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  • Short Summary

    Trains travel on the Ballybunion Mono-Railway.

  • Description

    "A single line - in Ireland - where the historical Ballybunion Mono-Railway ran."*

    M/S of a strange looking train moving towards the camera. Engine driver climbs down and goes to the front of the engine. He pushes on the track to turn the engine around to face the opposite direction. L/S of the train approaching. As it nears the camera it stops and passengers get out of tiny carriages. C/U of the front of the train. The train starts up and moves off. Children wave from the carriages. High angle shot of the train wobbling along. Shot from the roof of the train showing the two drivers. C/U of engine driver. An unusual road bridge is lowered over the line. A horse and cart travels across.

    Was an item in Pathe Pictorial issue number 701.

    * This doesn't make much sense but that's what it says!

    Not sure if Ballybunion is in Northern Ireland or Southern Ireland (Republic of Ireland, Eire, Irish Republic) - can't find it on the map. Perhaps it is some kind of joke?

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    914.11
    Media URN:
    15409
    Group:
    Eve pictorials
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    14/09/1931
    Sound:
    mute
    hd format:
    HD at Filmfinity
    Stock:
    Black & White
    Duration:
    00:03:31:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:25:48:00 / 01:29:19:00
    Canister:
    EP 180

Comments (3)

  1. Unknown user says

    Thought I'd sort out the comment currently posted at the bottom of the shots list.....

    "Not sure if Ballybunion is in Northern Ireland or Southern Ireland (Republic of Ireland, Eire, Irish Republic) - can't find it on the map. Perhaps it is some kind of joke?" - it certainly isn't a joke, Ballybunion is in County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland.

    There's also a second comment in the shots list saying......

    "* This doesn't make much sense but that's what it says!" - this comment refers to the title card, which carries a misprint. To clear that up, the title card is referring to the former Listowel and Ballybunion railway (a monorail railway), which ran between 1888 and 1924.

    As the clip is dated 1931, we are presumably seeing retrospective footage of the Listowel and Ballybunion Railway before its closure.




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  2. Unknown user says

    Judging by the position of the passengers, the film seems to suggest that the seating in the carriages is not against the back wall ( as described in all books on the railway) but in the normal arrangement crossways either side of the entrance doors.

    Graham

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  3. Pat Allen says

    Ballybunion is a small village in Southern Ireland in the county Kerry. The railway shown in the clip is quite famous. The original steam-powered monorail (designed by Frenchman Charles Lartigue) ran for nine miles between Listowel and the seaside resort of Ballybunion. Operating from 1888 to 1924, it carried passengers, livestock and freight along a rail supported on A-shaped trestles. It occupies a special place in railway history as the only monorail of its type to operate successfully on a commercial basis.
    There is a replica of the original, a museum and a piece if original track located in the town of Listowel.

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