Giant's Causeway Tramway
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The Giant's Causeway Tramway, operated by the Giant's Causeway, Portrush and Bush Valley Railway & Tramway Company Ltd, was a pioneering
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...
electric railway operating between
Portrush Portrush () is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart in County Londonderry. The main part of the old town, including the Portrush railway station, railway stati ...
and the
Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway () is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcano, volcanic fissure eruption, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province active in the region during the Paleogene period. ...
on the coast of
County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. The line, long, was hailed at its opening as "the first long electric tramway in the world". The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway today operates diesel and steam tourist trains over part of the Tramway's former course.


History

The Giant's Causeway Tramway came about through the enthusiasm of William Atcheson Traill, M.A.Ing., of Ballylough (1844–1934), together with his brother Dr Anthony Traill, who between them undertook most of the promotion and fundraising for the line. W.A. Traill was a man with not only an interest in railways but also a keen interest in technological developments in engineering. The Act of Parliament incorporating 'The Giant's Causeway, Portrush, and Bush Valley Railway and Tramway Company' was passed on 26 August 1880. It authorised a tramway from Portrush to Bushmills and a railway from there to join the Ballycastle Railway (also 3 ft. gauge) at
Dervock Dervock ( or ''Dairbheog'') is a small village and townland (of 132 acres) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is about 3.5 miles (6 km) northeast of Ballymoney, on the banks of the River Bush. It is situated in the civil parish of D ...
. The only section of the railway ever built was a short spur at Dervock. The Dervock section was abandoned by an 1885 Act, which authorised extension from Bushmills to the Causeway. At the Berlin Trade Fair of 1879
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
was demonstrating the first
railway electrification system Railway electrification is the use of electric power for the propulsion of rail transport. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), electric multiple units ( passenger cars with their own ...
and it was that which led the British branch of the firm to be commissioned to incorporate this new technology into the Giant's Causeway Tramway venture. Sir William Siemens (1823–83) was briefly a Director and
Siemens Brothers Siemens Brothers and Company Limited was an electrical engineering design and manufacturing business in London, England. It was first established as a branchThe company started with a small factory at 12 Millbank Row, Westminster SW1, London, ne ...
of London were appointed electrical engineers to the company, their representative being Dr Edward Hopkinson, who later went on to work on the Bessbrook and Newry Tramway and the
City and South London Railway The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use Railway electrification in Great Britain, electric traction. The railway was originally i ...
. Surveying and civil engineering work was carried out by Edward Price, son of the eminent Irish civil engineer James Price. The line was the world's first to be powered by
hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
, something that was later developed at Bessbrook and in Switzerland. Traill built a generating station at Walkmill Falls () head), near Bushmills, installing Alcott
water turbine A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work. Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now, t ...
s to produce up to 250 volts at 100 amps of electrical power for his line. Later turbines were installed. This building, although without its equipment, is still in existence. Because of legal problems over water rights, erection of the Walkmills turbines was delayed and when the first section of the tramway, from Portrush to Bushmills, was opened on 29 January 1883 some of the timetabled passenger traffic was handled by steam tram engines which were in any case necessary on the town section in Portrush where it was impossible to provide electric power since this was originally fed to the trains via an elevated
third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...
which ran alongside the line. Therefore, a steam generator was installed at the Portrush depot (by 1936 replaced by a 550 volt diesel generator for the Portrush-Dunluce section). The ceremonial opening, using electric traction, took place on 28 September 1883 although a full scheduled electric service did not begin until 5 November and steam locomotives remained available for use until at least 1926. In 1897 were steam operated and electric. In 1901 the figures were and respectively. Very little use of steam was made after 1916. The section from Bushmills to the Giant's Causeway opened on 1 July 1887. In 1895 a cyclist died of
electric shock An electrical injury (electric injury) or electrical shock (electric shock) is damage sustained to the skin or internal organs on direct contact with an electric current. The injury depends on the Current density, density of the current, tissu ...
after coming into contact with the conductor rail. At the subsequent inquiry it was revealed that the line voltage varied from an average of 290 V up to 360 V, and the company agreed to a temporary reduction in the voltage, which limited the number of services that could be electrically worked. The third rail was replaced by overhead electric wire using side poles from 26 July 1899, apparently initially at 250 V. Voltage drop remained a problem and the tram was the subject of a song by the Irish Rovers which comments on its slow speed. The song was written by Hugh Speers of Bushmills. After upgrading of the Bushmills generating station in 1907 it was possible to produce a 550 V output. Traill, a former geological surveyor, expected a considerable mineral traffic between quarries along the line and Portrush harbour, and there was originally a goods branch into the main square of Bushmills. However, this traffic fell away, the narrow gauge harbour branch being taken up when the Northern Counties station was opened in 1893, and for most of its life the line primarily served tourists visiting the Causeway. From 1925/26 the line was closed down during each winter. Increased patronage, partly from military traffic, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
meant a brief revival of winter services, but receipts were becoming inadequate to support maintenance of the company's ageing assets, and the line did not reopen after the end of the 1949 season (last day of regular service 30 September 1949), and was subsequently dismantled. The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway was later constructed over the final two miles (3.2 km) of the Tramway and carried its first passengers at Easter 2002.


