Vernersbridge railway station

Vernersbridge

Vernersbridge former station building and goods shed, 2010
Location Vernersbridge, County Armagh
Northern Ireland
UK
Coordinates 54°28′30″N 6°38′38″W / 54.475°N 6.644°WCoordinates: 54°28′30″N 6°38′38″W / 54.475°N 6.644°W
Platforms 2
History
Original company Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway
Post-grouping Great Northern Railway
Key dates
1858[1] Station opened
1899–1902[1] Track doubled
1954[2] Station closed
1959[1] Track singled
15 February 1965[3] Line closed

Vernersbridge railway station was a railway station in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The station was about 0.7 miles (1.1 kilometres) south of Clonmore and about 0.25 miles (400 metres) east of a substantial viaduct by which the railway crossed the River Blackwater.

History

Drawing of Vernersbridge station when the railway was still open

The Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway (PD&O) opened the station in 1858 as Verner's, named after local landowner William Verner.[2] Mr Verner did not want a standard PD&O station building as at Annaghmore and Trew and Moy, so at his request Verner's station was built to match his home at Churchill.[2] The station had no signal box and its signals were worked by a ground frame.[2]

The newly formed Great Northern Railway (GNR) absorbed the PD&O in 1876 and doubled the track through Vernersbridge in 1899–1902.[4] Vernersbridge was served by GNR passenger trains between Belfast Great Victoria Street and Londonderry Foyle Road via Portadown.

The GNR was nationalised in 1953 as the GNR Board, which closed Vernersbridge station in 1954.[2] The Ulster Transport Authority took over the GNR's remaining lines in Northern Ireland in 1958[5] and closed the PD&O line on 15 February 1965.[3]

The former station and goods shed survive: the station as a private house and the goods shed as its outbuilding.

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Annaghmore   Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway
Portadown to Omagh		   Trew and Moy
Derrycoose Crossing   GNR Board
Portadown — Omagh line		   Trew and Moy

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hajducki, 1974, map 8
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 FitzGerald 1995, p. 2.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Baker 1972, pp. 155, 209.
  4. ↑ Hajducki 1974, p. xiii.
  5. ↑ Hajducki 1974, pp. xii, xiii.

Sources