The company operated the line independently for seven years before being absorbed into the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway.

[1] At Magiligan an embankment was built for the railway line and about 22,000 acres reclaimed from Lough Foyle and the sea.

Magilligan Point is a promontory in the mouth of Lough Foyle, and it was hoped a ferry service from here to County Donegal could be established and thus be an extra source of traffic.

The four-and-a-half-mile line was built without parliamentary approval and appears to have been opened without Board of Trade authorisation in June/July 1855.

It appears that it was unprofitable and was closed by October 1855 making it the shortest-lived passenger rail line in Ireland.

[5] The L&CR struggled with financial difficulties and from 1861 leased their line to the growing Belfast & Northern Counties Railway (BNCR).

Eventually the BNCR agreed to buyout the L&CR completely, with the Londonderry and Coleraine Railway (Sale) Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict.

Many of the L&CR stations were basic platform halts, however when the line passed into BNCR ownership the architect John Lanyon rebuilt many between 1874 and 1875, most notably the waterside terminus in Derry which is still in use.

During the early period of L&CR ownership the company operated a variety of both second hand locomotives and new engines specifically built for them.

The 0-4-2 was built in 1859 by Grendon, the company also ordered another 2-4-0 from fairbairn but this arrived in 1860 after the BNCR take over and so never ran on the line under L&CR ownership.

[8] See Northern Counties Committee The L&CR contributed nine engines to the BNCR fleet upon that companies acquisition of the line.

Under Midland Railway ownership the policy remained largely independent and the building compounds continued.

Commonly referred to as in Ireland as railcars it was found these DMUs were not suited to long-distance services like the Derry line, the UTA redeveloped the concept and introduced the Multi Purpose Diesel (MPD) in 1957.

These railcars were built specifically with the line to Londonderry in mind with the first 10 being allocated for express services between that city and Belfast.

The railways of the UTA suffered neglect from government as a result many MPDs were (as were the earlier MEDs) constructed from older coach bodies and frames.

While the MPDs were cheap to build and economical to run they were somewhat lacking in passenger comfort compared to locomotive hauled coaches.

NIR inherited the railway system of the UTA including the Londonderry and Coleraine line in 1967 and continued in the development of DMUs.

The class is arguably one of the most successful types of train to run in Ireland north or south and gave NIR many years of service in difficult times.

Examples of the class 80 (affectionately nicknamed 'thumpers') remained in passenger service until 2011 with a small number continuing to work sandite trains until 2017.

These three car DMUs were built by CAF and fitted with MAN diesel engines giving them a speed of up to 90 mph (140 km/h).

They are externally similar to the 3000 class in appearance but are fitted with an MTU 390 kW (520 hp) engine, they also have fewer seating bays in favour of more standing room and only one toilet compared with the two on the 3000s.