Goes to Ireland - Dundalk to Portadown Great British Railway Journeys

'In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain and Ireland.

'His name was George Bradshaw,

'and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.

'Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,

'what to see and where to stay.

'Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys

'across the length and breadth of these islands,

'to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.'

I'm in the middle of a delightful journey that will take me

from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland,

following my Bradshaw's guide,

across tracks laid in the 19th century,

when there was one Ireland, living under the reign of Queen Victoria.

'On this leg, I'll be unravelling the mystery

'of Ireland's pagan past.'

That is a most extraordinary set of stones.

I suppose, Stonehenge-like.

'Seeing the technology used by Victorian stargazers.'

That, I DO recognise, as a telescope.

'And travelling on a 19th century country railway,

'lovingly restored to life.'

I might think I was in the wrong place,

if it weren't for the tell-tale drift of smoke.

'I'm almost halfway through exploring the history

'of 19th century Ireland.

'Having seen the railways' birthplace in Dublin,

'I'm following their expansion north,

'towards the industrial powerhouse of Belfast,

'and my final destination of Derry/Londonderry.

'Beginning in Dundalk,

'this stretch takes me over the border,

'where I'll see how this region's complex history

'has shaped the railways,

'finishing up in rural County Down.'

I shall be getting off at Dundalk,

in search of what my Bradshaw's guide calls,

"Rude vestiges of antiquity,

"which consist of earthworks,

"chiefly designed for sepulchral purposes.

"Cromlechs, and other relics of pre-Christian ages,

"still numerous, and in several instances, extremely curious."

And that has, indeed, excited my curiosity.

'The "cromlechs" referred to in my guidebook

'means "crooked stones".

'One of Ireland's finest examples is close to Dundalk.

'I'm getting off at its Victorian station,

'designed by the famous engineer, William Hemingway Mills,

'and opened in 1894.'

What a beautiful station.

Dundalk, wonderfully preserved, and beautifully kept,

with its lovely flowers,

looking great on a summer's day.

'The Victorians were fascinated, and somewhat obsessed, by death.

'Ancient pagan monuments like cromlechs, which honoured

'and interred the dead, drew artists and scientists alike

'to these mystical stones.

'In Bradshaw's day,

'tourists from Dundalk could stroll up from the station,

'but, to follow in their footsteps,

'I'm using a more modern form of transport.'

The cromlech I want to visit is on the edge of a golf course,

so a buggy is the way to go.

Normal train service will be resumed when possible.

'The cromlech is easy to spot,

standing out incongruously amongst the golfers.'

Well, that is a most extraordinary set of stones.

I suppose, Stonehenge-like.

No idea what it does, what it is.

'Hugh Smyth knows the story of this curious structure.'

-Hugh. This is a cromlech, is it?

-It's a cromlech, yes.

And what is a cromlech?

It's actually an ancient tomb,

dating back to the Neolithic people,

approximately 4,500 to 5,000 years ago.

This is where they would have buried their people.

That's extraordinarily old.

Older than Stonehenge.

Older than the pyramids of Egypt.

'The stones' true purpose hasn't always been understood.

'They've even found a place in Irish mythology as a bed for giants.

'While some Victorians correctly associated them with tombs,

'others believed they were used for human sacrifice.'

My Bradshaw's guide describes it as "curious".

I think the Victorians did actually find it interesting, didn't they?

They found it very interesting, because they had resurrected

a belief and interest in spirituality and paganism.

They would have come here,

on many occasions, to look at this curiosity.

'In the 19th century, poets and artists of the Romantic movement

'harked back to pre-industrial innocence,

'and were fascinated by ancient beliefs.

'But, the Victorians were making great strides

'in scientific study.

'The foundations of modern archaeology were laid,

'while geologists began to unlock the secrets of rocks.'

Hugh, these are clearly massive stones. What do we know about them?

We know the three standing stones are native to the mountains here.

The top, capping stone, is not native to here at all.

It is native to the Mourne mountains,

which lie across Carlingford Lough in County Down.

'A theory is that these ancient people

'transported this 46-tonne stone more than ten miles,

'bringing it across the 2½ mile-wide lough, using rafts.

'It tops what was once probably the rocky gateway

'to a much bigger structure, covered in earth or stones.

'Victorian visitors could test their skill here,

'spurred on by a local legend.'

If you can manage to land a stone on top,

good luck will follow you all the days of your life.

-That's well worth trying for, isn't it?

-Yes. You have to try.

-Brilliant!

-Very well done!

'I think it's time for me to quit while I'm ahead,

'and return to the rails.'

I'm back at Dundalk Station,

close to something which didn't exist in Bradshaw's time,

the border.

But, who's existence, from the early part of the 20th century,

mightily affected rail services and people living either side of it.

