On this day on 31st May 1959, The Sutton and Howth Electric Tramway carried its last passenger having served visitors to the Hill of Howth for 57 years.
CÓRAS IOMPAIR ÉIREANN
Despite being held in great esteem by the residents of Howth, citizens of Dublin and returning tourists, its fate was sealed with the formation on 1st January 1945 of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). As a statutory corporation of the Republic of Ireland, CIÉ took over GNR(I) (Great Northern Railway Ireland) operations including the Sutton and Howth tramway. An audit of all services was undertaken and The Sutton and Howth Electric Tramway was deemed as loss making with closure recommended to be replaced by a bus service.
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KEVIN FINGER
With the 65th anniversary of the tramway closure approaching we were contacted several months ago by Rathfarnham native, Kevin Finger who wanted to share his memories of travelling on the second-to-last tram to the Hill of Howth on 31st May 1959 with his father, Gunter and sister Maureen.
THE GRAND EXPERIMENT
Kevin began his working life when he and three others were taken on as apprentice fitters to the CIE works at Inchicore. What made these apprentices unusual, is that none of them had any contacts or family within CIE railways. In Kevin’s own words, they were part of a grand experiment! After finishing his apprenticeship he entered the production drawing office as a trainee draughtsman. While there he completed the drawings for the A39 loco mural at Inchicore works. After leaving Inchicore works he worked in various drawing offices in Dublin.
Kevin married Ann in 1970, and soon after, they moved to Krefeld, a town near Dusseldorf in Germany where he had secured work as a design draughtsman. While he had a good command of every day German, he had no technical language and was given time to get himself up to date.
On his return Kevin worked as the chief draughtsman for a German engineering company in Drogheda, followed by roles as chief draughtsman with several engineering companies. His last role was as a Senior Design Draughtsman for Tara Mines, County Meath, a position he held from 1982 to 1994. Now retired Kevin maintains an interest in engineering and railways and is the Moderator on the Facebook page, Irish Railways Present and Past And Other Interesting Railways.
MEMORIES OF HOWTH
In our interview with Kevin, he reminisced on his childhood memories of Howth, “My father Gunter Finger was a Chef with the old Jury’s on Dame Street then. He liked to see firsthand the product when it came to the hotel. From memory the fishmonger at the time was Hanlon’s of Howth, who are still in business today. My father was German and his command of English wasn’t the best, so he always checked everything that came in to his kitchen. As he didn’t read the papers (at that time) his suppliers would tell him of interesting things happening in and around Howth”.
SECOND-TO-LAST TRAM TO HOWTH
One of the fish suppliers had mentioned to Kevin’s father the closure of the Howth Tramway. On Sunday 31st May 1959, Kevin and his sister Maureen where loaded aboard the family’s black split-screen Morris Minor and they drove to the terminus in Sutton, determined to travel on the last of the Howth trams.
Kevin’s father brought his 1950 Agfa folding 120 roll film camera everywhere with him and snapped a lovely photograph of thirteen year old Kevin and eleven and a half year old Maureen standing on the step of No. 2, the second-to-last Howth tram on 31st May 1959.
PHOTOGRAPHY
This cherished photograph is a part of Kevin’s life-long interest in photography given to him by his father. He recollects his father giving him a Kodak 66 120 roll film camera for his 17th birthday and a sound grounding as how to use it. And that same camera still produces the “goods” today.
THE TRAMWAY
The Sutton and Howth Electric Tramway which replaced a horse bus service, which had run since 1867 was envisaged as a way to bring more customers to the railway stations at Sutton and Howth. The route was five and a quarter miles (8.4kms) long and reached 365 feet above sea level at the Summit Station, three miles from Sutton. The tramway depot and power station for the line were located at Sutton. The electricity source was switched to mains supply by the ESB (Electricity Supply Board) in the early 1930s.
TRAM FLEET
According to the National Transport Museum of Ireland, located nearby at Deerpark Demesne Howth, in June 1901, the Hill of Howth Tramway with a standard track gauge of 5 ft, 3 in, had eight trams, open-top 67-seaters built by Brush of Loughborough. Tram numbers 1 – 8 ran on eight wheels, each of the two Brill 22E bogies having two large and two small wheels, with the motor in each geared directly to the axle with the large wheels. These two driving axles carried about 70% of the total weight, hence the title ‘maximum traction bogies’. Traction current at 550 volts dc was drawn from the overhead wires by conventional trolley-poles.
By 1902 the fleet expanded with two further trams, Nos. 9 and 10 were 73 seaters built by Milnes. There were 41 seats upstairs and of the 32 inside seats, half were back-to-back in a knifeboard arrangement, enabling the passengers to look out more easily. The rest of the downstairs passengers sat on two pairs of facing transverse seats at either end of the cars. Nos. 9 and 10 ran on Peckham maximum traction bogies.
The tramway also had a freight and engineering car, No. 11, built in 1903. This was mounted on Brill 22E maximum traction bogies and had a cab at each end, with a wagon body between. No. 11 also had a maintenance tower and at least in its later years was fitted with a telephone which could be connected into the wires along the line.
TRAM ROUTE
The Sutton and Howth Electric Tramway double-decker tramcars operated on a five-mile route starting from Sutton station, travelling along Greenfield Road and Carrickbrack Road to St. Fintan’s Cemetery. The route continued past the Baily post office and Stella Maris convent to Howth Summit, before descending into Howth and terminating at the railway station. Most of the route was single track, with passing points at the main stops.
THE LAST TRAM TO HOWTH
Driven by Christy Hanway and with Conductor Alfie Reilly, No. 9 was the last tram to run in public service on the Hill of Howth on 31st May 1959.
Following the closure, No. 10 was sent to Britain’s National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire, while No. 2 went to California and No. 4 to Belfast. Due to vandalism and apathy, No. 9 was the only survivor of three cars set aside for restoration, Nos. 3 and 11 (the Engineer’s or Work Car) being lost.
Bodywork restoration of No. 9 began in 1979 in Castleruddery and took fourteen years. Tram No. 9 is now exhibited at the National Transport Museum of Ireland, Heritage Depot, Howth Castle Demesne, nearby the former tramway terminus at Howth railway station.
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Every week the Ireland Made team brings you two new Irish transport videos. Please support the preservation of Irish transport stories by sponsoring our content creation.
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REPLACEMENT BUS SERVICE
The tram service was initially replaced by two CIÉ bus routes: number 87 (Sutton to Ceanchor Road) and number 88 (Howth to Windgate Road). Later, road widening took place and additional routes were added.
BRINGING BACK THE TRAMS
In 2016, Fingal County Council announced it was issuing an invitation to tender for options to potentially reinstate the Howth Tramway, either in whole or in part, as a possible tourist attraction. Considered proposals included a horse-drawn tram on tracks along the seafront. However, no developments have occurred to date.
If you have a story to share, please email Kevin Reid [email protected]
Sources of information and photo credits:
Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ)
Dublin City Public Libraries
Irish Film Institute
Lorcan Film Unit
National Transport Museum
Old Howth Photos Facebook Group – Caira Lorenzo, Dermot Kane, Eamon J. Martin, Hugh Walsh, John Maguire, Liam McLoughlin
Roger Farnworth
