Mural evokes Macroom’s links with railway

By Majella Flynn

An evocative new mural in Macroom recalls the mid-Cork town’s connection with the railways.

A photograph of the last goods train leaving Macroom Railway Station for Cork appeared in the Cork Examiner on November 11, 1953.

CIE railway men with the last livestock train to leave Macroom station in November, 1953. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

Now, artists Cormac Sheil and Denis O’Reardon have created a striking mural incorporating the image on the gable end of a house on the corner of Cork Street and St Colman’s Park, close to the location of the town’s old railway station.

Cormac says: “It wasn’t just a photograph of a train. It had the town in the background so you can see the old church before they put the spire on it. So that gave it great context; you can really identify it as the train in Macroom.”

The artists were commissioned by Cork County Council’s Arts Office to create the mural and were provided with the photograph by the family of station master Tommy Linehan, who signalled that last train out of Macroom on November 10, 1953.

The artists created a trompe l’oeil postcard image based on the original photograph and incorporated the design of an old railway freight stamp in the background of the mural.

“The background was a stamp that was used for letters and parcels on the Macroom-Cork train,” says Cormac.

The new mural in Macroom town, Co Cork, captures the last goods train journey in November, 1953.

The fact that the image captured the last train ever to leave Macroom station imbued the mural with extra meaning.

The Cork and Macroom Direct Railway was a vital cog in the economy and life of Macroom from its opening in 1866 until its closure in 1953, transporting passengers and goods between the town and Cork city.

Cormac says that the creation of the mural sparked many memories of the rail service among people in the locality.

“As we were doing the mural, a lot of people were coming up to us with great stories, personal stories, about the train and its last years,” says Cormac.

We got great support when we were doing the mural. People around the town got a great buzz out of it.

As well as teaming up for this project, Cormac and Denis have produced other impressive artworks in the Muskerry area, among them murals of sean nós singer Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin, poet Seán Ó Riordáin, and the local Cumann na mBan at the Ionad Cultúrtha arts centre in Baile Mhúirne.