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Papers: List of Papers 2002-09 |
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Road Transport 100 Years Ago |
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Buried under tons of dung: the state of our roads, just 100 years ago ... THE society held its monthly meeting in Keane's bus Bar on Tuesday 10th April. The talk entitled "Road Transport 100 Years Ago" was given by Michael Corcoran and was a most interesting and thought inspiring lecture, enlivened by the enthusiasm of Michael Corcoran for his subject. He dealt with many aspects of transport from the horse-drawn trams circa 1880 to the change over to the electric trams in 1896. There were also steam trams which ran from Dublin to Lucan and Blessington and even a steam tram from Portrush to the Giant's Causeway circa 1883. In 1896 the trams of the Dublin United Tramway Company became electrified and the Dublin to Dollymount tram in 1901. The coming of the electric trams ended a lot of pollution in cities. A tram horse could deposit 40 lbs (18 kg) of dung per day, so streets were filthy especially in wet rainy weather. The tonnage of manure was very high. In Dublin, ticket boys were employed to pick up tickets discarded by passengers. These boys would also clean the trams at the termini. The top decks of trams were open but a form of cover was developed in 1904. In the 1900's many people were illiterate so different signs were used to identify tram destinations - squares, shamrocks, circles, lozenges with different colours. |
There were many forms of transport for goods. Trains were used as parcel expresses. Single handcarts (like that in the Molly Malone statue in Grafton St.) were used, and single horse-carts. Drays were used by the G.N. Railways. One horse could pull about two tonnes. There were floats for milk. Gradually in the 1900's different businesses began to use motorised transport. The Dunlop Laundry commenced in 1901 and Guinness's Brewery in 1900. Steam tractors became the norm on farms. The Post Office had the Royal Mail Vans, Dublin Fire Brigade moved to motors from horse drawn Cars in 1909 and the Ambulance Service was motorised in 1914. The Gas Company had tool carts - the gas fitters walked alongside as the labourer pushed the tool cart. Michael Corcoran had a very large collection of slides, which made his lecture most interesting. At the end of his lecture, he issued an invitation to us to visit the Transport Museum in Howth. Brian O'Byrne gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the Society and the audience. reported in Skerries News by PAULINE O'HANLON
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