Steam locomotives of Ireland

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A wide variety of steam locomotives have been used on Ireland's railways. This page lists all those that have been used in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Irish railways generally followed British practice in locomotive design.

1 Republic of Ireland
2 Northern Ireland
- 2.1 Belfast and County Down Railway
- 2.2 Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (1848-1903) & Northern Counties Committee (1903-1949)
3 Cross-Border Lines

[edit] Republic of Ireland

Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE), which controlled the Republic's railways between 1945-86, settled on a policy of replacing steam with diesel locomotives, a process that was completed in 1962. Throughout this section, the classification and numbering systems applied by the GSR is given. This was based on a letter (representing the wheel arrangement of the locomotive followed by a unique number. Narrow gauge locomotive classes included the letter N after the prefix letter. The letters used were:

A: 4-8-0.   B: 4-6-0.   C: 4-4-2 (Also Bo-Bo diesels).    
D: 4-4-0.   E: 0-4-4.   F: 2-4-2.   G: 2-4-0.   H: 0-6-4.   I: 0-6-2.
J: 0-6-0.   K: 2-6-0.   L: 0-4-2.   M: 0-4-0.   N: 2-2-2.   P: 2-6-2.

[edit] Great Southern Railway (1925-1944) and Córas Iompair Éireann (from 1945)

J.R. Bazin (1925-1929)

Class J15a: Numbers 700-704
Class K1: Numbers 372-391
Class P1: Number 850

W.H. Morton (1929-1932)

Class K1a: Numbers 393-398
Class M3: Number 495

A.W. Harty (1932-1937)

Class I3: Numbers 670-674
Class J15b Numbers 710-719

Edgar Craven Bredin(1937-1942)

GSR Class B1a: Numbers 800-802

M.J. Ginnetty (1942-1944)

C.F. Tyndall (1944-1951)

Class C2a: Numbers 1100/1101 (Mainline diesels)
Class J1a: Numbers 1000-1004 (Diesel shunters)

O.V.S Bulleid (1951-1958)

No.CC1 Turf burning locomotive

[edit] Cavan and Leitrim Railway (to 1924)

Class DN2

[edit] Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway( to 1924)

Class B4

[edit] Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Railway

[edit] Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway (to 1924)

Class FN1

[edit] Cork and Muskerry Light Railway (to 1924)

Class EN1

[edit] Dublin and South Eastern Railway (1854-1924)

W. Wakefield (1882-1894)

Class C3
Class F2
Class G1

T. Grierson (1894-1897)

R. Cronin (1897-1917)

Class C2
Class D8
Class F1
Class J1
Class J8

G.H. Wild (1917-1924)

Class K2

[edit] Great Southern and Western Railway (1845-1924)

A. MacDonnell (1864-1883)

Class D19
Class J13
Class J12
Class J15
Class J30

J.A.F. Aspinall (1883-1886)

Class D14
Class D17

H.A. Ivatt (1886-1896)

Class C7
Class F6
Class J11

R. Coey (1896-1911)

Class C4
Class D2
Class D3
Class D4
Class D10
Class D11
Class D12
Class I1
Class J3
Class J4
Class J9
Class K3
Class K4

R.E.L. Maunsell (1911-1913)

Class L2

E.A. Watson (1913-1922)

Class B2 & B2a: Numbers 400-409

J.R. Bazin (1922-1924)

Class B1: Numbers 500-502

[edit] Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway (to 1900)

J.G. Robinson (1888-1900)

Class C5
Class D15
Class E1
Class E2
Class G3
Class J17
Class J25

[edit] Midland Great Western Railway (1847-1924)

M. Atock (1872-1901)

Class D16
Class G2
Class J6
Class J10
Class J16
Class J18
Class J19
Class J26

E. Cusack (1901-1915)

Class D5
Class D6
Class D7

W.H. Morton (1915-1924)

Class J5

[edit] Schull and Skibbereen Railway (to 1924)

[edit] Tralee and Dingle Light Railway (to 1924)

[edit] West Clare Railway (to 1924)

Class BN1
Class BN2
Class BN3
Class BN4
Class IN1
Class PN1

[edit] Northern Ireland

The Ulster Transport Authority, which controlled the railways in Northern Ireland between 1948 and 1966, replaced steam haulage on passenger trains with diesel multiple units, but had only two diesel shunting locomotives, which meant a continued role for steam on freight work. Twenty-three locomotives passed to Northern Ireland Railways in 1967, but most were not used again and all had been withdrawn by 1970.

