Keeping history on track: inside the Irish Railway Records Society

The Irish Railway Records Society has been keeping an archive of our railways almost 80 years.

Look out towards the Pheonix Park on a train leaving Heuston Station and you’ll see a few buildings behind the station car park. You may have wondered what was inside of these buildings – who works there? What’s kept there? What are they for? 

This is the home of a voluntary group whose sole purpose is the archiving of Ireland’s railways, the Irish Railway Record Society, or IRRS for short.

“We don’t preserve engines or carriages; we record Irish railway history.” 

Tim Moriarty, honorary librarian of IRRS

Moriarty has shown me around the inside of the society’s Heuston offices. But Dublin isn’t the only place where they operate, with branches in Cork, and even London and Manchester. 

The Irish Railway Record Society was founded in 1946. Since then, the small group who met in Hynes’s Restaurant in Dame Street has today expanded to over 1,000 members, with these offices and archives in the old Goods Office at Heuston. 

Moriarty tells me that around 40% of the society’s members are based in Britain and Northern Ireland. There’s a lot of historic connections between old Irish and British railway companies, with many engineers having worked across both islands. Our broad-gauge track also provides some variety from British locomotives. 

Moriarty says that these British railway enthusiasts helped get the ball rolling on some of the photographic archives of Irish lines. The IRRS has inherited many of these collections.

The library in the Heuston building is extensive. In it are the histories of many of Ireland’s old railway companies, such as the Dublin-Kingstown and the Great Southern, up to the modern day with CIÉ and Irish Rail. There’s also an extensive collection of books on railways from just about anywhere.  

In the next room over he takes me up a staircase, where I am greeted by a room filled with the timetables and other guides of trains spanning all the way back to 1866! What takes my attention, aside from looking for local connections to my own home place in Kilkenny, are a collection of Bradshaw’s books. These were collections of timetables and travel guides, originally by George Bradshaw, to inform the Victorian tourist or railfan. Former MP and TV presenter Michael Portillo used a copy of Bradshaw’s Guide to take him across Britain and Ireland in his series Great British Railway Journeys. 

Adorning the walls of the society’s building are memorabilia from over 170 years of railways. Tickets, travel posters, and staff photographs from Irish railway companies catch my attention, as well as old station signage showing the evolution of the railway’s corporate identities. 

Downstairs, Moriarty introduces me to the Rev. Dr. Norman Gamble, the honorary archivist. Gamble is someone who you could chat to all day, and I am blown away by his knowledge of the railways. In discussions about former stations in my area he was well informed about the changes that had been made over the decades. His knowledge extends to all corners of this island. 

Gamble takes me on a tour of the archive, which I can only describe as something akin to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The room is filled floor to ceiling with shelves packed with boxes containing all manner of information – everything from signal cabin records of train movements, to retirement books, to designs for stations, locomotives, and carriages. 

One of the services that the IRRS offer is access to employment records. While they do not cover the most recent years, they contain decades of information about who worked where, when, in what department, and for which company. 

I’m informed that their archive of railway employee records has been uploaded to Ancestry.com for anyone who is interested. This is a great feature for anyone trying to trace their family connections. 

The IRRS also publishes a journal that is available in both print and digital formats. It is printed three times a year (in February, May, and October) and since 1947 there have been over 200 hundred issues.  

“The journal is our main output,” Moriarty tells me. “It reaches out to all our members, many of whom do not have the opportunity to visit our library and archives.”

Inside, the journal features articles by society members on various topics – whether it’s recounting a recent excursion, connections between Ireland and Britain, or little known historic events. There is also a news section to inform readers about the latest developments on the railway, unique line movements (what trains went where and when), and information on the latest railway related events. 

“The journal is our main output. It reaches out to all our members, many of whom do not have the opportunity to visit our library and archives.”

Tim Moriarty, honorary librarian

The Irish Railway Record Society offers a unique service. Their extensive archive is an excellent tool for anyone researching railway history. I was told they recently hosted a student completing a master’s degree who requested access to study old advertisements and brochures.

They hold an open evening once a month on a Tuesday which provides an outlet to chat about all thing’s railways. It also allows people to purchase some books. COVID-19 put an end to their regular meetings, and now they offer hybrid events with a speaker in the building with the option of joining via Zoom.

The society is always looking for new members and are keen for younger people to join up. You can find out more about joining this unique group via this link.