Dublin
Ireland
Gauge : 1ft 10ins
Status : Ceased 1975
(Click on images for full size picture)
The Guinness Brewery was rightly famous for its use of the narrow gauge Spence locomotives which piggy backed into 5ft 3ins converter bogies to shunt on the Irish standard gauge sidings. The narrow gauge system was initially laid in the 1870s, and the Spence steam locos, designed by the brewery engineer Samuel Geoghegan, were built around the turn of the century.
12 Hibberd locos were built for the brewery between 1947 and 1950. The diesels finally displaced the use of steam on the narrow gauge in 1965 or 1966. Mike Jackson took these photsos in the last months of operation in 1975.
One of the high capacity tippler wagons can be seen in this picture. These had a weight of 3/4 of a ton when fully loaded.
Hibberd & Co had to design these diesels specifically for the brewery because of the tight clearances around the site. The locos wieghed 7 tons, and were rated at 37hp.
By the time these photos were taken, the locos were only in use to take casks down to the quay on the river Liffey.