One of the few man-made scars on the landscape of Connemara are the remnants of what was the railway line from Galway across Connemara to Clifden. At a cost of £432,000, or £9,000 a mile, the line operated by the Midland & Great Western Railway was opened on the 1st of July 1895 . The intention had been to improve communications with a developing fishing industry and the MGWR engineers designed a route to follow the coastline, where the population was estimated to be around 60,000 people. However, the Royal Commission on Public Works thought otherwise and directed that an inland route should be followed via Oughterard. For this purpose some 30 bridges, including an imposing steel viaduct which crossed the River Corrib in Galway were built. However, largely as a result of choosing the inland route, freight traffic failed to materialize and the railway company chose instead to develop the tourism potential of the area. The railway line subsequently closed in 1935 and the people of the area lined up on both sides of the track, just as at a wake, and watched mournfully as the last train passed them, and their hopes failed to materialize. Local folklore has it that the tracks which were pulled up and sold to the German government were then used as bomb casings during the Blitz of London. Today only the remains of the piers of the viaducts and the stone stubs of the railway bridges to remind us of days past.