When the train came to Mullingar, part 1 of 2
The history of Mullingar Railway Station 1848-2023 (part 1 of 2), by Ruth Illingworth; read part 2 here
This year marks the 175th anniversary of the opening of Mullingar railway station. The first train arrived in town on October 2, 1848. Within three years the line from Dublin had been extended to Athlone and Galway. In 1855 a second line opened to Longford, extending to Sligo by 1863. Branch lines connected Mullingar to the Ulster and Munster rail networks. By the late 19th century Mullingar was “almost the very focus of the whole rail network in Ireland.” The station would play an important role in the economic and social life of Mullingar for more than a century and become one of the town’s major sources of employment.
Bringing the train to Mullingar
The story of Mullingar station began in 1845, just a decade after the first train had run in Ireland between Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. An act of parliament was passed authorising the building of a rail line from Dublin to Mullingar. Further acts permitted the extension of the line to Athlone and Galway.
A company called the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was set up to build and run the line. The chief surveyor and engineer for the project was William Dargan, the ‘Father of Irish Railways’. Building work started at the Broadstone in Dublin in January 1846. Construction crews were working in the Mullingar area by August 1846, laying the foundations for a new rail bridge beside the Royal Canal at Saunders Bridge. By early 1848, 1,768 men were working on building the railway embankment into the town.
The line was completed by August 1848 and the first train arrived in Mullingar on Monday October 2, 1848. A Dublin newspaper hailed the new service as: “This great project – one calculated to extend civilisation, promote trade and agriculture, and increase the wealth and comfort of the people.”
There were four trains each way each day and that number was soon increased to five. The trains had four classes of passengers. Fourth class had to stand in open cattle wagons; they were usually harvesters, drovers and other migrant agricultural workers. That arrangement was changed in 1866, when drovers and other agricultural workers were given free passes and travelled in covered wagons.
The MGWR signed a contract with the Post Office to carry letters and the first mail train ran in October. By 1859 there would be two mail trains daily each way. The first livestock special was run in November and a year later, in November 1849, the first passenger special service was put on to take people to the Great Mullingar Wool Fair.
The original station buildings were described as being “commodious but temporary structures”. The present station building dates from 1856 and was the work of the MGWR architect, John Skipton Mulvany. Regarded as being a particularly fine example of Victorian railway architecture, the building has been described as “the quirkiest 19th century station in Ireland”.
The station was the first building in Mullingar to have gas lighting, and the first lamps were lit in November 1851. From November 1849, a businessman called Patrick Costello was operating a saloon at the station. Breakfast was served from 7 to 11, hot dinner between 3 and 7pm. “Wines, spirits, liqueurs, Cigars etc, of the most choice descriptions” were also served and patrons were reminded that the station saloon was “only two minutes walk from the fairgreen”.
Extending the Lines
Work commenced on extending the line to Athlone in March 1849 and the first train to Athlone and Galway ran on August 1, 1851. There were four trains each way daily. A branch line to Clara opened from Streamstown station in 1862. It connected Mullingar with the Great Southern and Western Company lines to Cork. Three trains each way served the Clara branch six days a week. The Galway line would later connect to places such as Clifden, Achill and Westport.
In 1853, work began on building a second line from Mullingar to Longford. A new rail bridge was built beside the Green Bridge over the Royal Canal and another bridge was built across the canal beside the Fair Green, as well as bridges over the Longford and Castlepollard roads. A solid embankment of rubble masonry was constructed along the rail line beside Lough Owel. The first train to Longford ran on November 8, 1855, and the line was extended to Sligo in 1863.
A branch line to Cavan was constructed off the Longford line at Inny Junction and the Mullingar, Cavan service opened in July 1856. The line connected Mullingar station with the Great Northern rail company services to Belfast and became important for the transport of livestock from Mullingar fairs.
By the 1870s, the MGWR was the third largest railway company in Ireland and had 548 miles of track stretching across the midlands and running from Dublin to the Atlantic Coast. Mullingar was now “in direct communication with every part of Ireland”.
In 1852, Mullingar Racecourse opened at Newbrook and Clonmore Road was built to facilitate traffic between the station and the racecourse. A railway siding opened beside the racecourse in 1902, with two platforms, making it possible for passengers and horses to disembark right beside the gates leading to the course. One station employee recalled how “Newbrook Racecourse siding was a busy place on race days. Specials of horseboxes brought the runners to Newbrook and there was the town special from Mullingar itself for people who did not wish to walk to the racecourse.” Trains brought people from all over the country to Newbrook for the popular race meetings, up until the late 1960s.
In 1899, Mullingar became the first station on the MGWR outside Dublin to build a subway. It ran all the way from the down Galway platform to the up Sligo platform.
The station was also one of the first buildings in Mullingar to have electric light, and a generating plant was located under the down Galway platform at the Dublin end. An article in the Westmeath Guardian in 1899 praised the upgrading work being done at the station. “When these improvements are finally perfected Mullingar Station (save and except Broadstone) will be the finest on the line and in every way worthy of the important town it serves.”
