GNR common service lines & the 'Great Closure'

[Bóithre Iarainn]

Hi all,

Under the 1953 Act that created the GNRB, Cavan-Portadown, Dundalk-Clones-Enniskillen-Derry, and Bundoran Junction-Bundoran (along with Dublin-Belfast) were all defined as common service lines owing to the fact that they served both jurisdictions. The Act gave the Irish government the power to subsidise these lines in their entirety in the event of Stormont wanting to close them, but, of course, that didn't happen. What would have been the likely outcome had the Irish government been willing to subsidise these lines? Would the GNRB have survived? I assume it would for political reasons, but for how long? What would have been the fate of the SLNCR? Presumably merely a stay of execution? And what about the remainder of the Derry Road which was not a common service line? 

I'm sure this topic has been discussed many times before, so apologies if I'm re-treading old ground.

Edited March 3 by Bóithre Iarainn

[Galteemore]

Ground that can never be walked too often! There was almost a stay of execution for the SLNCR when talk was made of keeping Omagh-Enniskillen open as a long siding for cattle traffic from the west. Realistically it would have to have shut by about 1960 anyway I think. The PW was knackered and even the 1951-delivered tanks were ailing. As roads and car ownership developed in the SLNC catchment area, it would have been used less and less and was bound to collapse in the short term. Mind you, that doesn’t stop me imagining G and C class locos cascaded into SLNC ownership staggering on until the 1980s  David Briggs did a nice ‘what if’ painting of a 2000s Enniskillen, with the SLNC under IE running.

 

[airfixfan]

Should have been used by Dublin to keep the Derry Road open in 1965 as the rail head for Donegal!

[Bóithre Iarainn]

4 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Ground that can never be walked too often! There was almost a stay of execution for the SLNCR when talk was made of keeping Omagh-Enniskillen open as a long siding for cattle traffic from the west. Realistically it would have to have shut by about 1960 anyway I think. The PW was knackered and even the 1951-delivered tanks were ailing. As roads and car ownership developed in the SLNC catchment area, it would have been used less and less and was bound to collapse in the short term. Mind you, that doesn’t stop me imagining G and C class locos cascaded into SLNC ownership staggering on until the 1980s  David Briggs did a nice ‘what if’ painting of a 2000s Enniskillen, with the SLNC under IE running.

 

That's a great painting! I had wondered if the SLNCR could have survived in a similar fashion to the Burma Road, lingering on for freight into the 60s or even 70s. 

 

[Horsetan]

4 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Ground that can never be walked too often! There was almost a stay of execution for the SLNCR when talk was made of keeping Omagh-Enniskillen open as a long siding for cattle traffic from the west. Realistically it would have to have shut by about 1960 anyway I think. The PW was knackered and even the 1951-delivered tanks were ailing....

Sounds like the broad gauge equivalent of parts of the T&D which were equally parlous.

[Mayner]

One of the most interesting aspects of the Cross-Border closures was that CIEs losses increased significantly after the UTA closed the Derry Road and the overnight Derry Vacuum routed to run via Antrim with a motive power change at Lisburn.

Presumably UTA freight rates Dundalk-Strabane-Derry did not cover operating costs, UTA/CIE must have been able to negotiate more realistic rates when it took over Dundalk-Belfast freight operations and NIR haulage agreement for CIE freights between Lisburn & Derry Waterside.

The other oddity was that the SLNCR was dependant on grants from Stormont rather than the Free State/Republic to remain in operation since the 1920s which fitted the agenda of certain 'hard line' Unionist politicians that the money being poured into railways in West Ulster were greater benefit to the 26 Counties than Northern Ireland