Jim Kilroy and the National Transport Museum of Ireland have lovingly restored the Hill of Howth Tram No. 9, the last electric tram to run in Ireland. Along the way he built up a collection of anecdotes - a selection was published in "Howth and her Trams" (1986). He has given permission for the following to be included and even went to the trouble of hand-colouring the original black and white drawings. The tram can be seen in the film "Michael Collins" and in the forthcoming re-make of "The Magnificent Ambersons". [Oct. 2000 KF].
The honour of being the last man to drive an electric tramcar, and bring the electric traction era in Ireland to an end, is quite a coveted role and there are many contenders for the position. To begin with, Tom Redmond served with the tramway for 18 years and had worked his way up to become chief motorman, or 'driver', as he preferred to be called. On the last day of running, Tom's car, No. 1 was the last tram to pull out of Howth Station and complete the hill run, so it could truthfully be said that Tom drove the last tram to complete the Hill of Howth circuit. Tom's conductor was Willy O'Brien.
The tram which was officially set aside as the last tram was No. 9; however, some students from Trinity College and a local lad loosened a fish plate on the track at Somalie Village and No. 9 never completed her final journey. Christy Hanway was the motorman of No. 9 and Alfie Reilly was his conductor. Sadly, after her ill fated disruption she had to set back down the hill, followed by a stream of honking cars and boisterous crowds and thus bring to an end the glorious tramway era. One of the passengers jammed on the tram was a youthful Frank Hall, trying, unsuccessfully to reach Christy for an interview. Christy boldly claims to all and sundry that he and Alfie were the last crew to drive a tram in Ireland.
"That's not true", will argue Dick McGlue. "I was sitting quietly in No. 6 waiting at the Sutton Cross loop, when Christy passed me by in No. 9 and continued towards the sheds. As the passengers would not get out and other crowds wanted to get on No. 9, she was quickly driven into the sheds and the door rapidly closed. She set off several detonators just inside the doors. The doors were quickly re-opened to emit the spluttering contents of the tram as black clouds of smoke belched out of the depot. When the din had quietened down, I stealthily drove No. 6 into the depot. It was twenty-five past one on the morning of June 1st, 1959, and my tram was the last to run," argues a proud Dick.
In a sense they are all the drivers of the last tram. Tom's car was the last to complete the Hill journey, Dick's car was the last into the sheds that night but No. 9 was officially set aside as the last tram and, although she never completed her journey, the honour of bringing an end to an era must surely fall on Christy Hanway and Alfie Reilly. After all, Christy and his father Pat had been with the trams from the very beginning and it was Christy who kept the whole show rolling as chief maintenance man.
It could be said the No. 9 never completed her journey, that she never arrived and that there was "No last Tram" around the Hill of Howth.
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 The
Runaway Tram. |
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The Bag
of Spuds.
Never
forgotten
The Pseudo
Tram.
An Act of God
Mutton
From Sutton
The
Christmas Tram If you'd like to read more about Howth and Dublin trams Jim has written
several other books which are still available from this site: Colourpoint Books |
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