An Act to authorise the Donegal Railway Company to extend their Railway to Strabane to alter the gauge of a portion of their railway and for other purposes.
An Act to authorise the Donegal Railway Company to extend their Railway from Strabane to Londonderry and from Donegal to Ballyshannon to make agreements with the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners and the Londonderry Bridge Commissioners and for other purposes.
An Act to divide the separate undertaking authorised by the Donegal Railway Act 1896 into two separate undertakings to extend the time for the purchase o£ lands and completion of works by that Act authorised to provide for the granting of rebates in favour of the railway from Donegal to Ballyshannon to release the County Council of the County of Donegal from their liability under the West Donegal Light Railway Order and for other purposes.
An Act for attaching a preference to the capital to be issued for the Ballyshannon Extension for the consolidation and conversion of the capital of the Company to repeal the provisions of former Acts as to separate undertakings to further extend the time for the completion of the Ballyshannon Extension to authorise the Company to work its undertaking by electricity and for other purposes.
An Act to authorize the Donegal Railway Company to raise further Moneys by the creation and issue of Guaranteed Preference Stock for the purpose amongst others of completing the Ballyshannon Extension and to empower the Company to own and work Motor Cars and other Vehicles and for other purposes.
One of the first acts of the new company was to convert the former Finn Valley Railway from Strabane to Stranorlar from 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) to 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, which it completed on 16 July 1894.[2]
Further new lines were built with a government grant of £300,000 (equivalent to £41,200,000 in 2023),[3]:
Stranorlar and Glenties 24 miles (39 km), opened 1895 (stations: Stranorlar, Ballybofey, Glenmore, Cloghan, Ballinamore, Fintown, Shallogans and Glenties)
Donegal Town to Ballyshannon 16 miles (26 km), was the last section to be completed and opened 2 September 1905 [4] (stations: Donegal Town, Hospital Halt, Drumbar, Laghey, Bridgetown, Ballintra, Dromore Halt, Dorrian's Bridge Halt, Rossnowlagh, Friary Halt, Coolmore, Creevy, Legalton Halt and Ballyshannon)
^Patterson, Edward M. (1972) [1962]. The County Donegal Railways. England: Pan Books. p. 32. ISBN0-7153-4376-9.
^The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, William Alan McCutcheon, Northern Ireland. Dept. of the Environment, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984
