[3] 1817 had seen the beginning of the construction of a new harbour at Dunleary village that soon began to attract traffic due to silting problems elsewhere around Dublin Bay.

James Pim took the initiative and commissioned a plan by Alexander Nimmo which was supported by other businessmen and presented as a petition to the House of Commons on 28 February 1831 for a rail line from near Trinity College to the west pier at the Royal Harbour of Kingstown under a company to be known as the D&KR.

A key appointment was James Pim (Junior) as secretary and Murray notes his "great natural ability, tact, energy, and a valuable business experience".

The position of clerk/secretary was awarded to Thomas Fleming Bergin who with his engineering background effectively controlled the operation of the railway.

[9][c] The line began at Westland Row where the D&KR made its headquarters and initially ran elevated reaching street level around the River Dodder.

[citation needed] From Merrion the line ran on an embankment built across the strand to Blackrock which later led to the formation of Booterstown marsh.

[10][11] While rights for compulsory purchase were generally granted, this was not the case for two landowners who insisted on large cash compensations and in the case of Lord Cloncurry the building of a private footbridge over the line to a bathing area complete with a Romanesque temple, a short tunnel and a cutting to maintain his privacy.

[15] The D&KR claimed that trials expected in September were delayed due to the risks to labourers still working on the line.

[16] The first recorded train with invited passengers on 4 October 1834 was hauled by the engine Vauxhall and ran as far as the Williamstown Martello Tower at what is now Blackrock Park before returning.

[15] The engine Hibernia on 9 October 1834 hauled another train of invited passengers composed of eight carriages and in this case traversed the whole length of the line and back.

[17] Plans were made to introduce a service on 22 October 1834 but storms and flooding damaged the line including wrecking the bridge over the River Dodder and this led to delays for repairs.

An 1833 bill to extend to Dalkey evoked strong opposition from many quarters including canal proponents and local property owners, with Thomas Gresham making the strongest impact.

[24] This cut across and isolated a good section of the Old Harbour, ran also beside the existing Dalkey Quarry tramway and also required demolition of a Martello tower and battery in May 1835 before Dargan started work on the extension in May 1836.

[25] The line extension to Dún Laoghaire station's current location was announced complete on 13 May 1837, and a directors' special train ran in 13 minutes from Westland Row on that date.

The D&KR, who were now lessors only, initially believed the D&WR were favouring services on the Harcourt Street Line but this resolved over time.

[38] Westland Row became the Dublin station for the former Midland Great Western Railway main line services upon the closure of Broadstone in 1937.

The mail bags are conveyed by the 8½ a.m. by Holyhead; 5 and 10 p.m. by Liverpool.The D&KR initially ordered six locomotives, Hibernia, Britannia, and Manchester from Sharp Brothers together with Vauxhall, Dublin, and Kingstown from George Forrester and Company.

[49] Grand Canal Street also produced a series of locomotives for the D&KR after Princess, the list includes such names as Belleisle, Shamrock, Erin, Albert, Burgoyne, Cyclops, Vulcan, Jupiter[46] and possibly Juno.

[51] A small number of these engines were noted as still operating in the 1870s where they looked diminutive compared to their successor 2-2-2WT Neilson locomotives introduced from 1865.

[citation needed] The Fry Collection contains a scale model replica of the first train in Ireland consisting of locomotive, tender and four carriages of different types.