The Waterford and Tramore Railway (W&TR) was a railway in County Waterford, Ireland, that linked the city of Waterford and the seaside town of Tramore, a distance of . The railway officially opened on 5 September 1853 and opened for normal business on 7 September 1853. The line had no intermediate stations, only the two termini, and was to remain completely isolated from the rest of the Irish railway network throughout its life. It closed on 31 December 1960. History Construction began on 10 February 1853, the Waterford business community meeting the £77,000 cost. William Dargan's construction company completed the single track line by 2 September 1853, less than seven months. This was a considerable achievement as a section of line outside Waterford ran over deep bog covered with bulrushes. Each terminus included a turntable. The Company offered a number of concessions and travel offers, some of which were related to the expansion of the resort of Tramore. A combined Hotel and rail travel was offered, free travel was offered to various religious orders, and house builders in Tramore could have their building materials transported for free and they were also entitled to a free travel pass for five years. On 1 January 1925 the Great Southern Railways (GSR) was formed and absorbed the W&TR. On 31 December 1944 the GSR and Dublin United Transport Company merged to form CIÉ. Traffic reach a peak in 1952 with fourteen services each way following introduction of a cheaper fares policy. On 27 September 1960 CIÉ announced that it would close the line on 31 December and replace it with a bus service. To avoid demonstrations, the last scheduled train did not run. The final trains run were the 13:25 from Waterford and the 14:10 from Tramore. In the first half of 1961 all the tracks were lifted and the rails scrapped by a Dublin scrap firm with the sleepers were sold for use in defences against coastal erosion. Locally it was rumoured that the tracks were to be shipped to Nigeria. Similar false rumours attended many railway closures at the time. One of the few remaining traces of the railway is Tramore station house, which after lying derelict for many years is now owned by Waterford County Council. Route The Waterford and Tramore Railway was the only broad gauge line in Ireland that was not connected to any other. The W&TR was