbour was a simple arrangement with a shed and no turntable, engines working the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) back to Cahirciveen for stabling overnight.

[6] By 1954 the service was reduced to a daily single passenger train each way taking two and a quarter hours for the c. 40 miles (64 km) trip from Farranfore to Valentia Harbour, supplemented by two slower goods train that had passenger accommodation for all or part of the journey.