Opened in 1881 as the Dublin & Lucan Steam Tramway to connect the Dublin city tramways with the village of Lucan, about eight miles away. It was built to the 3ft gauge, despite Dublin's tramways running on 5ft 3in gauge. Its Dublin terminus was almost 2 miles for the city centre and so a horse-drawn tram made the connection. One of the line's promoters was the proprietor of the Spa Hotel, Lucan, at which the benefits of the nearby medicinal sulphur springs could be enoyed. An extension to Leixlip, about 2 miles further on from Lucan, was opened in 1889.

Electrification came in 1896 but the opportunity was lost to regauge to 5ft 3in. Instead the track was widened to 3ft 6in, the most inexpensive equipment was installed, and the company was renamed the Dublin & Lucan Electric Tramway. At the same time the extension to Leixlip was closed as uneconomic, although a short section was electrified to serve the Spa Hotel.

The initial steam tram car was a 2-4-2 double-decker supplied by Perrett. This was followed by a series of seven steam tramway, thefirst six being built by Kitson and the last by Thos. Green of Leeds, and entering service between 1881 and 1892. The engines hauled passenger rolling stock which included all three classes but not necessarily on each train. Three of the engines were retained after electrification to supplement the new vehicles. From 1896 onwards, Dick Kerr supplied bogey electric tramcars and these, along with a couple of electric locos and rebuilt earlier passenger stock, provided the service until closure in 1914.

The government stepped in and reopened the line, operating it until 1921 when it was handed back to the company. The service struggled on, facing increasing road competition with escalating acrimony, until 1925 when it closed for the second time. After considerable negotiation the line passed to the Dublin United Tramways Co. who began rebuilding the line, finishing the work in 1928 when it formed a uniform part of the city's tramways with a gauge of 5ft 3in.

Road competition continued and, inevitably, the D&LT closed for the third and last time in 1940, being replaced by a substitute bus service now that the roads had been sufficiently improved. The D&LT has the dubious distinction of being the only Irish narrow-gauge line to be widened to the 5ft 3in standard gauge, although several using the standard gauge were subsequently narrowed.