'In Bradshaw's day,

'the United Kingdom of Great Britain

'and Ireland was a single state, governed from Westminster.

'As the 19th century drew on, calls grew for Irish independence,

'but those demands met dogged resistance, especially in the north.

'In 1922, after decades of sometimes violent dispute,

'the Irish Free State was established,

'but Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom.

'Suddenly, the island of Ireland was divided by an international border,

'and Dundalk became a frontier town.

'Retired station master, Brendan McQuaid, is showing me

'how this left its mark on the station.'

I'm guessing this gate is of some historic significance?

It's very significant, yes.

That fence there was erected in 1922.

People disembarking had to be customs cleared here at Dundalk.

So, this gate was closed all along.

That barrier ran the length of the station.

People couldn't exit the station

until they had been cleared by the customs.

'Partition changed life overnight for people living near the border.

'A shopping trip to Belfast became an international journey.

'Border controls were set up,

'and duty levied on goods brought across the frontier.

'For railway passengers,

'that meant customs officers searching the train.'

So, what sort of things were they looking for?

Anything. Virtually everything that was bought in the north

would be dutiable here.

Things like butter were cheaper in the north than the south,

so people going to visit in the north brought back butter with them.

Copies of the News Of The World,

which wasn't sold this side of the border.

Tide washing powder, Mars Bars,

anything.

'It wasn't until the 1990s, and the creation of

'the Single European Market, that the customs controls were removed.

'For the people of Dundalk, they were a way of life for 70 years.'

What did people think of it?

People were very disgruntled, Michael, and very annoyed.

Of course, they did everything they possibly could to hide the goods.

The stories that we hear about people hanging goods

from the door handles of trains, ladies buying clothes in the north,

putting them on top of the clothes they were wearing going down.

As regards what people thought about it,

there was nothing they could really do about it.

It was the system, and people just accepted it.

'Partition failed to bring peace to the region.

'With the advent of the so-called Troubles in the late 1960s,

'security was tightened further, and services were often disrupted

'as the railway line became a target.'

How long might the interruptions last?

Some might only last two or three hours,

depending on where the device was supposed to be.

I remember one Christmas, around 1988,

and it went on for about three weeks.

The railway line was closed for approximately three weeks.

That was the longest that we had.

'The express service from Dublin to Belfast was renamed

'the Enterprise in 1947, and I'm about to experience

'just how seamless crossing the border has become.'

-Hello, are you the station master?

-Yes. Anthony Monaghan is my name.

I'm taking the Enterprise in a moment.

When I get to the border, what will I notice?

There's actually no real difference in the crossover.

There's a signal post, and the signals change.

There's no signage, it's just straight on in.

So, when I go over the border, I'm going to change country,

I'm going to change currency.

You use kilometres here in the Republic,

they use miles in the North.

-But there's no stopping, just straight through?

-Yes.

Straight into Newry, and then that's it.

-Do I need that?

-Oh, you won't need your passport, you're OK.

-Just all the way through?

-All the way through.

That's a great relief. Thank you so much.

-No problem, Michael, thank you.

-I love your station.

The Enterprise.

Beam me north.

'My next station is just 15 miles and 20 minutes away.

'There's barely a clue that I'm crossing a frontier.'

This is the Enterprise crossing the border.

I've had a wonderful time in the Republic,

so farewell, Republic,

I'm going back to the United Kingdom.

I don't need my euros any more.

I can put them away.

'My Northern Ireland adventure begins at the first stop

'north of the border.'

Newry Station. So, my journey continues now in Northern Ireland.

'It's time for me to find my bed for the night,

'and I'm heading out towards the east coast,

'in search of a slice of Railway Age opulence.

'Unfortunately, it's no longer possible to get there by train,

'so it's the bus for me.'

Buses are all very fine, but when you're on them,

you do miss the train.

'My bus journey is taking me towards the seaside resort of Newcastle,

'backed by the splendour of the Mourne mountains.

'In the 19th century, railway builders had grand plans

'to transform this town into a magnet for the tourist.'

The old railway station here at Newcastle, County Down,

has no more trains.

But the railways have left their mark on the place,

in the form of this 19th century resort hotel,

the Slieve Donard.

This is where I'll spend the night.

'This ornate Victorian hotel was built

'by the Belfast and County Down Railway Company,

'and opened in 1898.

'The hope was to lure businessmen from Belfast

'to a luxurious retreat, and before I turn in,

'I want to hear about the hotel's heyday from manager, John Toner.'

What was the standard of accommodation when it opened?

Very high. Every room had its own fire,

and it had the highest sort of public areas,

like billiard rooms.

It also had a drawing room, reading rooms and writing rooms.

There were Turkish baths

and hot seawater baths.

It really led the path well.

And wonderful views of mountain and sea?

Yes, it's in the heart of Dundrum Bay, looking out to the Irish Sea.

