Castlerea Railway Museum

Sean Browne, a longstanding railway enthusiast who has dedicated his passion to the preservation of a vanishing element of Irish transport history, had a boyhood ambition when he founded the Castlerea Railway Museum. Sean’s fascination with railways began as a youngster when he travelled with his uncle John Joe Quinn on horseback and on rail journeys from Castlerea to visit his sister who worked in Dublin. Sean remembers looking out the window at Mullingar Station, feasting his eyes on the hundreds of steam locomotives destined for the scrap heap, and fantasising about having his own train one day.
Sean began to realise his goal in 1994 when he bought a 1955 A55 diesel locomotive for scrap value from CIE, which had been retired from service. On July 7, 1998, the 51-foot-long, 14-foot-high, 62-ton train took its final voyage from Dublin to Castlerea, where it and a vast collection of related railway artefacts were housed in a Railway Museum. The total cost of the restoration was £150,000, and the Museum was thankfully aided in meeting these expenses by a £35,000 grant from the Roscommon Enterprise Board. John Molloy and James Flanagan & Sons, Tulsk, both generously sponsored the event.
Sean has worked to inspire and enthuse people to share this unique heritage experience and go back in time with him around the railway network, becoming captivated with his image of a historical era, since the museum’s inauguration.
In Castlerea, Co Roscommon, the Museum is adjacent to the now-defunct Hell’s Kitchen Bar. The Museum’s Bar was originally a component of the museum, and it was notable for being Ireland’s only tavern with a full-scale railway inside!