They were able to develop and exploit the advantages of the Larne to Stranraer ferry route between Northern Ireland and Scotland which gained importance in World War II.

The other started at the junction of York Road and Corporation Street; it ran north on an embankment across slob land on the western shore of Belfast Lough.

The promoters were able to assuage the committee's fears that the works would be heavy and costly and the bill received royal assent on 21 July 1845 as the Belfast and Ballymena Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict.

Lanyon and Dargan were keen to retrieve their reputations and there was a period of furious activity as they worked to correct deficiencies identified in the Board of Trade report.

It was essential that the company raise additional funds to double the existing single line out of Belfast, as it was no longer adequate for the current volume of traffic and to replace many of the original wooden stations.

The BNCR, Glasgow & South Western, Portpatrick, North British and Newcastle & Carlisle Railways formed a joint committee to operate a steamer.

The BNCR was able to exploit the advantages of the Larne-Stranraer short sea route with its benefit of a daylight crossing in the summer months and the ease with which passengers could transfer to trains alongside the steamer berth at Larne Harbour.

While there was already some provision for tourists, the BNCR's civil engineer Berkeley Deane Wise constructed a new promenade and imported sand from Portrush to make a beach.

A new hotel was built in Belfast as part of the York Road station reconstruction with the intention of capturing trade from long-distance travellers as it was convenient to the cross-channel steamer berths.

They were bogie vehicles with corridor connections; the lower body panels were finished in match boarding and the end doors were recessed in the manner of Pullman cars.

The early years of the company were relatively free from serious incidents but as traffic increased and the system became busier, weaknesses in less than adequate operating procedures were exposed and a number of accidents occurred.

The BNCR was an efficient, prosperous company and well suited the Midland's purposes; it connected the two largest cities in the north of Ireland and had direct links to County Donegal.

One was used to take guests at the Northern Counties Hotel on trips to the Giant's Causeway and other tourist attractions while the second provided a service between Parkmore, Glenariff Glen and Cushendall.

Steel boiler tubes replaced copper and brass in locomotives for economy and a different pattern of uniform overcoat had to be sourced since the government had commandeered the wool crop.

The unsatisfactory financial condition of all the companies was noted with only the NCC considered to be in a strong position by virtue with its British connections even though it receipts were markedly reduced.

The first line closure took place when the Portstewart Tramway ceased operating on 31 January 1926 due to continuing losses, deferred maintenance and obsolete equipment.

Various plans for a direct line bypassing Greenisland had been proposed over the years but the engineering problems faced by having to cross Valentine's Glen near Whiteabbey and surmount Mossley Col had precluded these.

It had a traditionally constructed wooden body and was powered by two Leyland 130 bhp (97 kW) petrol engines with hydraulic transmission in the form of Lysholm-Smith torque converters.

Elderly former BNCR Class I1 bogie brake tricomposite coaches dating from the 1890s supplemented the purpose-built trailers and provided an interesting contrast between the latest technology and Victorian design.

The government accepted these proposals and, on 1 October 1935, the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIRTB) came into being and absorbed buses and coaches from the three railway companies.

It recommended abolishing the NIRTB and setting up a single authority to control road transport, the NCC and the BCDR (the GNR(I) was excluded because of its international nature).

Both the inwards and outwards goods sheds were destroyed and the works section extensively damaged with several workshops completely burned out and a consequent loss of stores and equipment.

Some movements of prisoners of war (POW) took place, mostly of captured submarine crews, who were transported by train from Londonderry to Belfast en route to internment at Holywood.

Civilian passenger journeys increased rapidly from the start of the war, partly because of evacuation from Belfast and the petrol restrictions which made the railway the only available means of transport.

Services were accelerated and, although the poor condition of the track due to deferred maintenance meant that it was not possible to attain pre-war timings, strenuous efforts were made to ensure that trains adhered to the published schedules.

Passenger rolling stock was augmented by eight elderly ex-Midland Railway coaches from the LMS which were refurbished in Belfast and fitted with salvaged 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) gauge bogies.

It published a White Paper in 1946 that proposed the amalgamation of the BCDR, the NCC and the NIRTB, together with that portion of the GNR(I) which lay in Northern Ireland, into a single organisation to be known as the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA).

MR (NCC) locomotive policy continued BNCR practice and remained largely independent of Derby until Bowman Malcolm retired at the end of 1922.

The "North Atlantic" stock clearly belonged to Period II but the large picture windows and toplight ventilators had been inspired by contemporary Great Western Railway practice.

The 60 ft (18 m) J10 open thirds that were built at the same time as the V14s generally reflected the styling of William Stanier Period III stock but these too had beading strips.