Categories
History

Harcourt Street Railway accident – 14 February 1900

There is a well known image of a steam locomotive protruding through the end wall of Harcourt Street station, this being the end result of an accident on 14th February 1900. The 125th anniversary of this was 2 days ago and the YouTube algorithm recommended this video to me:

Dublin’s Valentine Train Crash – Harcourt Street Station Crash

It is reasonable enough in terms of the history, although I take issue with the narrative around how the locomotive was re-railed and left the following comment on YouTube:

Are you sure about how the locomotive was re-railed? My understanding is that the engine was lowered onto Hatch Street (the street that it protruded onto) where there was a tram line. Conveniently, the original tram network in Dublin used the same gauge as the railway, allowing it to be moved closer to Adelaide Road, where temporary track was laid to bring the engine up the goods area access road to be re-railed.

Co-incidentally, the locomotive in question had another off road excursion during the Irish Civil War and also had to be re-railed using temporary track.

Categories
History

Atmospheric Railway

The first commercial use of the Samuda and Clegg patent for the propulsion of trains by atmospheric means was on the railway line between Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) and Dalkey, opening in 1844 and closing 10 years later.

The great Isambard Kingdom Brunel also tried to use the system on the South Devon Railway in England, where it was a complete failure. This is alleged to be due to the use of insufficiently powered engines in the lineside engine houses used to create the necessary vacuum in the centre pipe, which in turn moved a piston along said pipe to propel the train.

Little remains of the Atmospheric Railway in Dublin today – the station site (still used by Irish Rail as a Permanent Way dumping ground) and the final road overbridge at Dalkey, which has been abandoned for railway purposes are the only significant traces, the cutting in which the line ran having been rebuilt for conventional railway purposes.

At the Didcot Railway Museum in England, they have a section of the pipe used on the South Devon Railway (along with replica broad gauge track).

I availed of the February Bank Holiday to travel to Didcot and took the photograph below of said pipe.

Atmospheric Railway pipe
Didcot Railway Museum
Atmospheric Railway pipe, Didcot Railway Museum. Copyright Ewan Duffy 2025
Categories
History

Fermanagh Millstones

The BBC has an interesting article about the quarrying of millstones in Fermanagh (and across the border in Cavan).

Categories
History

Dublin & Kingstown Railway anniversary

Happy 190th birthday to the Dublin & Kingstown Railway, opened on 17th December 1834, between Westland Row (now Pearse) Station and Dunleary (a temporary station adjacent to the West Pier of Dun Laoghaire Harbour).

Categories
Greenways History

Comber Greenway

Long before greenways were a thing, the former Belfast & County Down Railway trackbed from Belfast to Comber was one. Despite being one of the oldest such greenways, it is only today that I managed to travel it.

I took myself and my bike up to Belfast on the train yesterday, overnighted in Belfast and this morning, cycled from Belfast to Comber and back on the greenway. This is located primarily on the route of the former railway, with some deviations where housing has been built on the line.

I was surprised by the presence of mini hills on the route as generally, railways rose and fell at minimal gradients, however, my legs got a workout this morning due to this (I don’t have an electric bike).

All photos taken at the station sites are now online, however, there is not a lot to show as most stations have disappeared, with little trace remaining.

Categories
History

Sunbeam Knitwear Company, Cork

I came on this excellent article by Kieran McCarthy about the Sunbeam Knitwear Company in Cork.

Categories
History

The Cong Canal

One of the lesser known canals of Ireland, also known as the ‘Dry Canal’, due to never having been completed and misinformation around the reasons for same, is the Cong Canal. I came across this recent Youtube Video on the subject, which makes extensive use of drone footage of the area to highlight what remains.

Categories
History Overseas

The Necropolis Railway

Railways brought forth all sorts of social change and innovation, in much the same way that the internet has over the last 25 years.

One such act of entrepeneurship in London saw the creation of the London Necropolis Company, which transported the deceased and their funeral cortege from London to a Brookwood cemetery, some 23 miles south west of London, by train. Primarily using the railway lines of other companies, they did have their own connections at both London and Brookwood.

Continuing in operation until 1941, the company’s former station building at 121 Westminster Bridge Road, London, remains in alternative use. This is the second London station of the company, coming into use in 1902.

The original station was nearby and removed to make way for expansion of the adjacent railway mainline, the Necropolis Railway Company making the London & South Western Railway pay heavily for their relocation.

London Necropolis Company
Railway Station
London Necropolis Company – Railway Station. Copyright Ewan Duffy 2024.
Categories
History Overseas

Industry in Roman Britain

The BBC have an article about the industries of Roman Britain which is interesting.

Categories
History

Kilkenny Mills, Kells

RTE has put an archive segment from 1984 on their website, reporting on the Kilkenny Mills in Kells, Co. Kilkenny.