Author: Eddie Lenihan
Date Published: 31-Jan-2008
Far more people have heard of the West Clare Railway than have ever travelled on it because of Percy French's famous song Are Ye Right There, Michael? In the Tracks of the West Clare Railway is at once a history of a famous railway, the last of the Irish narrow-gauge lines; a tourist's guide to a relatively little-known part of Clare; a record of a walking journey along what remains of the line from Ennis to Kilkee/Kilrush; and a tribute to the people and county of Clare. Although trains are unlikely to ever again run between Ennis and Kilkee, the legend of this little branch line of the railway system will live on as long as there are peple who look back fondly on the past. What was a railway is now a disjointed succession of pieces linking not just places but, in a way, two worlds: one unhurried and traditional, the other brash, frenzied and modern. In the Tracks of the West Clare Railway paints an evocative picture of a time when the railway breathed life into West Clare.