At 9 a.m. sharp, five days a week, three brothers open up their barber shop on Darling Street in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Selwyn, Nigel, and Gordon Johnston have been offering their trimming services here since 1981 — and they have the regulars to prove it.
But the Johnstons' barber shop isn't just a barber shop. For more than a decade, it has featured a rather unique twist: It doubles as a railway museum.
The memorabilia packed into the second-floor business is associated with the now-defunct lines that ran through Fermanagh and Border counties — The Great Northern Railway (Ireland), The Sligo Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway, and The Clogher Valley Railway.
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As owners of the Headhunters Barber Shop and Railway Museum, the brothers act as both barbers and station masters, often dressing the part of train employees of the era.
Community members and tourists begin their adventure at the reconstructed Railway Booking Office, where a ticket collector invites them aboard to check out artifacts — many of which were provided by former employees of the lines — including uniforms, photographs, tickets, signage, and more.
From there, visitors can learn about the history and browse through the memorabilia, or they can stick around for a trim amongst the trains.
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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
