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Belfast Great Victoria Street Station and Adelaide-lookalike tribute


Hunslet 102
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Its 1971 and Belfast Great Victoria Street has an unusual look to it.The platforms are full of CIE loco's,a rare occurance.Platform 2,beside the wall,has CIE A class no.A20 with the CIE Enterprise set.Platforms 3 and 4 have the rare sight of further CIE loco's,platform 3 with B class no.B165 and platform 4 with a different type of B class,a Sulzer no.B105.Both have arrived with specials formed of cravens and laminate stock.

 

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A very rare occurrence indeed.

Sorry if this is a silly question, but would that sight ever happen before with all the CIE locos up north?

 

Not a silly question Nelson.It would be unlikely that 3 CIE loco's would occupy the platforms at the same time,but it would not be unusual for that number of CIE loco's to be in and around the station area.The A class would have been a regular on the Enterprise and there would usually be a couple of 141s in and around the Grosvenor road freight yard beside the station.To my knowledge,the Sulzer B class never made it as far as Belfast,although I know at least one made it as far as Portadown,probably with the changeover of the CIE weedkilling train.C classes also made it to the station,usually with shoppers specials.121 classes were regular visitors in the 60s and 80s,but not the 70s.

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The following photo is from NIR in 1981,a few years out of my main modelling period of the early 70s,but with the recent excellent NIR 111 class in original livery produced by Murphy Models,I could not resist but to include this photo in this thread,even though GVSt station did not survive to see the 111 class.Anyway,NIR 111 Great Northern can be seen heading towards Dublin with the Enterprise,while an 80 class driving trailer heads to Belfast,passing a CIE 141 class shunting container wagons in the head shunt.

 

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  • 1 month later...

getting back on track with the station build,the following photo shows a start made on the island platform canopies that were situated at the end of the main roof.In the early 70s these canopies suffered badly from bomb damage and quite often left unrepaired.Much more work to be done to complete them to resemble the real canopies,but quite happy with the progress to date.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Following on from the above photo's,the island platform canopies are nearly complete,another coat of paint should finish them off.The first photo is a side on view of the canopies in the early 70s having suffered more bomb damage with the repair gang trying to carry out  some repairs.

 

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The following photo is the same view looking into the station.It is business as usual as the BUT in platform 4 is waiting to depart for Portadown.

 

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The last photo is from further down the platform,with the other end of the BUT waiting for the final passengers to board.An A class lcomotive is in platform 2 with the CIE Enterprise.

 

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A couple more shots from the layout,featuring my favourite locomotives of all time,the NIR DL Class,or better known as the  'Hunslet'. The first shows 101 Eagle powering the Enterprise through Alsadon station,passing sister loco 102 Falcon,which is in charge of a permanent way train.In the goods yard behind the station,CIE B class loco No 165 is marshalling some loose coupled wagons for a return trip to Dundalk.Once GVSt station area has been completed,this station will be remodelled to look like the real Adelaide station from the early 70s.

 

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The following 2 photo's show the 2 Hunslet's passing each other in the station,one has been taken from the station side of the fence,the other from the good yard side of the fence.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Hi

 

Following on from the pictures I posted in an earlier post of the last day at Great Victoria Street, i thought you might be interested in these pictures of the last day at Queens Quay.

 

Thanks to GVS  aka Patrick Davey for encouraging me to look for these pictures.

 

Hunslet 102, I hope you don't mind me using your thread for this.

 

 

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Clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

 

Remember the MEDs? and just look at the cars that were around then. 

 

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Thanks for posting the photo's of the old Queen's Quay station Colin,brings back memories of day trips to Bangor,which were the only holidays you got back then.

 

Another of Belfast's iconic stations,with the resident MEDs,my all time favourite NIR railcars.Happy days

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  • 1 month later...

The following photos were taken in 1970 Belfast and show the changing face of both Northern Ireland Railways and Northern Ireland itself.The first photo shows an army 'Pig' truck setting up a checkpoint,with the soldiers dispersing into their various positions.As with life in Northern Ireland at the time,everyone carried on with their every day lives as normal.

