12th July marks a notable, if perhaps under-celebrated, moment in Irish railway history. No, it isn’t the anniversary of the opening or closure of a railway line. On 12th July 1949, the last Drumm Battery Train operated, bringing to an end a homegrown Irish experiment whose legacy is now seen as the future of transport across both road and rail. With this summer marking the 75th anniversary of this withdrawal, this article will take a look at their history and development.
An early conversion from petrol to battery
The GSR's Drewry Car No.386, as converted to battery operation at Inchicore.
In the late 1920s, a new battery was developed by Dr James Drumm of University College Dublin and was a high-voltage alkaline unit. The battery was patented in 1929. Keen to promote an Irish innovation and become less reliant on imported fuel, the government provided funding for the battery’s use as a means of rail motive power. The first Drumm train was in fact, a conversion of one of the Great Southern Railways’ (GSR) small Drewry petrol railcars, No.386, which was trialed in 1930. It undertook runs between Inchicore and Hazlehatch and Kingsbridge (now Heuston) and managed to get up to 50mph, an improvement on its petrol-engined performance.
The Drumm Battery Trains enter public service
This scene from a contemporary British Pathé newsreel depicts Drumm Battery Train A passing a typical DSER lattice post signal on the coast line near Booterstown.
The success of the Drewry car conversion led to the construction of a new full-length battery-powered train in 1931, known as Drumm Battery Train A. Train A would enter service on the Dublin to Bray commuter service the following year, and was shortly joined by a second set, Train B. Resplendent in the GSR’s chocolate and cream livery, while generally employed on the Dublin-Bray service they are known to have wandered as far south as Gorey on trials. Special charging equipment was installed at Bray and Amiens Street (now Connolly). The individual carriages themselves were numbered in the 2500 series. An unusual feature of the trains was that the carriages shared a bogie (set of wheels) between them, something not common in Ireland. Initially, the units were used on the coastal suburban line between Amiens Street and Bray but they would later be commonly associated with services on the inland Harcourt Street line. A further two sets, C and D, were built in 1939 with a more streamlined appearance.
The battery trains come into their own during the coal shortage
A Wills cigarette card illustration of the early Drumm Battery Trains, resplendent in the Great Southern's wonderful livery.
During the ‘Emergency’ period, as World War II was known in Ireland, coal shortages meant that these electric-powered trains really came into their own, and were even trialed far beyond their intended use on the GSR's Dublin suburban lines. A set was also used on the Great Northern Railway's line between Dublin and Donabate. There is even a reference to one rescuing a failed train and pushing it up a gradient, no small feat. This caused some discussion in the Dáil, with calls for further investment in the program. This ultimately came to nothing, and no further units were produced after the 1939 pair. Indeed, the GSR later had to contend with electricity shortages, which resulted in restrictions being placed on its use for traction purposes.
The CIÉ era and the end of the Drumm Battery Trains
Article on the scrapping of the Drumm Battery Trains from the CIÉ staff newsletter. Martin Hoey Collection.
In 1945, the GSR was amalgamated with the Dublin United Tramways Company (DUTC) to become Coras Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), and the Drumms would continue to run into the early CIÉ era. This would prove to be the beginning of the end for the Drumm Battery Trains, with their cost of operation proving less economical than steam-hauled services. A report in Cuisle magazine at the time notes that they were better suited to off-peak traffic loads, with traditional steam trains being more suited to rush hour services. Thus, the decision was taken to stop running them, with the last battery-service operating from Bray to Harcourt Street on 12th July 1949. This would prove be the last battery-powered train to run on an Irish mainline (well, at least, for another 75 years). The actual trains were kept on as normal carriages for use behind steam locos, remaining in service until 1957.
The legacy of the Drumm Battery Trains
The Drumm Battery Trains may not have run in 75 years, but their legacy very much lives on. The phrase ‘ahead of their time’ springs to mind, and battery power is very much seen playing an integral role in the future of rail and road transport; you can’t go far now without seeing an EV charging point for cars, for example. Charging equipment is set to become a feature of our railways once again, with a fleet of new Battery Electric Multiple Unit trains (BEMUs) on order for Iarnród Éireann, with plans for such infrastructure to be located at non-electrified locations such as Drogheda. Who knows, perhaps we'll even see a battery train used on a railtour in Ireland? Even the Iarnród Éireann railcar numbering system of today is itself a legacy of the Drumm Battery Trains; as mentioned, the battery used the 2500 series, of which the present-day 2600 and 2800 class diesel railcars follow the same convention.
So when you take your first trip on one of these and marvel at the ‘modern’ technology, think of how Dublin commuters were travelling by a very similar means of propulsion over 80 years ago.
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