The story of the Victorian scam that was the West Carbery Tramway & Light Railway Company Limited, subsequently the Schull and Skibbereen Tramway & Light Railway.

Ireland experienced an unprecedented boom in light-railway construction in the late nineteenth century, all constructed in economically unviable areas of the country.

The logic for railway construction in Britain did not apply to Ireland, which did not experience an industrial revolution requiring the movement of bulky ores and coal. Also, Dublin and Belfast excepted, there was no commuter traffic. The Irish railways served thinly populated districts. They relied for their incomes on the transport of livestock and agricultural produce. Ireland was an undeveloped economy with a highly developed transport system.

The gold-rush nature of the speculation in tramways and light railways in 1880s Ireland is shown by the fact that of the 106 companies registered in Ireland in 1883, 68 of them were tramway companies which constructed approximately 603 miles of light railway and tramway between 1883 and 1896.

All driven by investors seeking to benefit from the Baronial Guarantee in the Tramway Act which guaranteed the shareholders’ dividend to the tune of 5% per annum, in perpetuity, whether the railway operated or not, or even if the railway was constructed or not.

If you would like to know more about this Victorian scam perpetrated on the rate payers of West Cork:

www.buythebook.ie/this-is-the-mizen/