The Dalkey Atmospheric Railway (unofficial opening 19 August 1843, official opening 29 March 1844 – 12 April 1854) was an extension of 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) to Atmospheric Road in

Dalkey Dalkey ( ; ) is an affluent suburb of Dublin, and a seaside resort southeast of the city, and the town of Dún Laoghaire, in the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown in the historic County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement ...

, Co. Dublin,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It used part of the

Dalkey Quarry Dalkey Quarry ( ) is a long-disused 19th century granite quarry located on Dalkey Hill in the Dublin suburb of Dalkey, which was used to build several large maritime structures in south Dublin. Since passing into public ownership in the early 2 ...

industrial tramway, which was earlier used for the construction of Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) Harbour. It was the first commercial railway of its type in the world.

History

Following a patent in 1839 Samuel Clegg and the Samuda brothers had set up a demonstration of an atmospheric railway at

Wormwood Scrubs Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough, ...

in England. The directors of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway were impressed by the system and determined it would be a suitable means to extend their existing line from Kingstown to Dalkey. James Pim (Junior), the treasurer of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, became an enthusiastic supporter of the atmospheric system and began preparations to extend the railway to Dalkey using that system. Pim in a 1841 letter to Right Hon. Lord Viscount Morpeth indicated he expected the extension to cost £15,000 and should the system fail the loss was expected to be no more than £7,500. The standard gauge line was in length with an average uphill gradient of about 1 in 110. Vacuum power via a pipe was used for the ascent to Dalkey, speeds of up to being achieved, and the return journey was by means of gravity. The vacuum tube fell short of the Dalkey station, and the train relied on momentum for the last stretch of the journey. To commence the journey to Kingstown the train had to be pushed by hand until the piston engaged with the tube. The success of the railway led to reports that plans were drawn up in 1843 to extend the line to Bray, however this did not come to fruition.

William Dargan William Dargan (28 February 1799 – 7 February 1867) was arguably the most important Irish engineer of the 19th century and certainly the most important figure in railway construction. Dargan designed and built Ireland's first railway lin ...

was the contractor and

Charles Vignoles Charles Blacker Vignoles (31 May 1793 – 17 November 1875) was an influential British railway engineer, and eponym of the Vignoles rail. Early life He was born at Woodbrook, County Wexford, Ireland in May 1793 the son of Capt. C ...

the engineer. The atmospheric equipment was supplied by

Samuel Clegg Samuel Clegg (2 March 1781 – 8 January 1861) was a British engineer, known mostly for his development of the gas works process. Biography Clegg was born at Manchester on 2 March 1781, received a scientific education under the care of Dr. Dal ...

and Jacob and Joseph Samuda. The vacuum was provided by a 100H.P. single cylinder steam engine at Dalkey. This was a condensing engine with steam supplied at 40psi. The steam cylinder was 34.5 inches in diameter and the air pump 67 inches diameter, both with 5.5ft stroke and capable of 22 strokes per minute. This engine was claimed to be suitable for a 6-mile stretch of railway, and was therefore lightly loaded. Trains ran every half-hour between 8:00am and 6:00pm. Some clue as to the size of the trains can be obtained from the study carried out from the French Government in 1843"Report on the railroad constructed from Kingstown to Dalkey, in Ireland, upon the atmospheric system, and on the application of this system to railroads in general (Abridged Translation)", Mons. Mallet, The Practical Mechanic and Engineer's Magazine, in 4 parts commencing May 1844, p279 A train of 38 tons gross weight was described which comprised 7 carriages and carried 200 people, and in subsequent tests train weights of up to 70 tons are reported. The journey to Dalkey could be completed in just over 3 minutes with the speed being limited by the need to brake for curves on the line, and speeds of over 40mph could be reached. The last atmospheric train ran on 12 April 1854. By this time issues with the atmospheric system had been demonstrated elsewhere and it had been proved, despite the inclines, that a small locomotive such as ''princess'' could work the line if necessary. The D&KR had agreements to become involved in a scheme to reach Wexford and legislation dictated that was to be at the now standard ( Irish gauge) of and logistics also indicated conventional locomotive haulage for the Kingstown to Dalkey section. The handing over of the section to the Dublin and Wickow Railway (D&WR) was the first part of that process.

Incidents

Frank Elrington, son of Charles Richard Elrington, was in a single carriage that had been uncoupled from its train and unknowingly engaged to the pipe at Kingstown when the pumping engine started up. The journey to Dalkey was claimed to have been completed in 75 seconds at an average speed of .

Influence on other railways

In August 1844 the line was visited by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...

and other representatives of the Great Western Railway. They subsequently constructed the South Devon Railway which operated for a year with atmospheric propulsion. In November 1843 the French Government sent Mons. Mallet to conduct a detailed study of the railway (including measurements made with Joseph Samuda). The extensive report was sufficiently favourable to lead to the construction of the Saint-Germain atmospheric railway near Paris, which was built in 1847 and operated until 1860.

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father ...

also reported in 1844"Abstract of the report on the atmospheric railway system", Robert Stephenson, The Practical Mechanic and Engineer's Magazine, August 1844, pp382-385 and September 1844, pp399-402 to the Chester and Holyhead railway on an extensive series of tests he devised for the line, which were carried out on his behalf by Mr G Berkley, and Mr W.P. Marshal. Stephenson looked at the applicability of the atmospheric system to a variety of purposes, from inclines to main line, and concluded that it only had economic advantage compared to rope incline or locomotive hauled on short lines (e.g. 3 to 5 miles length) having light trains with frequent departures, especially where the gradients precluded the use of locomotives.

Aftermath

A section of the path of the line now forms part of the DART route. The last 200 metres, or so, at the Dalkey end ran slightly to the north of the present line and is now derelict or built over. The bridge which carried Castle Park Road over the atmospheric railway is still in existence and everyday use. The pumping station was sited in the grounds of a house which still stands beside the path called 'The Metals' adjacent to Barnhill Road.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * Atmospheric Transport in County Dublin Dún Laoghaire Closed railways in Ireland Pneumatics Railway lines opened in 1843 1843 establishments in Ireland