Track gauge in Ireland

The track gauge adopted by the mainline railways in Ireland is 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in). This unusual track gauge is otherwise found only in Australia (where it was introduced by the Irish railway engineer F. W. Sheilds), in the states of Victoria, southern New South Wales (via some extensions of the Victorian rail network) and South Australia, as well as in Brazil.

Track gauge
By transport mode
Tram · Rapid transit
Miniature · Scale model
By size (list)
Minimum
  Fifteen inch 381 mm (15 in)
Narrow
  600 mm
Two foot		 600 mm
610 mm		 (1 ft ​11 5⁄8 in)
(2 ft)
  750 mm
Bosnian gauge
Two foot six inch		 750 mm
760 mm
762 mm		 (2 ft ​5 1⁄2 in)
2 ft ​5 15⁄16 in
(2 ft 6 in)
  Swedish three foot
900 mm
Three foot		 891 mm
900 mm
914 mm		 (2 ft ​11 3⁄32 in)
(2 ft ​11 7⁄16 in)
(3 ft)
  Metre 1,000 mm (3 ft ​3 3⁄8 in)
  Three foot six inch 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  Standard 1,435 mm (4 ft ​8 1⁄2 in)
Broad
  Dresden gauge 1,450 mm (4 ft ​9 3⁄32 in)
  Leipzig gauge 1,458 mm (4 ft ​9 13⁄32 in)
  Toronto gauge 1,495 mm (4 ft ​10 7⁄8 in)
  1520 mm
Five foot		 1,520 mm
1,524 mm		 (4 ft ​11 7⁄8 in)
(5 ft)
  Pennsylvania gauge
Pennsylvania gauge
Five foot three inch		 1,581 mm
1,588 mm
1,600 mm		 (5 ft ​2 1⁄4 in)
(5 ft ​2 1⁄2 in)
(5 ft 3 in)
  Baltimore gauge 1,638 mm (5 ft ​4 1⁄2 in)
  Iberian gauge
Five foot six inch		 1,668 mm
1,676 mm		 (5 ft ​5 21⁄32 in)
(5 ft 6 in)
Change of gauge
Break-of-gauge · Dual gauge ·
Conversion (list) · Bogie exchange · Variable gauge
By location

North America · South America · Europe · Australia

The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway used this gauge between 1840 and 1855, as did the Canterbury Provincial Railways in New Zealand, until conversion to the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge in the 1860s. The Launceston and Western Railway in Tasmania also used this gauge from 1871, until conversion to 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge in 1888.

Different gauges
Irish gauge railway at Kilbricken on the Dublin-Cork railway line

Ireland's first railway, the Dublin and Kingstown, was built to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (later known as standard gauge). The Ulster Railway (UR), taking the Irish Railway Commission's advice, used 1,880 mm (6 ft 2 in). The Dublin and Drogheda Railway was proposed to be built to 1,575 mm (5 ft 2 in) gauge[1] on the grounds of lower costs. The two broader gauges were not used anywhere else. Following complaints from the UR the Board of Trade investigated the matter, and in 1843 decreed the use of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in).[2]

This gauge was given legal status by the Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846,[3] which specified 4 feet ​8 1⁄2 inches for Great Britain, 5 feet 3 inches for Ireland.

In 1846 the UR was re-gauged at a cost of £19,000 (about £1,853,000 today) and the Dublin and Kingstown Railway in 1857 for £38,000 (about £3,652,000 today).

The Hill of Howth Tramway and the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway adopted the 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge. Dublin's Luas tram system, opened in 2004, uses 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge.

Narrow gauge

Numerous narrow-gauge systems were built, usually as three foot gauge railways (3 ft or 914 mm). Most are now closed, including one of the largest narrow-gauge systems, that of the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee. The Irish narrow gauge today survives as heritage railways in both the Republic and in Northern Ireland. Bord na Móna uses narrow gauge in the Midlands bogs as part of its peat transport network. There is also a private peat railway on the southern shores of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland, operated by the Sunshine Peat Company.

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See also

References
  1. Steaming into the Future
  2. Railways in Craigavon
  3. "Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846" (PDF).
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