Three Foot Gauge over the Grand Canal.
On Saturday March 8, 2014, and Irish friend and I were exploring the extremities of the Bord na Mona network near Allenwood. My Ordinance Survey map showed a line with a lift bridge at the crossing of the Grand Canal, and I wondered if this was still in place.
A drive along the tow path revealed that the bridge was out of service (the lift span had been removed). On the far side of the canal an old wagon lay abandoned. Yet, the three foot gauge tracks remain—albeit buried in the muck.
Derelict railways always fascinate me. How long had it been since a Bord na Mona train last used this bridge?
I made several photos with my Lumix LX3, and a couple of colour slides with my Canon EOS-3.
Will this ruin still be there on my next visit? One never knows.
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I’m glad to assist in the epic struggle for correct terminology (and spelling).
Thank you for using the term “tow path,” which of course is correct, and refers to the days in the 1830s and 1840s when the railways replaced canals, which had tow paths for the horses or mules to tow the barges. On this side of the pond, people insist on calling these “toe paths,” because they simply don’t understand the history of the term. I of course correct them every chance I get, but it is a never-ending struggle… Many Americans, it seems, would rather stubbornly continue to be wrong than accept correction. It’s frustrating.