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Belfast Great Victoria Street Station and Adelaide-lookalike tribute


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An ageing  AEC railcar in UTA livery departs Adelaide on an all stations to Lisburn service, passing the hard working coal men delivering coal to the back yards of the houses! Where I lived with my Gran in Hugh Street, we had no back entry and the coal man had to carry the coal through the house to the bunker, the bin men doing the same also! 
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Belfast Corporation bus depot is back! Looking back on my thread, I can’t believe the original depot was built 5 years ago! The same depot remains, but with a larger area for more buses, which is needed, as a couple more Daimler’s and single deckers are waiting to be added to the fleet!

 

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An overall view of the area the depot now occupies 

 

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A peek inside the shed through the fence!

 

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 The extra storage yard area with the running lines behind the buses.

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Excellent photograph Colin. So atmospheric. Is there a date for it? With all the visible vehicles in UTA 'green' and the white diamond on the edge of the front car's buffer beam, I'm guessing around 1963?

 

The ground floor of the building beyond the buffers was the 'Control Office'. Of the two figures in the background, the left hand one appears to be a railwayman. Immediately to his left was a black wooden box mounted in the wall about waist level, labelled 'Control'. This was where the train guards 'posted' their train journal sheets on completion of a trip.

 

Another point of interest is the platform canopy. When built in 1906 it covered all the available platform provided for the 'Motor' trains. It can be seen that the original platform was very short and narrow. This was why the 'Motor' trains were required by the Board of Trade to have inward opening doors when they were first built.

 

You wouldn't by any chance have a photo of the same scene after the AEC set had departed, to show which catering vehicles were stored in the Dock Siding???  

Edited by Lambeg Man
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Thanks Colin, that is a great picture and the first I have actually seen of the full building at the platform end. I actually have room to model that area since changing the layout, so the photo is of great use.

 

Great info also Steve, I think your date is probably right or pretty close as I think the wasp stripes were done around 61/62. Thanks  for sharing 

 

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Back to the tedious ballasting and below is a photo of Grosvenor yard in its last days in the early 70s

 

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The following 2 photos were taken 50 years ago today, showing CIE B181 arriving with a mixed goods to Grosvenor from Dundalk. In the background an NIR DH class waits on the road to clear before departing with some redundant bread containers for scrapping 

 

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Some Australian tourists decided to get off at Adelaide to observe their namesake home city! Not much for them to see, although a pigeon loft and a local beating her washing gave them some amusement, before making a hasty retreat back to Belfast city centre!

 

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On 27/06/2021 at 21:37, pat141 said:

G'day, they probably thought it was a punishment beating. :yahoo:


nice one Pat! Having seen the force some of those Belfast women beat their sheets with, you wouldn’t want to take a broken pay packet home to them!

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An unidentified BUT 3 car set leaves Adelaide with an all stations local to Lisburn, while a CIE goods heads in the opposite direction to Grosvenor yard.

 The back of the Belfast Corporation bus depot can be seen on the left 

 

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Adelaide has finally got it’s name board! It actually only had one main name board on each platform, with several smaller names on posts etc. The old wooden station and all the GNRI characteristics would be swept away in the early 70s, replaced with a steel shelter and concrete platform with no life or soul!

 

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A bit more detailing and bits and bobs to do around the station area, but that will do for now as the next project is the overhaul of Great Victoria Street station which will include longer platforms and a bit of space to include the concourse beside platform 4 for the postal traffic, buses and taxis!

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There has been no modelling done over the last few months, but the railway photographer did manage to catch A class A39r returning to Dublin with a shoppers special. Let’s hope they picked up some worthwhile bargains in Belfast! An MED set, recently transferred to GNR metals, draws into Adelaide with a local to Great Victoria Street. 
 

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While growing up near Adelaide, in one of the streets that backed down onto the GNR main line, Marlborough Avenue, there was a workshop that done work/repairs to the invacars. I used to go round to the workshop to check out these unique vehicles, as I was always intrigued by them. Having waited a year on the release of these iconic cars, they are now proudly sitting in their new home at the factory!

The late 60s/early 70s scene is complimented by unrebuilt CIE A class A15 heading to Dundalk with a heavy mixed goods, while CIE B class B181 heads to Grosvenor yard with a cement and Guinness train.

 

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On 28/06/2022 at 17:59, Irish Padre said:

Great stuff. Know what you mean - intriguing cars. Remember seeing one as a kid in Dixon Park c1979. Almost something Trabant-ish about them.

When I passed one of these invacars I used to think they must have been a death trap in an accident with a car/van/truck!   Colm

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On 01/07/2022 at 09:13, colmflanagan said:

When I passed one of these invacars I used to think they must have been a death trap in an accident with a car/van/truck!   Colm

Yep they were a tad unsteady, especially on bends!  Although a friend reminded me that the owners of them had the privilege of a great view at football matches as you would see them parked around the perimeter!

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