|
The
Causeway Tramway was re-opened in Spring 2002, The locomotives and rolling
stock which operate on the track were once used at Shane's Castle and include a Peckett
0-4-0 WT 'Tyrone' built in 1904 for the British Aluminium Company, Larne,
a Barclay 0-4-0WT 'Shane' built in 1949 for Bord na Mona (incidentally the
same year that the old tramway closed) and a Simplex 'T' class
diesel locomotive (Rory). An interesting fact - 'Shane' was one of
three locomotives built by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock for use on the
peat bog rail by Bord na Mona at Clonast and was specifically
designed to burn peat.
Prior to the initiation of the original Giants Causeway Tramway in 1883,
there had been several meetings, engineer surveys and costing done to
evaluate the feasibility of constructing a railway line along the coast
from Portrush to Ballycastle, the idea being to link the
commercial coal, bauxite, iron,
limestone, liganite and basalt industries along the north coast with the commercial
harbour of Portrush. The ambitious proposal was shelved due to
a lack of finance and doubts about the returns from such an investment.
A narrow gauge railway was eventually built from Ballycastle to
Ballymoney via Armoy and Dervock.
The
Giants Causeway tramway was
brought into being by the vision and enthusiasm of
Col. William Traill of Ballyclough who himself was a keen advocator of the
railway and kept well informed on technological
development in engineering. It was this fact coupled with the
Siemens Company showing the first electric railway system at the Berlin Trade
Fair in 1879, that lead to that company being commissioned
to incorporate their technology into the Giants Causeway Tramway system.
Col.Traill built the generating station at the Walkmill Falls (still there
but minus the equipment) and installed water turbines to
produce the necessary electrical power for the tram line. Sir Macnaghten of Dundarave was very opposed to the construction of the
railway to the point that he diverted water from the river Bush above the
Falls in an attempt to lessen the flow. However, the tramway opened in 1883 and
was hailed as the world’s first commercially run 'hydro-electric' powered
tram system. The initial electric
cars were Midland Carriage
and Wagons which were later followed by GEC and a Peckham car. Although
hydro-electric power was used, most of the time two Wilkinson steam
locomotives hauled the
carriages. It originally ran from Portrush to Bushmills with a later extension added to
the Giants Causeway. In 1899 the live rail which ran alongside the
track, was replaced by an overhead electric
wire, steam haulage ended
in 1916. The tramway ran for 65 years before finally closing down in 1949.
|
