J3373 : 80-class set passing Great Victoria Street signal cabin

taken 49 years ago, near to Belfast, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland

80-class set passing Great Victoria Street signal cabin
80-class set passing Great Victoria Street signal cabin
With 80-class DMBSO No. 81 at the rear, a train from Portadown approaches Great Victoria Street station. Entering service in November 1974, 81 survived until withdrawn with a major engine failure on 18 March 2004. It was scrapped in February 2005.
Great Victoria Street railway station – Belfast

The Ulster Railway Company opened its railway line from Belfast (Glengall Place) to Lisburn in 1839. Designed by John Godwin, the imposing Great Victoria Street station opened in 1849 – Glengall Place and Glengall Street having been renamed at some stage in a fit of patriotic fervour. After the Ulster Railway became part of the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) empire in 1876, some alterations were made to the terminal building including construction of an imposing porte-cochère. Many, including Sir John Betjeman, regarded the building as one of the finest examples of Victorian railway station architecture to be found in the British Isles.

At its height in the years before World War 1, trains left Great Victoria Street for Londonderry (Foyle Road), Enniskillen, Cavan, Bundoran, Warrenpoint, Newcastle, Antrim and Dublin. However, by 1965, services operated only to Lisburn, Portadown and Dublin.

A substantial part of the building was demolished in 1968 to make way for the Europa Hotel. What survived, including the platforms and railway related structures, disappeared following closure of the station on 24 April 1976. Subsequently, the Europa bus station and “skyscraper” office blocks were constructed on the site.

Fortunately, the hideous transport policies of the 1960s and 1970s were eventually recognised as utter folly. Despite initial opposition from Government and another transport provider, Northern Ireland Railways persisted with its plans for reinstatement of a railway line to Great Victoria Street. Designed by Robinson & McIlwain, a new Great Victoria Street station opened for business on 30 September 1995.

This Shared Description covers the area from Central Junction to Great Victoria Street station. For views on the Belfast Central lines, see: LinkExternal link

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright The Carlisle Kid and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Loading map... (JavaScript required)
Grid Square
J3373, 2776 images   (more nearby search)
Photographer
Date Taken
Saturday, 4 October, 1975   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 3 April, 2013
Geographical Context
Historic sites and artefacts  Business, Retail, Services  City, Town centre  Railways 
Subject Location
Irish: geotagged! J 331 736 [100m precision]
WGS84: 54:35.5972N 5:56.4665W
Camera Location
Irish: geotagged! J 331 736
View Direction
North-northeast (about 22 degrees)
Clickable map
+


Image classification(about): Geograph
This page has been viewed about 247 times.
View this location: KML (Google Earth) · Google MapsExternal link · Bing MapsExternal link · Geograph Coverage Map · geotagged! More Links for this image
Background for photo viewing: White / /
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
thumbs up icon
[Mark
You are not logged in login | register