Maam Cross railway station on the erstwhile Galway to Clifden branch of the former Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland is set to see trains again after over eighty years of disuse. <img src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/45465032_160528850612572_r.jpeg" width="100%" media_type="3" alt="45465032_160528850612572_r.jpeg" /> The derelict station standing on 8.5 acres has been acquired by a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee – MGWR (2017) DAC - with a view to its restoration in the Connemara wilderness. The Promoter's vision is to recreate a snapshot of the west of Ireland country railway, complete with track and heritage trains – a working railway experience, drawing on early to mid-twentieth century themes of emigration, conflict, rural life, and of course ‘The Quiet Man’ which was filmed in the surrounding savage beauty of Connemara. Maam Cross station opened in July 1895 to serve the vast hinterland of the Maam Valley and Joyce Country to the North, and Carna, Rosmuc, in  South Connemara. The Clifden extension , one of the intermediate stations, was one of what were known as the Balfour Lines – built with government assistance to open up the remote far west of Ireland and stimulate economic activity – in the so called  ‘Congested Districts’. In 1925, like most railways in Ireland (The Irish Free State) the MGWR was absorbed by the new Great Southern Railways. The early years of the new GSR was taken up by repairing the extensive damage wreaked on our railways by the War of Independence and more particularly by the Civil War. The 1930’s dawned with  worldwide depression. Retrenchment and decline soon forced the GSR to close its most uneconomic route and the Clifden line was one of three former Balfour lines to go – closing on April 27 1935. By 1938 the track had been lifted and soon after went through the formal abandonment process. Maam Cross station lay forlorn and unused until the early 1960’s when the station buildings on the up platform were demolished and large sheds erected – to house a seaweed factory,  this operation lasting until the early 1970’s when it too closed down. Since then the site has been used for storing such diverse materials such as wool and building materials. Apart from the main building and the signal cabin the station is remarkably intact – consisting of up and down platforms, water tower (minus tank), loading bank, cattle pens, and goods store. The new company’s plans include reinstating railway track along the approximately 400 metres of available trackbed  with associated trackwork largely in keeping with the original layout. Refurbishing the platforms, rebuilding the signal cabin and down platform waiting shelter, restoring the Goods Store, and replacing the water tank. <img src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/45465032_1605288706821462_r.jpeg" width="100%" media_type="3" alt="45465032_1605288706821462_r.jpeg" /> New Railway Track on original formation at Maam Cross - looking towards Galway. Laid on Tuesday, February 18th 2020. The existing  yard entrance gate will be replaced by replica of the original pattern which seems to have been unique to this branch of the MGWR. An appropriate level crossing gate will also be erected on the site of the original, within the site boundary. <img src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/45465032_1582303451462466_r.jpeg" alt="45465032_1582303451462466_r.jpeg" width="100%" media_type="3" /> New Railway Track on original formation at Maam Cross - looking towards Galway. Laid on Tuesday, February 18th 2020. Naturally, this railway restoration project comes at a cost and it is for this reason that the new company have set up the GoFundMe campaign. All donations and contributions to the project are greatly appreciated.  When these works are complete, it is hoped that this recreated Connemara railway station will once again echo to the sights, sounds, and aromas of a working Irish country railway – complete with heritage trains – allowing families, tourists, all comers, and enthusiasts to once again experience an aspect of Irish rural social history that has all but disappeared in this State – an all-weather family attraction with widespread appeal!  Please click <a href="https://www.connemararailway.ie/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a> for further information!

Brian Shepherd

COLM COONEY

Tom Fitzpatrick

Turlough O'Riordan

Margaret Kincade

Anonymous

chris thorn

Maeve Cusack

Elsa Bretherton

Melanie Joyce

Sarah Anthony

Mark Hodge

John Kelleher

jim sheridan

Shane Conboy

JOHN F KENNY

Connemara Railway Project

Support urgent earthquake relief and past recovery in Venezuela.

Apoya la ayuda urgente tras el terremoto y los esfuerzos de recuperación en Venezuela.

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

Support Comments Allowlist

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

checkout headers audience

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Connemara Railway Project

Still €279,051 to go. Help us build momentum.