17th December is a momentous day in the history of Irish transport, and indeed ireland in general. It was on this day 1834 that the first public train operated in Ireland, when the Dublin & Kingstown Railway opened for traffic and the steam locomotive Hibernia left Westland Row station (now Pearse) bound for Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire). Today, this route forms part of Dublin’s DART network, which itself celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier in 2024, and is also used by diesel services between Dublin and the south east. In this article, we will take a look at the first locomotives to work on this line, including Hibernia.
The First Railway Locomotives in Irish History
The first locomotives to arrive in Ireland were Hibernia and Vauxhall. They were both delivered to Dublin at the same time and on the same ship. However, these two pioneering Irish locomotives were by no means identical, and indeed, were produced by different manufacturers. Hibernia came from the works of Sharp, Roberts & Co. (later to become Sharp Stewart) and had vertical cylinders. Vauxhall however came from the now lesser-known works of George Forrester, and featured horizontal cylinders. A similar locomotive, Swiftsure, was built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway that same year. Speculated to be one of the world’s first locomotives to employ horizontal cylinders, this gave them a rather rough riding quality as the cylinders oscillated, with them becoming known as ‘boxers’ as a result.
The Dublin & Kingstown Railway had ordered three of each type, with Hibernia’s classmates being Britannia and Manchester. Vauxhall’s sister engines were named Dublin and Kingstown. Unlike later classes of Irish locomotives, there does not appear to have been any attempt at thorough constituency when choosing names.
It has been suggested that the reason for choosing two different manufacturers came down to time constraints, indeed, the initial spec was for both batches to be of the same type. However, practicality may have overruled desire, and this at least gave the fledgling railway company a chance to evaluate the pros and cons of the two designs.
The First Locomotive to Haul a Train in Ireland?
When asked to name the locomotive to first haul a train in Ireland, many people will venture Hibernia as the answer. This is not quite true, however, for that place in Irish railway history belongs to Vauxhall. Test trains using steam locomotives on the Dublin & Kingstown Railway began in October 1834, two months prior to its opening. The first of these to carry passengers ran on 4th October, with Vauxhall hauling four return trips as far as Martello Tower prior to returning into the city. The Dublin Penny Journal at the time recorded an average speed of 31mph. On the 9th of that month, Hibernia would haul a long train of eight carriages which ran all the way to Salthill. Those on board would have been invited guests. However, as mentioned above, it was Hibernia that would go on to haul the first train open to the public, on 17th December 1834. As an aside, prior to either of them hauling a train, horses had been used to pull test trains on the partially completed line earlier that summer.
An Ignominious End for Ireland’s First Locomotives?
The histories of Ireland’s first steam locomotives ended quite differently. Some may wonder why Hibernia wasn’t kept for its historical significance. The answer to this question is quite simple, and even dramatic—it blew up. Hibernia’s suffered a firebox collapse in 1842 while waiting at Kingstown, resulting in an explosion. Brittania and Manchester were also withdrawn in the 1840s. Fortunately, its crew were in one of the buildings so they escaped injury. Vauxhall’s career was a bit more progressive, being converted, along with its sisters, to six wheel tank engines in 1841, making it among the world’s first. Disposal details for early locomotives such as Vauxhall are sketchy, but it appears to have lasted in traffic longer than Hibernia’s type.
Which was The More Successful Locomotive Design?
We mentioned earlier how having two different types of locomotive would have given the Dublin & Kingstown Railway the opportunity to evaluate each type. So, the question arises, which type was more successful? While Hibernia is certainly the most celebrated of the type when it comes to historical fanfare and was chosen to haul the first public service, it’s difficult to make a case for it being the most successful practically. The Dublin & Kingstown ordered more locomotives of Vauxhall’s design shortly after, suggesting that they saw more potential in this type than that of Hibernia. Perhaps it was chosen to haul the first service purely on the basis of its name, after all, something that we could in modern times refer to as a PR reason. It is also worth noting that they saw fit to develop Vauxhall type further when they converted them to tank engines, whereas there doesn’t appear to have been any attempt to prolong the life of Hibernia’s sister engines after it exploded. It’s interesting to note Vauxhall gave a better performance in terms of journey time than Hibernia on the trial runs to Salthill, based on times quoted in a contemporary edition of the Dublin Penny Journal. However, there may have been other factors at play here so we shouldn’t automatically assume that this speed differential was purely down to the locomotives themselves.
The early days of Irish railways are a fascinating and often overlooked part of our history, even within the context of railway history. While information is naturally less readily available than it is for later eras, it is nonetheless an interesting study and the above is but a brief insight into these early Irish locomotives. Next time you’re leaving Pearse Station on a DART, try to imagine what it would have been like 190 years ago, setting out on that same line behind a locomotive like Hibernia or Vauxhall.
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