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The 'Dublin and Kingstown Railway' (D&KR), opened in 1834, was Ireland’s first railway. It linked Westland Row in Dublin with Kingstown Harbour’s West Pier in County Dublin.

Before construction even commenced, a survey of existing road traffic through Blackrock was performed every day for 6-months in 1831 to determine potential passenger numbers. The average daily traffic was found to be 160 private carriages, 620 private jaunting cars and 820 public cars.

Building of the 6-mile line was delayed by opposition from two different landowners who insisted on large cash compensations and in the case of Lord Cloncurry the building of a private bridge to a bathing area complete with a Romanesque temple, a short tunnel and a cutting to maintain privacy. Part of the line ran on an embankment built across the strand between Merrion and Blackrock which later led to the formation of Booterstown marsh.

The line was extended to Dún Laoghaire station’s current location using the then existing Dalkey Quarry industrial tramway cutting which ran to the West Pier. However, this took a further three years, again due to opposition from local property owners, this time led by Thomas Gresham. The station building was converted in 1971 to a restaurant, ''Brasserie Na Mara.''

The D&KR later included the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway branch.

In 1854 the lines were leased to the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway Company who changed the original standard gauge to the wider Irish gauge.

Contents

External link

References

External link

★ The Neighbourhood of Dublin: The History of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway

References

★ Ireland's First Railway, Murray, K. A., , , Irish Railway Record Society, 1981,