[edit] Belfast and County Down Railway

Class 1
Class 2 (Diesel shunter)
Class 4
Class 5
Class 6
Class 8
Class 9
Class 14
Class 22
Class 26
Class 28 (Diesel shunter)
Class 29

[edit] Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (1848-1903) & Northern Counties Committee (1903-1949)

The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR), was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It had its origins in the Belfast and Ballymena Railway that opened to traffic on 11 April 1848. The Northern Counties Committee came into existence on 1 July 1903 as the result of the Midland Railway taking over the BNCR. At the 1923 Grouping the Committee became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); with the nationalisation of the railways in Britain in 1948 the line passed to the British Transport Commission and in the following year, 1949, it was sold to the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA).

Belfast and Ballymena Railway (1848-1860) and other constituents

The early locomotives of the constituent companies were to assorted designs from a number of manufacturers. The first locomotives for the Belfast and Ballymena Railway were purchased from Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy. These were four 2-2-2 singles and one 0-4-2 goods engine. Later, four more 2-2-2s were ordered but this time from Sharp Brothers. Fairbairn 2-2-2s were to be found on the Ballymena Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway but this company also favoured Sharp locomotives which were double framed 2-4-0s.

Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (1860-1903)

The BNCR introduced class letters for its locomotive stock in 1897. The MR (NCC) and later the LMS (NCC) continued to use the system adding new classes as required.

Class A Heavy compounds
Class B Light compounds
Class C Light compounds
Class D Heavy compounds
Class E Compound goods locomotives
Class F
Class G
Class H
Class I
Class J
Class K
Class L
Class M
Class N
Class O Narrow gauge locomotives
Class P Narrow gauge locomotives
Class Q Narrow gauge locomotives
Class R Narrow gauge locomotive
Class S Narrow gauge compound locomotives

Northern Counties Committee (1903-1949)

Class A1
Class B1 Compounds
Class B2
Class B3
Class D1
Class E1 Compound goods locomotives
Class F1
Class K1
Class L1
Class S1 Narrow gauge compound locomotives
Class S2 Narrow gauge compound locomotive
Class T Railmotor units
Class T Narrow gauge locomotives
Class U
Class U1
Class U2
Class V
Class W
Class WT: Numbers 1-10, 50-57
Class X (Diesel shunter)
Class Y

[edit] Cross-Border Lines

[edit] County Donegal Railway

Class 4
Class 5
Class 5a

[edit] Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway

Numbers 1-6

[edit] Great Northern Railway

The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) straddled the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, and so was not incorporated in either the CIE or UTA. However, mounting losses saw the network purchased jointly by the Irish and British governments on 1 September 1953. It was run as a joint board, independent of the CIE and UTA, until 30 September 1958 when it was dissolved and the remaining stock split equally between the two railways.

J.C. Park (1881-1895)

Class A
Class AL
Class P

Charles Clifford (1895-1912)

Class JT
Class PG
Class PP
Class Q
Class QG
Class QGTs
Class QGT2
Class QL
Class QLG
Class QNG
Class RT
Class S and S2
Class SG and SG2

G.T. Glover (1912-1933)

Class SG3
Class T1
Class T2
Class U: Numbers 196-205
Class V: Numbers: 83-87

G.B. Howden (1933-1939)

H.R. McIntosh (1939-1953)

Class UG: Numbers 78-82, 145-149
Class VS: Numbers 206-210

[edit] Belfast Central Railway (to 1885)

Class BT

[edit] Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway

Class 2
Class 5
Class 8
Class 10
Class 12
Class 15

[edit] Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway

Glencar Class
Leitrim Class
Lough Class
Sir Henry Class

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Irish Railway Technology and Information -reporting on all aspects of irish railways