Above is the roadway heading into Fintown, Co. Donegal. As you can see there is a bit of mountaineering to be conquered in the area. The narrow gauge railway benefited from a good choice of right of way in several spots.
In Fintown, I had the good fortune of visiting an operating heritage railway in County Donegal. This railway is located to the west of Derry. Originally this was a mainline which carried mostly goods and people from county to Derry. Derry was the commercial powerhouse which provided most of the trade to County Donegal. Very little of the this railway actually remains. It was orginally built as Irish standard gauge, but the consolidation of this short line with another short line in the county lead to it being converted to narrow gauge. Narrow gauge would have necessitated transfer of goods from Irish Gauge laden cars to narrow gauge cars in Derry. However, much of the goods had to be transloaded in Derry due to physical connection issues, regardless of gauge issues. Some of the narrow gauge railway remains in Derry as part of a sister museum located in the Queen’s Country.
This railway segment is situated in the Republic. It is in the town called Fintown. The railway lies adjacent to large lake. The railway was originally incorporated as the Finn Valley Railway. The lake has an interesting set of features including large relative length in comparison to its’ breath. The museum has maintained a website a http://www.antraen.com/about.php. The railway did not run through Letterkenny, but another narrow gauge line emanating from Derry, did. 
The other main line meandered around Donegal for a bit. This other line did not become consolidated with the other line into one railway system for Co. Donegal. Eventually the consolidation was nationalized. Railways through the northern part of Ireland crosses international boundaries, which made them unique in a sense; the railroads were nationalized by two sovereign powers.
The terminus of the line through Fintown was in Glenties. This was not near the water. There was little need to connect with any shipping in Donegal. All of the processed goods were shipped to Co. Donegal via transloading in Derry.
When I arrived at the museum I discovered that the officers of the museum from Derry had actually arrived at the museum. They had come to inspect their car which is in the picture as seen above. The officers of the Fintown organization had also made themselves present.
I was able to learn a lot about the Irish railways from these gentlemen. It was one of a few places in which I met a large number of Irish railfans.
There is railway museum in Donegaltown. This museum only has a static set of displays. A branch connected to the line as mentioned above. this line went to the south with a run to Killybegs. Donegaltown was in the middle of this branch. This line was originally incorporated as the West Donegal Railway. It had always been a narrow gauge railway. This line also had a branch which ran to Ballyshannon, which is the host of several excellent examples of Irish beaches.
N1EY