Murder at the Station
In March 1869, there was a sensational crime at Mullingar station. The stationmaster, Thomas Anketell, was shot and fatally wounded at the back door of his house beside the Galway line. Anketell had just finished work for the evening and had entered the yard of his house when he was shot by a man hiding in bushes.
The MGWR organised a special train to bring top medical specialists to Mullingar to try to save the stationmaster’s life, but they were unable to do anything for him and he died a couple of days later. Another special train was organised to take his remains to his native Portadown for burial, and numerous senior MGWR staff accompanied the coffin. A special fund was set up to look after his young widow and three children.
Thomas Anketell had been appointed to the job of stationmaster about a year before his death. There were problems at the station relating to theft and lack of discipline among staff. Anketell was a tough disciplinarian and he sacked a number of employees for drunkenness and theft. His actions were deeply resented by some of the staff and might have been the reason why he was attacked.
Detectives investigating the murder found evidence that the crime was an inside job. The assassin appeared to know where Anketell lived and when he would be coming off duty. Police were told of a meeting in a pub in Dominick Street frequented by railwaymen where the attack was planned. Two railway employees were arrested and charged with the murder but the case was dropped for lack of evidence before it came to trial.
The murder of Thomas Anketell remains an unsolved crime. It seems likely that it was carried out by members of the agrarian society known as the Ribbonmen, who were active in Westmeath at the time and were responsible for a number of attacks on railway property, including the derailment of a train at Ballinea in December 1868 in which 15 passengers were injured.
‘A Hive of Activity’
From its earliest years, the railway station was one of the main sources of employment in Mullingar and up to 700 people were directly or indirectly employed there by the early 20th century. The place was “a constant hive of activity”. The workforce included drivers, signalmen, fitters, boilermen, carpenters, firemen, gangers, shunters, electricians, cleaners, porters and messengers.
The goods store employed eight men and a couple of horses. A wagon washing plant on the Galway line employed more than 30 men working on three shifts seven days a week. Large numbers also worked at the engine shed on the Galway line and at the station coal depot. The coal bank crane was always busy coaling engines. About 20 trains were coaled and watered every day. One railway employee recalled how “groups of three or four engines coupled together were a common sight as they came from the coal bank at the Sligo side and went over to the engine shed”.
There were two signal cabins at the station. The No 1 Signal Cabin was at the Dublin end of the down Sligo platform and the No 2 Signal Cabin was at the Galway end of the down Galway platform. The No 1 box contained 65 levers and the No 2 box had 35. The two cabins controlled all the rail traffic between Killucan and Castletown Geoghegan and were busy places, dealing with trains to and from Dublin. Galway, Sligo, Westport, Cavan, Clara, as well as the engines going to the coal bank .
The station had three refreshment rooms; one on the down Galway platform, one on the up Sligo platform and the third in the main building. An Eason book stall on the up Galway platform provided reading material for passengers and newspaper boys roamed the platforms selling the latest editions of the daily papers.
In 1852, the telegraph office opened on the down Galway platform. By 1870 Mullingar was “the seat of the telegraph engineering depot for the west of Ireland and the chief station for the transmission of telegraphic news to all stations”. The telegraph office was always busy and was staffed continuously. Most of the employees were women.
In 1867 the Post Office began running what was known as the Travelling Post Office (TPO). Letters were sorted on board while the train was on the move. From 1891, railway companies were allowed to carry letters independently of the Post Office and became post offices. Letters could be delivered by railway staff and each station had its own hand stamp. There was a postbox in the entrance hall of the station with a design unique to Mullingar.
The movement of livestock also provided work at the station for many. Mullingar was a major market town and hosted many agricultural fairs and markets. By 1900, there were up to nine livestock trains per month. Some of those had up to 40 wagons. The livestock were loaded and unloaded at two loading yards. One was on the Galway line close to the goods shed siding and the other was on the Longford line beside the Fair Green and the canal bridge. Known as the ‘Cavan’ or ‘Northern’ bank, that yard was a busy place on the first Tuesday of the month when several stock specials loaded there on the way to Cavan and Belfast.
Horse drawn carts carried goods from the station to businesses around the town. Coal was taken by cart to Suttons coal yard, for example. Bottles for Shaws Bottling Plant and bags of yeast for Mullally’s Bakery were among the items transported. Hotels such as the Greville Arms had buses that ferried guests to and from the station. Jarveymen such as Daniel Earl (who features in James Joyce’s novel as ‘Stephen Hero’) were also on hand to collect passengers.
Numerous porters were employed to help carry luggage on and off trains and to announce arrivals and departures. When a train was due to leave, a porter rang the station bell in the entrance hall to alert passengers in the waiting and refreshment rooms.
Because Mullingar was an important junction, porters also made announcements about the need to change trains, ‘Mullingar all Change!’. On one occasion a porter got drunk and began singing the following ditty: Sweet smiling faces, passing to and fro/ Change here for Galway, Sligo and Mayo/ This one’s for Inny Junction/ And the Cavan Line as well./ So change as I have told ye./ Or stay here and go to hell.”
The singing porter was sent to work at the livestock loading bank, where he could serenade the cattle!