Harcourt Street station

The beautiful building at the top of Harcourt Street used to be a vibrant terminus of a railway line from the seaside town of Bray. It was the gathering point for Dubliners on summer weekends as families escaped to the seaside breezes.  Young people were also familiar with the station from travelling to dances in Bray on Friday nights.

The Harcourt line passed through Rathmines/Ranelagh, Milltown, Dundrum, Stillorgan, Foxrock, Carrickmines, Shankill, Woodbrook, and terminated in Bray. The line opened in 1854, and there were two major incidents on the line. The first was when a train failed to stop at the Harcourt station and crashed through the wall, knocking bricks and debris onto Hatch St.. The second was when two trains collided in thick fog at Dundrum in December 1957.

Last train to leave Harcourt Street station
31 December 1958

The station was closed in 1958, despite many public protests. Todd Andrews had been elected chairman of CIÉ (Córas Iompair Éireann) in 1958, and he immediately implemented a cost-cutting campaign which involved closing all unprofitable lines. The Harcourt line was the first to be targeted by Andrews. The last train to exit the station left on 31 December 1958.

Last journey to Bray from Harcourt Street
31 December 1958

The shell of the station still stands, and was the home for the Pod nightclub complex, comprising of Crawdaddy, Tripod and the Odeon bar. However, the complex closed recently, with plans for redevelopment of the space underway. But the building itself has been recognized by the government as having architectural significance, so the colonnaded façade will be preserved.

Howth tram

The Howth-Sutton tram was in operation for six decades, from the first year of the twentieth century to 1959, It circled Howth hill, ferrying passengers between Howth and Sutton train stations and was a service provided by the GNR(I), the Great Northern Railways (Ireland).

In 1958, the Northern Ireland Great Northern Railways Act ceded control of all railways south of the border to Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), who closed the Howth tramline in 1959. The last run took place on 31 May of that year.

CIÉ provided a bus service to replace the tram, the 88 and the 88a. The roads were so narrow at some points that two services were necessary. Once the roads were widened, these buses were replaced by the 31/a/b buses, which still operate out there to this day. However, in bad weather, when the hill roads get very icy and slippery, the bus service is sometimes curtailed, which was never an issue for the trams.

The railway was very popular with tourists, as it took a scenic route right around the hill, overlooking the seas. The seating arrangements on the top deck of the No. 9 and 10 trams were especially popular with tourists and sightseers.

Getting the Howth tram ready for Christmas
20 December 1956

After the tramline was closed, most of the trams were sent abroad. No 10 went to a museum in England, but No.9 was the only tram to survive vandalism and outdoor storage in Ireland. A group of enthusiasts, led by Jim Kilroy, started the Herculean task of restoring the tram, importing parts from the Netherlands or sometimes just building parts themselves.

The restored No. 9 tram is now housed at the NationalTransport Museum in Howth village. You will be able to view it before you attempt to climb Howth Head on foot, or catch one of the buses to the top.

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