A HISTORICAL proposal for a tourist railway line would have seen passengers taken from Greystones to Glendalough 150 years ago. The proposed railway line was set to be the first of its kind, focusing on getting tourists from the town to the popular spot in Wicklow. Exactly 150 years ago, in July 1874, plans were drawn for a proposed railway line from Greystones to Glendalough.
The line was to include seven new stations, a 1,400-foot tunnel, five level crossings and even 19 bridges. During the mid-19th century, railway excursions to scenic locations became popular in Britain , and the industrial revolution soon began to take off in Ireland. By 1850, excursion agents organised trips from Manchester to Windermere, aiming to connect the land and bring tourists out to see the hugely popular lake district.
This led to a proposed railway line in Ireland almost a quarter a century later that aimed to offer similar excursions from Dublin to Glendalough via Greystones. The planned 18-mile line would start near sea level and rise to 730 feet near Roundwood. The line would have started at Greystones station, climbing through Killincarrig, and a station at Delgany was to follow, with a 500-foot bridge over the Three Trout Stream.
Drawings from the proposal reveal that a crossing was planned at Drummin, where the N11 road is today. The longest stretch of the line was between Altidore and Roundwood, nearly six miles long. The line was to terminate at Glendalough station, 17 miles and 7 furlongs from the start, which would have been one of the longest tourist railway operations in Ireland at the time.
However, civil engineer James Andrews identified major challenges for the proposal, including the 1,400-foot tunnel near Altidore and high construction costs, so the proposal never came to life. By the 1880s, day trippers from Dublin could finally visit Glendalough by train to Rathdrum and onward by carriage. And in 1897, a new proposal suggested a tramway from Bray to Glendalough, but that also never ended up happening due to high costs.
The Industrial Revolution in Ireland played a significant role in shaping railway proposals across the country. The British government began investing in Irish railways in the 1830s as they were seen as essential for trade and commerce, with the first line opening between Dublin and Kingstown - now Dun Laoghaire - in 1834. By the mid-19th century, the railway network expanded rapidly, largely due to British investment.
The proposed Greystones to Glendalough line was part of this broader trend of railway expansion. However, the line's primary focus on tourism made it less viable compared to other industrial lines and the high costs deterred investors from bringing the project to life. Into the 20th century, Ireland's railway network began to rapidly evolve, with a whopping 3,500 miles of lines across the country by the 1920s.
Though the first of its kind tourist line was never built, it highlights the aspirations and obstacles of Ireland’s early railway history..
