Відео

What I could never understand Newcastle (Gateway to The Mournes) had two lines serving it The BCDR and The GNR in their wisdom they closed both lines instead of keeping one open preferably the BCDR for traffic heading towards Belfast serving Dundrum,Downpatrick,Crossgar,Saintfield (Ballyhinch via Ballyhinch junction) Ballygowan and Comber with stops from Dundonald. The morning traffic from Newcastle and Downpatrick from 7.30am is absolutely horrendous similarly similar in the evenings at 5pm.

This is a great channel, im a bit of an anorak for the old bcdr, it was this railway that brought my family up to belfast from donaghadee and groomsport in the 1890s for the work in belfast, i have a nice picture of the dundonald station in its heyday on my mantle piece

Nice video, during the 90s when we were in high school, we used to fish the ponds at the mill and catch pike from them. Them ponds should never have been filled in, they have been seriously neglected at the roadside now, totally overgrown

Odd choice to call it *Central* Station rather than *Union* Station which is the traditional name for a station serving multiple business-owned railroads - Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and Detroit all have Union Stations in various conditions and levels of present-day rail service. (NYC Grand *Central* Station was built by and served only the New York *Central* Railroad while Penn Station got its' name from the Pennsylvania Railroad). That could be just a North American thing, though I suppose Belfast Grand Central is a true multi-railway station with the Iarnrod Eireann service to Dublin and points between as well as Translink/NIR.

Derry city has started AVI

I always thought the first letter in the 3 was the year. Must just correlate fairly well I suppose, depending on the area

A lot of NI number sequences were lost around the year 1988/89 when they computerised the database

Very interesting. Thanks for that

There is a Raceview Terrace on the South Street, just the Comber side of the bridge over the canal.

a) circular lines don't work as the backbone of transit as they extend journey times, b) we can't have a true circular line - trains would have to change direction at least twice (Antrim, Sydenham) which costs time - again, that's how you make public transport unattractive, c) you can't build a train stop at the terminal in Aldergrove. The track is more than 1 km away behind the car park, some warehouses and fields. d) the Abbeycentre stop made me laugh really hard. Who is it for? People that peddle that idea are attention seekers and completely clueless. One of them got destroyed on /belfast on reddit a few weeks ago. Pressed on journey times, feasibility access to infrastructure all they could do was resorting to the good old "it's going to be cheaper than the York St junction".

If people could bite the bullet and use the existing lines perhaps it would encourage the powers that be to look positively on reopening existing lines and maybe, just maybe think about introducing more. Money talks, ask any lobbyist.

Utopian B.S. The brits cannot afford to give you the handouts to build any of this.

No drop near the entrance, was this a smart design

For the International Airport, do you think keeping it simple and just having a halt located where the line crosses the British Road would do rather than a spur line straight to the terminal? I think one of the worries is about the number of passengers using the airport doesn't justify having a dedicated train connection. At least having a halt with maybe a bus link to the terminal building it could prove to Translink that a spur line would work. Its an absolute shame that our rain network runs past 3 main airports without a dedicated service to any of the terminal buildings. Translink has always favoured bus services to these facilities and only Larne can boast having a joined up station serving the rail network and the ferry service.

Translink feel like they're wrapped in about 23 layers of red tape and bureaucracy. It takes them way too long to do anything

I commented when I saw the video was uploaded but it seems UA-cam has removed it as it has a a link. I understand you're interested in reopening NI's railway network. I've made a little vision of what the railway network would look like in the modern day if (most) of it wasn't closed. Its on the website MetroDreamin' and is under the name "Northern Ireland Complete Transport Project" it has a lot of messy looking bus lines but they can be disabled in the menu.

What Northern Ireland needs massively is rail networks to most of the smaller regions in N.I, It’d discourage driving, and would be far faster

From a cynical point of view, it seems a very good idea, which means it won't happen! Should I be wrong about that, I would be inclined to think about Ireland as a whole. At present, IE DART services use 1500Vdc electrification. If the Dublin-Belfast line is electrified, as has been suggested, would it be at 1500Vdc or 25kVac? Whatever system is chosen, then that would affect a decision on the electrification of the loop line. Having the same stock as DART may make fleet acquisition cheaper per unit. Discontinuous electrification is another possibility, as on the South Wales Metro under construction, but that has not yet been proved under service conditions. Using existing diesel trains would enable the loop to be started, and hopefully prove popular enough to upgrade to electric. Everything hinges on the business case, plus (being part of the UK) the inevitable inquiries, consultancy reports, political interference, NIMBYs, general dithering, and bad management until the costs mount up to the unaffordable (Like HS2 in Britain).

