Ballymacarrett Junction was a railway switching point on the

Belfast and County Down Railway The Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland (later Northern Ireland) linking Belfast with County Down. It was built in the 19th century and absorbed into the Ulster Transport Authority in 1948. All but th ...

in the

Ballymacarrett Ballymacarrett or Ballymacarret () is the name of both a townland and electoral ward in Belfast. The townland is in County Down and the electoral ward is part of the Titanic district electoral area of Belfast City Council. The ward was creat ...

area of Eastern

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

, in modern-day

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. It was located near the present-day

Titanic Quarter railway station Titanic Quarter railway station (sometimes still referred to as Bridge End) is located in the townland of Ballymacarrett in east Belfast. It is a short walk from the SSE Arena and Titanic Quarter Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Irela ...

History

The first track, built around 1848, ran from Belfast Queen's Quay to Holywood. On 6 May 1850, the area became a junction, curving Southeast to Dundonald to become part of the main line of the BCDR. In 1871, another spur came in from the South to the West end of the junction, constituting the Belfast Central Railway connection. The junction continued with this basic configuration for nearly 80 years. On 13 May, while the junction was under construction, an accident occurred, killing two passengers. On 10 January 1945, an accident took place on the Bangor line, about East of the junction resulting in 22 fatalities and 27 injuries. The accident is blamed on a combination of excess speed and poor visibility. On 22 April 1950, the main line spur to the East was closed for revenue service, and in the same year, the Newcastle route was closed. On 10 April 1976, revenue service ceased at Queen's Quay. Instead, services ran from the new

Belfast Central station Belfast Lanyon Place (formerly Belfast Central, and known colloquially as Central Station) is a railway station serving the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. Located on Bridge Street in the Laganside area of central Belfast, it is one of f ...

to Bangor. Today, this route from Belfast to Bangor is the only existing operative line over the former Belfast and County Down Railway. The Titanic Quarter stop was added 9 May 1977, known at the time as Bridge End. In 1994, the original Northern entrance on the west end that connected to Queen's Quay was removed due to the decommissioning of its maintenance area.

Notes

{{Reflist 1848 in Ireland 1850 in Ireland 1871 in Ireland 1950 in Northern Ireland 1976 in Northern Ireland 1977 in Northern Ireland 1994 in Northern Ireland Transport in County Down Transport in Belfast 19th century in Belfast 20th century in Belfast Rail transport in Northern Ireland Rail junctions in Northern Ireland