west clare railway engine

Visitors to the museum will be able to see there the inscribed spade with which Charles Stewart Parnell turned the first sod for the laying of the West Clare Railway. The west Clare project was initiated in 1883 and construction began in 1885. The railway, which opened for business in 1887, ran at first from Ennis to Miltown Malbay through Ennistymon. It was afterwards extended to Kilkee and Kilrush, serving Lahinch and other coastal towns on the way.

One of its engines, the Slieve Callan, has been preserved and may be seen at the railway station and bus depot. The engine, on a masonry pedestal, is known as the Percy French Memorial - one of his best known songs celebrated the West Clare Railway as it was in its hey-day. The railway was discontinued in 1961.