Cork & Muskerry Light Railway 4-4-0 Locomotives in Ireland

Class Peake (Locobase 20416)

Data from"Cork and Muskerry Light Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXI [21] (15 May 1915, pp. 110-112. See also Madge Ahern, "The Courk and Muskerry Light Railway", History of Inniscarra website at [], last accessed 5 August 2018; and Margaret Lantry, "Some notes and sources about the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway-Also known as the Muskerry Tram", dated 28 May 2012. See also John Joseph Scanlan, DD [24 May 1906-31 January 1997), "Memories of the Muskerry Railway", News from Times Past with Brian Gabriel, Blarney & District Historical Society, posted 12 April 2016, in Muskerrynews, archived at [], last accessed 5 August 2018.

Light Railway racing information from Order No 35875 - 1903, Sessional Papers, Inventory Control Record 1, Volume 32 (London: Great Britain House of Parliament), pp. 138-139, and "An Irishman's Diary", Irish Times of 20 January 2003, archived at [], last accessed 5 August 2018. Works number was 274 in 1898.

LM's report said that the original plan was to run a light railway (or tram) from Cork some 15 1/2 miles (25 km) to Coachford. Coachford Junction lay 5 3/4 miles (9.25 km) from Cork and all three C&MLR branches split off from there. The most heavily branch turned north to St Annes Junction and on east to Blarney, this put Blarney 8 3/4 miles (14.1 km) from Cork overall. Coachford lay 9 3/4 miles (15.7 km) west and south beyond the Junction while the Donoughmore Extension (not part of the original railway) turned northwest from St Annes Junction and ran 8 1/2 miles (13.7 km) .

Rails on the single-track system weighed 50 lb/yard (25 kg/metre) and allowed a maximum speed of 35 mph (56 kph). But running times were 37 minutes to Blarney, 62 miles to Coachford and 67 minutes to Donoughmore.

The Peake was arguably the most powerful of the locomotives to serve the C&MLR. Dripsey (#8) was also built by Falcon, which had been acquired by Brush Electric, but had 12 x 18" cylinders and 111 1 3/4" tubes.

Madge Ahern's account of the CMLR describes a railway that "ran partly on the side of the road, through fields and by the sides of rivers and streams. For almost 50 years, until it closed in 1934, it provided a valuable passenger and goods service to the surrounding countryside and its demise due to the onset of motor traffic was much regretted."

An unusual example of the interaction of the Irish light railway was a series of "Orders relative to Motor Car Racing" issued over at least three years (1903-1905) by the Local Government Board for Ireland to allow a council of any administrative county "by order declare that any public roads within the county may be used for races with light locomotives [i.e. automobiles] during the whole or part of any days specified in the order, not exceeding three days in the year." The Schedules for all of the planned races notes that the "speed of light locomotives shall not exceed ten miles an hour."

Cork's administrative council had announced the plan for the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to run a race on the public road between the Toll House at Victoria Cross to the West end of Carrigrohane Railway Station "for a race with Light Locomotives" on 10 July 1903.