Copyright R N Forsythe
That my grandfather was born 99 years before me in Carrickfergus, County Antrim might seem a tenuous link with the Emerald Isle. For all that, ever since I learnt to read, being brought up on a diet of Edward Patterson Irish railway histories from David and Charles, I have felt a great deal of affection for the island. Notwithstanding the tragic recent years, several visits north and south have been made. 1995 in particular seemed a golden opportunity to spend a fortnight tooing and froing across the border. This was done by boat on the newly opened £30 million Shannon-Erne link. This is an alias for what was the 1860 Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal.
In its first life less than 20 boats passed through it. It had been built for £275,000 and when in 1887 the Cavan and Leitrim Railway was opened, the canal was utterly redundant. The new railway had two low level canal bridges and ran twice for some miles in close proximity to the canal bank. The bridges have now gone in the cause of canal restoration. It would seem most unlikely that both canal and railway will ever function at the same time. That said, anyone who knew the canal at the height of its desolation would marvel that it is now an icon of smart card technology with its push button locks.
Meantime away down the Shannon at Dromod, once the southern extremity of the C&L, a dedicated band of enthusiasts have rediscovered the old 3' gauge loco shed buried in the undergrowth. It has been repaired, a replica carriage shed built, half a mile of track to Clooncolry Gates relaid, a suitably gauged ex Lochaber Aluminium Railway 0-4-2T bought and restored. With this evidence of staggering failure and rebirth, it would be wise not to rule anything out. What is a fact is that equipped with boat and bikes there is now the most splendid means of enjoying the rural counties of Cavan and Leitrim and reaching the main sites on the old 3' gauge railway. Dromod, Ballinamore, Ballyconnell, Belturbet and Drumshanbo are all accessible by boat and all were key to the C&LR's operations prior to its 1959 demise. The old station buildings survive in each town. Ballinamore is a school, Drumshanbo still has its cast iron watertank.
To judge by the accomodation crisis that had overtaken the Antrim Coast the night before we returned on the Larne ferry, most of Southern Ireland had also decided 1995 was the year to come north. It reminded me that before the Troubles of the last 25 years, tourism had been big business in Ulster. Back home it prompted a look in the railway publicity files and the links that were unearthed between several decades of collecting and our holiday have taken shape in this article. Passing through the ferryport of Larne today, many motorists probably do not even notice there is still a rail connection to Belfast. It seems hard to believe that the main A8 to Belfast runs in close proximity to what was once the route of a 3' gauge boatrain. These had operated between Larne and Ballymena until 1933 and both road and rail climbed steeply together out of Larne up the Inver Bank.
Some evidence of the narrow gauge era lies in the Larne streetname of Narrow Gauge Road. Ironically, it is the address for the tourist information centre and a bus company today. The best evidence of the richness of Larne's railway heritage and its impact on tourism is still standing at the junction of Glenarm and Victoria Roads. Derelict since the early 1980's but still carrying its name, the Laharna Hotel is in 1995 a monument to the last tragic decades. The Laharna Hotel was one of three considerable tourist hotels operated by the railways that became part of the Ulster Transport Authority in 1949. These were sold onto Grand Metropolitan in 1966. Only one still trades.
Larne's tourist fortunes were founded on two factors. Just round the headland were the Glens of Antrim and the Causeway Coast. This spectacular length of coastline runs almost to Portrush. This is roughly 60 miles and in that distance the only rail accesses were at Larne, Ballycastle and Portrush itself (along with the tramway extension to the Giant's Causeway). Larne's gateway role was clear, although a fourth entrance point was possible at the extreme end of the 3' gauge which started from Larne. Beyond Ballymena this route's passengers had had hopes of reaching Cushendall and Red Bay. The problem was that having reached Parkmore in 1888, the sea was some five miles away and 1000' below. Various schemes to overcome this never really resulted in anything better than a wagonette link. Despite that, under railway management scenic Glenariff became the popular attraction it remains today. Today's motorist leaving Glenariff for Ballymena on the A43 can hardly miss the evidence of the former railway. Parkmore station building stands derelict but accessible. It is a queer looking concrete structure that was put up after the original was destroyed in an attack of 1921. When the summer season of 1930 ended in closure, the new building gained another career as a youth hostel.
