Memory of West Cork Railway lives on

SIXTY-ONE year-old Maurice McCarthy grew up loving the hooting and chug-chugging of engines as they neared the west Cork town of Clonakilty.

He remembers long summer evenings racing around in his back garden playing ‘cowboys and indians’, with his favourite audioscape in the background as the engines neared the station up on the hill in the town.

It was a love affair that never died as on the 50th anniversary of the West Cork Railway’s closure Maurice McCarthy is considered the foremost local authority on the railway and its rich history.