Route

The line was single track with passing loops at about intervals and was laid on sleepers apart from the first of street running through Portrush. The route began in Eglinton Street alongside Portrush railway station. After passing the main depot on the edge of the town, it took up a position on the seaward side of the coast road, passing the White Rocks, a summit at Clooney Hill and
Dunluce Castle Dunluce Castle (; ) is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland, the seat of Clan MacDonnell. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim (between Portballintrae and Portrush), and is accessible via a bridge conn ...
before reaching Bushmills station (the main building of which still stands). There was a subsidiary depot here. Beyond the crossing of the road to Portballintrae the line left the roadside; this is the section occupied by the present-day railway. The route crossed Bushfoot Golf Course and crossed the River Bush by the Victoria Jubilee Bridge, which had a lattice girder superstructure. This has been replaced, but some of the ornamental ironwork is preserved at the present Giant's Causeway station. From here the line passed by the dunes alongside Bushfoot Strand and climbed to the terminus just below the Causeway Hotel. The station facilities consisted of little more than a corrugated-iron shelter.


Equipment

The original cars were built by the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and were later followed by 5 examples from GEC, each with 2 x
British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industry, heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Originally founded to sell products from the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, it soon became a manufac ...
motors, and also a Peckham car. There were a maximum of six electric power cars owned at any one time, all being single-truck, single-deck vehicles with both enclosed and “ toast rack” examples; typically these would haul several 4-wheel "toast rack" trailers, of which there were 15. There were four steam
tram engines A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segment ...
, ordered from Wilkinson of
Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
. They had vertical boilers, weighed 7 tons and burnt coke. No.2 was scrapped in 1899, No.1 converted to a ballast wagon in 1910 and Nos. 3 (Dunluce Castle) and 4 (Brian Boroihme) were sold in 1930 for the
River Bann The River Bann (from , meaning "the goddess"; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is the longest rivers, river in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). The total length ...
Navigation works near Portstewart. In 1938 a final electric tram was added to the stock as number 24. This vehicle was formerly a double deck Dunfermline and District Tramways car which was both re-gauged and extensively modified to become a single decker with enclosed ends for the Giants Causeway route. A power car and trailer are restored at the
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum Both the Ulster Folk Museum and Ulster Transport Museum are situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about east of the city of Belfast. Now operating as two separate museums, the Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions ...
,
Cultra Cultra ( - ) is an affluent residential neighbourhood near Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is part of Greater Belfast. It is in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area. Cultra is home to the Royal North of Ireland Yacht ...
and another power car is in the care of the
National Transport Museum of Ireland The National Transport Museum of Ireland (), the main project of the Transport Museum Society of Ireland, is based in the grounds of Howth Castle in Ireland. It is the current form of a project begun in the 1940s and restructured in the early ...
at
Howth Howth ( ; ; ) is a peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes the ...
. File:Cultra a7.jpg, The power car at Cultra File:Cultra a12.jpg, The trailer at Cultra


See also

*
History of rail transport in Ireland The history of rail transport in Ireland began only a decade later than that of History of rail transport in Great Britain, Great Britain. By its peak in 1920, Ireland had 3,500 route miles (5,630 km). The current status is less than half ...
* List of narrow-gauge railways in Ireland


References

* * * * *


External links

* , Author: Richard Taylor * * {{coord missing, County Antrim Transport in County Antrim Tram transport in Northern Ireland Closed railways in Northern Ireland 3 ft gauge railways in Northern Ireland Railway companies established in 1883 Railway companies disestablished in 1949