Dublin and Drogheda Railway

Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) was a railway company in Ireland.

The D&D constructed the railway line between Dublin and Drogheda. The company presented the scheme to parliament in 1836 and received royal assent on 13 August 1836. John MacNiell was appointed as the line's engineer in 1840 and by October 1840 construction was underway.

The official opening of the line occurred on 25 May 1844. Initially, trains ran from Drogheda (the Drogheda terminus of the D&D being located 1/4 mile southeast of the current Drogheda railway station) to a temporary Dublin terminus at the Royal Canal.

The following stations were served by the line when it opened: Royal Canal (Temporary Dublin terminus - replaced by Amiens Street Station on 29 November 1844); Clontarf; Raheny; Baldoyle; Portmarnock; Malahide; Donabate; Rush and Lusk; Skerries; Balbriggan; Gormanston; Laytown; Bettystown; Drogheda.

1844 'Dublin and Drogheda Railway — Testing of the Lattice Bridge (Span 144ft. 6in.) over the Royal Canal. -
On Friday an interesting experiment was made of the capabilities of this bridge, which our readers will recollect was constructed at the Drogheda Iron Works. -
After taking out all the wedges under the two west beams, by running one engine and three carriages across three times, the greatest deflection was 2-10ths of inch, and each time the bridge resumed its original position. At one o’clock p.m. the bridge was again tested by running a coupled engine across, the weight of the tender, eight carriages, and three trucks, averaging from 80 to 90 tons. This train of carriages was allowed to stand upon the bridge until Mr. Hamilton, Sir J. Macneill, and Mr. McCormick measured the deflection, which was 2-10ths of inch, and when the train moved off the bridge resumed its original position. Drogheda Conservative. '

In 1845 a new railway company, Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJct), received royal assent for its Act to connect the D&D at Drogheda to the Ulster Railway at Portadown, thereby creating a rail link between Dublin and Belfast when the line was completed in 1852.

1868 Engineer is Marcus Harty.

The Northern Railway of Ireland was formed by a merger of the D&D with the D&BJct in 1875.

See Also

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Sources of Information

• [1] Wikipedia