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Welcome to the Web Site of The Belfast & County Down Railway Museum Trust
An Associate Member of the Northern Ireland Museums Council Index History of the B.& C.D.R. Locomotives of the B.& C.D.R. Trust's Plans Ballynahinch Branch An
Irish Railway Challenge Membership
The Railway at War
Trust
Publications All photographs on this web site are copyright, and are not to be copied for re-sale.
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A Journey in Time Let us imagine you are a child again, You are living in Belfast, It is the summer holidays, And the family are off for a day trip to the seaside. Join us on a Journey back in Time, A trip on the B.& C.D.R. from Belfast to Newcastle.
Click here to begin your - Trip to the Seaside This may take a few minutes to load. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Irish Emigrant When one looks back to the history of Ireland in the 1800s and early 1900s there are numerous records of mass emigration, as individuals and complete families left all parts of Ireland to avoid poverty, and to seek a new life, mostly in the United States of America. For the majority of those people, their last memory of home would have been the journey by train from their home town to the city where they would have left Ireland by steamer to begin their new life. In some cases they would have travelled to Queenstown (Cobh) to join a trans-Atlantic liner, or to Belfast, where they would have boarded a cross-channel steamer to Liverpool. It is the aim of the Trust to re-create the image and character of a rural branch line of the type over which those emigrants would have travelled all those years ago, and to bring back to life a period of our country's history that has disappeared with the closing of so much of our railway network. In doing so we would like to bring on board the descendants of some of those people, and to let them have an opportunity to participate in the re-creation of a Working Railway Museum that will be reminiscent of the travel experiences of their ancestors.
Photo: The B.& C.D.R. Museum Trust Collection. Ballynahinch Station in the late 1800s. We would therefore invite all people who are fortunate enough to be of Irish descent to please join with us in the development of this museum, which we hope will become a living memory for many. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Staff Records
The Trust is currently in the process of compiling a database of staff who worked for the Belfast & County Down Railway from its inception in 1845 through to its closure in 1950, including its last 16 months under Ulster Transport Authority ownership. This will include a full alphabetical listing of known staff, and will be continually updated as additional information becomes available. We would appeal to anyone who may know of someone who worked for the company to please get in touch with us so that we can make the listing as comprehensive as possible. A separate listing of Senior Management is also being compiled, as is a comprehensive listing of shareholders, and as additional information comes to light in relation to any servant of the company, a file will be opened to retain all such information in researchable form. We also propose, where possible, to include photographs of any members of staff that may be, or may become, available, and again we would appeal for assistance in this respect. We would hope that this information may be of use in years to come for those who are seeking to fill gaps in their Family Tree, or who are looking for information about ancestors who may have worked for the company.
Click here for: Staff Alphabetical Listing (Continually being updated). Click here for: Chief Officers Listing (Continually being updated). For further research of your family history we recommend: www.census.nationalarchives.ie for details of the 1911 Irish census. This covers all 32 counties of Ireland.
Permanent Way Gang on the Bangor line in the 1940s
Back Row from left:- 1 - ?; 2 - ?; 3 William Thomas Moore; 4 - ?; 5 - ?; 6 - William John McConnell; 7 - ?; 8 - ?; 9 - ?; 10 - Bobbie Lemon; 11 - ?; 12 - John Blair; 13 - Samuel Pollock. Front Row from left:- 1 - ?; 2 and 3 - Dempster Brothers; 4 - ?; 5 - ?. Can anyone fill in the gaps?
U.T.A. Permanent Way Gang from about 1950.
Possibly involved in lifting of the line. Can anyone provide names?
Staff at Bangor with one of the 'new' U.T.A. Diesel Railcars.
The gentleman in the centre is Inspector James A McKee who is also in the photograph below. Can anyone identify either of the others?
Bangor Station Staff about the end of the Second World War
Back Row from left: S.W. Roaney; J. Savage; B. McMullan; J. O'Neill; J. McKee; T. Tully; J. Shilliday; W.P. Boal; J. Bennett; T.J. Boal. Seated from left: W. Valentine; W.J. Orr; G. Campbell; C.A. Valentine (Stationmaster); W. Aicken; W. Hamilton; W. Barr.
All photographs on this web site are copyright, and are not to be copied for re-sale.
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