The coming of the railways

A busy railway ran from Waterford to Tramore from 1853 to 1960. It was 7 ¼ miles long and unconnected to any other line. There were no stops on the line between Waterford and Tramore. It took fifteen minutes to travel between the two stations.

Quakers started many of the industries in Waterford and they were also responsible for establishing the railway from the city to Tramore. They were shrewd business men who also wanted to help their fellow citizens. Quakers had already built the line fr om Waterford to Limerick in 1848 and it was so successful that they planned to build a further line to Cork via Dungarvan and Youghal but the money ran short and the line was never built.

The first sod was cut on the 10th September 1853 and the railway was completed by 2nd September of the same year. This was record time. The line was built using picks, shovels and horses; part of the track was built on bog by laying the rails on trestles of trees. The line only had two signals, one at Tramore and one at Bath Street crossing gates. There were no signal cabins as it was a single line of track.