| 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.
The NW&RR was incorporated 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 1.5 years, publicly opening on 28 May 1849. [3]
The line was not initially connected to any other. [3] In 1854 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 1800. [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]
The enterprise was amalgamated into the GNRI by an act 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. In 1923, it became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway, and, in 1948, the London Midland Region of British Railways. The LNWR's main line remains today as the English and Welsh portions of the West Coast Main Line.
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".
Limerick Junction is the interchange railway station for trains originating in Limerick, Dublin Heuston, Cork, Waterford, Tralee and Ennis stations. The station opened on 3 July 1848.
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.
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 Waterford and Tramore Railway (W&TR) was a railway in County Waterford, Ireland, that linked the city of Waterford and the seaside town of Tramore, a distance of 7+1⁄4 miles (11.7 km). The railway officially opened on 5 September 1853 and opened for normal business on 7 September 1853. The line had no intermediate stations, only the two termini, and was to remain completely isolated from the rest of the Irish railway network throughout its life. It closed on 31 December 1960.
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.
Farranfore railway station serves the village of Farranfore in County Kerry, Ireland. It is located a short distance away from Kerry Airport.
Ulster railways, present and past, include:
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.
Charles Clifford was locomotive superintendent of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNRI) from 1895 to 1912. Clifford is attributed with increasing the size and power of the GNRI locomotive stock to match the increasing length and weight of train loads in this period; producing locomotives of that stood comparison with those of the Great Southern and Western Railway.