74 



RAILWAYS. 



any of the great lines were laid sufficient experience had already been 

 gained to show that the standard narrow gauge of 4 feet 8 j^ inches which 

 had been adopted in England was too small. " The Irish have aWays shown 

 a wise liberality in their ideas as to what was a suitable gauge for their 

 railways, and the Ulster line was originally laid out on a very large scale, 

 with a space between the rails only ten inches less than that adopted by 

 Brunei on the Great Western. The traffic, however, was far from requiring 

 any such accommodation, and in 1849 the company felt compelled to 

 abandon the great width of track with which they had started and to bring 

 their line into conformity with the others which were springing up all over 

 the country. Since that date the Irish railways have used for main line 

 work the uniform gauge of 5 feet 3 inches."* It is worth noting in this 

 respect that the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Company, though situated 

 in the Great Northern country, is worked by the London and North Western 

 in connection with the steamers between Holyhead and Greenore, and the 

 English Company, which supplies for the purpose engines and carriages of 

 its ordinary standard patterns, has to adapt them to the Irish wider gauge. 

 Owing to this difference in gauge there is always the possibility, remote 

 though it may appear at present, that at some future time Ireland may be 

 far in advance of the rest of the kingdom in railway development. 



There were in the year 1900, according to the Board of Trade returns, 

 seventeen principal railway companies in Ireland, and as many as thirty-two 

 subordinate lines, which were either leased to or otherwise controlled by 

 the former. The position of the chief lines, so far as mileage receipts and 

 expenditure are concerned, is given in the following statement, compiled 

 from the official returns just referred to : — 



Table showing certain Particulars as to Mileage, Receipts, and Expenditure 

 of Irish Railways in the Year 1900. f 



* Saturday Revieiv. Much information has been derived from a valuable series of articles 

 in the Saturday Review upon Irish Railway Development. 



t This Table does not include the Light Railways authorised under the Tramways (Ireland) 

 Acts, i860 to 1883, with the exception of four small lines worked by the chief lines, and included 

 in the figures of the Table. The lines thus included are — " The Athenry and Tuam Extension 

 to Claremorris," the " Ballinrobe and Claremorris," the " Loughrea and Attymon," and the 

 " Mitchelstown and Fermoy " Light Railways. 