Larne and Portrush have been the only rail accesses to the coastline since the Ballycastle 3' gauge line was closed in 1950. Portrush still sees some steam excursions courtesy of the RPSI. It sees still more in the way of DMU specials for the habit of the group outing has died hard in Ulster. Clinging tenaciously onto life at Portush are the only remaining working NIR ex NCC somersaults. They are in dire need of a paint which they probably will not get. No longer in the land of the living is Portrush's railway hotel. Its ancestry went back to 1837 but it was not until 1883 that it was renamed the Northern Counties Hotel and came into the hands of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway. Ultimately this led to LMSR and UTA ownership before that 1966 sale. The story ended sadly with two fires in 1990 followed by demolition (see Backtrack March 1995). Whether this will be the fate for the Laharna remains to be seen. It was newer than the Northern Counties. Opened in 1883, burnt in 1901, and refurbished with railway aid for 1903, before being purchased in 1909 by the NCC.
At Larne the stimulus for tourism investment had gained weight after 1862. It was then that the BNCR persuaded other players to create a new Irish link from Stranraer having just brought the railway to Larne. Hitherto Belfast had been the destination and before that it was Portpatrick to Donaghadee. The 1862 ferry initiative languished after a couple of years but from 1872 and the arrival of the PS Princess Louise, Larne gained a prominence as the Northern Ireland ferry port which it has retained to this day. In twenty years from 1875 Larne doubled its population. It has taken the Seacat to reassert Belfast's link to Stranraer although many other services always ran from Belfast. The management of the Larne route has traditionally been very complicated. At least from 1923 until 1984 there was practically one route owner: the LMSR and then BR. Nonetheless, even then the nominal operators changed title. Between 1960 and 1967 on account of the new ship the MV Caledonian Princess, the Stranraer operation was its own company: Caledonian Steam Packet Company (Irish Services) Ltd. Legally this company had originated as the Clyde and Campbeltown Shipping Company before transfer to THE CSP in 1951. Only months after formation of the 1960 company it left the CSP fold altogether to become a directly owned BTC subsidiary. Today's Stena Sealink operation seems simple by comparison.
All this was as nothing compared to the pre 1923 situation. The reality was then so confusing that the advertising simply sold the service as The Larne and Stranraer Royal Mail Steamers. They were responsible for publishing several editions of an attractive guide Ireland's Enchanted North in the years before 1914. In this the ownership of the operation was discretely hidden. Essentially between 1890 and 1923, the operator was The Larne and Stranraer Steamship Joint Committee, itself owned by five railway companies. An inkling of the complexity of Larne in its Edwardian heyday can be seen. A plush railway hotel, two distinct rail systems under one onwnership complete with those 3' gauge boatrains, the first Irish Sea turbine steamers and an innovative programme for visitors combined to create a lot of bussle. The steamers did not just restrict themselves as today's car ferries do to shuttling across the North Channel. In the 20 years before 1914, railway boats would offer excursions for the Larne tourist to destinations like Ailsa Craig, Rathlin Island and Kintyre.
Travelling south, the next range of mountains looked down on another four railway hotels. In at least two cases, the buildings remain many miles from a railway; in one case they still function as a luxury hotel, alone amongst those we consider. The Mountains of Mourne are immortalised in a Percy French song, whose song Are you right there Michael? did the same for the West Clare Railway. In Antrim the land sweeps 1800 feet out of the sea and so removed any hope of a coastal rail route from Larne to Portrush. On the other side of Belfast Lough lies County Down and at its southern end the same phenomenon happened. The mountain here is the granite of Slieve Donard at 2796'. It is only a couple of miles from the sea to the summit. At the point where the mountain slopes met both the water and the lowlands the settlement of Newcastle, County Down grew. No-one ever dreamt that the main Belfast to Dublin railway could come this way. The Mourne Mountains would not be the only obstacle before the flatter ground around Dundalk could be reached. South of the Mourne's lay the deep indentation of Carlingford Lough. Its other side was Meath, never historically or politically part of Ulster. Between Carlingford Lough and the fertile lands of Meath lay one last obstacle: the 1900' high Carlingford Mountain.
