In Time of Civil War: The Conflict on the Railways 1922-23

The Irish Civil War was one of the last conflicts in which railways played a significant role. The action required movement of combatants over considerable distances and attempts to lay siege to towns and cities by cutting communications: in practice this meant the then extensive rail system. Attacks on railways and employees were common, with death, injury and damage to infrastructure and rolling stock. Individual employees found themselves on opposite sides while occupying the same locomotive footplate. The effect on the railways was devastating. They had already suffered from the War of Independence as whole lines closed and hundreds of railwaymen were unemployed. The Government had to act. It formed the Railway Protection and Maintenance Corps, under Col. Commandant Charles Russell, setting up strategic posts, acquiring armoured trains and conscripting unemployed railwaymen. This study documents the social, political and strategic role of the railways in the Civil War from the military and civilian viewpoints and includes recently discovered Iarnrod Eireann photographs of the results of attacks on the railways. Though the main concentration is on the role of the railways, other transport modes are examined, such as the movement by sea of Free State forces to Cork as a result of railway sabotage. This is a comprehensive account of the vital role railways played in the short but bitter conflict and of the complex relationships of the individuals involved at both a personal and an official level. It is a deeply human story revealing a significant aspect of a country tragically at war with itself.