011c of th~ fir:;t chuirn1t'l1 of fh0;; l,ough :::iwill,v Cou11Ja11.v wa::; Sir John .J\acFal'l<rnd, B<iri.. Aberfoyle. Derry, whose son, Sir Basil McFarland. Bar l.. 11ow occupies that office. Tl'.e first was a Mr. James Clay. Sir John assumed office in 1896 and it is noteworthy that it was under his chairmanship that the line had its era of greatest progress, maintaining a dividend of 7 per cent on its ordinary shares fo.r many years prior to the 191/i/18 wa.r. mE G.N.R. IN DONEGAL The County Donegal Railways (Joint Committee), as it is styled tc-day, is as the name suggests, under the joint ownership of the G.N.R. and the British Transport Commission. The Finn Valley Railway was opened from Strabane lo Stran.. orla1· in 1863 and was subsequ.ently extended to Glenties and from Donegal lo Killybegs. This Company was amalgamated with the County Donegal Railway in 189-1. The C.D.R. lost its autonomy in l 906 when the narrO\.,. gauge railways of the :South County Donegal came unde.r the joint ownership of the G.:N.R. and the L.M.S. ( \' .C.C.). Those important lines had not an enti1·ely successful career. financiaE\· speaking, and negotiations resuited in the arrangement for their future control hy t\vo !broad gauge companies, one Irish and one En.g!ish. The County Donegal Railways Joint Committee cam~ into being on May lst, 1906, and is still operating as such. An extension constructed ·by the Mid1nnd Railway Company t'll uarrvw gauge frum l':i l ral.>a111.: 412, to D"ny was OPt:n"ll u11 .rauuary lst.. UJ04. by the Brili::;h contro:led :\lid!ancl Railway, but it was not remunerative. This line runs pa:·nllcl to ii12 G.N.R. line, ·hu: on tile olhcl· side of the River Foylc. A line construe.led by the Enniskillen - Bundoran Railway Co., 35~ miles long, was opened on June 13. 1866, and this later :b-ecame the property of the Irish North Westem Railway Co .. and later still the G.N.R., who tO:.day have the privilege of serving this pe>pular resort. The li.·ish Highlands Hotel at Bundoran, was taken over by the G.N.R. a.nd completely renovated by Act of Parliament in 1897. The . Londond·erry-Enniskillen Railway opened a line, hroad gauge, for ihe 14 miles section from Sh:ahane to Derry on Aprii 19, 1847, and this fo1"ms part of the main G.N.R. line between Derry and Belfast via Strabane. Omagh, Dungannon and Portadown. THE c.o.R. From the pen of S. J . Carse. a recent i~~:ue· of ·the Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, giv•es an interesting sur· ·ey of the working of foe County Donegal Railways. The Finn Valley Railway Co. , th~ article states. was incorporated May 15. 1860, and tl1e fi rst sod was cut bv the Marouess of Abercorn on S·eptemher 9, 1851, when "His Lordship amidst the applause of the assembkd spectuto::s. dives!:.ed himself of his coat and wheeled away the turf on a highly o:·namental barrow, spet:- ial:y prepared for the occasion."
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