Patrick Davey's Content - Page 10 - Irish Railway Modeller

Rebuilding Portadown to Derry

Patrick Davey posted a topic in General Chat

So the All-Island Strategic Rail Review has been published. It's all well and good to recommend a number of restorations, but do any of us actually believe that any of these will ever happen? But......let's be positive for a while and imagine that the go ahead has been given to rebuild The Derry Road. Presumably they would firstly need to plan a route, so they could start costing the build accurately, so let's do that for the stretch from Portadown to Dungannon, assuming that the plan is to use as much of the original trackbed as possible. * The new Derry Road would leave the main line at the previous junction, and swing right, into what is now the park & ride area for Portadown station - it would be easy enough to redesign this area. * Then the line would need to either replace, or squeeze in beside a stretch of the now much wider Corcrain Road, at the end of which can be seen the parapets of the original Corcrain railway overbridge - let's assume this bridge would be demolished as it currently serves no purpose. It should be possible to redesign the area to accommodate both the road and a single railway track: a double track might be more of a challenge to accommodate, although that seems to have been the actual arrangement in railway days. * The trackbed between the outskirts of Portadown and the first previous station at Annaghmore is largely clear, although mostly erased back into the landscape - apart from a few slight diversions to avoid residential settlements, it should be easy enough to restore the original route. There were a lot of level crossings along this stretch though, all on minor roads, so that could present some challenges in order to maintain local access, particularly for farmers. * Presumably none of the three former intermediate stations between Portadown and Dungannon would reopen: Annaghmore, Verner's Bridge and Trew & Moy. On the approach to Annaghmore, a number of stone overbridges survive for possible reuse (along with some huge telegraph poles, if you know where to look!) There would need to be a diversion around the now derelict site of Annaghmore station itself, due to recent residential development (or could these be purchased...?) and the same around Verner's Bridge as the station is now in private hands (and looks to be beautifully maintained, including the skew bridge). * Then comes the first major bridge rebuild - the bridge which crosses the River Blackwater and brings the railway out of County Armagh and into County Tyrone. The original metal piers are still there but presumably too badly corroded to be of use in a rebuild - so a brand new bridge would most likely be required. * Another slight diversion would be required around the site of the former Trew & Moy station, which is now owned by the Hughes family who run a busy mushroom production facility. I believe a relative of the family was the last stationmaster here and there are a lot of well-maintained railway features around the beautiful station building, including repositioned signals and a classic GNR wooden waiting shelter. I think that the former and quite distinctive goods shed is now the refreshment room for the workers at the facility and the Hughes family are very passionate about the railway heritage of the location. * A short distance further, the line approaches Killyman, where one of the two former overbidges in the village remains, carrying the access road to The Old Rectory wedding venue - this bridge is in excellent condition but the next one has been demolished and would need rebuilt so the line could pass under the Trewmount Road. The stone abutments of an underbridge a short distance further also remain but would possibly need replacing due to their age and condition (I know how they feel). * The next major engineering challenge must now be considered - how to traverse the modern M1 motorway. The former trackbed crosses the motorway near to where the Culnagrew Road crosses it today so perhaps the simplest solution would be to build a new underbridge to do likewise. This bridge would need to be a substantial structure in order to bring the railway across the motorway. * No sooner has one engineering challenge been dealt with, when another comes along - the famous Dungannon tunnel. The structure still survives although the southern portal has apparently been filled in and landscaped over, and there is quite a bit of residential development in the area - it does appear (from Google Earth) however that a new railway might just be able to squeeze in alongside the nearest new housing development, particularly as it would most likely be single track here (even if the whole rebuild was somehow going to be double track) due to the single bore of the tunnel. One can hardly imagine the tunnel being rebuilt to accommodate double track. The northern portal survives in a deep tree-filled cutting (as Barra Best recently discovered) but obviously the condition of the actual tunnel would require much consideration. * The approach to the former station at Dungannon is largely clear, with just a few underbridges requiring reconstruction. The station site itself has been cleared but remains devoid of new construction, instead forming part of Dungannon Park. So a few challenges definitely exist for rebuilding the line along the original alignment - whilst the trackbed itself is largely clear, the presence of a certain amount of residential development would necessitate diversions (or compulsory purchase - ugh), and there would be a few substantial engineering challenges too such as a new Blackwater River bridge (easy), a bridge crossing the M1 motorway (easy-ish) and of course the Dungannon tunnel (not so easy!) Looking forward to your thoughts! The above observations were made through site visits in conjunction with studying Google Earth - GE is an essential tool for the railway explorer!