On a clear day, you can see Scotland to your right.

You can see the Isle Of Man.

I think I've chosen well. I'll sleep well, with this wonderful sea air.

-I'm sure you will.

-Thank you.

-Good night.

-Bye.

'After a good night's rest, it's time for me to rejoin my route.'

An uplifting view of sea and mountain puts a spring in my step,

as I go back to the rails.

'I've retraced my steps to Newry, to continue my journey north.

'It's had a station ever since 1855, but the latest incarnation

'is this modern building, opened just two years ago.

Newry Station has the feeling of an airport terminal.

Very new, indeed.

Hello, how you doing?

-Oh, you're for Belfast?

-Yes, here to Portadown.

Platform Two. The train's coming in now, OK?

Upstairs, over the bridge.

-Thanks. Bye.

-Bye.

'Once again, I'm travelling on one of the smart express trains

'that speed between Dublin and Belfast.

'But train travel hasn't always been this comfortable,

'or this safe.'

I don't know about you, but when I get on a train,

I never think about the possibility of an accident.

But, let's face it. Over nearly two centuries of railway history,

there have been some appalling disasters.

The consolation, perhaps, is that the worst of those

lead to improvements in procedures and regulations.

'I'm leaving the train at Portadown.

'These days, it's as close as you can get by rail to Armagh,

'the site of one of the 19th century's most shocking accidents.

'Track inspector Urban Magee has been researching the story.'

-Urban, hello.

-Hello, Michael. How are you? Pleased to meet you.

It's good to see you. I'm interested in the Armagh rail disaster of 1889.

It's gone down in history. What was the cause of it?

What happened was, there was a large number of passengers

coming out of the train at Armagh, in 1889.

As a result, they put extra coaches on the train.

The engine provided wasn't capable of pulling the train

up the hill, coming out of Armagh Station, so the train stalled

and the driver decided to hook the first four coaches off the train,

and bring those on to a nearby station.

'At the time,

'carriages didn't have their own continuous braking system,

'so to stop the remaining eight coaches rolling down the hill,

'the crew placed stones beneath the wheels.

'It was a technique that proved fatal.'

When he had come back,

the stones had crushed from underneath the wheels

of the rear eight, and they had rolled back down the hill

into Armagh Station, and collided with a train coming out.

How big was the disaster?

At that time, 88 people died. Several hundreds were injured.

There was a total of 1,200 passengers on board the train.

'It was Ireland's worst disaster since the birth of the railways,

'and revealed some serious flaws in the system.'

Would the signalman not have known

the train hadn't cleared out of the patch,

when he allowed the next train through?

No. At that time, that section of track

was controlled by time interval.

So, the signalman just let the train out

at a certain amount of time, usually an hour,

after the other train had left.

He was confident that train had left the portion of track, and it hadn't.

'Soon after the disaster, an Act of Parliament was passed,

'requiring railway companies

'to introduce better braking and signalling,

'and setting in train railway safety features we now take for granted.

'A modern signal box contains sophisticated technology

'designed to ensure that such an accident could not recur.'

On this board, I'd still be able to see

these different sections of line controlled by a signalman?

Yep. There's block sections all along this panel here.

Trains would not be permitted to pass this signal,

unless the section of line is clear.

So, I guess, when we have these really appalling disasters,

in the worst cases at least,

some kind of good comes out of it, some improvement?

Well, there's usually lessons learned from everything.

'Armagh lost its station in the 1950s, but my 19th century guide

'gives the town's fine buildings an approving review.

'It singles out "the well-organised observatory,

'"containing transit, zenith sector, mural circle, telescope,

'"electro-meter, etcetera".

'As telescope is the only word I recognise,

'I've come to look for that,

'helped by observatory librarian, John McFarland.

'He's leading me to the observatory's oldest instrument,

'one of very few such devices left in the world.'

What a magnificent object, John.

Yes, this is the so-called Troughton equatorial telescope,

manufactured in 1795

by the firm of John & Edward Troughton, of London.

Here's the actual telescope.

Quite small by modern standards, of course.

But large enough for the purposes of the astronomer in those days,

working out positions of stars on the sky.

'The observatory was founded in 1789, by the Archbishop of Armagh,

'Richard Robinson,

'who had a vision of turning Armagh into a university town.

'His observatory, thereafter,

'pushed forward our understanding of the universe.'

The Victorians were very keen on acquiring scientific knowledge.

-Did it have a practical value?

-Indeed it did, Michael.

The work of the astronomer in those days

was calculating the positions of stars on the sky,

for the use of navigators and sailors.

For example, in crossing the vast oceans,

you had to know exactly where you were,

otherwise you could crash into rocks,

or be miles out at the end of your journey.

'Mapping the stars was a mammoth task that kept the astronomers busy

'for most of the 19th century,

'but in the mid-1800s,

'this vital project was threatened by a proposed new railway.'

