Qualla: Upton Train Ambush https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/y/upton-train-ambush-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Upton Train Ambush https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush Upton Train Ambush: Introduction https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. The two scouts never arrived. They were meant to be on the train, watching the soldiers, ready to signal numbers to the ambush party waiting at Upton station. Without them Charlie Hurley and his West Cork IRA column took up positions ten minutes before the train pulled in, hid behind sacks of grain and flour, and waited to fight maybe forty British soldiers. The train that rolled into Upton on 15 February 1921 carried about five hundred soldiers of the Essex Regiment, sitting beside civilian passengers in every carriage.

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/y/upton-train-ambush-wp/gc1y-upton-train-ambush-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Upton Train Ambush: Why Upton https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cork was, in the words of one study of the period, by far the most violent county in Ireland during the War of Independence. Several active guerrilla brigades operated across its hills, and the West Cork 3rd Brigade was among the most effective. British forces had taken to moving...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/y/upton-train-ambush-wp/gc1y-upton-train-ambush-why-upton.mp3 0:06 2 full Upton Train Ambush: The Ten Minutes https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the train arrived at Upton on the morning of 15 February, the IRA's intelligence had already collapsed. About fifty additional British soldiers had boarded the train at Kinsale, mingling with civilian passengers throughout the carriages. The two missing scouts could not warn...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/y/upton-train-ambush-wp/gc1y-upton-train-ambush-the-ten-minutes.mp3 0:06 3 full Upton Train Ambush: Twelve Dark Days https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Upton fell inside what Tom Barry would later call the twelve dark days of the 3rd Cork Brigade. Between 4 February and 16 February 1921, eleven brigade members died. Charlie Hurley himself had nearly been killed on the 4th when British troops raided a safe house. Another man died...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/y/upton-train-ambush-wp/gc1y-upton-train-ambush-twelve-dark-days.mp3 0:06 4 full Upton Train Ambush: What Trains Cost https://qualla.com/upton-train-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Only a month after Upton, at the Headford Ambush in neighbouring Kerry, another IRA column attacked another troop train. Again there were civilian casualties beside the soldiers and the volunteers. Upton became a cautionary case for IRA planners. Attacking soldiers who could not ...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/y/upton-train-ambush-wp/gc1y-upton-train-ambush-what-trains-cost.mp3 0:06 5 full