👋 Hey friends! In this video, we are featuring a very unusual train that ran between Kingstown & Dalkey on the outskirts of Dublin city, Ireland in the 1840s.
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Although it was the steam locomotive that made the railway successful, some engineering pioneers wondered if trains could be powered by other means. The motivating factors behind replacing steam is that it would eliminate the dense smoke, dangerous sparks and noise the steam trains emitted. One of these ideas was the atmospheric railway when in 1838, Samuel & Jacob Clegg and Joseph Samuda patented “a new improvement in valves, and the combination of them with machinery” to a previous concept by George Medhurst nearly 100 years earlier.
So what was the atmospheric railway. It involved an airtight pipe laid between the train rails. A travelling piston is connected via a metal rod to the rail carriages and is inside the airtight pipe. Air is forced into the pipe from a pump house. The rod connecting the carriage and piston protruded through a slit in the top of the pipe. This air pressure moves the piston which in turn moves the rail carriage attached to it above.
To maximize air pressure maintenance leather flaps were attached to either side of the slit in the pipe. These flats only opened as the rod connecting the carriage and the piston passed. The leather was covered with wax and tallow to boost the seal and a heater on the underside of the carriage would soften the tallow and wax as it passed. This would then quickly cool and maintain the integrity of the wax tallow seal.
Arising from 1840 West London Railway atmospheric railway trials at Wormwood Scrubs outside London James Pim treasurer of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway Company (D&KR) petitioned government resulting in a loan of £26,000 to finance an atmospheric railway. On 6th April 1842, D&KR agreed that an extension of their railway to Dalkey should be atmospheric with Samudas providing the mechanical equipment. They established a fully operational ‘Kingstown and Dalkey Atmospheric Railway’ on 29 March 1844.
The air tight pipe on the line was 38cm (15″) diameter, and its length was two kilometers (one mile & a quarter). It was said that three carriages loaded with passengers were propelled up the (1 in 100) average incline at a speed 64.37 kph+ (40 mph). By March 1844, 35 train movements operated daily, and 4,500 passengers a week travelled. The line attracted the attention of many eminent engineers of the day, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson.
Atmospheric railway had some limitations from the start. Because of the way it was designed, trains could only run one way at a time, while almost every railway then was being laid as dual track to enable trains to pass each other.
Other issues the atmospheric railway had to deal with was the effort to maintain air pressure in the pipes required huge steam engines. The plan for the Kingstown and Dalkey railway was to have a stationary engine of 110 horse power which it was stated was able to pressure a pipe of 45cm (18 inches) diameter six+ km (2 1/2 miles) long, in four minutes.
Water in the pipes from rain or condensation rotted the leather and affected the seal and in winter the leather seals in the slots froze solid. Finally and amusingly the leather flats coated with wax and tallow were a taste snack for the local fauna.
The actual running cost was more per mile than a steam locomotive hauled railway. While the Kingstown and Dalkey Atmospheric Railway outlived many similar projects it closed on the 12 April 1854. It was replaced with steam locomotives.
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Sources of information
1. Amusingplanet.com
2. Columbia.edu
3, Dalkey Castle Museum
4. Hows.org.uk
5. Irishtimes.com/culture
6. Ingeniousireland.ie
7. Railwaywondersoftheworld.com
8. Railforthevalley.wordpress.com
9. Victorianweb.org
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Nothing like a good vintage railroad vid. Seems like a good idea ???? Might be difficult to use this system with switch tracks, but it did work….. Thanks to Ireland Made for another fine watch…..