There were other landlords in Navan and elsewhere who had ideas that the railway should take an inland route but the political influence of Alexander Hamilton and others living near the coast meant that the surveyor engaged to map out the route, William Cubitt, made strong arguments for the present location of the line. In 1838, John Macneill began the job of building the Dublin to Drogheda railway, ably assisted by engineers William Dargan and William McGoldrick and between 7,000 and 8,000 hardworking employees. We know that at least 8 men were killed and many more injured putting in place the engineering achievement which many people take for granted today. We know that Dr Lloyd in Malahide treated at least 103 injuries while Dr Thornhill in Skerries treated 93 injuries which were sustained in bringing the railway to Balbriggan and on to Drogheda. Labourers were paid the grand total of 1s 6d a day, which was a sore point at the time, given that the rate paid to labourers in England was twice that amount. Tom Brodigan himself set up a fund to help the injured called “The Disabled by Industrial Accident Fund” which meant that the injured person received 10 shillings a week and if they died their widow received £5. We do not often hear of projects coming in below budget, so it is noteworthy that the Dublin to Drogheda railway was built for £450,000 over a three and a half year period which was considerably under the original estimate of £650,000.

Photo courtesy of David Brangan ©

The person considered most instrumental in the Dublin to Drogheda railway is Sir John Macneill, who was knighted on the platform of Amiens Street Station (named Connolly Station in 1966) by the Viceroy, Earl de Grey, on 24th May 1844, prior to the departure of all on board for the first Dublin to Drogheda train journey which lasted one hour twelve minutes and ten seconds. It is interesting to note that a separate inaugural trip was organised on the day before, 23rd May, so that Daniel O’Connell, M.P., who also was very supportive of the railway development, could partake of the inaugural ceremony but not on the same day as the Viceroy. I am sure there is an interesting story as to why Daniel O’Connell and the Viceroy did not share the same inaugural trip on the Dublin to Drogheda railway and perhaps somebody can throw further light on this matter.

As for Sir John Macneill, the chief engineer and designer of the line, he was born near Dundalk in Ballymacscanlon on 5th May 1793. A well educated man, he studied maths and mechanics and trained as a Military Engineer with the Louth Militia which he joined in April 1811. He served under the best engineers of his day such as Telford in England and John Foster, who was also the last speaker of Grattan’s Parliament in Dublin. He is credited with being the first engineer in Europe who made use of iron lattice in bridge construction and his legacy can be seen very clearly on the viaduct crossing the Boyne, which opened tentatively in 1853 to bring many visitors to the Great Industrial Exhibition taking place on the lawn of Leinster House in Dublin that year which attracted 956,295 visitors. Sir John Macneill, as a successful engineer, could afford to invest in other projects such as a Balbriggan Building Company which built the four houses known as The Bower at Old Fancourt, Balbriggan, to take advantage of the railway coming to the town. Not all of John Macneill’s investments paid off however, and at the age of 75 he was left with no choice but to sell up his fine home north of Dundalk and to move to London where he lived out his days with his sons Torquil and Telford. The auction, which coincided with the sale of his home, lasted a fortnight so large was the catalogue which included a six octave grand piano and ten thousand books. Unfortunately for such an avid reader Sir John Macneill gradually lost his sight, became very interested in visual impairment and invented a writing system for the blind. He died in London on 2nd March 1880. He should be remembered by everyone who depends on the railway in Balbriggan and beyond to this day. His star contractor was William Dargan who was born in 1799 on a farm in Co Carlow and was the first contractor to build a railway in Ireland in 1833. Dargan, unlike Macneill, was financially a very successful engineer and generously financed the Great Industrial Exhibition in 1853 as well as being a major donor to the National Gallery of Ireland which to this day has a statue of him in front of the Gallery looking out at Merrion Square, Dublin.

Unlike the Boyne viaduct (which officially opened in 1855), the Balbriggan viaduct of 1844 boasts a complete stone construction. It was described by Sir John Macneill as the single most important piece of construction on the Dublin to Drogheda project, 590 feet across, it has 11 bridges and like the Boyne viaduct, could only be built with permission from the British Admiralty, given that the water in the harbour used to go back as far as the junction of High Street and Quay Street. The viaduct was not therefore just about a railway crossing it also involved considerable land reclamation.

Another unusual feature of the viaduct is the prom for pedestrians on both sides, the seaward side prom being built by public subscription at the time. The land reclaimed below the viaduct also provided a site for the coke ovens which were an intrinsic part of the railway as well. Coal was imported from Scotland to Balbriggan Harbour and brought to the coke ovens by hand carts on rails which were pushed on tram tracks from the quayside. These coke ovens burned so brightly that an Act of Parliament required that walls be built under the viaduct to block off a view of the coke ovens from the sea in case they might confuse navigation of off shore shipping. Reports had been received that shipping was likely to confuse the coke ovens in Balbriggan for navigation lights at Mornington before the wall screens were erected under the viaduct.

