page_title: Thomas Fleming Bergin
section_title: Buffer invention
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Fleming Bergin / Inventions / Buffer invention
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of a Dublin &amp; Kingstown Railway Second Class Carriage. Attributed to E. Heyden (on the following page).
context_page_description: Thomas Fleming Bergin was an Irish civil engineer and Company Secretary of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first passenger railway of Ireland. He was actively involved in the management and engineering support of the D&KR and the later Dalkey Atmospheric Railway throughout their construction and for their operational life until 1856. A life member of the Royal Irish Academy he is also known for invention of a patented spring-loaded rail buffer.
context_section_description: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), which had successfully operated since 1830, facilitated the testing of locomotives and viewing of operations by other railways, sometimes taking on improvements from such demonstrations. themselves.  For the D&KR it permitted the testing of their locomotives and even a trial of the track construction technique the D&KR was to use.  The L&MR had a problem with the connections to its rail carriages experiencing severe jolting on starting and stopping, and also a tendency to snake when moving along.  The L&MR's carriages originally did not have buffers in the first two years of operation.  An initial early form of connecting buffers was introduced on the L&MR, which was on the two buffer arrangement.  Bergin's central buffer appear to improve this greatly with great strength being achieved with its longitudinal central arrangement even being tested on the L&MR to withstand a locomotive to carriage collision at 15mph without damage.  The device also allowed to L&MR's carriages to be constructed with less weight, however at least some called the device over-complicated.  The L&MR investigated the Bergin Buffer in 1835,  but the L&MR seem to have then improved their buffers with at least source indicating one improvement was derived from the Bergin device, and the L&MR twin buffer arrangement was the one that spread.
  (Snell 1921, pp. 40–41) Claims the utility of the spring buffer was first recognised on the D&KR, though Snell also claims Bergin's device was unreliable in practice due to its complexity.
  With the take over of the D&KR and conversion to 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) c.1856 rolling stock had the Bergin buffer removed and replaced by a then standard twin buffer arrangement.
caption: Illustration of the "Bergin Buffer" on D&KR carriage with a cutaway version showing the spring buffer at either end of the vehicle.
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