 

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The following photo is an aerial view taken from an army helicopter showing the army getting into position,while in the background,the changing face of NIR can be seen with brand new Hunslet 101 Eagle pushing the Enterprise to Belfast,passing the soon to be replaced BUT railcar.

 

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The final photo shows the Hunslet and BUT meeting at the station,with passengers going about their business as normal despite the activity in the street.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Brilliant post there Hunslet 102.  As you say, the everyday scene in NI at that time was like a double exposure photograph. The army going about their business like something out of a war movie, while everybody else was going about their own business as if they were the only ones on the street.

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Thanks Colin,I could not have put your description of the scenes in any better way.Not the type of scene we would want to go back too,but they were commonplace while I was growing up and a reflection of Belfast in the 70s would not be complete without some form of army activity.

 

Thanks also to all the guys who have liked the various posts on the thread,much appreciated.

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  • 4 months later...

It has been a while since my last update,with nothing much happening on the station build.I have however been building a couple of AEC railcar sets,painted in 3 of the livery's that could be seen in the late sixties at the start of the NIR era.

The first photo below shows AEC 111 in the regional blue/cream livery in platform 4,beside sister railcar 112 in UTA green livery.The year is 1969,AEC 111 remained in this livery and was never painted into the NIR maroon/grey livery,while AEC 112 received the new livery around 1969.

 

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The next photo shows 112 heading out of the station,with the centre coach and rear AEC railcar 116 in the NIR maroon/cream livery.

 

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The following photo shows a K15 centre coach in the blue/cream livery,with the rear end of AEC railcar 118 in NIR livery.

 

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The final photo is an overall view of the station area,with CIE 141 loco in the foreground of platform 2 with the Enterprise made up of craven and laminate coaches,with the 2 AEC railcar sets in platforms 3 and 4.A brand new NIR DH loco is in platform 1 with the NIR weedkiller train,3 of these loco's arrived in 1969.

 

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Edited by Hunslet 102
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  • 2 weeks later...
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The CIE weedkilling train finally made it up north to do the NIR system,below are a few photo's of its progress.The first 6 photo's are a breakdown of the individual wagons of this unique 1970s train,the final photo showing the scale length of the train.

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

The first day of the Christmas holidays gave me the opportunity to get up the loft and give the trains a much needed run after nearly 4 months! Below is a photo from 1970,showing brand new Hunslet 101 Eagle heading under the road bridge with the Enterprise for Great Victoria Street.Heading in the opposite direction is Jeep No 6,making its way back to York Road via the Lisburn to Antrim line following a trip working to Great Victoria Street.In the street above,a couple of RUC landrovers show the changing face of everyday life in Belfast.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As the Christmas holidays draw to a close,there was time for another running session and a few more photo's.The first 2 photo's,taken from different sides of the railway fence,show DH shunter No2 in charge of a ballast train,passing GM loco B181 with the morning Enterprise from Dublin consisting of cravans and laminate stock.In the yard,sister loco B165 is shunting bubbles and H vans while B182 awaits to marshall a later goods back to Dundalk.

 

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gallery_1918_2005_309509.jpgThe final photo below shows some of the buses on the layout,passing the fortified police station.

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Edited by Hunslet 102
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  • 1 month later...

Another scene from the 70s.Two of the ex GNR inspired railcars,BUT No135 in NIR maroon/grey livery approaches platform 2,while AEC No111 in UTA inspired blue/cream livery approaches platform 1.Note the different window profile between the 2 railcars.

 

In the street behind,a joint RUC/army checkpoint has been set up,with an NIR Rail Express Parcels van making its way through it.These vans were used to take parcels between York Road and Great Victoria Street.

 

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A busy Saturday at Belfast Great Victoria Street shows B165 in charge of a shoppers special just arrived in platform 4

 

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Later in the afternoon,B165 is ready to return to Dublin with the shoppers and their bargains.In platform 3, an 80 class driving trailer will depart behind the shoppers special with a service for Portadown.

 

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The final photo shows an overall view,with a glimpse of A20 in platform 2 with the MK2 Enterprise set.

 

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