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Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Act 1845
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from Waterford to Kilkenny, with a Branch to Kells, in the County of Kilkenny.
Citation	8 & 9 Vict. c. lxxxvii
Dates
Royal assent	21 July 1845

Waterford and Kilkenny Railway incorporated 21 July 1845 by the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. lxxxvii).

The aim was to create a series of railways which would connect Waterford, Cork, Dublin and Galway. The creation of such links was considered a good investment for the stock market but also intended to have a positive impact on businesses in Ireland and links to the rest of the UK.

Kilkenny-Waterford Line

The first part of the rail line to be completed was the Kilkenny to Thomastown section. Work began in 1846 but the line didn't open until 12 May 1848 due to delays in waiting for other railway companies to finish connecting track. Thomastown station was a Tudor Revival building which opened 1848. The line reached Seapoint Hill in 1850 and the rest of the track to Waterford was completed in 1853 with the opening of the station at Dunkitt.

Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Amendment Act 1850
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to enable the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Company to raise further Capital; and for other Purposes.
Citation	13 & 14 Vict. c. lxii
Dates
Royal assent	15 July 1850
Text of statute as originally enacted

In 1850 the company applied for an act of Parliament, the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Amendment Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. lxii) to allow them to raise further funds. The long term goal being the trunk line to the midlands.

Central Ireland Railways Act 1866
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	29 & 30 Vict. c. cclvii
Dates
Royal assent	23 July 1866
Text of statute as originally enacted

Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Act 1868
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	31 & 32 Vict. c. cxli

Another act of Parliament, the Central Ireland Railways Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cclvii) was put forward in 1866 to create new railway lines as a joint venture of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company. In anticipation of the increased range of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway company the name was changed to the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway by the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. cxli). The line from Kilkenny only reached Maryborough in 1867. The line to Mountmellick was opened in 1883 and that was as far as the Waterford & Central Ireland Railway got.It was originally planned that the line would be extended to Geashill but this never happened leaving it as a dead end. It(Mountmellick) closed to passengers on 27 January 1947, but the branch remained open for sugar beet and special trains until 1 January 1963. The station building is now a private residence.

Central Ireland Railway Act 1896
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to confer further powers on the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company for the construction of new Railways to form part of the Central Ireland Railway to Authorise that Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company to amalgamate their undertakings and for other purposes.
Citation	59 & 60 Vict. c. xvi
Dates
Royal assent	21 May 1896
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Waterford and Central Ireland Railway and the Kilkenny Junction Railway were amalgamated by the Central Ireland Railway Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. xvi).

In 1900, as a result of acts of Parliament, several important lines became part of the GS&WR system, including the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway and the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway.

Thomastown Viaduct

The line from Thomastown to Jerpoint Hill, completed in 1850, was the section which needed the viaduct across the river Nore. Captain William Moorsom was the engineer who designed the structure of lattice woodwork beginning the work in 1846. It was two hundred feet long and seventy-eight feet above the River Nore. At twenty-five feet wide, it was designed for two lines, although only one was built. When done was the longest single span viaduct in either Ireland or Great Britain.

The new viaduct had Charles Richard Galwey (1840–94) as the engineer. The iron structure was completed in 1877. It replaced an older wooden viaduct which was feared to be unstable and dangerous. Throughout the 1850s there were reports on the safety of the structure and while all agreed it was safe it was still recommended to replace it with an iron viaduct which would need less maintenance. The metal constraction was made by the Mallet foundry and the son of that family, Robert Mallet was one of the planner of the viaduct.

See also

• History of rail transport in Ireland

References

1. ^ The Railway Chronicle: Joint-stock Companies Journal. Register of Traffic, Shares, Engineering Improvements and All Matters Connected with Railways ..., Volume 1. J. Francis, 1845 - Railroads. 1845.
2. "EARLY RAILWAYS". Irish Railway Record Society. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
3. "Thomastown railway station". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
4. "Waterford and Central Ireland Railway". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
5. "Accounts and works of railways in Ireland: minutes of evidence". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
6. "galway-kilkenny-railway-committee-1845". 12 September 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
7. "Waterford and Central Ireland Railway". www.lennan.eu. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
8. Ayres, Bob (2003). "Irish Railway Stations" (PDF). Railscot. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2007.
9. "Mountmellick". eiretrains.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
10. "Viaduct details". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1851 - Railway architecture - 5 pages. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
11. Moorsom (January 1852). "Description of the viaduct erected over the river Nore, near Thomastown". Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 11 (1852): 426–434. doi:10.1680/imotp.1852.24056. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
12. "Thomastown viaduct". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
13. Petruzzello, Melissa. "Robert Mallet - Irish civil engineer". Encyclopedia Britannica.

External links

• The men who cycled over the Thomastown viaduct

• Defunct railway companies of Ireland
• Transport in County Kilkenny
• Transport in County Waterford
• Irish gauge railways