1988

J3474 : The Laganbank Road railway bridge, Belfast

taken 35 years ago, near to Belfast, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland

The Laganbank Road railway bridge, Belfast
The Laganbank Road railway bridge, Belfast
The view along the Laganbank Road, towards Donegall Quay. There was a though motor road then beyond the railway bridge. That section of the road is now known as Lanyon Quay and looks like this J3474 : The Laganbank Road, Belfast (1).
The Belfast – Bangor railway line

The Belfast & County Down Railway (BCDR) opened its railway line from Belfast (Queen’s Quay) to Holywood on 2 August 1845. This line was extended to the seaside resort of Bangor by the Belfast Holywood & Bangor Railway (BHBR), which opened on 18 May 1865. The BCDR absorbed the BHBR in 1884.

While double-track throughout, the BCDR always regarded its Bangor line as a branch off the main line to Newcastle. However, creation of the nationalised Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) in 1948 changed matters somewhat as only the Belfast – Bangor line survived the mass closures implemented by the UTA in 1950. The old BCDR Bangor line received a further blow in 1965 when it was isolated from the rest of the Irish railway system by closure of the Belfast Central Railway line from Ballymacarrett Junction (east of Queen’s Quay station) to Central Junction, just west of the former GNR(I) Great Victoria Street station (see: Link ). However, on a positive note, introduction of UTA built MED railcars gave Belfast – Bangor the distinction of being the first main railway line in the British Isles to be operated solely by diesel traction.

In 1976, the Belfast Central Railway reopened as part of a project to replace both the GNR(I) Great Victoria Street station and the BCDR Queen’s Quay with a “central” station situated in east Belfast. Today (2013), Belfast – Bangor is an important part of the Northern Ireland Railways’ system, with services to Bangor originating from Portadown or the reinstated Great Victoria Street station. While diesel locomotives may occasionally visit with engineer’s trains, all passenger services are in the hands of Spanish built 3000 or 4000 class railcars.

For photographs of the former line to Newcastle, please see: Link . For photographs at Queen's Quay station and Central Services Depot, please go to: Link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Albert Bridge and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Category: Railway bridge
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Quay [1208] · Bridge [751] · Donegall Quay [527] Other Photos: · The Laganbank Road railway bridge, Belfast (2) · Laganside drain, Belfast ·
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J3474, 4349 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Albert Bridge   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 7 October, 1988   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 21 December, 2009
Subject Location
Irish: geotagged! J 346 741 [100m precision]
WGS84: 54:35.8315N 5:55.0341W
Camera Location
Irish: geotagged! J 347 740
View Direction
West-northwest (about 292 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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