An old railwayman of my acquaintance tells me an interesting yarn about the introduction of the wooden railway sleepers, some ninety years ago. His story being hearsay, I give it for what it is worth.
When the Dublin and Kingstown Railway was built, the tracks were laid on large stone blocks, after the prevailing custom. This arrangement was productive of much noise and excessive vibration, which the engineer, Mr Dargan, vainly tried to overcome.
One day, while walking in the grounds of his residence near Dundrum he was approached by a local blacksmith, who begged a log of wood to place beneath his anvil. Questioned as to his need for this, the man explained that the recoil of the hammer and iron from the anvil prevented him from giving full force to his blows, unless a block of wood was placed underneath to act as a shock absorber.
The engineer, realising that here was a possible solution of his difficulty, quickly devised a method of laying the tracks on wooden supports. This proved successful, and was copied by other railways, to become a standard practice to this day. To commemorate the means of his discovery, Mr Dargan re-named his residence "Mount Anville".
The Irish Times, July 17th, 1931