Giant’s Causeway and Portrush Electric Tramway

The Giant’s Causeway and Portrush Electric Tramway, built and run by the Giant’s Causeway, Portrush and Bush Valley Railway and Tramway Company, was a pioneering 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge electric railway operating between Portrush and the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The line was 9¼ miles (14.9 km) long, and ran from the railway station in Portrush to the well-known tourist destination of the Giant’s Causeway. The first section of the tramway, from Portrush to Bushmills, was opened on 29 January 1883 and the section from Bushmills to the Giant’s Causeway on 1 July 1887. Originally third rail electrification was provided, and steam trams used for the street running section in Portrush. The system change to overhead wire in 1899.

From 1925/26 the line closed for each winter. However increased patronage, partly from military traffic, during World War II meant a brief revival of winter services, but receipts were becoming inadequate to support maintenance of the company’s ageing assets, and the line did not reopen after the end of the 1949 season on 20 September, and was subsequently dismantled.

A heritage 3ft gauge railway, the Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway has been constructed over the final two miles (3.2 km) of the Tramway and carried its first passengers at Easter 2002.