Knockmore railway station

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Parameter validation".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "check for deprecated parameters". Knockmore railway station was a station on the Belfast–Newry railway line. The station served the suburb of Knockmore in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Great Northern Railway (GNR) opened Knockmore station as a halt in 1932.[1] Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) closed the station on 25 March 2005.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Knockmore station had two platforms. One platform was served by "Up" trains only on the service from Template:Rws (Known as Belfast Central at the time) via Template:Rws to Template:Rws, while the other platform was served by trains in both directions on the Belfast – Lisburn – Template:Rws – Template:Rws service. "Down" trains travelling from Portadown to Belfast could not serve Knockmore as it was the middle line with no platform.

History

File:Knockmore.jpg
The remains of the halt as seen from a passing steam special, December 2013.

The station is near Knockmore Junction, which came into service in 1863 for the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Junction Railway (BLB) to connect with the Ulster Railway.[1] The junction gained another branch in 1871 when the Dublin and Antrim Junction Railway (D&A, now the Lisburn–Antrim railway line) was opened.[1] The Ulster Railway, BLB and D&A all became part of the GNR by the end of the 1870s.Template:Sfn A halt was finally provided at Knockmore Junction in 1932, but it did not last long and was closed a year later. The GNR was nationalised in 1953 as the GNR Board,Template:Sfn which closed Banbridge branch on 29 April 1956.Template:Sfn

In 1960, the Antrim branch was closed to passenger traffic, although it remained open for freight. By this point, the line was under UTA control; All GNR assets in Northern Ireland having been ceded to the UTA in 1958. In 1968, the UTA was replaced by Northern Ireland Railways, which reopened the Antrim branch and rerouted all Londonderry line services via Knockmore. A new Knockmore halt was built on a different site to the original, slightly closer to Lisburn. Instead of using a crossover as per the original setup, a 3rd line was laid directly from the former junction to Lisburn station. Unfortunately, this required the demolition of Knockmore Junction signal cabin.

In 2001 NIR reopened the more direct Belfast – Antrim route via Template:Rws. An attempt was made to keep the Antrim – Knockmore line open alongside it using a skeleton service, but this was unsuccessful and NIR withdrew passenger services altogether in 2003. Due to the platform layout, this left Knockmore station with a train service in only one direction: "down" trains from Belfast to Portadown. This arrangement was not well-used, and so on 25 March 2005, NIR closed Knockmore station.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

The Portadown-bound platform was demolished in 2012, with the branch platform following in 2014.

Preceding station   File:Logomark NI Railways.svg Northern Ireland Railways   Following station
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Incidents

  • On 28/06/2012, a section of embankment near Knockmore was washed out by heavy rain, leaving a short length of track unsupported in mid-air. Due to the Irish Open, Translink had put on extra trains to Portrush, some of which were scheduled to use the Antrim branch. The first of these specials was not able to stop in time and crossed over the unsupported track, with the leading vehicle coming to a full stop with one bogie on either side of the unsupported section. The train was slowly reversed back to Lisburn station, and nobody was injured.
  • On 04/02/2016, a Portadown-bound train collided with an excavator bucket which had been left on the track near Knockmore Junction. The leading vehicle was lifted off the rails, coming to a stop 330m from the point of collision with the bucket lodged under the fuel tank, but all wheels on the rails. It was badly damaged and as of August 2016, has not returned to service. One passenger was injured.[2]

The Great Northern Railway to Banbridge and Newcastle

File:Signal cabin, Knockmore Jct, near Lisburn - geograph.org.uk - 652587.jpg
Knockmore Jct. Signal Cabin in 1977, with a single line token being surrendered to the signalman on a Lisburn-Antrim railway line working from Antrim back to Lisburn.

The station was opened by the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Railway on 13 July 1863.[3]

Then 30 April 1956 the line via Dromore to Banbridge and Newcastle, County Down was closed under the auspices of the Ulster Transport Authority.

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Lisburn   Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Railway
Knockmore Junction-Banbridge 		  Newport

See also

References

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  1. ↑ a b c Hajducki, 1974, map 9
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Sources

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External links

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