The present day railway station in Balbriggan was built in 1853 to a design by George Papworth, who was also the designer of Amiens Street (now Connolly) Station. It is worth recalling, however, that trains were required to stop from time to time at designated halts such as at Ardgillan, where the owner, Captain Taylor, up to the 1950’s exercised that right when he boarded the Dublin/Belfast Enterprise on request, and again at Skerries Golf Club, where former Taoiseach Sean Lemass also took advantage of a halt. There are reports that Crom House at Seapoint, which was a residence of Great Northern Railway staff at one point, was also a stop. I have a report also of a temporary station in Balbriggan prior to 1853 which was dramatically blown down on 29th December 1852 following a severe gale over Christmas.

1. Is the water tank. 2. Is one of the sidings and the Buffer is still there today. 3. Is the bicycle shed for the factory across the road "Smith & Co" (Smyco) and is now the Bracken Boxing Club. 4. Not sure what this building was used for, it's still there today. 5. Unknown. 6. Unknown. 7. The Station Masters' House. 8. Loreto Convent. 9. Smyco.

The present day Balbriggan station was, along with Malahide train station, to be built as a first class category building receiving at the time £1,000 each by way of a construction grant whereas other stations along the line received only £320 each. The present day station at Malahide, however, is a replacement structure and was designed by W.J. Mills who used a distinctive Victorian/Edwardian style. Balbriggan train station contains many of the original features including the Lamp Room on the Drogheda side with its unusual lattice window. Once a week all the lamps would be refilled here to light the home signal, the outer signal, the footbridge and wherever lighting was needed around the station using paraffin.

Because Balbriggan was a centre of manufacture, 3 railway lines went into what is now the car park and the buffer wall of the middle line is still in place with cars parked all around it every day. As is clear from pictures on the website taken in 1956 from the air, the three lines in the yard dominated the area with a turntable in the corner of what is now the car park bordering the Loreto Convent land. Goods wagons were lined up, loaded and unloaded, with produce going to and from the factories from Smith and Company to Hampton Mills to Farrell’s Haberdashery shop on Bridge Street, as well as farmers taking delivery of machinery or selling their produce. On the seaward side of the tracks opposite Loreto Convent another siding can still be seen where cattle were loaded for the markets. Balbriggan railway station, during the 19th century and for much of the 20th century was primarily a goods station and under station masters such as the late Bill Bennett, who came to Balbriggan in 1947, employed up to 15 members of staff such as lorry driver Paddy Fay from Skerries, Sailor Fannon who helped Station Master Bill Bennett with maintaining a high standard of presentation such as flower beds as well as helping in the vegetable garden for which Mr and Mrs Bennett and their family were famous. The family are still an integral part of the station living at Station House itself. Many local men like Enda White of High Street gave long years of service as clerks in the station and although there are fewer employees now than before it is good to see an element of gender balance with Giovanni Costigan working alongside Tony McCormack and Dave Kirwan and the other present day Iarnród Éireann employees at Balbriggan station.

Mr Bill Bennett, the Station Master, had a great rapport with the nuns in the Loreto Convent next door. The Great Northern Railway had great respect also for the nuns. The Mother Superior, along with a guest, were entitled to a first class ticket free, which in the early 1960’s was valued at 29s 11d even though a normal weekly ticket for an ordinary passenger cost 19s 11d, but seeing as wages at that time were about £5 per week the relative fare at that time was actually much more than today. Mr Benett’s family also recall the nuns availing of his friendship and making private phone calls from the Station House as well as trying out the weighing scales on the platform just beside where the new lift footbridge has been constructed. The metal plates on the wall, one of which indicates the fraction ¾, signifies that Balbriggan station is 21 ¾ miles from Connolly station platform and on the opposite platform the number 56 indicates that at one time at least there were 56 bridges between Connolly station and Balbriggan.

Mr Bennett. Courtesy of Martin Fanning

For many people living in the town commuting is a daily chore, but knowing the history of Balbriggan station and imagining life there 150 years ago can provide an interesting distraction and a sense of appreciation for those who worked creatively and ingeniously, given the engineering limitations of the 19th century, to ensure we have a station as beautiful and interesting as Balbriggan train station in the very centre of our town.

The fact that the railway lines laid down in 1844 have not been added to does beg the question as to what road in the country between two major cities has been left unwidened since 1844. It is time for Government to think anew about the potential for our railways. Longer platforms, 12 carriage trains, double decker trains, an additional middle track to allow the Dublin/Belfast service run without interfering with suburban trains are needed, alongside additional employment opportunities in Balbriggan and north of Balbriggan to relieve the pressure for space on peak time services to and from Dublin. All we need is a fraction of John Macneill’s ingenuity and the modern day equivalent of Alexander Hamilton’s determination to ensure that Balbriggan can once again become a key player in the next chapter of the golden age of railway for Ireland.

Trevor Sargent T.D.,

17/11/2005
email: trevor.sargent@oir.ie