Soldiers, hurlers and royalty all rode the rails in 175 years of Kilkenny railway station

This month saw the 175th anniversary of Kilkenny Railway Station, which first opened its doors to a new line section from Kilkenny to Thomastown on May 12, 1848.

A plaque is to be unveiled on Thursday, May 18. The actual building of the railway station was completed in 1847. It took a further two years for the Dublin line to Kilkenny to be completed in 1850.

The southern line to Waterford did not reach Ferrybank until 1854 due to marshy lands in South Kilkenny on the edge of the Suir River. Kilkenny Station is constructed on a prominent elevated site in the townland of High Hayes at the junction of the Castlecomer and Carlow Roads in the city. It has dominated the landscape of the John Street upper area for one hundred and seventy five years and it still does today in 2023.

Regrettably, much of the old disused train shed was allowed decay and go to rack and ruin since the station moved up track in 1997 by Coras Iompar Eireann, the owners of the site, but hopefully this will be restored in the not too distant future.

Thankfully the surviving buildings are listed and protected structures and therefore there is a duty of care and obligation on CIE to both maintain and restore them.

The railway station for Kilkenny was prioritised, as it being made a city of Royal Charter by King James I in 1609. It was a key component in the safe travel of people in the middle of the 19th and early 20th century, and in particular during troop movements around Ireland.

Each major garrison town was prioritised for a railway station. The railway was run very much on military lines, including the uniforms; many of the station masters were ex-military personnel. It meant efficient, swift and safe movement of troops and people between Dublin – Kilkenny — Waterford.

Many Kilkenny people who had enlisted for World War I were shipped via train to Dun Laoghaire/Kingstown for transport to the front. A total of over 3,000 Kilkenny men and women enlisted in the British Army.

It is suggested that this is how this area of the city got the name ‘The Continent’, as the soldiers were destined for the continent.

It was common practice for St Patrick’s Brass and Reed band to play the soldiers off at the station. There is a commemorative wall dedicated to the soldiers memory at MacDonagh Station and a major monument located at Peace Park, John’s Quay.

The railway revolutionised transport in Ireland so much so that some very important people arrived by train at Kilkenny Railway Station including the future King George Edward VII and Princess Alexandra in 1904. Eamonn De Valera was a frequent user of the presidential train carriage as was indeed Mary Robinson. Queen Margrethe of Denmark stopped off at MacDonagh Station in 1978 on her way to pay a visit to Waterford. The royals were introduced to local dignitaries.

HURLERS
Of course, for many years the Kilkenny hurlers travelled to and from All Ireland finals by train. Special bangers were placed on the tracks to announce the arrival of the hurlers return to Kilkenny where thousands of locals waited to greet them.

Kilkenny Railway Station was renamed MacDonagh Station in 1966 in remembrance of the executed 1916 Easter Rising leader Thomas MacDonagh. From Cloughjordan, Tipperary, MacDonagh who was a professor at St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny circa 1900-1903.

The architecture of the old station is still quite impressive, especially the buildings which were fully restored during the construction of MacDonagh Junction Shopping development in 2005-2007.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes Kilkenny Railway Station as follows: “Remains of a railway station complex, opened 1847, including: Detached eleven-bay double-height yellow brick Classical-style screen wall.

Remodelled, 1865-8. Yellow brick Flemish bond walls with cut-limestone dressings including stringcourse, carved (moulded) cornice, and coping to parapet. Series of nineteen round-headed openings originally forming arcade with cut-limestone stringcourse to spring of arches, and yellow brick voussoirs (some now blocked-up with concrete block infill).

“The remains of a once-extensive classically-detailed railway station built as a terminus to designs prepared by Captain William Scarth Moorsom (1804-63) as modified by Sancton Wood (c 1814-86) who was also responsible for subsequent modifications to adapt the building to use as a through-line station to Maryborough/Mountmellick.

“The construction in yellow brick produces a distinctive palette while refined dressings in County Kilkenny limestone displaying expert masonry enhance the design aesthetic of the composition.”

