Patrick Davey

David unfortunately each time I visit Moorfields, it seems that progressively less of the signal cabin remains. It was but a shell yesterday although the elegant front finial was still hanging on for dear life. Yes I know Headwood well and was sorry to see the building demolished. The nearby Clements Wood offers a lovely walk along part of the line.

Exploring the narrow gauge routes of County Antrim with Alan @Tullygrainey yesterday started me thinking about the former and very short-lived terminus of The Ballymena & Larne Railway in Ballymena. The line from Larne opened in 1878 and terminated at Harryville, on the southern side of Ballymena. The location was provided with fairly extensive facilities including a coal store, goods shed, engine shed and turntable, although the passenger facilities were very limited, maybe due to the realisation that ultimately a connection would be needed to bring narrow gauge trains into the broad gauge station. This connection was opened fairly quickly, after only two years, and narrow gauge trains ran up to the broad gauge station from 1880. An avoiding line was built around Harryville station on an ascending embankment, crossed Queen Street on a girder bridge before plunging through a row of terraced houses (two houses had to be demolished to facilitate this) to meet the broad gauge line and run parallel with this into the station. The B&L had a short independent existence, bring taken over by the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway in 1890. Much later, in 1928, under LMS ownership, the line was provided with a fleet of quite luxurious bogie carriages, the finest to run on the Irish narrow gauge, which served the declining passenger traffic on the boat trains to Larne. These unique carriages only saw 5 years of service on the Larne boat trains, as passenger services on the line from Ballymena to Larne ceased in 1933. What a memorable trip that must have been. The former railway facilities at Harryville are long gone but the gap in the terraced houses in Queen Street survives. The fabulous Britain from Above website includes a decent selection of aerial views of Ballymena and in the background of one such view taken in 1953, the remains of the layout at Harryville can be seen, along with the avoiding line embankment, and the old goods store and coal store.

Excellent - so probably not B&L unless the BNCR decided to copy this pattern more widely! I’m interested to know how many of these survive on disused lines throughout Ireland. Although, it’s probably not something to talk about publicly for obvious reasons.

Yesterday, @Tullygrainey Alan and I enjoyed some explorations of the former narrow gauge routes in County Antrim - 'twas a fine sunny day for such an excursion! We took in the delights of Doagh, Ballyclare paper mill, Ballynure, Ballyeaston, Ballynashee, Moorfields, Harryville, Martinstown, Cargan, Parkmore, Glenarriffe, Ballycastle and Capecastle, and along the way we were shown something interesting by a kind landowner - a very rare Ballymena & Larne Railway milepost. The gentleman told us he restored it after researching the most likely colour scheme but he realised later that he painted it the 'wrong way round' It is also mounted on a length of rail. Anyway it's just great that it survives - 91 years after the last of the grandest narrow gauge trains in Ireland thundered past. Another milepost survives at Moorfields - I wonder how many others are waiting to be discovered.

Bravo!

Magnificent!

One afternoon back in 1968 I was taking a walk along the beach at Clogherhead and happened to turn round to see A15 departing with quite a varied van train...... View From The Beach.mp4

@Darius43 I'm guessing you are waiting on someone saying 'nice chopper'?

He insists on wearing the same suit day after day, supposedly to demonstrate their durability of Brookhall Linen - he completely ignores anyone who points out the parts that need patched! That’s his mother beside him and she’s very embarrassed by the state of his suit…..

SATURDAY MARCH 14th, 1970 Some comings and goings at Clogherhead, featuring a few characters from Brookhall Mill - how many can you spot? CHD.mp4

You almost have it David - because the reverend ladies seem to be always on the move, they have named themselves ‘The Sisters of Perpetual Motion’ One dreads to learn of the chaos that will have inevitably accompanied their visit to Clogherhead…….

Oh-oh……..

Makes sense - yes.

That's an interesting point about a triangular junction at Portadown - with possible implications for the proposed link to Letterkenny..... Would there be much demand for direct rail services between Letterkenny and Dublin I wonder - if so then a triangular junction at Portadown might be justified with possibly a new line from Strabane to LK along the old County Donegal narrow gauge route? And....could this compete with the established Donegal-Dublin air service? Donegal airport is quite a way from Letterkenny though so we'd be back to the familiar discussion about air v rail and how town centre to city centre times compare....? Or does the bulk of LK's traffic go towards Derry - if so then there would be more justification for the direct link into the Maiden City, as per the old Lough Swilly route? (Does anyone know if the proposed link follows the LLSR route or is it totally new?) Ideally - both lines would be built, our forefathers had more foresight!! #fantasy!!

Very interesting replies everyone, thank you. A quick look along the remainder of the formation would suggest that the biggest challenges would be how to bring the railway back to Omagh and Strabane, as well as how to make it work in Derry. There has been a discussion about making a future Derry Road connect with existing rails at Waterside but I am wondering is that necessary - it wasn’t the case in the past although if a Letterkenny link was constructed then it would probably be required. I imagine that there would be zero chance of bringing a line anywhere near the original formation through Omagh (how convenient was that station) although it looks to be less of a challenge in Strabane - the Foyle bridge still exists to the north of Strabane for local road traffic so has am sure been maintained, so I wonder how feasible it would be to upgrade it back to its original purpose?

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!

Some epic shots in your recent posts Ernie, thanks a million for sharing. The Warrenpoint shot is my fav!

Definitely a riveting story if ever there was one Alan! The successful outcome of this current project is not in doubt.

Another experiment with sound effects: Stormy Night.mp4

Superb!

Hi all - I previously mentioned that I had an issue with my IRM A class locos in that the cab lights and main headlights won't illuminate at the same time. This is only an issue with my 3 sound chips (1 EMD and 2 Crossley), and is not an issue with my sole A class standard chip, where both sets of lights can be successfully illuminated together. @BosKonay suggested a factory reset of the chip (sound version) so I have been trying that, with no success, but tbh I am not totally sure that I am doing the reset properly. CV settings are something of a mystery to me..... Would someone be able to post a 'for Dummies'-type instruction for this, I am using an NCE Power Cab controller. Thanks!

Amazing in-vestments here in the puns!

Clever one! A lot biretta than any of mine.

Maybe 4 if we include ‘witness’

Three puns in one there David!!!