Some 78 years after the original was scrapped, a replica of a unique locomotive for the world's most eccentric mono-rail system arrived in Listowel, Co Kerry, yesterday afternoon.
The arrival of the replica locomotive from Herefordshire in England is the finishing touch to a €700,000 project which will see 500 metres of the old A-shape Lartigue monorail in place. Two replica carriages will be delivered shortly and the railway will carry up to 40 passengers.
The Lartigue ran between Listowel and Ballybunion between 1888 and 1924. Designed by French engineer Charles Lartigue, it was based, it is thought, on his observations on the way camels moved - legs high over the sand with the loading on top between humps.
Mr Jack McKenna, who as a child in 1922 was given a chance to drive the original locomotive and is now president of the restoration project, said yesterday that the monorail would attract visitors to Listowel: "People are interested in ordinary kinds of railways not to mention this extraordinary type of railway."