Harcourt Street railway line

The Harcourt Street railway line (lga|Seanlíne Iarnróid Shráid Fhearchair) ran from "Harcourt Street" in Dublin through the southern suburbs to Bray.

History

The line was built by William Dargan for the "Dublin and Wicklow Railway" (D&WR) and opened in 1854. The D&WR was renamed as the "Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway" (DW&WR) in 1860. It was renamed again in 1907 as the "Dublin and South Eastern Railway" (D&SER) before finally being absorbed by the "Great Southern Railways" (GSR) in 1925. The route was closed at the end of 1958 by Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ).

On 14 February 1900, a train from Enniscorthy failed to stop and went through the buffers and the wall of the station [http://www.harcourtstreettraincrash.com/] , sending debris over Hatch Street. Nobody was killed, though the driver, William Hyland, suffered some injuries.

Route

The 12½ mile (20 km) route ran south, initially from a temporary terminus in Harcourt Rd., serving the intermediate stations of Dundrum, Stillorgan, Carrickmines and Shankill. The new Harcourt Street station, still extant, opened in 1859, along with a temporary platform at Foxrock.
Further new stations followed; Milltown (1860), Foxrock (1861), Rathmines & Ranelagh (1896), the "Rathmines" prefix was dropped in 1921. It joined the Westland Row line at Shanganagh Junction continuing to Woodbrook Halt (1910), that served the cricket ground on Sir Stanley Cochrane's estate. The Woodbrook Golf Club later used this halt between 1920 and 1960.
One of the major engineering feats on the line was the Milltown viaduct, or "Nine Arches", which still stands today over the River Dodder.

Legacy

The route was preserved after closure, allowing for a potential future reopening. The route corridor remained mostly in-situ until the 2000s. The section between the Grand Canal crossing and the old Stillorgan station was chosen for use by the Luas light rail system whose Green Line opened in 2004. The line crosses Dundrum on the new William Dargan cable-stayed bridge.

An extension of the Luas to Cherrywood is planned for completion by 2010, using some of the old railway alignment. [ [http://www.rpa.ie/luas/about_luas/line_b1 Sandyford to Cherrywood, Line B1 info] ] [ [http://www.rpa.ie/luas/maps/luas_line_b1 Line B1 simple maps] ] [ [http://www.rpa.ie/luas/railway_orders/line_b1 Line B1 Railway Order, Environmental Impact Statement & detailed maps] ] . The planned route leaves the old alignment after Sandyford Depot to "Central Park" stop, crosses the M50 and runs down Ballyogan Rd. with stops at "Glencairn", "The Gallops", "Leopardstown Valley" and "Ballyogan Wood". It then crosses the M50 again, re-joining the original alignment at "Racecourse" stop, west of Glenamuck Rd. Continuing along the alignment it passes by the original Carrickmines station to "Carrickmines" stop and "Brennanstown" stop. The Carrickmines stop will incorporate Park and Ride facilities, both it and Brennanstown will be accessed by new roads from the M50 side. Beyond Brennanstown the route crosses open countryside, diverging slightly from, but paralleling the old alignment to "Laughanstown" stop, "Cherrywood" stop and ending at "Bride’s Glen" stop, adjacent to Dell.

The final extension to Fassaroe [ [http://www.rpa.ie/luas/about_luas/line_b2 Line B2 info] ] [ [http://www.rpa.ie/luas/maps/luas_line_b2 Line B2 simple map & branch line options] ] will continue on the old alignment to Loughlinstown, just 1mile (1.5 km) short of the old Shanganagh Junction, before finally leaving the old route by turning south and paralleling the M11.

Visible remains

Several bridges, stations and much of the alignment have survived. These include the Harcourt Street Station, Dundrum, Stillorgan, Carrickmines and Shankill stations, Woodbrook Halt, the Nine Arches and Bride's Glen bridges. No trace of Foxrock station appears to remain, other than the original passenger entrance to Leopardstown Racecourse beside the golf club main gates.

Trivia

* Mile posts on the Dublin - Wexford railway line, south of Shanganagh Junction, are still measured from Harcourt Street.

ee also

*History of rail transport in Ireland

References

* Johnson, Stephen (1997). Johnson's Atlas and Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland. Midland Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85780-044-3.
* Mac Aongusa, Brian (2003). The Harcourt Street Line - Back on Track. Curragh Press. ISBN 1-85607-907-4. [http://www.currach.ie/catalogue.php?&ISBN=1-85607-907-4]

External links

* [http://www.meathontrack.com/luas.html Photos of the Luas on the Harcourt Street line]
* [http://www.currach.ie/pdf/1856079074.pdf Extracts from "The Harcourt Street Line - Back on Track"]
* [http://pub18.bravenet.com/photocenter/album.php?
]