Irish Station Names - Fictional Place Names

Ballykissangel / Baile Coisc Aingil: the railway does not feature in the TV series, except in the form of a low bridge under which vehicles can get stuck. However, the little town of Avoca / Abhóca where the series was filmed does have a station, albeit one that is closed. There have been proposals to reopen this station on the Dublin to Rosslare main line to cater for the tourist traffic generated by interest in the affairs of Ballykissangel, which continues to draw visitors today even though the last episode was originally broadcast as long ago as 2001.
Buggleskelly: arguably the most famous fictional railway station in Ireland, Buggleskelly featured in the 1937 Will Hay comedy film Oh! Mr Porter. This station on the (equally fictional) Southern Railway of Northern Ireland was supposed to be situated close to the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State (as the Republic of Ireland was then known). As such, it became the haunt of arms smugglers, whose clandestine nocturnal activities are taken for ghostly manifestations, until their dastardly plans are revealed and they eventually meet their just deserts. The basis for the storyline is not entirely implausible; as a result of the partition several small railways found themseves winding their way back and forth across a somewhat troubled border that was notoriously difficult to police. The station used in the making of the film was actually in England: Cliddesden, on the Basingstoke to Alton branch of the Southern Railway. The line had already closed to regular traffic by the time of filming and was later dismantled. Some traces of the line remain, and can be located about ½ mile (0.8km) to the east of the village. The road leading there still bears the name of Station Road.
Tara Street in Dublin is a real station, the fiction here being that it is named after a famous heroine of the City, just as the other main stations are named after its heroes. Dublin has its fair share of remarkable female figures, from Anna Livia to Molly Malone (celebrated in the statues known respectively, though not respectfully, to locals as “The Floozie in the Jacuzzi” and “The Tart with the Cart”) so why not Tara Street? Sadly, the truth is more prosaic, and Tara Street is named after a thoroughfare, not a person.

Railway Stations in

Ireland

Fictional Place Names