| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1849–1886 |
| Successor | Great Northern Railway (Ireland) |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) |
The Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway (NW&RR) was a former railway line linking Newry and the port of Warrenpoint on the Carlingford Lough inlet in Ireland, and the company operating it. The railway was absorbed into the Great Northern Railway of Ireland in 1886 and the line closed in 1965.
| Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway Act 1846 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for making a Railway from Newry in the Counties of Armagh and Down to Rostrevor in the County of Down, with a Branch to Warrenpoint in the same County. |
| Citation | 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxlv |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 27 July 1846 |
The NW&RR was incorporated by the Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxlv) on 27 July 1846 but was only able to reach the c.7 miles (11 km) to the port of Warrenpoint, the additional stretch to Rostrevor some 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) further on was never to be built. [1] [2] [lower-alpha 1] The directors contracted William Dargan to construct the line which was completed in 11⁄2 years, publicly opening on 28 May 1849. [3]
The line was not initially connected to any other. [3] In 1864 the Newry and Armagh Railway (N&AR) [lower-alpha 2] made a branch from Goraghwood on the Belfast to Dublin main line to their station at Edward Street. [4] At the same time the NW&RR, who had recognised the need to connect to main Irish rail network since 1852, crossed the Newry (Clanrye) River and relocated northern terminus station from Kilmorey Street to Dublin Bridge. [3] [lower-alpha 3] In the event following protracted negotiations with the Newry Navigation Company parliamentary permission was granted for the Town of Newry Connecting Railway Company to establish the line crossing the Newry Canal, the 1⁄4 mile (400 m) link costing £12,700 opening on 2 September 1861, [6] and involving five level crossings. [5]
On 1 August 1876 the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway (DN&GR), backed by the London North Western Railway (LNWR) of England, opened their line to a temporary terminus at Newry Bridge Street, the connection Albert Street and the rest of the Network at Newry only opening 1 July 1880. [7] [lower-alpha 4] The LNWR began their Holyhead to Greenore service on 2 August 1876, [7] and Patterson observes the NW&RR would likely have realised it was then implausible that Warrenpoint, which had never really challenged Newry as a port, would ever establish itself for cross-channel trade. [8]
| Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Act 1886 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act to enable the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland) to purchase the Newry Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway and to confer further powers on the said Company and on other companies in relation to the undertaking of that Company; and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 49 & 50 Vict. c. xli |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 4 June 1886 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The enterprise was amalgamated into the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Act 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c. xli) of 4 June 1886. [6] The GNRI provided an improved W. H. Mills-style station building in 1891. [9] The line was transferred to the Ulster Transport Authority on 1 October 1958, [10] with the final train from Warrenpoint running on 2 January 1965. [11]
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world.
Warrenpoint is a small port town and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits at the head of Carlingford Lough, south of Newry, and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town is beside the village of Rostrevor and is overlooked by the Mournes and Cooley Mountains. Warrenpoint sprang up within the townland of Ringmackilroy, and is locally nicknamed "The Point", which also represents the town's full name in Irish, An Pointe".
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Carlingford Lough is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of the border between Northern Ireland to the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. On its northern shore is County Down, the Mourne Mountains, and the town of Warrenpoint; on its southern shore is County Louth, the Cooley Mountains and the village of Carlingford. The Newry River flows into the loch from the northwest.
Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR), was an Irish gauge railway in Ireland. It opened in 1849 as the Cork and Bandon Railway (C&BR), changed its name to Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway in 1888 and became part of the Great Southern Railway (GSR) in 1924.
Omeath is a village on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Ireland, close to the border with Northern Ireland. It is roughly midway between Dublin and Belfast, very near the County Louth and County Armagh / County Down border. As of the 2016 census, Omeath had a population of 603, up from 439 during the 2006 census. It is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) from Carlingford and about 8 km (5.0 mi) from Newry. By sea, Omeath's nearest land neighbour is Warrenpoint on the south County Down coast.
This is a bibliography for the history of rail transport in Ireland.
The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNR(I) or GNRI) was an Irish gauge (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) railway company in Ireland. It was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway (INW), Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. The governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland jointly nationalised the company in 1953, and the company was liquidated in 1958: assets were split on national lines between the Ulster Transport Authority and Córas Iompair Éireann.
The Belfast–Newry line operates from Lisburn station in County Antrim to Newry in County Down, Northern Ireland. The manager for this line is based at Portadown railway station, although the line extends to the border to include the Scarva and Poyntzpass halts and Newry. Newry is on the fringe of the network, being the last stop before the border with the Republic of Ireland. The line follows the route of the northern half of the main Dublin–Belfast line.
Newry railway station serves Newry and Bessbrook in Northern Ireland. The station is located in the northwest of Newry, County Armagh on the Dublin-Belfast line close to the Craigmore Viaduct. It is the most southerly railway station in Northern Ireland.
The locomotives of the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway were all 0-6-0ST, with inside cylinders, to the designs of LNWR Chief Mechanical Engineer, John Ramsbottom, the first three locomotives being built by the LNWR Crewe Works, England, in 1873. Later, to work the extension of the line to Newry, two similar locos were built at Crewe in 1876. The sixth and final locomotive was added in 1898. The locomotives were consecutively numbered, in order of building, from 1 to 6 and also carried names. Locomotive No.5 Carlingford was withdrawn in 1928 and scrapped.
Ulster railways, present and past, include:
Adavoyle was a station in the rural townland of Adavoyle, near Dromintee, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
The 26 miles (42 km) Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway was an Irish gauge railway in Ireland. It was conceived in the 1860s to provide a link between the towns in its title and the London and North Western Railway port at Greenore, from where a ferry service operated to Holyhead. It was opened between Greenore and Dundalk in 1873 and extended to Newry in 1876. The company operated a hotel at Greenore.
The North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway was a railway company in south-west Wales, incorporated to extend the moribund Narberth Road and Maenclochog Railway, with a view to developing a port on Fishguard Bay and ferry services to Rosslare in Ireland.
The Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway (E&BR) was an Irish gauge 5 ft 3 in railway company in north-west Ireland. It linked Bundoran and Ballyshannon on the Atlantic coast of Donegal with the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway (L&ER) at Bundoran Junction in Fermanagh. The line was opened in 1868 and closed in 1957.
The Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Tramway operated 3 ft narrow gauge, horse-drawn tramway services between Warrenpoint and Rostrevor, County Down, Ireland from 1877 to 1915.
The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) JT class comprised six 2-4-2T locomotives, all built between 1895 and 1902 at their Dundalk Works. These were of a J. C. Park design, but introduced following his death. They were used on Dublin suburban services; then on branch lines, including operation of the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway when taken over in 1933. Most were withdrawn shortly after 1955 between 1955 and 1957 but one remained passed to Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) and remained in service until 1963.
The Farranfore–Valentia Harbour line was a 39.5 miles (63.6 km) long single-track broad gauge railway line that operated from 1892 to 1960 along Dingle Bay's southern shore in Ireland. It was the most westerly railway in Europe.