The Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR) was a
railway in Northern Ireland linking Belfast south - eastwards into
County Down. It was built in the 19th
century.
On the 2nd August 1848 with the first
section of the line from Belfast to Holywood opened to passenger
traffic for the first time. Later this line would extend to Bangor
and the main line would run from Belfast to Newcastle, with
branches to Donaghadee, Ballynahinch and
Ardglass.
It was later absorbed into the Ulster
Transport Authority in 1948 and all but the line from Belfast to
Bangor was closed in 1950.
Incidents and accidents:
On 10th January 1945, 22 passengers died an
24 were injuredwhen the a railmotorcar ran into the rear of a
convetional train stopped at a signal at Ballymacarrett Juntion.
The 7.40am Railmotor Holywood to Belfat crashed into the rear of
the 7.10am Bangor to Belfast train. The darkness and fog were a
factor but the driver of the railmotor was held to blame. The
railway had to pay out some £80000 in compensation, which crippled
the company financially, leading to its early nationalisation in
1948.
This series will take you to various sites
where the railway stations still remain or once
stood.
Dundonald
When entering Dundonald from Comber, the
1st junction you come to is the location of the old
Dundonald Station.
The only remaining building to this station is
the old station masters house, which is clearly visable from the
cache location.
There also used to be a bridge here to allow
traffic to pass under the railway lines. This bridge is well
photographed during the 7 years of the North Down TT Races, from
1928 – 1936, which took in this junction during its 13.5 mile
circuit.
The cache
The cache is placed on the old railway embankment
beside the Station Masters House. Parking is quite limited close to
the cache site, so a short walk might be in order, The cache itself
a small tab loc box with a few small swaps notebook and
pencil.
Other caches in this series.
BCDR Series #2
BCDR Series #3