Forgotten Tracks

This work sets out to record the remnants of the brief railway mania which grasped Ireland in the mid-19th century an aspect of Ireland's history which has largely been overlooked. It explores the highly competitive environment of railway construction and the influence it had on Ireland's social landscape at the time. Looking at archival material from this period, it becomes apparent that much effort and expense was invested into a growing network of railways, many of which were overly ambitious and failed to meet the expectations of their investors. Whilst these railway routes and the life surrounding them have long since been abandoned, this collection intends to redress, in some small fashion, the abandonment of their memory in post-independent Ireland.