The same stories that we encountered in Antrim are here present but in simpler shape. The needs of tourism helped assist railway development. Like Antrim this involved attempts to penetrate into the hills in the cause of tourist accessibility. There was also a ferry port but unlike Larne, Greenore was a one company town and something of a dead end. Commencing at Newcastle: the relative isolation from potential through routes delayed a start despite the easy land to the north of the town. When the railway came, it was in 1869 as the culmination of a process that had started 38 miles away in Belfast in 1846. Newcastle was Belfast and County Down Railway territory and once present, the company sponsored development. This included creating a golf course between railway and sea before opening in 1898 the Slieve Donard Hotel. The golfcourse is now the Royal County Down whilst the hotel is the surviving thriving legacy of direct railway ownership in Ulster's tourist hotels. In its last 16 years of 'railway' ownership the Slieve Donard was entirely bereft of a railway link since the UTA had closed the line in 1950. Thereafter it was reliant on the coach and car traveller.
Despite the years that have passed since Newcastle had a railway, the station building remains. Adjacent to one another at the north end of Newcastle's main street are the recent and attractive Ulsterbus station (one of many that have been built), the railway station functioning as a supermarket and the hotel on the edge of the links. The station dates from a rebuild of 1906. Its porte cochere is gone but otherwise it is intact and dominated by a stumpy clock tower.
Beyond Newcastle, it 25 miles around the coast to what was the next rail served watering hole. Development aided by railway provision took place at Warrenpoint and Rostrevor. The communities are reminiscent of Greenock/Gourock on a much smaller scale. Warrenpoint is a busy freight port and on account of its 'seaside' feel retained its railway facilities until 1965. It was amongst the last spate of railway closures the UTA put through and when the branch to Goraghwood was closed, the town of Newry also lost its station and no more seaside excursions could reach the waters of Carlingford Lough. The rails had arrived at Warrenpoint in 1850, five years before Portrush saw its trains. This makes the line the oldest amongst those here studied. It was one of the products of William Dargan, that most enterprising of Irish railway entrepreneurs and also involved at Portrush. The line fell into the GNR(I) fold in 1885. Rostrevor was rail connected to Warrenpoint between 1877 and 1915. The link was a three mile long horse tramway terminating on the lough shore outside the GNR(I) hotel. This, like that at Newcastle, spent years without a rail connection. It was open in 1957 near the end of the GNRB, along with their other establishment on the opposite coast at Bundoran which was still rail served. An amazing 1995 survival is the actual Rostrevor horse tram depot. It sits opposite a petrol station (was that the old hotel site?) occupying a thin site between road and lough. Labelled for Martin McGinn haulage contractors and coal merchants, its origins may not seem obvious until the setted path and even a rail are discerned leaving the end gable.
This is a remarkable ultima thule for railed attempts to exploit the tourist potential of the mountain girt shores of the Antrim and Down coasts. Rostrevor's attractions included the Fairy Glen on the slopes of Slieve Martin. Out on the lough a pleasure steamer linked Greencastle (opposite Greenore), Greenore itself and Warrenpoint. A tram/steamer outing would have been a pleasure. Between 1896 and 1920 this was an LNWR run facility using the purpose built PS Greenore. What happened to the Rostrevor hotel? Answering that saw recourse to a worthwhile source. Twice a year from the summer of 1954 for about 10 years BR produced a comprehensive Irish Cross Channel timetable. Generally between 60 and 70 pages, this covered all rail connected routes not just rail owned ones. It was illustrated, possessed a folding map and a detailed list of ships. All valuable reference material, and a list of hotels was included. Using this; the Great Northern Hotel went into the UTA fold in 1958. It was still under their management in the mid 1960s and so I presume formed part of the 1966 sale. Its ultimate fate is unknown to me. Much earlier there had been a third GNR(I) tourist hotel at Warrenpoint itself. In 1911 both Warrenpoint and Rostrevor were open. (Later note, thanks to Brian of Old Warrenpoint: Hastings Hotels purchased the Slieve Donard Hotel in 1972 together with five other Railway hotels, including the Midland in Belfast, the Great Northern in Rostrevor, the Northern Counties in Portrush and the City Hotel in Derry. At that time £1million was paid for all six hotels The Slieve Donard is the only one still operating as a hotel today, The Rostrevor based Great Northern Hotel, was destroyed by a terrorist firebomb way back in the late 1970's as well as all the other hotels in Rostrevor (Ballyedmond Castle, and the Roxboro) The Great Northern Hotel in Warrenpoint was sold and at first turned into a girls school, and then a nursing home (St. Josephs) and is still a home today. You are right in saying that a garage is now on the site of the old hotel, and there are quite a few pictures of the hotel on my website; Old Warrenpoint .)
