The Railways of the Republic of Ireland: A Pictorial Survey of the G.S.R. and C.I.E., 1925-75

"The Great Southern Railways Company came into existence on 1 January 1925, being a not altogether willing but a financially necessary amalgamation of no less than 26 concerns. Twenty years later, in 1945, CIE (Corias Iompair Eireann) was created out of the Great Southern and the Dublin United Transport Company. In 1950 CIE was nationalised, bringing together all forms of public road, rail and water transport operating entirely within the Republic of Ireland. CIE tentatively embarked on dieselisation in 1947 with five shunters, followed by two main line locomotives in 1951. Later that year the first railcars arrived and the end of steam was at hand. There had been some steam railcars in the 1920's as well as the famous Drumm battery electrics of the 1930's, but the AEC/Park Royal diesel cars, based closely on those introduced by the GNR in 1950, were the first real break-through. In 1955 wholesale delivery of diesel-electric locomotives began, first from England - principally Crossley-engined Metropolitan Vickers - then some shunters from Germany, and finally the highly successful General Motors Bo-Bos from the USA. 'Maeve', the most famous and most powerful locomotive - steam or diesel - ever to run in Ireland, worked her last train in 1958 and was subsequently moved to the Transport Museum in Belfast. Steam working on CIE ended altogether in 1965, other than for occasional outings by preserved engines, chiefly those belonging to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland." (from the Introduction to 'The Railways of the Republic of Ireland: A Pictorial Survey of the G.S.R. and C.I.E., 1925-75')