Dublin & Kingstown “Hibernia”, “Britannia” and “Manchester”

Built in 1834 by Sharp, Roberts & Co. of Manchester, “Hibernia” was the first locomotive to run in Ireland. Customer was the Dublin and Kingstown Railway that was originally built in standard gauge. The locomotive was designed by Richard Roberts and was very similar to “Experiment” he had built one year earlier for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Thus, it had vertical cylinders which drove the rear axle via bell cranks. It was expected to haul 60 to 80 tons at 20 mph or 32 km/h. Its manufacturer once claimed that it even reached 60 mph or 97 km/h on trial runs in Britain without a train.

Two identical locomotives followed which were named “Britannia” and “Manchester”. At the same time, three locomotives with horizontal cylinders were ordered from George Forrester & Co. of Liverpool. The Roberts locomotives were not as successful because the movements of the vertical cylinders caused damage to both the locomotives and the rails. Additionally, the piston valves were not quite mature at that time. “Hibernia” was destroyed in a boiler explosion in 1842 and her two sisters were also withdrawn shortly later.