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a Puzzle from the Past


colmflanagan

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Here's a puzzle, I suspect mostly for older readers....

 

The attached photograph was taken by the official UTA photographer, probably in 1949/50, as the J10 coach nearest the loco became an MED in 1951/2, and letters UT on the loco were replaced by the "red hand" symbol after 1950. The other five carriages are of course the "North Atlantics". The photo was in a folder labelled "Derry Express"

 

But - where was it taken?  Look closely, on the face of it is t is a staion but tdoesn;t resemble any NCC one I know of- and there is a signal halfway along what would be the platform. It actually seems to be a  farmhouse and outbuildings. The line is running close to a foreshore which has a very shallow slope, and it must be low tide!

 

So, four most likeley location areas - the foreshore at Belfast , somewhere around Kilroot  on the Larne line, on Larne Lough between Ballycarry- Glynn, or the shores of lough foyle around Ballykelly-eglntion- Culmore.

 

Anyone with any definite ideas? Or fancy a paddle?

 

Colm

 

 

post-4092-0-68909400-1377165772_thumb.jpg

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That may well be the case, i looked at Google earth but the area has now been quite built up, and there are no buildings which look the right sort of shape beside the line.  So we may never know for certain.  But I think it likely that a location relatively near Belfast would have been chosen, rather than up near Londonderry. MPDs were later posed near Whitehead. If anyone has a large scale OS map of this area for the period `1950/ish that might give further clues.

 

Colm

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Found a picture of the mystery location on page 82 of 'The Ulster Transport Authority in Colour' taken in 1967. The house on the left in Colm's picture, and the signal are both shown. To the left in the picture on P82 is Kilroot station closed in 1977 and now demolished.

The signal would be the Home Signal for the old Kilroot station.

A check of Google Earth, and other aerial pictures suggest that, like the station, the other buildings in the pictures have long since gone, and the area is dominated by the power station.

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Found a picture on the internet of Kilroot station in 1974.

 

Above the driving trailer you can just see the gable end of the house that is in the original picture the Colm posted, and in the background to the right of the train is the bracket signal that is in the second picture which I posted. The signal in the original picture, Kilroot home signal is somewhere in the middle of the telegraph poles on the right of this picture.

 

Puzzle solved.post-13499-0-96404300-1377540360.jpg

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What lovely names some of those townlands had in 1900 --- "bonnybefore" "Carnamrock" "gideonsland"....anyway my "puzzle" is no longer and i can give a definitive caption for the photo for an article I am currently writing for Backtrack magazine in which the picture may be featured.

 

Thanks all

 

Colm

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