Cultra railway station

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Cultra
Cultra railway station
General information
Location	Cultra (Holywood) Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°39′08″N5°48′18″W / 54.6523°N 5.8050°W / 54.6523; -5.8050
Owned by	NI Railways
Operated by	NI Railways
Line(s)	Bangor
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Key dates
May 1865 [1]	Opened
11 November 1957 [2]	Closed
1978	Re-opened
2008	Refurbished
Passengers
2022/23	60,665 [3]
Route map (Click to expand) Show NI Railways Network map Legend Year closed Great Victoria Street 2024 Belfast Grand Central Belfast-Dublin line to Portadown, Newry, Dublin Connolly City Hospital Botanic Tunnel Botanic Lanyon Place Lagan Railway Bridge over River Lagan Belfast-Larne railway line & Belfast-Derry railway line Titanic Quarter (Bridge End) Queen's Quay 1976 Belfast and County Down Railway to Comber, Ardglass, Newcastle 1950 Ballymacarrett 1976 Victoria Park 1981 Sydenham Tillysburn 1945 Kinnegar 1957 Holywood Marino Cultra Craigavad 1957 Seahill Helen's Bay Crawfordsburn 1997 Carnalea Bangor West Bangor This diagram: view talk edit Show Bangor line route diagram
Location Cultra Location within Northern Ireland Show map of Northern Ireland Cultra Location on the Island of Ireland Show map of island of Ireland

Cultra railway station is a railway station in the townland of Ballycultra in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. It serves the Cultra residential area and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

History

The Belfast, Holywood and Bangor Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 12 June 1861 and opened in May 1865. ^[1] The BH&BR crossed the land of some wealthy landowners, whose terms included that Cultra station must be "of an ornamental character" and that "at least One Half of the Trains" must call there, or else the company would be penalised £10 per day. ^[1]

The BH&BR was originally single track and the only passing loop was at Craigavad, ^[1] so Cultra station would have had only one platform. However, the Belfast and County Down Railway took over the BH&BR in 1884 and doubled the track between 1897 and 1902, ^[5] from which time Cultra has had two platforms. In deference to Cultra's wealthy residents the footbridge between the platforms had a roof, the only bridge so equipped on the B&CDR network. ^[1]

Cultra station features in the documentary film A Letter from Ulster (1942); the narrator incorrectly describes the station as Coleraine. ^{[6] [7]}

Due to low passenger numbers, the Ulster Transport Authority closed the station on 11 November 1957. ^[2] However, subsequently the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum was established at Cultra. Northern Ireland Railways reopened the station in 1978,^{[ citation needed ]} primarily to serve the museum.

Service

Mondays to Saturdays there is a half-hourly service westbound to Belfast Grand Central in one direction, and eastbound to Bangor in the other. More frequent trains run at peak times, and the service reduces to hourly in the evenings.

Some peak-hour trains pass through Cultra station without stopping.

On Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction.

Preceding station		Northern Ireland Railways		Following station
Marino		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Bangor Line		Seahill

References

1. Patterson 1982, p. 8.
2. Patterson 1982, p. 41.
3. "FOI1317 NIR Footfall 2223.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
4. "FOI Footfall 2023 2024 figures PDF.pdf". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 7 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
5. Patterson 1982, p. 12.
6. Catto, Mike (22 September 2011). "A Letter From Ulster". Culture Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
7. "A Letter from Ulster (1942)". www.briandesmondhurst.org.

Sources

• Patterson, E.M. (1982) [1958]. Belfast and County Down Railway. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. pp. 8, 41. ISBN   071538306X.

External links

• Media related to Cultra railway station at Wikimedia Commons