It is simply untrue to claim at the end that "the vast majority of people in NI live in the Greater Belfast area". They do not. Only one-third of NI's population does. Yet the area continues to get the overwhelming majority of investment in infrastructure (& pretty much everything else too). Also - Yorkgate Station ended up costing £20m - not £17m, as stated. The Circle Line is a great idea - but realistically should be pretty far down the list of transport priorities for NI. The western half of NI is in large part a wasteland for infrastructure and public transport. So that should be addressed first as a greater priority, rather than pour even more vast and scarce sums into gold-plating everything for Belfast. Over a-third-of-a-billion pounds has just been spent on just one transport station in a city of 345,000 people, which already has TEN other rail stations in the city as well. Belfast is good for now - time to start letting everywhere else catch up for a while instead.

Many thanks. Great video.

Great Video There are some big towns in Northern Ireland are missing railway, but as a Swede can I agree that this line is an excellent first step

Might I suggest you ask the Mexicans to fund this?

Great content. Well explained. Thank you

Great video, it just makes sense

This will be perfect for a heavy rail rapid transit system in Belfast. I also recommend double tracking pets of the line and rebuilding some of the old stations on the Bleach Green line as well as Templepatrick and perhaps also converting the Bangor and Larne lines into rapid transit routes too, even if they aren’t part of the circle. How do these sound?

Unfortuanetly Circle Line is virtually impossible now, because of the track layout at BGC it makes it impossible for trains coming from Lisburn to change tracks and head towards Derry now

This is a very good video

Considering Translink have now with the opening of BGC taken a step back by abandoning the through route from Portadown to Bangor (and by design making it imposible to bring back without significant cost) I doubt we can see them using anything resembling common sense on this project.

We need a track to Comber. The roads can't cope with all the traffic from the new housing developments.

What we also need is trains to the west once again, and the AIRR should fix it

There is no signalling at all remaining on the Lisburn to Antrim line, all engineering train and driver training movements are done under possession, i.e. 20mph max with no signalling. To reinstate signalling would cost upwards of £100M at today's prices. Permanent way was refreshed in 2014 to keep it safe for low speed running but a full relay will be needed before opening to regular traffic. Also, loads of user worked crossings need closed to avoid punitive speed restrictions. The reopening of Lisburn to Antrim is being actively studied at the moment but don't expect a quick, cheap or easy solution.

thanks for another great video Richard. i was the overexcited fan who met you on Friday in Ulster Sports Club. great to have met you.

Welcome back.

There's another possible loop .... via Dungannon, Coalisland, Cookstown and Antrim.

I think the stone implement is a knife / scythe sharpener.

Another excellent video; thanks for sharing.

Excellent video; thanks for sharing.

Very interesting channel. The rail network never seems to stand still for long. Amazed with the new Grand Central Station, and the speed of it's construction. When the trains are up and running , it would be interesting to hear your views on it. There will definitely be a little confusion for a time, with Central (Lanyon) and Grand Central.

I dont think anyone refers to the TT in Comber as the "North Down Inn". Great pub, great food as well!!

I always wondered why in Dundonald, it was called Grand Prix Park. Thanks for the info!

You were speeding on the way to the Ards/Dundonald carriageway!! (I know its sped up :) )

Insane to see the last bridge and all the bustling around it.. and now? Not so much.. Great seeing the old photos, giving us an idea of what it was like and something to compare to :) Really enjoyed your videos, please keep at it.

I lived in Nelson Street when I was young it was a great area as kids we had fun I attend Sinclair Seaman’s Church I was married there the moterway broke up the community so sad

I remember the Queens Quay station and Great Victoria st station. I have a nice watercolour print of the station from the late forties

thank you for posting this series

My old Nan's family home was Train View Church Quarter Dundonald

Great work with this map Richard. It’s interesting to see how different the railway network in Northern Ireland would be if they didn’t cut it down or better yet, rebuilt most of the disused lines, although I don’t think the Fintona tram would still be around considering Fintona Junction was just a mile from the town. I think it’s likely that if the line from Omagh to Enniskillen reopens they’ll just build a new station for on the site of Fintona Junction and call that Fintona. And I’m not sure about the narrow gauge lines surviving or reopening for commercial use either given that they’re usually associated with heritage railways nowadays. I am glad to report that Translink has plans to reopen some of the old lines, including the one from Portadown to Armagh and Cavan and the Derry Road. Now if only Belfast had a rapid transit railway system similar to the DART.

Fantastic video love it

I’ve been to the top with my son and bro 20 yrs ago

I really enjoyed this video. Fantastic presentation. I’m getting a car from NI and live in the UK. I have my own private number plate but am excited to see the NI registration it comes with. Many thanks.