The original main entrance to the railway station was from the Castlecomer Road via an underpass subway system to the platform level. The entrance was book-cased by the two fine waiting rooms which still stand and were refurbished by MDJD.

Another building to survive the redevelopment of the site was the fine old Goods Shed building which also was magnificently restored and repurposed.

A perimeter cut stone wall also survives on the western façade inside of which is a crypt dedicated to the skeletal remains of the Famine victims discovered at the old Kilkenny Union Workhouse site at the former Kilkenny County Council yard nearby.

The station originally started out life as a junction terminus in 1847 and with the advent of the Railway Company opening an extension line to Maryborough in 1867, passengers had the option of travelling via Carlow and or Portlaoise to Dublin from 1867 to December 31, 1962 when the line to Maryborough closed.

REPURPOSED
Sadly the Castlecomer Road entrance ceased after the railway ran through the western façade of the station. A branch line to Castlecomer Colliery emanated from the Kilkenny — Maryborough line at Dunmore west junction in 1919.

The old station was closed in 1997 when it moved up track to a former repurposed Goods Shed building at the eastern end of the terminus. This includes 1 TVM, a ticket office, a now defunct fast-track office, coffee shop, waiting area and toilets.

Certain elements like the water tower, workshops, coal shoots, cattle pens, the Dublin/Carlow Road embankment and old locomotive sheds and some outbuildings of the railway station were demolished c2004-5. The old semaphore signal box is still standing but no longer operational as all signalling is now electronically controlled from a centralised system.

The pedestrian footbridge is still in tact but no longer in use due on health and safety grounds. The station still has two platforms to handle the Dublin and Waterford bound trains simultaneously and is a very busy terminus.

The loss of the freight and the fast-track service between Dublin-Kilkenny- Waterford was a huge blow to local business.

In this day and age of a ‘greener’ world, the restoration of these excellent services all over Ireland would make a huge contribution to a more environmentally friendly society and way of life.

The amount of trucks alone that would be removed from our streets and roads would be very significant indeed. Irish Cement and Smithwicks were extensive users of the Irish Rail freight service.

STATION MASTERS
Many people have served as station masters at Kilkenny Railway Station/ MacDonagh Station over the years.

One of the earliest was Humphrey O’Sullivan 1853. Records are sketchy until Richard Storey was appointed in 1901.

Thomas Manifold 1909. George Ennis 1915.
J McCormack 1931. Barney Cantwell 1944.
Paul Nolan ?
JJ Spillane 1957.
Patrick Ormonde? D J Herlihy?
Michael Cody 1974-1987. Seamus Kelly 1987-1988. Sean O’Neill 1988-1991.
JJ Murphy 1991-2000.
P Nolan 2000-2003, Walter Morrissey 2003-2007.
John Delaney 2007-2013. John Kennedy (acting) and Kieran Kelly (current).
Many of the earliest station masters would have had a military background. The station master’s house ‘Dunamaise’ now in private ownership is still standing at the Carlow/Dublin Road.
Other staff who worked at the railway station recalled by former staff include Seamus Mahoney, Mary Holden, Milo Dillon, Eddie Dollard, Mick Gibbons, Ray McAuley, Jack Devlin, Jack Walsh, Martin Treacy, Jimmy Walsh, Brendan McAuley, George Dewberry, James Sherlock, Tom Langton, Eugene McAdams, Jack Shortall, John Troy, Mrs O’Neill, Des Goss, Tommy Hayes, Willie Dunne, Paddy Deegan, Andy Geoghegan, Jimmy Morrissey, Joe Keenan, Dixie Foran, Paddy Shortall, Kevin Shortall, John Martin, Frank Corr, Seamus Kelly, Jack Purcell, Jim Magnier, Mick Cornally, Martin Coyne, Mary Gaffney, Mary Fahy, Joan Fitzgerald/ Dunlop, Michael Know, Dan Curtin, Jim Dobbyn, Michael Howard, Michael Dunne, Pierce Hanlon, Paddy Dalton, Jimmy Grace, Patsy Phelan, Joe Long, Brendan Macken, Sean Stapleton and Mary Sweeney.

Present staff include Susan Henry and Tommy Behan.