Harcourt Street Station, the long building beside the Harcourt Luas stop, opened in 1859 as a train station.  A train line ran between from there to Bray and then later Wexford.

The Vaults underneath the station were used to store whiskey.

In 1900, on Valentine’s Day, a train carrying cattle “failed to stop” and came crashing through the wall at the end of the station dangling 10 metres over the street below.

No people were killed although the train driver had to lose his right arm.

The Irish Times, 15th February:

“All went well with the train until it was approaching Harcourt Street Station, at half-past four o’clock, when Hyland, it is believed, found he could not get his brakes to act, owing to the slippery nature of the wheels and rails combined with the fact that the train was very heavy. Speed could not be slackened, and the engine with its heavy load dashed through the station to the great alarm of the people on the platform, who saw that an accident of a serious nature must result, nor were they mistaken.“

The last train left here in 1958.

In the 1990’s this building was known for it’s nightclubs, both upstairs and down in the vaults.

Imagine the stories these walls could tell!