The

Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway The Dublin and South Eastern Railway (DSER), often referred to as the Slow and Easy, was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland from 1846 to 1925. It carried 4,626,226 passengers in 1911. It was the fourth largest railway operation in Ireland ope ...

(DW&WR) Ariel Class refers to seven 2-2-2WT

well tank A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water storage tanks, tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tank ...

locomotives built by

Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland. The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines. In 1837 the firm moved to Hyde Park ...

and introduced in 1865.

Ordering

In 1864 S. W. Haughton retired as locomotive superintendent of the DW&WR indicating the stress of maintenance of the 30 engines of the DW&WR as a factor, the workload being much greater than in 1849 when he had begun that role for the

Dublin and Kingstown Railway The Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR), which opened in 1834, was Ireland’s first passenger railway. It linked Westland Row in Dublin with Kingstown Harbour (Dún Laoghaire) in County Dublin. The D&KR was also notable for a number of other ...

(D&KR). His replacement, William Meikle, who himself was to retire with ill-heath within the year faced a pressing need to replace the ageing locomotives in use on the to and services. Meikle had six tenders for the supply of between six and eight locomotives with Grendon of Drogheda quoting the highest at £2,000 per unit.

won with the cheapest quote of £1,564 and initially supplied six locomotives in 1965. A seventh added at a later date seems to be related to ''Banshee'' being exhibited at the 1865 Dublin

International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures The International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures was a world's fair held in Dublin in 1865 attended by almost 1 million visitors. Site and buildings Main site In 1862 the Duke of Leinster, Lord Talbot de Malahide and Benjamin Guinness crea ...

. The engines were given the name of "supernatural personages": ''Ariel''; ''Elfin''; ''Kate Kearney''; ''Kelpie''; ''Oberon''; ''Titania''; and ''Banshee''.

Design

The locomotives used coal as fuel, as opposed to the earliest D&KR engines which burned coke. They had straight weatherboards and were noted for a generous proportion of brass and copper-topped chimneys. Known to be painted green in the 1870s they were later painted is what was described as "ugly red" and modified with the fitting of cabs and stove-pipe chimneys. Murray notes the low power design was little better than the prior ''Burgoyne'' class.

Service

They were designed for the to coastal commuter route where they operated almost for the majority of their lifetime. Unusually for DW&WR locomotives they bore names rather than numbers though this was consistent practice with the previous practice on the D&KR section for which they were designed. ''Ariel'' was noted as the first to operate over the Dublin Loop Line to and last to be withdrawn. In an incident at ''Banshee'' suffered a burst boiler killing both the fireman and driver. The locomotive was repaired and was sold to Fisher and Le Fanu. ''Oberton'' and ''Elfin'' went to

Murphy's Brewery Murphy's Brewery was a brewery founded in Cork, Ireland, in 1856 by James Jeremiah Murphy (James J. Murphy). It was known as Lady's Well Brewery until it was purchased by Heineken N.V. in 1983, when the name changed to Murphy Brewery Ireland Lt ...

possibly at Bantry and Baltimore respectively. Murray suggests with their relatively short life and low power they were not a satisfactory investment perhaps evidenced by the fact none were rebuilt and Shepherds almost notes they were likely not successful.

Notes

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