Highlands of Donegal to the weste:·n seu!Jvard. There wec·e ma•1y geograi::;:1ical and phy.;ical diffkulties in the wa:; of operating :his seC"ii:m of Uie line. Ou two occa0 ions, in 1908, <111d.again in .l n5. .passenger t r a i n s were . actually blown . di . th'e Uwenca;Tow Viad'uct, · :J.;hkh :;pans a wide ravine in · the" mountains, by gales of ~r<eat violence (over 100 miies per hour) w:1ich are so rommon there. On the. second O('Casion po1·tion of the train fell off the l.iridge into tJ-~e. :avine and..a number of passengers were k~li~ ed and injured. After .that exp.~i~ ience the Company put h:'!avy weights in the car:·iages to' hold them down and stopped a:l trains at danger point (80 m.p.h.). .\. wind gauge was erected to measur-e wind velocity. The Ra1lway riroved Of great value during the 1914-18 war. Before the advent of commerc~ial motor · transport as we know it to-day, Lough Swilly was the most Important naval base in Ir~land durin~ that pe!'iod and at one stage in the early phases of the war the entire Grand Fleet under Admi:al' .Tellicoe, h_unted off the hi1(n seas by German su\Jma!'ines. had to take refuge in Lough Swilly. During tl1at period the Railway . was called upon to transport .prai::tically· all the 3upplies required for the ve:·>- la!·ge number of wa:· vessels and this cmt.inued t~ro~out t.he war. As w·:all as t~is, several catnps for training recruits were located on tl::e Company's svstcm. J.arge numbe:-s of sltipwrer);cd sailors off torf1~do1.Nl ~hips and Gcr11.1u1r prisone!'s were also carried. Thi.s was probably oue of the must importmit !Jhases of the Company's history a's a Railway but unfc:·tunatc!y within two CJ:: th:·ee years after tire eessation of' ho:-; tiliti-2·s the Ce~1)p<my ,•pt into financial difficulties due to the development of road motor transport, and the impact of the Anglo-Ir ish wa!'. Tl!c Company suffered a severe set-.bark hy tile inkrruption of its ra.il iiervices due to local hostilities which caused the line to he rlosed by order of the Bd tish Military authorities for lengthy periods. t his gave added impetus to the development of private road t:-ansport as a compet- .i tor o! th::1 Railway and in a r·e-- lative '.y shcrt time caused a diversion of traffic from the railway, the public being quick to favour local road. ~·ervices for both passengers and goods, particularl~- for the short distances, owing to these being more convenient and . in some cases even cheap~r than the Railw3y. The ereation of the "Border", with the consequent le"ylng -.if Customs Duties on both sides, also retarded trade on whi<'h the Railway depended so much. About. 1924 both I~·ish Governments der.ided to subsidise the Company. This did not prove a re: manent solution because in <the tneantime ~·oad t ransport continued steadily and inexo1·- ablv· to ha ve i1s effoct upon Hail fraffir. with the re;u1t that i>vcntuan\- tile Company was obliged "to develon its own road services; fo!'. boih. pas>enger and .~oods iraffir. OllC' re~ult of this w.i;; that the Railway posi t.ion
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