Dublin tramways

Dublin tramways was a system of trams in Dublin, Ireland, which commenced line-laying in 1871, and began service in 1872, following trials in the mid-1860s. Established by a number of companies, the majority of the system was eventually operated by forms of the Dublin United Tramways Company, dominated for many years by William Martin Murphy. Most of the services ran within the city centre and near suburbs, with the majority of major suburbs served. Additionally, there were two longer-range services, one reaching the "excursion" destination of Poulaphouca Falls, and two services concerning Howth.
At its peak, with over of active line, the system was heavily used, profitable and advanced in technology and passenger facilities, with near-full electrification complete from 1901. Heavy usage lasted from the late 19th century into the 1920s. The tram system was also central to the Dublin Lockout, which caused major distress within the city.
Elements of the system went out of service from the mid-1920s, in part overtaken by the bus. The decline of the trams accelerated in the 1940s and the last trams ran on 9 July 1949 in Dublin city and in 1959 on Howth Head, near Dublin.

History

Background and legislation

The tram concept arrived in Ireland in the early years of railway development, and the first related projects concerned attempts to link major city train stations with a light railway. The legislation on this topic was the model for the first of the Irish Tramways Acts, the Tramways Act 1860. One feature of this law was that each establishment of a tramway operation required approvals including those of the Irish Privy Council, and an act of the Imperial Parliament, onerous and expensive provisions. This and other provisions argued to be impractical led to modification by the Tramways Amendment Act 1861.
The next relevant legislation was the special act, the ', setting up the first company to actually deliver service, and the associated similarly named ', finalising initial routes and other rules. In parallel the main legislation was modified by the Tramways Amendment Act 1871. The – also known as the Dublin Tramways Act 1876 – followed, and the Tramways Amendment Act 1881 provided for the formation of tramway ventures by way of simplified procedures. In the meantime, the Relief of Distress Act 1880 allowed for local authority support of tramway ventures.
From 1889, a new focus came to legislation on this topic, beginning with the Light Railways Act 1889, also known as "Balfour's Act", which aimed to encourage tram-like or light rail systems in poorer areas, and increased the potential for government to support such projects. With more guarantees from local authorities, more light rail systems were developed, with Dublin's extensive network just part of a total of by 1906.

Formation

The first Dublin trams were horse-drawn. In the early years, there were several operators, including :

The Dublin Tramways Company, which acquired the rights of the City of Dublin Tramways Co. and the Rathmines omnibuses, and started laying lines in 1871, commencing service to Terenure on 1 February 1872; notably, in the run-up to launch and for some time after, there were concerted objections to the placing of rails in or on the road, with fears about carriage accidents, and some of these objections were continued during and after construction
The North Dublin Street Tramways Company, formed 1875, with a line from Nelson's Pillar to Drumcondra commencing in 1877
The Dublin Central Tramways Company, formed 1878, with authority to build a line from College Green to Rathfarnham with branches to Ranelagh, Rathgar, Rathmines and Clonskeagh, and with a line commencing 22 June 1879, from Nelson's Pillar to Terenure via Harold's Cross

By 1880, with many of the major districts of Dublin being served by the above three tram companies, William Martin Murphy, a founding shareholder of the Dublin Central Tramways Company, founded the Dublin United Tramways Company in January 1881, with himself as manager, and his father-in-law as chairman, and arranged the merger of the three companies under the ', uniting 32 "route miles" under DUTC control.
The Dublin Southern Districts Tramways Company, formed by the Dublin Southern District Tramways Act 1878
The Blackrock and Kingstown Tramway, formed by the Blackrock and Kingstown Tramways Act 1883
In 1878, the DSDTC was acquired by the Imperial Tramways Company, who secured the ' allowing them to purchase the BKT, and to use electrical and mechanical power. In mid-1896, the combined operation of these two companies, including the recently acquired legal authority to use electricity, was sold to the British Thomson-Houston Company, which almost immediately in turn sold it to the DUTC.

Electrification and peak operation

Discussions towards electrification began in the late 1890s, but this was opposed by Dublin Corporation, among others. An American panel also opposed the overhead line in densely populated areas.
The Dublin United Tramways Company, with the acquisition of the Dublin Southern Tramways, which had earlier the same year started the first electrical tram line in Ireland, reversed long-standing policy favouring horse-drawn trams, and, having reorganised as the Dublin United Tramways Company Ltd., proceeded with a rapid electrification. As part of a deal with Dublin Corporation, the DUTC agreed to pay them £500 per route mile for 40 years and a minimum of £10,000 per year when the system was fully electrified. Also included as part of the deal, the DUTC agreed not to charge more than one penny from the Pillar to any city boundary less than away.
By January 1901, the entire city system, which covered about to, was electrified and the system has 280 trams, including a special directors' tram that was used by William Martin Murphy among others to inspect the system. In 1911 the system had 330 trams.
At its peak, the system was known as technically innovative and was described in 1904 as "one of the most impressive in the world", so that representatives of other cities from around the world came to inspect it and its electric operation.

The Lockout

In 1913, the Dublin tram system was central to the Dublin lock-out, when DUTC members walked off the job over the refusal of William Martin Murphy to allow some workers to join the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union

Decline and closure

The DUTC opened its first bus route in 1925, progressively replacing the trams until the closure of their last route, the No. 8 to Dalkey, on 10 July 1949. According to the Minister for Justice Seán Mac Eoin, "A force of 60 guards, including 2 superintendents, 1 inspector, 8 sergeants and 3 motor-cyclists were placed on duty over the route," but they were unable to protect the last tram from damage by souvenir hunters.
Following the Transport Act 1944, control of the DUTC was vested in the newly formed Córas Iompair Éireann. At the time the DUTC had 113 trams remaining.
The Hill of Howth Tramway was transferred to CIÉ in 1958 and closed on 31 May 1959. It was the last tram to run in Ireland until the Luas tram system opened in 2004.