These BR timetable books came too late to encompass the activities just across the lough at Greenore. It is some 45 years since the railway left Greenore in 1951. The little settlement is tucked at the end of a point of land protruding into the lough near the open sea. In getting there from Newry, you find that at Carlingford itself the railway bed is now the road and the old station is in community use. Yet Greenore remains a busy port. The ships go not to England, Algeria was the destination the day I was there. The LNWR terraces of Euston and Anglesey Streets are still neat and trim, the Co-operative shop is open. Buried in the port area stands a large ragged brick building with a railway like canopy. At one end in large letters the building proclaims it is a hotel. This actually doubled as the railway station. Of all the rail/steamer routes to Ireland that lasted any time, this was probably the least successful. That it survived owed much to its suitability for the cattle trade. The route was the product of both the LNWR and the Irish North Western (later to become part of the GNR(I)).
The ships were pure LNWR, the rail route known as the Dundalk Newry and Greenore Railway was jointly owned but its 0-6-0ST's were so unashamedly part of Crewe's heritage, that it was really a little bit of England in Ireland. The service ran to Holyhead from 1873 until 1951, but passengers had not boarded the boats after 1926. The hotel/station has been bereft of its cross channel passengers for nigh on 70 years. But when did the hotel close? It is not in official literature from 1955 but a postwar Ward Lock guide infers that it had fallen into the GNR(I) domain. The steamers on Carlingford Lough were now motor boats. For a few brief years from 1948-1951, there was the irony of the nationalized British Railways being partly responsible for a rail service within the republic (a situation paralleled in County Donegal). Greenore's LNWR sponsored facilities extended to a golf course beside the tracks. This is still there as are some delightful Edwardian (?) villas past their sell by date.
The effort was made to put Greenore on the tourist map and lift it beyond pure entry port functions. Had politics not interfered the effort might have had greater reward since the setting is fine, but I did get the impression that an English car in Greenore in 1995 was not a daily event. When the passenger trains stopped, the GNR(I) was still present with its buses. In 1958 these fell to CIE.
This article's localities saw some of the earliest railway motor bus services anywhere in the British Isles. The BNCR was the absolute pioneer in this field in 1902 and in 1904 experiments on the Larne-Portrush coast route took place. This led to vehicles being operated as an adjunct to the Portrush hotel for many years from 1905. Horses remained key in 1911 to the epic Larne to Giant's Causeway 54 mile coach outing. This was a daily summer service using a relay of three coaches and took circa 10 hours.
Away in County Down at Newcastle, the B&CDR did not start a railway motorbus until 1916. This went along the coast road in the shadow of the Mournes to Kilkeel. Ultimately this became a NIRTB/UTA route from Newry to Newcastle providing the official rail link connection to the Rostrevor hotel. In 1967 this became Ulsterbus but some of the distinctive concrete UTA bus stops remain in place. The GNR(I) motorbus activities were later starters but grew into a much more extensive operation in which replacing the DN&GR became just one service.
The 1995 visitor is left with Larne's car ferries, BREL built DMU's rattling into Larne and Portrush, with the occasional steam train to the latter, and one hotel still functioning in its traditional glory miles from the nearest station. Whilst the surviving NIR trains ply only a limited mileage, the bus operations that sprung from railway initiative remain as Ulsterbus forming one of the largest and most highly regarded bus operators in these islands. No deregulation here. A vestige of a boat service is operated on Carlingford Lough. Yet to return to where the article started, in the borderland of the old nine counties of Ulster, an extraordinary transport revival demonstrates that change and decline do not always lead to extinction. So who knows what may become of Greenore's railway hotel?