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Meandering for some 52.5 miles in Counties Laois, Offaly, Tipperary and Limerick, the railway line from Ballybrophy Junction (at MP66.5 on the Dublin – Cork line) to Limerick was opened between Ballybrophy and Roscrea by the Great Southern & Western Railway in 1857. It was extended to Nenagh in 1863. Meanwhile, the Limerick & Castleconnel Railway opened its line from Killonan (outside Limerick) to Castleconnel in 1858 and extended to Birdhill in 1860. The GS&WR closed the gap between Nenagh and Birdhill in 1864. Coming under full control of the GS&WR in 1901, the branch became part of the Great Southern Railways in 1924, with ownership transferring to Cόras Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) in 1945. Always a remote backwater, the section from Nenagh to Limerick had something of a revival in the mid-20th Century with the opening of ore mines at Silvermines in 1966 and shale extraction at Kilmastulla commencing in 1982. However, the Silvermines branch closed in October 1993 while the Kilmastulla traffic ceased in December 2009. Today, the line boasts a basic passenger service of up to four trains per day with persistent rumours the railway company Iarnród Éireann (IÉ – successor to CIÉ) would like to abandon the line altogether.