Accidents

The Waterford to Tramore Line had a remarkable record of freedom from accidents with only three derailments.

Derailment at Carricklong Bridge 24th August 1935.

The immediate aftermath of the derailment at Carricklong Bridge 24th August 1935. The driver was Mick Power, the fireman Michael Phelan and the guard Chris Falconer. In the photograph you can also see a Civic Guard wearing the old fashioned 'buttoned to the neck' tunic. The Locomotive is a No. 483, 2-2-0 class, built in 1855 for the Waterford and Tramore Line.

© Jack O'Neill

Derailment at Carricklong Bridge 24th August 1935.
© Jack O'Neill

Derailment at Carricklong Bridge 24th August 1935.

The immediate aftermath of the derailment at Carricklong Bridge 24th August 1935. The driver was Mick Power, the fireman Michael Phelan and the guard Chris Falconer. In the photograph you can also see a Civic Guard wearing the old fashioned 'buttoned to the neck' tunic. The Locomotive is a No. 483, 2-2-0 class, built in 1855 for the Waterford and Tramore Line.

© Jack O'Neill

Enlarge image

The first was on the 9th August 1858, when the 6:20 p.m. train from Tramore crashed through the wall of the Waterford Terminus at Mendicity Lane. One girl was killed and another injured, but none of the passengers were hurt.

The second derailment happened on the 24th August 1935, the 12:15 p.m. train to Tramore left the rails at Carricklong Bridge dragging two coaches down the embankment, eleven passengers were injured as well as the crew Mick Power and Michael Phelan, who were both seriously injured and spent almost a year in hospital. The train, a locomotive No.483, the last of its class left in the county, was scrapped.

The third derailment was on the 13th August 1947, the train's brakes failed to hold the engine and the No. 560 engine ran over a turntable and plunged through the station wall, landing upright on the road, with the buffers almost touching the steps of the Deluxe Hotel. The 11:15 p.m. train, the last running that day from Waterford was carrying few passengers but many were waiting in Tramore for the return journey. Miraculously no one was injured and the No. 560 was back on the rails three days later.

In 1953 a small girl fell off a moving train – the only passenger to be killed in the 108 year existence of the Waterford to Tramore Line.