The Pat Kenny Show A history of train travel in Ireland with Turtle Bunbury
Mar 29, 2026
Turtle Bunbury, historian and broadcaster known for making Irish history lively, traces the rise of rail in Ireland. He covers the first passenger line, the navvies and engineering marvels. He explores how rail created seaside resorts, boosted rural trade, declined with cars, and looks at whether modern tech could spark a rail revival.
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Railway Mania Created Seaside Resorts
- Ireland's railway boom began with the 1834 Dublin and Kingstown Railway and rapidly expanded into a national network during 1830s–1840s railway mania.
- That initial coastal line turned Dun Laoghaire and Bray into Victorian seaside resorts almost immediately.
Navvies Built Ireland's Rail By Hand
- Turtle Bunbury describes massive manual labour by tens of thousands of navvies building embankments, viaducts and cuts with picks, shovels and blasting.
- He points to visible engineering feats like the Ballydehob viaduct and the Newport viaduct as evidence of that toil.
Balfour's Rail Strategy To Buy Loyalty
- Arthur Balfour, appointed chief secretary in 1886, used state investment to develop the Congested Districts Board and extend rail into remote western and northwestern counties.
- The policy aimed to boost rural economies and 'kill Home Rule with kindness' by connecting isolated areas with a dozen new lines.