Today, 12th November 2024, marks an important day in the history of Irish transport. For it was on this day 1924 that the merger of three irish railways to form the Great Southern Railway took place. This was to have major effects on the development of public transport in Ireland to this very day.
This initial merger involved the amalgamation of the Great Southern & Western Railway, the Midland Great Western Railway, and the Cork, Bandon & South Coast Railway. Notably absent at this stage was the Dublin South Eastern Railway. The company formed under the November 1924 merger was known as the Great Southern Railway (not railways plural). However, it would not be long before the Dublin South Eastern agreed to the merger, with a seat on the board being granted to the LMS, who already had a stake in the DSER. This came into affect from 1st January 1925, from which date the GSR became the Great Southern Railways (plural). The Great Northern Railway, and others which crossed the border into Northern Ireland, were left out of this amalgamation. The four standard gauge companies would be joined by several narrow gauge lines in 1925.
The amalgamation was enabled under the Railways Act 1924. An interesting provision of this act was the granting of the GSR power to replace its station signage with bilungual (Irish and English) versions, setting a precedent led by all Irish state transport operators (any many privates) today.
In contrast to the GNR, the GSR's time is probably more marked by austerity than prestige. The 1920s saw it have to make a series of cuts such as the singling of several sections of mainline, with several branchlines closing in the 1930s. However, it was also marked by innovation, experimenting with petrol engined railcars in the 1920s and most notably the Drumm Battery Train In the 1930s. It also produced a series of suburban and goods locos, a new, steel-panelled set of carriages for the 'Cork Mail' in the mid-1930s, quite modern by Irish carriage standards. During the 1930s it also absorbed the Irish Omnibus Company, effectively making it a predessor of Bus Éireann today.
It's most famous engineering feat is probably the three 800 or B1a class 4-6-0s built in Inchicore from 1939 to 1940, Maedbh, Macha, and Táilte, indeed, our own group is named for the latter. The dawn of WWII would hinder the GSR's progress further, with the fuel crisis resulting in the pruning of services and the use of turf to power locomotives. It struggled on through the early 1940s before the cash-strapped entity was merged with the Dublin United Tramways Company to form Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). This in turn, would lead to the formation of Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus in 1987.
So while we perhaps not the most illustrious or prestigious of historic railway companies, the GSR nonetheless played an important role in the development of Irish transport and we feel its centennial is an occasion worth marking.
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