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GI4RSI > BARNEY 06.05.04 17:49l 87 Lines 5205 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 56384-GB7FCR
Read: GUEST
Subj: The Clogher Valley and railway........................
Path: ON0AR<ON0AR<GB7FCR
Sent: 040506/1748Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:56384 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:56384-GB
From: GI4RSI@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : BARNEY@WW
`No place on earth like the lovely Clogher Valley'
Hello there. How are ye all doin'? This week is the anniversary of the opening of the Clogher Valley Railway (or tramway as it was called), and I was round that way recently and there are few mementoes of it left.
Yes - it was opened on May 20, 1887 and one of the many poems written about it started thus:
On the 2nd of May we must now say in this present year (1887),
We opened up the new tramway from what we read and hear,
This lovely rail from hill and dale it cuts a glorious shine,
From Tynan to Maguiresbridge on the Clogher Valley Line.
It serves the farmers of Fermanagh _ and all of South Tyrone,
To Omagh now or Fintona, they have no cause to roam,
This is the key of Ulster you all must bear in mind,
From Fivemiletown to Caledon on the Clogher Valley Line.
Nowadays, if it's remembered at all, it's thought to have been a kind of joke, but at the time it was a revolutionary means of transport, a great improvement from a horse and cart.
Aughnacloy was the engineering headquarters, and a good one it was too. It was said that if you gave a man a washer and a nut he would have put an engine on to them.
The engineer in charge was originally from Sweden. His name was Akerlind, but he had spent some time on the railways in England before hearing of this new opportunity to develop his skills at Aughnacloy. So over he came to have a look, liked it and the people of the district so much that he spent 33 years there.
During that time he became church organist, organised a choir and it's said • that he helped to design and build the McIlwaine Hall, which is still standing.
The staff there had a varied careersindeed one of them worked in Harland and Wolff's shipyard at the building of the Titanic in his time. Maybe he should have stayed there for he lost his leg in an accident in Aughnacloy.
Of course, the old line will never e forgotten as long as the coffee shop in Augher still stands in that original red brick station building with the
authentic station nameplate, "Augher", to remind all who pass by (and many who drop in) of the days of yore.' '
The station at Fivemiletown still has the platforms and station buildings in good order, but there's not a sign of a rail line. The whole shutting yard has been taken up by the creamery buildings. If an "exile" who travelled from there in days gone by came back now he'd see a great change, as I did recently.
A former native of the Valley who used to deal in cattle is now living the life of luxury in a place called Holiday in Florida, but often "thinks long" of his young days and indeed comes over frequently to the Clogher Valley Show to meet old friends.
He is Ray Bearns and one of his old friends is Tony Martin who lives between Clogher and Fintona. They were both swapping memories and Tony wrote the following poem for the benefit of Ray and any others who have memories of the Clogher Valley:
The lovely Clogher Valley in Tyrone I have grown old and weary now,
With hair as white as snow,
Yet my memory is still as clear today,
As the time when I did ramble, in boyhood long ago,
around my native homeland far away,
that dear oul spot in Ulster, that land that gave me birth,
The place that I have always called my home,
For no matter where I ramble, there is no place on earth,
Like the lovely Clogher Valley in Tyrone.
Sure my memory often wanders back, to dear oul Aughnacloy,
For often in my youth I rambled there,
To Augher, Ballygawley and I surely did enjoy,
The happy days I spent at Clogher Fair,
But those joys of youth have vanished,
and times have changed a lot,
Since I boarded that big ship to cross the foam,
And though many years in exile, still I never have forgot,
The lovely Clogher Valley in Tyrone.
It was from a little railroad, and an old steam driven tram,
That my native Clogher Valley got its name,
It steamed down from Fermanagh, and on towards tynan,
And linked us with the northern railway train,
But the old Blackwater river, it still flows on today,
As in the ancient bygone age of stone,
And for many generations, it will wind its endless way,
Through the lovely Clogher Valley in Tyrone.
I had my young companions then, like every other lad,
And invented many childhood games also,
And well I can remember, all those happy times we had,
On Sundays at the crossroads long ago,
But boyhood passed so quickly, and we went our separate ways,
Some of us were destined for to roam,
To live a life in exile, and dream of bygone days,
Around the Clogher Valley in Tyrone.
But next summer, if God spares me, I will go back once more,
To ramble round my native land at will,
To greet friends and relations,
From those grand old days of yore,
In the shade of lovely oul Knockmaney hill,
Many old friends have departed as very well I known,
Still some remain to welcome me back home,
To evoke the happy memories of those days so long ago,
In that lovely Clogher Valley in Tyrone.
Thanks Tony. Good luck to you and Ray and all the readers.
God bless you all.
Barney McCool.
73 - Kenny, GI4RSI @ GI4RSI
Message timed: 18:47 on 2004-May-06
Message sent using WinPack-Telnet V6.80
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