Member of the hockey club in cookstown here. We still own the place and doing our best to look after it! Welcome to anyone who wanted to see some history
I think the last station master in Stewartstown was Bob Coulter. After the line closed a family called Reilly lived in the station house. as kids we used to climb up into the old signal box and pretend the train was coming. The bridge you show was across the road to Clonoe. The road was realigned as the bend under the bridge was very tight. So the bridge ended up in a field. We used to be able to walk most of the old rail bed as far as Lisnastrain. About 55 years ago. The old goods yard buildings were repurposed for several local businesses.
brilliant my mum is from coalisland and dad from stewartstown brilliant eamonn keep the videos coming i was at stewartstown station just a while ago some on his living in it part of the yard ans sheds are some industrial yard
Im from tyrone, it would be great to see the old railway network back in NI. I like all these vids on the old routes. Would be so handy to be able pop on a train and head into belfast or where ever for christmas parties etc. Would cut down drinking and driving and all sorts.
who recalls the bridge at the bottom of the Flourmill Hill where the line crossed what is now the Dungannon Rd? Then the Old Engine Bridge where the Newmills Rd joined the Coalisland Rd near Tyrome Brick?
I am from Coalisland, so I can shed some light on the Coalisland aspects of the line: - There’s a bridge on the Killymeal road that you can’t see on Google maps. It’s just after Edendork Hall, and the bridge itself is just about still visible from the Coalisland Road. A house has been built which has blocked the view of the bridge. - - There used to be a bridge that spanned the Bush Rd - known locally as the ‘Metal Bridge’, due to its structure. You couldn’t see it at the time of your video due to overgrowth, but in autumn and winter when the leaves fall, you can see the remains of the structure on the river Torrent side of the road. - The little homes that you speak of are used by travellers. Where they sit was where the Station yard was, which lay empty for a few years after the demise of the GNR. You can still the old goods shed, which was due to be torn down by the council at one point, but was saved by the travellers, who now use it as a tool shed. - The Coalisland station house was still in use by a family that lived there until the early 1970s. The council then evicted them as they were told that the Derry Rd was going to be realigned. Of course, this being Northern Ireland, it never happened, and the house was then vandalised by youths and had to be demolished at some point in the mid-70s. - The track bed area by the station was left relatively untouched for decades, and both it and the platforms were highly visible as late as 2009. But since then the cutting has been filled in to some extent, and the platforms are now overgrown. - There was a bridge on the Brackaville road, but was flattened in the early ‘70s, and no trace of it exists. - At 11:12 - Going a little further up the line, it used to pass over an old sand washing plant (a lot of industry in this town). There was a footbridge for people to walk over (which my mum did many a time). Another set of travellers decamped in the old sand washer and, in an absolute true story, they dismantled the bridge in a single night at some point in the late ‘70s to use for scrap. It literally vanished over night (the bridge itself can be viewed in old BBC archive footage at the Cultra Transport museum). - There was another bridge on the Stewartstown Rd, and you can still see the bollards to this day. - At 12:38 in your video, that was actually a massive coal pit that was opened by Sir Samuel Kelly in 1924, and he had railway sidings built on to the grounds. The pit was an expensive failure, and only lasted 3 years before closing in 1927, and that’s all that remains of it. - So much of the Coalisland part has been eradicated, to the extent that if no one told you that a railway once existed here, you wouldn’t know any better.
The reopening of the railway line along the Western Rail Corridor should happen to prevent 1) Traffic Jams, 2) Pollution & 3) Car Accidents/Road Deaths 24 hour trains in summer & St. Stephen's Day trains too.
