Clonmacnoise And West Offaly Railway

The Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway Is Now Closed

Kids love The Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway 9km rail trip through Blackwater Bog, near Shannonbridge Co.Offaly on a 3ft narrow gauge railway

The trip itself takes an hour and you will learn about the bogs, how they were formed and worked through history and even try a little turf cutting! On the journey you will also learn about some of the more interesting archaeological finds in the bog.

Stopping at the turf bank see a demonstration of the traditional method of turf cutting, the old machinery use to dig drains, cut the turf and harrow the peat. Traditional hand methods are also demonstarted and maybe you might even have a go yourself.

West Offaly Railway Tours

1. Group Visits

Nature Train
Interested in what type of plants are found in the bog ? How they have adapted to life ? How the peat is formed well why not join us on an extended tour to include our nature trail Image of the field study.
Tea in the Bog
As part of your trip on the train why not stop and have a cup of tea and a slice of porter cake out at our turf cutting area.

2. Educational Tours

Specially designed for school groups – educational work sheets and base maps are available on request. We offer an education dimension on both our rail tour and our nature walk.

Tour A – Past, present and future usages of the Blackwater Bog
Duration: approx 1 hour by rail
Admission Charges: School Groups

Past – how the raised bog was formed, typical flora found on raised bogs. Archaeology. Traditional methods of cutting turf
Present – what we are doing in Blackwater Bog at the moment – milled peat production for generating electricity at Shannonbridge Power Station
Future – what will be done with the cutaway bog?

Tour B- Nature Train
Duration 2 hour: approx ( 1 hour by rail and 1 hour walking)
Admission Charges: School Groups

Past, present and future uses of Blackwater Bog
Walk along a floating nature trail that sits on top the bog from where many different plants can be identified first hand
Viewing a peat profile over 6 meters deep. The profile provides a visual history of the formation of peat over the past 10000 years.
Plant identification and sampling

Please. phone ahead to check tour availability