The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway

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The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway (GC&BR) operates a narrow-gauge 3 ft (914 mm) line between the Giant's Causeway and the old Bushmills distillery in Northern Ireland. The line is two miles (3.2 km) long and has a passing loop halfway, close to the River Bush bridge.

1 History
2 Locomotives and coaches
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

The first line:

The Giant's Causeway Tramway came about through the enthusiasm of Colonel William Traill of Ballylough, a man with not only an interest in railways but a keen interest in technological developments in engineering. At the Berlin Trade Fair of 1879 the Siemens Company was demonstrating the first electric railway system and it was that lead them to be commissioned to incorporate this new technology into the Giants Causeway Tramway venture. Colonel Traill built a generating station at Walkmill Falls, installing water turbines to produce the electrical power for his line. This building, although without its equipment, is still in existence. Local opposition to the line, in particular from Lord Macnaghten of Runkerry, came to a head when he diverted away water from the river above the Falls. attempting to lessen the flow to the turbines. However, the first section of the tramway, from Portrush to Bushmills, was opened in 1883 by the Giant's Causeway, Portrush & Bush Valley Tramway, with the section from Bushmills to the Giant's Causeway opening in 1887. It was hailed as the world’s first commercial hydro - electric powered tram system. The original cars were built by the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and were later followed by examples from GEC, and also a Peckham car. Although hydro-electric power was used, most of the time two Wilkinson steam locomotives hauled the carriages. The power was originally fed to the trains via a live rail which ran alongside the running rails but this was replaced by an overhead electric wire in 1916 and steam haulage ended. The tramway ran for 65 years before finally closing in 1949.

The "New" line:

The ‘New’ Causeway Tramway carried its first passengers at Easter 2002 and is normally steam operated. The upper station, just below the Causeway Hotel, is the site of the locomotive and carriage facilities for the line which departs towards Bushfoot Strand down a gradient which is sufficient to make the engines 'bark' on their return. It then follows the ancient sand dune system until it meets the river Bush where a newly installed bridge carries the line over. Crossing Bushfoot Golf Course to meet the Portballintrae to Bushmills Road it turns bringing it parallel to that road, which it follows to its lower terminus situated at the junction of the Portrush to Bushmills road. Alongside the line there is both a cycle lane and a pathway for walkers.

[edit] Locomotives and coaches

No.	Name	Builders Details.	Date Built	Notes.
1	Tyrone	0-4-0WT: OC: P : Works No. 1026	1904	Ex-British Aluminium Co., Larne
2	Rory	4w DM:Simplex: Works No.		Class 'T'
3	Shane	0-4-0WT: OC:AB : Works No. 2265	1949	Ex-Bord na Mona, Clonast.(a)