Broadstone Railway Station

[annieoburns]

I am checking out a relative who was a 'coach builder' when he died in 1907.  He was living at Royal Canal Bank.  Looking at the occupations of neighbours viz. railway clerk, coach painter, engine fitter, engine driver and another 'coach builder', these would suggest the nearby Broadstone Railway terminus as place of employment.

Would 'coach building' have been carried out at the Broadstone in this time period? or would they have used the railway to commute to some other location such as Inchicore?  But I think it more likely that he was employed locally following the pattern of the times.  I am presuming of course that coach means 'railway coach'.  One of his sons went on to become an engine driver.

[shanew147]

I believe that coach builder's also worked on Railway Carriages.. you can see buildings marked as 'workshops' beside Broadstone station on the 1885 map, where they may have either built or repaired carriages - see the map here http://roots.swilson.info/dublin1885/Dublin1885.html

I know that Inchicore had major works where engines were built and repaired, but have not seen any descriptions on the kind of operations carried at the Broadstone Railway workshops.  I'll see if I locate any directory listings describing the location...


Shane

[annieoburns]

Thanks for that Shane.  Indeed repair of coaches would have  been major employment, think of how many carriages there would be to each engine? Perhaps Broadstone was main hub for coach maintenance?  On another point, would the dwellings have been part of their terms of employment?  His widow moved the year he died, I wonder was it out of necessity?  More questions to direct to Archives people in Heuston Station if I ever make it there.

[wyndham]

If you "Google" Broadstone Station, Dublin, there are a number of entries explaining it's past use and current one; starting with Wikipedia.

[annieoburns]

Yes, thanks for that, first point of call, great resource is Wikipedia.  The Broadstone was the terminus for the rail route leading to Galway and went through Mullingar which is where my chap's wife hailed from and several of the children were born. 

I wonder was there a coach related workshop in Mullingar or did he start life as a carpenter and gravitate to coach repair.  Pity about the lack of census data, we shall never know.   I await the 1901 census to find out bit more about this chap such as where he came from.  One of these days I will get to the railway archives place to see if anything there.

[wyndham]

I also forgot to mention that I think that the CIE used Broadstone for many years as a bus/coach maintenance depot.

[ewanduffy]

Prior to 1925, Broadstone and Inchicore were the railway works of the Midland Great Western Railway and Great Southern and Western Railway respectively. As the two premier railway companies on the island of Ireland, they would have regarded each other as competition. There is also no direct rail link from Broadstone to Inchicore (not then or even now) so using the train to get from Broadstone to Inchicore wouldn't be feasible.

As the MGWR equivalent of Inchicore works until 1925, there would almost certainly have been the complete range of repair facilities available. Ernie Shepherd's history of the company (ISBN 1857800087) lists the following as present at Broadstone in 1920:
Locomotive Shop
Machine Shop
Paint shop
Carriage paint shop
Boiler shop
Smithy
Carriage repairs
Brass foundry
Signal shop (as distinct from a signal cabin)
Carpenters shop
Wagon shop
wagon repair shop

Generally speaking, the house came with the job. Leave the job and you lost the house.

[annieoburns]

Thanks for that Ewan, good info there  and I think answers all my queries.  Interesting to hear of the competition between the lines.  The family relocated to live near Westland Row Station so I presume the son who was an engine driver worked for yet another line.  He purchased the house the year his father died.

[ewanduffy]

You could also try the IRRS at Heuston (which I think was suggested above). I was there as part of an industrial heritage conference a few years back and co-incidentally, they had chosen the staff register of the Dublin Wicklow & Wexford Railway to display to the attendees - my great great grandfather had been a stationmaster with said company.

Sure enough, on providing his name, his entry in the register was found and confirmed to be stationmaster, based on the fact that he was on an annual salary as opposed to a weekly wage. I don't know if they have staff registers for the MGWR or not, but it would be worth asking.