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The Causeway Tram

The Giant's Causeway tramway was the first tram system in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity.

The side of an old tram with a logo reading 'Giants Causeway Portrush Bush Valley Railway & Tramway Co'.
The Giant's Causeway tramway opened in 1883. It was the first tram system in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity.

The Innovators

The Giants Causeway, Portrush and Bush Valley Railway and Tramway Company was founded by brothers William and Dr Anthony Traill of Bushmills. William Traill was an engineer who had been employed in previous years in the Geological Survey of Ireland, while his brother was a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. 

In 1879-80, the Traills were successful in their bid to lead the development of a railway and tramline for the region. Plans for a full rail service stretching to the Giant's Causeway had been in development for some years prior. Along with passengers keen to see the sights, there was potential for transportation of agricultural and industrial materials to and from the coast.

Funded by shareholders that included William Thompson, later to become Lord Kelvin, the lines from Portrush Station to Bushmills were completed in 1882.

During a safety inspection of the tramline, William Traill was questioned on the risk of electrocution, leading to an uncommon method of scientific experimentation:

An oral history interview with Mrs Hannan, great-niece of William Traill. HOYFM.R1982.114

Mrs Hannan: And I suppose you've heard the ridiculous story about how he got it - his low line live wire passed.

R. Beggs: Eh, I've never heard that. I know there must have been arguments about it.

Mrs Hannan: Well, there were great arguments about it! 

R. Beggs: It certainly wouldn't be accepted nowadays. 

Mrs Hannan: It wouldn't. And evidently somebody was riding a very old-fashioned bicycle and it touched this thing in some way and there was some flashing or something. And anyway, then the whole county council was there, and old Uncle William was there, he wasn't old then, of course, he was quite young. And they said how very dangerous this would be, and how very dangerous it would be if some small child without any underpants on came and sat with its bare bottom on this line or something. 

R. Beggs: Ah, that's how this started. Yes.

Mrs Hannan: This is the thing. So, nothing daunted Uncle William, he said, 'Oh, but that would be quite all right!' So he said what he did was, he took off his own trousers and his underpants and in his bare bottom he sat down on this live wire, and somebody said to him afterwards, 'Didn't it hurt?' and he said, 'Yes it hurt like, hurt like hell, but I wasn't going to tell them that!' And so he got it passed!

R. Beggs: It must have taken courage to do that, for a man who understood what he was doing!

The Tramline

While developing the tramway in the early 1880s, the Traill brothers experimented with a two-rail system, in which the rails act as conductors. However, the wet weather of the north coast proved too much for the two-rail system, which 'could not be operated more than about two miles distant from the power station, due to the excessive current leakage between the rails'.1 

A black and white photograph on its route. In the background, you can see the ruins of an old castle.
 
A black and white photograph showing a street with a tramline.
 
A black and white photograph showing a tram on its line.
 
A black and white photograph on its route. In the background, you can see the ruins of an old castle.
 

A third-rail system, in which a third rail acts as the conductor, was instead implemented. The third rail was placed 'between the track and the hedge where it was less liable to damage, and also less likely to be the cause of accident to other road users'.1

Other challenges included gaps where the conductor rail was unable to be installed, such as road intersections and entrances to fields. The momentum of the tram had to be enough to carry the cars across these gaps until it could reconnect to the rail. 

The tramline opened to the public in September 1883. In 1887, the tramway was extended from Bushmills to the Giant's Causeway. In 1899, the tram switched from a third-track system to an overhead conductor. 

Hydroelectricity

William Traill is credited with the idea to use the River Bush as a source for hydroelectricity. The power station was installed at Walkmills by the River Bush. 

A black and white photograph of a wide river. On the left, a series of small waterfalls are identified as a salmon run. On the right is a hydroelectric station, consisting of a small stone cottage at the top of a steep hill, with a contraption stretching below to the river.
The hydroelectric station on the Bush River. BELUM.Y.W.01.27.4

To construct the station, a flax mill had to be removed from the land, and 'extensive rock blasting had to be carried out to prepare a recess in the cliff face to accommodate the penstocks and turbines, and to form a tail race in the river bottom'.1

The turbines were reported to be 'capable of yielding 50-horsepower at 225 revolutions per minute'.2 

A diagram of a hydroelectric station. The station is above and built into a cliff face, with mechanisms stretching down to the river below.
A diagram of the hydroelectric station published in The Engineer, Vol. 56, 1883.

One of the major problems with the use of hydroelectricity from the River Bush was that hot, sunny days - on which tourists were most likely to visit - resulted in a drop in water levels in the river, making electricity difficult or impossible to generate. Due to the presence of salmon in the river, during the times that water levels were low, priority was given to the salmon leap (seen on the left in the photograph above) and water could not be redirected to the turbines. In times such as these, the tramway was able to operate using steam engines, though these were phased out in the 1920s.

On one rare occasion, a snowstorm in 1945 saw the turbines 'frozen solid' in the river.1

It was such difficulties as these that led to the 1925 installation of a generator with a crude oil engine for a new auxilary power station at the Portrush Depot.

Legacy

The Causeway Tram was a beloved landmark for many decades of its life. During the late 1800s and 1900s, it was a popular holiday attraction for locals and tourists alike.

A view of a cream and red tram car. The car is a lttle old fashioned with large windows.
 
A view of the windows of a cream and red tram car. There is a frosted trim with swirly patterns.
 
A view inside a cream and red tram car. There is a row of red leather seats on each side that exhude luxury.
 
A view of a cream and red tram car. The car is a lttle old fashioned with large windows.
 

During the Second World War, the tram was in constant use by new arrivals displaced from Belfast by the Blitz; new arrivals from the United States stationed in Northern Ireland keen to see the sights; and an increase in workers travelling from Bushmills to Portrush as a result of this influx. The tramway's winter service, previously suspended due to a lack of customers, was restored in 1940, with two cars fitted with electric heaters. 

The tramway ceased operations in 1949. The cost of maintenance and repairs needed - amongst other factors - led to the tramway being shut down, and inventory sold off. 

The memory of the Causeway tramway lives on, and today visitors to the Giant's Causeway can board a train in Bushmills that replicates the journey once taken by a tram - the first in the world to be powered by hydroelectricity. 

  1. J. H. McGuigan (1964), The Giant's Causeway Tramway. Oakwood Press.
  2. The Engineer (1883), Volume 56, p. 239. Accessed 21 October 2024 https://repozytorium.biblos.pk.edu.pl/resources/35798.

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