Bushmills Electric Tramway (County Antrim)

From The Irish Fireside, Volume 1, Number  9, August 27, 1883

Electric Tramway--With reference to this a friend from Bushmills writes--`The electric tramway is opened for traffic during the past eight months with steam only; but a good many trial trips have been made by electric cars from Portrush to Bushmills, in which some passengers were carried.  The Turbine machinery, by which the main electric power is to be generated, is in course of construction and nearly complete, and is erected within a half mile from Bushmills. It is expected the arrangements for working with electricity will be finished during this month.' Another correspondent (Ballymoney) writes--`The tramway between Portrush and Bushmills at present runs by steam, as the arrangements for the generating of the electicity have not been completed. It can run by electricity as far as from Portrush to the White Rocks, a distance of about two miles; but the electricity can travel no further. The reason of this, it is thought, being that there are some mines of ore there. A machine is being built on a waterfall of the River Bush at Bushmills, to generate electricity, and it is thought that in a short time the carriages will be able to travel the whole length of six miles by electricity.'