This 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railway ran from the county town of Ennis, via numerous stopping-points along the West Clare coast to two termini, at Kilrush and Kilkee, with the routes diverging at Moyasta Junction.

After the Great Famine ended there was a new growth in local businesses, and the British Government determined that an improved railway system was necessary to aid the recovery of the West of Ireland.

The first sod was cut on 26 January 1885 at Milltown Malbay by Charles Stewart Parnell, M.P.,[1][2] although actual work on the line had begun in November 1884.

The extension was worked by the West Clare Railway[12] and was initially dogged by poor service and time keeping, but this later improved.

French wrote the song after successfully suing the railway company for loss of earnings, when a late-running train prevented him from attending a performance on time.

The company, in turn, appealed the ruling, but French was over an hour late for the court hearing in Ennis.

The facts are that French had arrived in Kilkee four-and-a-half hours after the scheduled time for a show he was due to give at Moore's Hall on 10 August 1896.

[13] His award was subsequently upheld in a reserved judgment when the railway company appealed the case two months later at the Clare Spring Assizes, before the Rt.

In the same year, a survey of local businesses was conducted with a view to the possible replacement of the railway by road services.

Local campaigners urged that the railway be converted to the standard Irish gauge of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), but CIÉ rejected this on cost grounds.

The use of diesel traction reduced operating costs, yet the investment in new rolling stock would largely be wasted by the early closure of the line.

A small but powerful diesel locomotive built for Channel Tunnel construction work hauled the trains.

The railway has since acquired a number of redundant diesel locomotives, mostly from the Irish Bord na Móna; these are being gradually restored and returned to service.

In addition to the steam locomotive Slieve Callan, the railway owns twelve diesel engines, of which two are currently in service, the others awaiting restoration.

Awaiting restoration are a further nine such Bord na Móna shunters, plus a six-wheel mine shunting engine dating from around 1948.