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A restored Dublin tram from The National Transport Museum, Howth.
Credit: The National Transport Museum
In those fledgling days, three companies operated the trams in Dublin; the Dublin Tramways Company, the North Dublin Street Tramways Company and Dublin Central Tramways. The trio of companies amalgamated in 1880, forming the Dublin United Tramways Company (DUTC), with 137 trams running routes totalling over 32 miles. As the 1880’s progressed, further developments for trams were headed down the tracks.
The world’s first electric tramway had been developed by Werner von Siemens in Berlin in 1881 before spreading to the United States, where by July 1890, one sixth of the tramways there were electrified. Electric trams had a number advantages over their horse drawn counterparts. They were faster, with the same number of cars, operated at a greater frequency and a greater overall carrying capacity could be obtained. They would also prove more economical, alleviating a heavy financial burden of maintaining fleets of horses (the DUTC operated a ratio of around ten horses per tram car) and not to mention the problem of horse manure dispersal.
Despite concerted opposition, a reconstituted Dublin United Tramways Company set about total electrification. The project was completed in four years and by the time the last horse tram ran on the Bath Avenue line in January 1901, the Dublin area had about 66 electric route miles, of which nearly
50 were owned by the DUTC. For over twenty years following the introduction of electric trams to Dublin, the city became a world leader, pioneering several developments which were later adopted universally. The works in Inchicore provided great employment, producing carriages whose design would be replicated the world over and they established a wonderful reputation for engineering excellence.
The golden age of tramways in Dublin was not to last though its decline was brought about by the rise of the bus service in the city. Buses were to prove more mobile and had the ability to travel to areas that were a long distance away from tram stops. Dublin’s first official bus route opened in 1925, running from Killester via Clontarf to the city centre and by the mid 1930s the General Omnibus Company had approximately 40 buses on the road. Buses in Dublin at that time were predominantly single deck and petrol engine, and they were uneconomical to run. Leyland Motors then introduced the metal frame bus body which was very light, very easy to build, and they also introduced the diesel engine. When the diesel engined 56 seater bus became available, large numbers were ordered and tramway abandonment began, first with the Ballybough route in 1938 and it proceeded very rapidly over the next few years.
The last tram in Dublin City before the establishment of the Luas ran 9th July 1949 - the No. 252 required police protection from souvenir hunters on its last trip to the Blackrock Depot - with the Howth Head line lasting another ten years before it too succumbed to ‘progress’. Some of their lines can still be found around the city, relics of a time past.
Article written by Barry Healy, Universal Media
Further reading:
J. Kilroy, Irish Trams (Omagh 1996).
M. Barry, Transport in 19th Century Dublin (theirishstory.com 2014)
D. Johnston, The Dublin Trams
(Dublin historical record, November, 1951)
The No.9 to Donnybrook - seanocasey.co.uk Credit: seanocasey.co.uk
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