Member of the hockey club in cookstown here. We still own the place and doing our best to look after it! Welcome to anyone who wanted to see some history
I think the last station master in Stewartstown was Bob Coulter. After the line closed a family called Reilly lived in the station house. as kids we used to climb up into the old signal box and pretend the train was coming. The bridge you show was across the road to Clonoe. The road was realigned as the bend under the bridge was very tight. So the bridge ended up in a field. We used to be able to walk most of the old rail bed as far as Lisnastrain. About 55 years ago. The old goods yard buildings were repurposed for several local businesses.
brilliant my mum is from coalisland and dad from stewartstown brilliant eamonn keep the videos coming i was at stewartstown station just a while ago some on his living in it part of the yard ans sheds are some industrial yard
Im from tyrone, it would be great to see the old railway network back in NI. I like all these vids on the old routes. Would be so handy to be able pop on a train and head into belfast or where ever for christmas parties etc. Would cut down drinking and driving and all sorts.
As well as Coalisland, there was a coal mine in Ballycastle which operated until the early 1950's.
I never knew that. So much industrial history has not been preserved very well
The station building and platform in Coalisland was still present 20 years ago, sad to see only the goods shed remains.
who recalls the bridge at the bottom of the Flourmill Hill where the line crossed what is now the Dungannon Rd? Then the Old Engine Bridge where the Newmills Rd joined the Coalisland Rd near Tyrome Brick?
I am from Coalisland, so I can shed some light on the Coalisland aspects of the line:
- There’s a bridge on the Killymeal road that you can’t see on Google maps. It’s just after Edendork Hall, and the bridge itself is just about still visible from the Coalisland Road. A house has been built which has blocked the view of the bridge.
-
- There used to be a bridge that spanned the Bush Rd - known locally as the ‘Metal Bridge’, due to its structure. You couldn’t see it at the time of your video due to overgrowth, but in autumn and winter when the leaves fall, you can see the remains of the structure on the river Torrent side of the road.
- The little homes that you speak of are used by travellers. Where they sit was where the Station yard was, which lay empty for a few years after the demise of the GNR. You can still the old goods shed, which was due to be torn down by the council at one point, but was saved by the travellers, who now use it as a tool shed.
- The Coalisland station house was still in use by a family that lived there until the early 1970s. The council then evicted them as they were told that the Derry Rd was going to be realigned. Of course, this being Northern Ireland, it never happened, and the house was then vandalised by youths and had to be demolished at some point in the mid-70s.
- The track bed area by the station was left relatively untouched for decades, and both it and the platforms were highly visible as late as 2009. But since then the cutting has been filled in to some extent, and the platforms are now overgrown.
- There was a bridge on the Brackaville road, but was flattened in the early ‘70s, and no trace of it exists.
- At 11:12 - Going a little further up the line, it used to pass over an old sand washing plant (a lot of industry in this town). There was a footbridge for people to walk over (which my mum did many a time). Another set of travellers decamped in the old sand washer and, in an absolute true story, they dismantled the bridge in a single night at some point in the late ‘70s to use for scrap. It literally vanished over night (the bridge itself can be viewed in old BBC archive footage at the Cultra Transport museum).
- There was another bridge on the Stewartstown Rd, and you can still see the bollards to this day.
- At 12:38 in your video, that was actually a massive coal pit that was opened by Sir Samuel Kelly in 1924, and he had railway sidings built on to the grounds. The pit was an expensive failure, and only lasted 3 years before closing in 1927, and that’s all that remains of it.
- So much of the Coalisland part has been eradicated, to the extent that if no one told you that a railway once existed here, you wouldn’t know any better.
Fantastic detail! Thanks for that!
I come from the same area and if someone told you today that barges used to come up into the basin in Coalisland would anyone belive them?
The entrance to Dungannon Station from Portadown was via a tunnel.
I hear it's still in good condition.
Eamonn - I think those temporary mobile home type buildings might be homes for Irish Travellers
The reopening of the railway line along the Western Rail Corridor should happen to prevent 1) Traffic Jams, 2) Pollution & 3) Car Accidents/Road Deaths 24 hour trains in summer & St. Stephen's Day trains too.