Seniors Network

Buncrana Train

When I was a young lad I used to travel on the train from Derry to Buncrana in Donegal.  The total distance was about 12 miles and the train was notoriously slow.

I remember one day when the train was travelling at its usual leisurely speed.  It crept slowly along and finally creaked to a halt. An old man asked a passing conductor "What's going on?" he yelled.  "Cow on the track!" replies the conductor.

Ten minutes later, the train resumed its slow pace.
Within five minutes, however, it stops again. The old man sees the same conductor walk by again.

He yelled, "What happened? Did we catch up with the cow again?"

---

It also used to be said that the Buncrana train was so slow that you could sow flower seeds in the front carriage - and pick the flowers in the last carriage.

---

During the war it was said that the Buncrana train was the fastest in Europe. You got on in Derry at 6pm, and got off at Buncrana at 6pm. But it worked the wrong way round coming back. (There was a 1 hour time difference in Donegal)

---