The Paddy Mallon – Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Collection

Context

Creator(s): Mallon, Paddy (1920-2002); Great Northern Railway (Ireland)

• Administrative History ↴

  The Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNR(I)) was founded in 1876 through the merger of the North Western Railway, Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. It operated mainline services between Belfast and Dublin via its hub at Dundalk, between Dundalk and Derry via Portadown and Omagh, and Dundalk and Enniskillen, with an extensive branch network in between. Most of the company’s engines were constructed at its works in Dundalk, which employed almost 1,000 people from the 1870s up to the 1940s. The partition of Ireland in 1921 and greater use of road transport led to a downturn in rail traffic and profitability throughout Ireland. In 1953 GNR(I) was jointly nationalised by the governments of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and administered through the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Board (GNRIB). In 1958 it was decided to dissolve the GNRIB and divide its assets between the Ulster Transport Authority and Córas Iompar Éireann, and both of these authorities closed the bulk of the GNR(I) railway network, to the extent that only the Dublin to Belfast line is still in use. Paddy Mallon (1920 - 2002) was born in Dublin Street, Dundalk. He served his time in the Dundalk Engineering Works of GNR(I), an apprenticeship of strict discipline during the Economic War. He rose through the ranks to become senior fitter and finally, foreman of the Erecting Shop, where he oversaw the overhaul of the fleet. He held a keen interest in steam locomotion and in particular the GNR(I) locomotives 'Slieve Gullion' and 'Merlin'.

• Archival History ↴

  This collection was accumulated by the late Paddy Mallon (1920-2002), of Ard Easmuinn in Dundalk, who worked at the GNR(I) works at Dundalk from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s, achieving the position of foreman of the erecting shops at the Works. The collection was donated to Louth County Archives Service by his daughter, Margaret Mallon, in August 2006. Please note that other archives regarding the GNR may be held by the Irish Railway Record Society (IRRS). The IRRS advise that researchers should write to the IRRS Headquarters, Heuston Station, Dublin 8, Ireland with genealogy queries. See www.irrs.ie The following is taken from a notice in the ‘Paddy Mallon Room’ in the Museum at Clarke Station, Dundalk: ‘Paddy Mallon was the essential Dundalk man, steeped in the railways which made the town famous, and the Great Northern Railway of Ireland in particular. Born in Dublin Street in 1920, he served his time in the Dundalk Works of the GNR(I), an apprenticeship of strict discipline in the hard times of the Economic War of the 1930’s and a railway undertaking which for all its fine engineering traditions and innovative record, was facing a struggle to make ends meet. It was in to this environment Paddy Mallon spent his formative years, and from early on his natural talent and inquiring mind displayed a flair for engineering and an ability to address difficult problems and solve them. Regarded as one of the country’s foremost authorities on steam locomotion, Paddy rose through the ranks to become senior fitter and finally, foreman of the Erecting Shop where he witnessed the delivery of the final GNR(I) express passenger locomotives, the VS Compounds, and superintended the regular overhauling and outshopping of the fleet to a standard which made the company famous....'

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Donation