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blackrock passage west, cork bandon railway bandon skibbereen kinsale dunmanway clonakilty ballineen enniskeane bantry aughaville drimoleague colm creedon lord carbery earl of bandon, drimoleague to bantry railway act of parliament, railwaay history ireland
Many of his works are available on digital format:
Thanks to Kieran McCarthy for bringing it to attention.
Colm Creedon b. 1934, died comparatively young in 2001. He lived on the Magazine Road, was educated at Presentation College in Cork. His father worked with the railways on Albert Road. He worked with Thompson’s bakery, McCurtain Street in an administrative capacity. He drove a Morris Minor and spent much time researching in the old Cork City Reference Library on the Grand Parade. His real passion was the railways of West Cork. In his history of the system he recounts when the diesel railcars came in in 1954 to the closure of the system in 1961 ‘the following seven years were the happiest years of my life, with endless journeys by train with my parents and friends throughout West Cork. By now, it had developed far beyond a mere interest – I had become obsessed with the whole scene and neglected nearly everything else in my life. I naturally thought it would go on forever, so when the end came in 1961 I was shattered’.
Thw West Cork system operated out of Albert Quay in Cork and at its height covered around 170 miles. It connected most of the towns in West Cork to Cork City apart from Macroom which had a separate railway base in Capwell and a small tram line from Skibbereen to Schull. The system was taken over by the state to form part of the Great Southern Railways in 1924/5 later CIE.
Colm had a large body of Movies of the Cork Railways many taken by himself. He gave many shows to local communities of these. Presumably these are with the Local Railway Preservation Society or his friends.
His books include
The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway Vol 1 1849-1899 (Included below), Vol 2.
The Cork and Macroom Direct Railway 1960 out of print
G.A.A. Trains 1984
Cork City Railway Stations 1985
1986 Colm Creedon History ‘The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway Vol 1 1849-1899.
Local Act, 41 & 42 Victoria I, c. ccxvii HL/PO/PB/1/1878/41&42V1n269
An Act for making a Railway from the Ilen Valley Railway at Drimoleague to the Town of Bantry, all in the County of Cork; and for other purposes.. [Parliamentary Archives, House of Lords]
Date: 1878
Source: Access to Archives (A2A): not kept at The National Archives
Schull and Skibbereen Tramway HC/CL/JO/10/153/179 27 June 1887
Cork County Library have a digital display of Colm’s notebooks on the Cork and Passage Railway:
Click to access CB&PR1850-1932.pdf
Interesting Blog on West Cork Railways:
West Cork History 