Charles Stewart Parnell Turns the First Sod for the West Clare Railway

The West Clare Railway (WCR) originally operated in County Clare, Ireland, between 1887 and 1961. 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. The system was the last operating narrow gauge passenger system in Ireland and connected with the mainline rail system at Ennis, where a station still stands today for bus and train services to Limerick and Galway. Intermediate stops included Ennistymon, Lahinch and Milltown Malbay.

A preservation society maintains a railway museum at Moyasta Junction station, and successfully re-opened a section of the railway as a passenger-carrying heritage line with diesel traction in the 1990s, and with steam motive power from 2009.

The Railway was notorious for poor timekeeping, resulting in litigation and a celebrated comic song.

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