[1] Born at Ballylough, in County Antrim, William Atcheson Traill was educated in private schools and graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in Engineering in 1865 and a Master's in 1873.
In 1881 he left, and founded the Portrush, Bushmills, and Giant's Causeway Railway and Tramway Company with his brother Anthony.
This operated the world's first electrical railway, and was funded by capital raised from friends and investors, including Sir Walter Siemens and Lord Kelvin.
Traill devised and patented a conduit system of burying the live rail in a pipe with electrical contact.
The expected goods trade never took off, and the line remained as a summer tourist railway until its closure 1949 .