''Hibernia'' was a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

Sharp, Roberts and Company Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wi ...

in 1834 for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR). The locomotive had vertical cylinders driving via

bell crank A bellcrank is a type of crank that changes motion through an angle. The angle can be any angle from 0 to 360 degrees, but 90 degrees and 180 degrees are most common. The name comes from its first use, changing the vertical pull on a rope to a h ...

History

Procurement

The D&KR left it until August 1833 before inviting nine firms to tender for 6 identical engines to enable part swapping to be delivered by 1 May 1834, the seven firms replying indicating timescales were short given the infancy of locomotive engineering with manufacturers on a steep learning curve. The D&KR engaged John Urpeth Rastrick who had been judge at the 1830 Rainhill Trials to visit the manufacturers. Rastrick visited six as well as the L&MR works and delivered to board a specification which strongly matched the L&MR No. 32 ''Experiment'' from Sharp, Roberts and Co. D&KR's Bergin visited the L&MR and expressed concerns over ''Experiment's'' unique features, vibrations and fuel consumption. The D&KR's consultant engineer

Charles Blacker 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. Ch ...

was particularly concerned with the vertical mounting of the cylinders. A D&KR committee then re-worded the specification to give firms more opportunity to submit their preferred design. With time running short the D&KR were forced to order from suppliers most likely to be able to deliver within the required timescale. They eventually order three from Sharp, Roberts and Co., the first of which would be ''Hibernia'', the other two being ''Britannia'' and ''Manchester''. Three were also ordered from George Forrester and Company's Vauxhall foundry at Liverpool based on their ''Swiftsure'' locomotive that were to become ''Vauxhall'', ''Dublin'' and ''Kingstown''. ''Hibernia'' was completed in 1834 and was to be followed by her class sisters . Power transmission from the vertical cylinders was via

s. The engine was expected to be able to haul a train of 60 to 80 tons in weight at . For delivery ''Hibernia'' made her way from the Manufacture at Manchester to Liverpool under her own steam. She was transported by the

City of Dublin Steam Packet Company The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was a shipping line established in 1823. It served cross-channel routes between Britain and Ireland for over a century. For 70 of those years it transported the mail. It was 'wound-up' by a select commit ...

at a cost of £21 plus for £7/10/- for the tender with Forresters' ''Vauxhall'' on the same sailing. At Dublin they were taken through the streets on a temporary "portable railway" before 50 men hauled them up to rail level at

Westland Row Westland Row is a street on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland. Location The street runs along the east end of Trinity College Dublin. History Westland Row first appears on maps in 1776. It was originally known as Westlands after Willi ...

Trials

The L&MR permitted the locomotives to be tested on their line before being shipped to Ireland. In Ireland an "engine hospital" had been set up at Serpentine avenue to allow for their maintenance. on 9 October 1834 ''Hibernia'' hauled a train of eight carriages which was the first to traverse the complete length of the line carrying members of the public. While this was the first trial to traverse the length of the line from Westland Row to Salthill the locomotive ''Vauxhall'' had done a shorter trial run with a small train from Dublin to the

Martello Tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand u ...

at Williamstown which is now part of Blackrock Park. In a test run on 1 November 1834 running with just the engine and tender ''Hibernia'' was claimed to have achieved a maximum speed of over by

Operations

The design is assessed in as not being a great success. Lyons suggests the issue may have been the use of piston valves rather than the bell crank transmission. The vertical cylinders caused considerable pounding resulting in damage to the locomotives axles and springs; significant damage was also caused to the track with rail fractures and subsidence being noted. ''Hibernia'' was withdrawn after ''blowing up'' at Kingstown in 1842. The two sister engines ''Britannia'' and ''Manchester'' were also withdrawn.

Model

O Gauge O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad scal ...

model of Hibernia built by Cyril Fry exists in the Fry Model Collection along with examples of its associated carriages.

Notes

References

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External links

Picture of Hibernia at Science & Society
2-2-0 locomotives Early steam locomotives Individual locomotives of Ireland Steam locomotives of Ireland Sharp Stewart locomotives Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1834 Standard gauge locomotives of Ireland