J3574 : Queen's Quay station - station to Ballymacarrett Junction (2)

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

Queen's Quay station - station to Ballymacarrett Junction (2)
Queen's Quay station - station to Ballymacarrett Junction (2)
Looking back west towards the station, an MED set is pulling out with a service to Bangor. Just to the left of the MED is the UTA built signal cabin, constructed in 1966 to replace both Ballymacarrett Junction and the BCDR station cabin. The UTA cabin was demolished soon after the closure of Queen's Quay station. The very clean building at right was probably a recent construction in connection with Central Services Depot. All locations are approximate as this site is now under the M3 motorway/cross-harbour link.
Queen’s Quay railway station, Belfast and Central Services Depot :: J3474

Situated on the County Down side of the River Lagan, Queen’s Quay station opened in 1848 as the Belfast terminus for the Belfast & County Down Railway (BCDR). The Belfast Holywood & Bangor Railway built a separate terminus in 1865 and this was combined with the BCDR buildings when the two companies merged in 1884. However, the original structures were largely demolished when Queen’s Quay station was extensively rebuilt in 1910-14.
The BCDR was acquired by the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) in 1948 and Queen’s Quay suffered grievously following closure of the BCDR main line to Newcastle in 1950. In the early 1950s, the UTA removed the overall roof while track to Platform 5 and the surviving locomotive release roads were lifted in the early 1960s. The former BCDR freight sheds were also abandoned.
Formed in 1967, Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) closed Queen’s Quay station on 10 April 1976, services transferring to the new Belfast Central Station. By this time, Queen’s Quay was a pale shadow of its former glory with much internal damage due to terrorist attacks. Although the station was later demolished, the former yards and servicing facilities became Central Services Depot (CSD), being used by NIR for stock storage and railcar maintenance. CSD closed in November 1994 on completion of the cross-harbour rail & road links and the entire Queen’s Quay site is now buried under the M3 motorway.
For the purpose of this Shared Description, Queen’s Quay covers the area out to Ballymacarrett Junction. For photographs of surviving structures on the BCDR line to Newcastle (and branches), see: LinkExternal link . For photographs on the line between Ballymacarrett Junction and Bangor, see: LinkExternal link

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright The Carlisle Kid and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
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J3574, 533 images   (more nearby search)
Photographer
Date Taken
Saturday, 10 April, 1976   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 25 December, 2013
Geographical Context
Historic sites and artefacts  Business, Retail, Services  Suburb, Urban fringe  Railways 
Subject Location
Irish: geotagged! J 350 745 [100m precision]
WGS84: 54:36.0842N 5:54.6869W
Camera Location
Irish: geotagged! J 350 745
View Direction
WEST (about 270 degrees)
Clickable map
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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