Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway

54°35′42″N 5°54′54″W / 54.595°N 5.915°W / 54.595; -5.915

Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway
Tanderagee railway station in 1981 on the Belfast-Newry railway line
Overview
Native name	Iarnród Bhaile Átha Cliath agus Acomhal Bhéal Feirste (Irish)
Status	Closed
Locale	North of Ireland (geographically, not the nation)
History
Opened	1849
Closed	1853

Dublin and the Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJct, Irish: Iarnród Bhaile Átha Cliath agus Acomhal Bhéal Feirste) was an Irish gauge (5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)) railway in Ireland. The company was incorporated in 1845 and opened its line in stages between 1849 and 1853, with the final bridge over the River Boyne opening in 1855. It linked the Ulster Railway (UR) from Belfast to Portadown and Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) from Drogheda to Dublin, completing the missing link in the Belfast–Dublin line.

Tanderagee railway station in 1981.

History

The Boyne Viaduct at Drogheda was not built until 1854–55, at a cost of £124,000, to the design of Sir John Macneill, who was the consulting engineer for the D&BJct.^[1]

Route

The D&BJct line from Drogheda to Portadown connected the Ulster Railway's Armagh – Portadown – Belfast Great Victoria Street original line with the Dublin and Drogheda Railway's Dublin Amiens Street – Drogheda line, forming the main line between Dublin and Belfast.

Aftermath

In 1875, the D&BJct merged with the Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D), forming the Northern Railway of Ireland.^[2] This was in turn one of the companies that amalgamated to form the Great Northern Railway of Ireland in 1876.

References

1. Holohan, Michael. "Drogheda Port. A Detailed History". Drogheda Port website. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
2. Friel, Charles P. . Journal of the Craigavon Historical Society. 2 (2). Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.

Sources

• Ahrons, E.L. (1927). The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925. Amen Corner, London: Locomotive Publishing Co. OCLC 2329259. OL 6715902M.
• Ahrons, E. L. (1954). L. L. Asher (ed.). Locomotive and train working in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Vol. six. W Heffer & Sons Ltd.
• Hamond, Fred; Friel, Charles (December 2007). "13 Drogheda–Oldcastle Line". An Industrial Heritage Survey of Railways in Counties Monaghan and Louth (PDF). Monaghan CC & Louth CC (Report). (PDF) from the original on 24 May 2019.