Ballycastle Railway

Ballycastle Railway was a narrow gauge railway line which ran from Ballycastle to Ballymoney, entirely in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The track gauge was 3 feet (or 914 mm).cite book |last= Baker |first= Michael HC |title= Irish Narrow Gauge Railways. A View from the Past|publisher= Ian Allan Publishing|year= 1999 |isbn= 0-7110-2680-7 ]

History

, to Ballycastle.

From the start the line was in financial difficulties and by 1922 the Railway Commission recommended its absorption by the NCC. However, a single loss at the end of 1923 spelled the end of the railway. At a meeting of the board on 21 January 1924 it was decided to close the line. On 8 February the shareholders consented to the closure and it took place on 24 March 1924. The railway unsuccessfully approached the Government of Northern Ireland for assistance. The NCC were approached and they offered £10,000. The board asked for more and other shareholders lobbied the NCC to increase the offer. As a result the Ballycastle Railway was sold to the NCC for £12,500 on 4 May 1924. Services did not recommence immediately due to a maintenance backlog and re-equipping with rolling stock transferred from the NCC's other narrow gauge lines. It reopened on 11 August 1924, although legal title to the line was not finalised until 7 August 1925.

Services mainly consisted of three return journeys each day, taking between 50 minutes and an hour. At the start there were three Black Hawthorn 0-6-0ST engines and two Kitson 4-4-2T engines arrived in 1908. Initially carriages were of the compartment type painted two shades of brown, until largely displaced by LMS-designed corridor carriages transferred from the Ballymena and Larne Railway in 1933. The NCC managed to keep the line financially viable in that it was the last NCC narrow gauge line to close.

Nationalisation and closure

Under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, the NCC's parent company, was nationalised by the British Government on 1 January 1948. The NCC (and the Ballycastle Railway) was thus briefly owned by the British Transport Commission. This was only a temporary measure and in 1949 the NCC was transferred to the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) - owned by the Government of Northern Ireland. The UTA soon embarked on a major programme of railway closures, notably including of much the Belfast and County Down Railway. The Ballycastle Railway was one of the casualties; the UTA closed the line to all services on 3 July 1950.

Route

*Ballymoney [ [http://www.trainweb.org/i3/line_br.htm#line_br "trainweb"] ]
*Dervock, 4½-miles
*Stranocum, 6¾-miles
*Gracehill, 8¼-miles, opened 01/12/1890
*Armoy, 10¼-miles
*Balleeny Siding, 11-miles
*Capecastle, 13-miles, opened 01/02/1882
*Ballast Pit, 15-miles
*Tow Viaduct, 16-miles
*Ballycastle., 16¼-miles [ [http://www.trainweb.org/i3/line_br.htm#line_br "Route MPs, trainweb"] ]

ee also

*List of narrow gauge railways in Ireland

Other narrow gauge railways in Ulster:

*Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway
*Ballymena and Larne Railway
*Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway
*Cavan and Leitrim Railway
*Clogher Valley Railway
*County Donegal Railways Joint Committee
*Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway

References