Route 3
From Dublin Transport
Contents |
1918 - 1939
Dublin United Tramways Company electric trams first operated between the city centre and Ringsend in 1900. Prior to 1901, the bridge over the entrance to the Grand Canal Basin at Boland's Mills was unsuitable for trams. For a few months from 1900, electric trams plied from the other side of the bridge as far as Sandymount Tower, and then with the opening of a new Victoria Bridge on 18th March 1901, the through service from Nelson Pillar to Sandymount via Ringsend came into operation. Prior to this, the only tram service between Sandymount and the city was via Bath Avenue by horse tram, although even these had been curtailed to Haddington Road only, after the introduction of the Dalkey electric service along Northumberland Road. The tram companies had not seen fit to serve Ringsend at all in the early years.
The familiar route numbering system did not arrive in Dublin until 1918. Prior to this, from 1903 trams in Dublin carried a system of coloured signs denoting the various routes they operated, to facilitate a travelling public, many of whom were illiterate in those early days. The symbol carried by trams operating via Ringsend was a green crescent. With the introduction of route numbering from 1918, routes radiating from the city centre were numbered going anti-clockwise, starting with the eastbound routes. Short workings between Nelson Pillar and Ringsend became Route 1, with trams working to Sandymount Green became Route 2, and trams working the entire line to Sandymount Tower became Route 3.
The route of the line was Nelson Pillar to Sandymount Tower, via D'Olier Street, Great Brunswick Street, Ringsend Road, Irishtown, Tritonville Road and Sandymount Road, also serving the Dublin United Tramways Company power station at Ringsend. A new three track tram shed was built on Gilford Road, next door to the existing depot of the Bath Avenue trams.
In May 1939, the short workings to Ringsend (Route 1), ceased operations, with Route 2 and Route 3 carrying on until 1940, to be replaced by buses. [1][2]
1940 - Date
When the trams were replaced by buses, Route 3 was extended from Nelson Pillar to Whitehall. The terminus remains at Larkhill Road.
Routing
Larkhill Road to Sandymount (St.John's Church) (1939 - Date)
Larkhill Road to Belfield UCD (1990 - Date)
Timetables
 March/April 1952 |
Related Articles
References
- ↑ Dublin's Buses by P.J. Flanagan & C.B. Mac an tSaoir
- ↑ Through Streets Broad & Narrow by Michael Corcoran