Giant's Causeway Tramway

[1] The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway today operates diesel and steam tourist trains over part of the Tramway's former course.

The Act of Parliament incorporating 'The Giant's Causeway, Portrush, and Bush Valley Railway and Tramway Company' was passed on 26 August 1880.

[3] At the Berlin Trade Fair of 1879 Siemens was demonstrating the first railway electrification system and it was that which led the British branch of the firm to be commissioned to incorporate this new technology into the Giant's Causeway Tramway venture.

Traill built a generating station at Walkmill Falls (24 feet (7.3 m)) head), near Bushmills, installing 104 horsepower (78 kW) Alcott water turbines to produce up to 250 volts at 100 amps of electrical power for his line.

Because of legal problems over water rights, erection of the Walkmills turbines was delayed and when the first section of the tramway, from Portrush to Bushmills, was opened on 29 January 1883 some of the timetabled passenger traffic was handled by steam tram engines which were in any case necessary on the town section in Portrush where it was impossible to provide electric power since this was originally fed to the trains via an elevated third rail which ran alongside the line.

The third rail was replaced by overhead electric wire using side poles from 26 July 1899, apparently initially at 250 V. Voltage drop remained a problem and the tram was the subject of a song by the Irish Rovers which comments on its slow speed.

Traill, a former geological surveyor, expected a considerable mineral traffic between quarries along the line and Portrush harbour, and there was originally a goods branch into the main square of Bushmills.

However, this traffic fell away, the narrow gauge harbour branch being taken up when the Northern Counties station was opened in 1893,[7] and for most of its life the line primarily served tourists visiting the Causeway.

The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway was later constructed over the final two miles (3.2 km) of the Tramway and carried its first passengers at Easter 2002.

This vehicle was formerly a double deck Dunfermline and District Tramways car which was both re-gauged and extensively modified to become a single decker with enclosed ends for the Giants Causeway route.