Reasons for decline

A number of factors combined in the decline of Dublin's tram system. The advent of buses and large-scale competition meant that buses often ran the same routes as the trams and would jump in front to "grab" customers, and buses were able to move into Dublin's expanding hinterland more quickly and at less cost than the trams, and the belief that trams were outdated and old technology, leading to declining use. Meanwhile, the DUTC's takeover of many bus operators left the DUTC with a large number of buses, which were used and expanded to areas of Dublin with no tram service, and buses eventually became the DUTC's core business. There was a belief that buses were cheaper to run than trams and that the system was in a poor state of repair. Britain's 1930 Royal Commission on Transport similarly actively advised against trams and for their replacement with buses.

After closure

After closure, the system was still being discussed in the Dáil until at least 1960 when the issue of removal of the old tram tracks was raised.

Lines and companies

The original tram-related legislation identified proposed lines by number, with a detailed route description, but these numbers were not widely used.

Dublin United Tramways Company

In 1910, there were seventeen Dublin United Tramways Company routes, each identified with a different symbol, and named for their terminus stations. Route numbers replaced the symbols from 1918, rising from 1 at Ringsend to 30 for Dollymount in a circuit around the city. Both the original routes and their numbers were the basis of some of the later bus routes and numbers.

Number	Route	Original operator	Opened	Electrified	Closed
1	Nelson's Pillar and Ringsend.	DUTC	18 March 1901	18 March 1901	26 March 1940
2	Nelson's Pillar and Sandymount via Ringsend	DUTC	18 March 1901	18 March 1901	26 March 1940
3	Nelson's Pillar and Sandymount via Ringsend	DUTC	18 March 1901	18 March 1901	26 March 1940
4	Nelson's Pillar and Sandymount via Bath Avenue	DTC	1 October 1872	14 January 1901	31 July 1932
5	Phoenix Park and Pembroke		16 June 1919	16 June 1919	1 November 1928
6	Nelson's Pillar and Blackrock	DTC, DSDT	16 July 1879	16 May 1896, 12 July 1898	9 July 1949
7	Nelson's Pillar and Kingstown	DTC, DSDT, Kingstown	August 1885	16 May 1896, 12 July 1898	9 July 1949
8	Nelson's Pillar and Dalkey	DTC, DSDT, Kingstown, Dalkey	19 March 1879	16 May 1896, 12 July 1898	9 July 1949
9	Donnybrook and Phoenix Park via Merrion Square	DTC, NDST	14 March 1873, 10 December 1876	22 November 1898, 23 January 1899	6 June 1940
10	Donnybrook and Phoenix Park via Stephen's Green	DUTC	14 May 1906	14 May 1906	6 June 1940
10	Finglas Road and Clonskea	DUTC	16 June 1919		1922
11	Whitehall and Clonskea via Leeson Street	DCT, NDST, DUTC	17 March 1879, 1877, 1903	1 December 1899, 9 November 1899, 7 September 1903	1939
12	Nelson's Pillar and Palmerston Park.	DCT	3 May 1879	24 October 1899	1 January 1939
13	Clontarf Rd. and Westland Row railway station	DUTC	17 February 1918		21 March 1918
14	Nelson's Pillar and Dartry Road via upper Rathmines	DUTC	27 January 1905	27 January 1905	31 October 1948
15	Nelson's Pillar and Terenure via Rathmines	DTC	1 February 1872	28 August 1899	31 October 1948
16 & 17	Rathfarnham and Drumcondra via Harold's Cross	Dublin Central Tramways Company, NDST	22 June 1879	9 November 1899	1 May 1939
18	Kenilworth Road and Lansdowne Road Kenilworth Sq., Castlewood Ave., Belgrave Sq., Oakley Rd., Ranelagh, Leeson Pk., Appian Way, Waterloo Rd., Pembroke Rd., Lansdowne Rd.	DUTC	22 August 1898	12 October 1899	1 December 1940
19	Rialto and Glasnevin	NDST, DUTC	10 December 1876, 20 May 1905	4 December 1899	1939
20	Rialto and Glasnevin via Harcourt St.	NDST, DUTC	10 December 1876, 20 May 1905	4 December 1899	1939
21	Inchicore and Westland Row railway station	NDST	July 1878	4 September 1899	4 February 1940
22	Kingsbridge railway station and Harcourt St. railway station via southern quays and Westland Row railway station	DTC	3 June 1872	16 January 1900	4 February 1940
23	Park Gate and Ballybough	DUTC	1 October 1900	1 October 1900	16 April 1938
24	O'Connell Bridge and Park Gate via northern quays	DTC	16 April 1874	18 October 1899	16 April 1938
25	Bachelor's Walk and Lucan	DUTC	14 May 1928	14 May 1928	12 April 1940
26	Bachelor's Walk and Chapelizod	DUTC	27 May 1928	27 May 1928	12 April 1940
27	College Green and Drumcondra via Capel Street	NDST	1877	5 January 1900	21 March 1918, briefly reinstated in 1922 as route no. 27
28, 29, 30	Nelson's Pillar and Dollymount	DTC	1873	20 March 1898	1939
31	Nelson's Pillar and Howth	DTC, C&HoHT	26 July 1900		29 March 1941