I actually rode, as a youngster, on the famous steam-driven single-guage West Clare railway from Corofin to Kilrush and it really was as Percy French's song depicts. When the railway was closed in the 60's , the rolling stock was was sold to the Sisal plantatons in Kenya. I can still hear the sound of that 'Lonesome Whistle' as the train approached the small village of Corofin...ahh! the nostalgia. pjc