A LOCAL tourism initiative and over 160 years of history were easy partners at Ballyglunin Railway Station last Saturday when the first official party of American tourists visited the iconic site.

Thirty-five tourists came to ‘The Quiet Man’ station for ‘a short visit’ but it turned into a two-hour affair with the group fascinated by the history of the small former train stop, located adjacent to the banks of the Abbert River.

The plan into the future is for the station to become a stopping-off point for visiting tourist parties over the coming years to dip into a location steeped in many aspects of history from the landlord days to emigration and of course ‘The Quiet Man’ film of 1952.

Joyce Laffey, Chairperson of Ballyglunin Community Development, told the Connacht Tribune that they were ‘absolutely delighted’ at the success of last Saturday’s venture, with the party of US tourists totally ‘taken’ by the story of the station.

“We were a bit lucky too with the weather on Saturday which was quite nice but what really thrilled us all was the reaction of the visiting party to what they were seeing and hearing.

“Local historian, Martin Curley, also gave a wonderful account of the history of the station and indeed the whole local area, in what we hope will be the first of many such events over the coming years,” said Joyce Laffey.

Martin Curley told the Connacht Tribune that the visiting party ‘just loved’ the stories associated with Ballyglunin Station since its opening in 1860 and the poignant memories it left for hundreds of emigrants, many of whom would never see home again.

“Between 1892 – when Ellis Island [the US’s first immigration station in New York Harbour] opened – and the 1920s, we have 120 people listed from the Ballyglunin area who passed through it.

“Ballyglunin Station was the place where these people said goodbye to their families to begin a new life on the East Coast of America, many of them never to return,” said Martin Curley.

A well-known historian and genealogist from Guilka, Menlough, Martin Curley gave a comprehensive account of the history of the Ballyglunin Station and surrounding areas.

“Of course, as well as emigration to the United States, the other big point of interest for American tourists is The Quiet Man film and just simply walking on the same railway platform that John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara stepped onto over 70-years ago,” said Martin Curley.

Last Saturday’s visiting party also had one very local connection to the Ballyglunin area with author Mike Farragher having his family roots in the locality.

A native of Jersey City, his book, ‘This is Your Brain on Shamrocks’, chronicles his Irish upbringing in an American city which eventually led him to a highly successful business career now complemented with his writing exploits.

The history of Ballyglunin Station also captures at local level a time of massive change across Ireland with the opening up of the rail network for ‘ordinary people’ to the role of the local landlords – the Blakes, one of the Tribes of Galway – in locating the station on the edge of their estate.

Local lore has it, that the then ‘Man of the Big House’, one Robert Blake, would regularly have his evening meal delivered from Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel to Ballyglunin Station. On days of big ‘game shoots’, special extra food deliveries would arrive from ‘The Shelbourne’.

Ballyglunin Station [Castletown Station in The Quiet Man] is located at the meeting point of three parishes – Abbeyknockmoy, Killererin and Corofin – and is now enjoying a ‘new life’ with a major revamp having been completed over the past decade or so.

It now includes a six-acre biodiversity park, an arts and performing space [the old railway station store], as well as business pods, but it’s the rich history and lore of the Ballyglunin Station that has now made it one of the ‘must visit sites’ in Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.

■ For more information on Ballyglunin Station and to book guided visits go to:       ballyglunin.com

Pictured; Martin Curley, Joyce Laffey and Mike Farragher, with members of Ballyglunin Station committee and a visiting group of American tourists. Inset: The beautifully restored Ballyglunin Station.  Photo: Jacinta Fahy.