You had to have absolute steadiness in your instruments.

They couldn't move, in any way,

while you were making your observations.

'The astronomers feared vibrations from passing trains

'would ruin their results.

'Although they couldn't prevent the arrival of the rails in Armagh,

'observatory director Thomas Robinson

'blocked the line from coming within 700 yards of the building.'

In your professional opinion, would that be a safe distance?

No. I think Robinson eventually regretted that short distance.

He thought it should have been much further,

once he had completed his experiments

on the disturbing forces of the locomotives.

'Despite their precautions, the astronomers ended up

'throwing out a great many results due to vibrations from trains.

'Luckily, it didn't force the observatory to close.

'Astronomers here today work on state-of-the-art astrophysics.

'But they haven't entirely abandoned their Victorian instruments.'

Now, John, that I DO recognise, as a telescope.

What vintage is this?

This dates from 1885.

It was built by the firm of Howard Grubb, of Dublin.

This is the telescope we'd use nowadays

for making our visual observations.

-And you're still using it today?

-Very much so.

As and when the weather permits, of course.

For example, you can rotate the dome here right around,

by pulling on this rope over here.

-May I have a go?

-Yes, please do.

That operates amazingly smoothly, doesn't it?

-Yes, it's cooperating today.

-That's a great design in itself.

I'm so impressed you're still using a telescope

-nearly as old as my Bradshaw's, and just as useful.

-Yes, indeed.

'For the last leg of my journey,

'I'm taking a detour from my route.

'I've been following the mainline that links Dublin and Belfast,

'but in Bradshaw's day, there were other, smaller lines

'radiating from the island's second city.'

'I've come to the County Down countryside,

'to see what's left of a celebrated Victorian service.'

A remote platform, set amongst fields and cows.

I might think I was in the wrong place, if it weren't

for the tell-tale drift of smoke.

'I'm catching a steam train on the Downpatrick and County Down Railway.

'It's Northern Ireland's only full-size heritage line,

'and it runs on a route created in Bradshaw's day.

'The original Belfast & County Down Railway

'was built by the famous engineer William Dargan,

'the man behind Ireland's very first railway, back in 1834.

'But, like so many Irish lines, it's had a chequered history.

'En route to Downpatrick,

'I'm getting the story from volunteer Robert Gardiner.'

-Was this built for passengers, or freight?

-Passengers.

The Belfast And County Down Railway was a commuter line.

This line to Downpatrick was for the legal profession,

so that judges and barristers could get from the crown court in Belfast

down to the courthouse here in Downpatrick,

which was a major legal centre in the county.

A silky-smooth ride for them?

Absolutely. If you compare the stagecoach ride from Belfast

in small, pitted roads,

versus this brand new marvel of wondrous technology.

There would be no comparison.

'But the lawyers had to wait for their commuter line.

'The route was first proposed in 1845,

'when Ireland was in the grip of the great famine,

'which began with the potato blight,

'and went on to kill around a million people.'

There's a myth that Ulster wasn't as badly affected

as the rest of the island of Ireland was.

But it WAS affected, and the Irish famine did have a severe impact

on the construction of this line.

'The famine delayed construction of the line for a decade,

'but by the end of the 19th century,

'Ireland's railways had spread impressively.

'They reached their zenith in the 1920s,

'when the island was criss-crossed by nearly 3,500 miles of track.

'But it wasn't to last.'

When did this lovely line close to the public?

1950. It was one of the first lines in Northern Island to be closed.

The line had been run into the ground during the Second World War.

At that time, the Stormont government decided

it wasn't worth the while keeping it open.

"And, we'll close it. Sure, buses will do the work instead."

'This pattern was repeated across the land.

'Today, fewer than half the lines in use at the peak

'remain in service.

'Here in County Down, the track was lifted,

'and it was thought the line was history,

'until, in the 1980s,

'a group of enthusiasts decided to revive it.'

1982, that was a pretty troubled moment

in the history of Northern Ireland?

It was at the height of the Troubles, and, I suppose,

it would be an unlikely time for a heritage railway to be set up.

I think we were just lucky,

in terms of the politics of this area

were very favourable to promoting tourism.

And, basically getting on with life, at that time,

and ensuring that something kept going on, beyond the Troubles.

'The heritage project had a slow start,

'with little funding, and barely any facilities.

'Now it's popular with tourists, who come to where St Patrick,

'who introduced Christianity to Ireland, is believed to be buried.

'The heritage line is run entirely by volunteers like Robert,

'who do everything from driving trains

'to restoring vintage coaches.'

Oh dear, this is a poor old wreck of a thing, isn't it?

It is, but it's pretty much a gem in our collection, at the minute.

We found it in a field, near Hillsborough,

being used as a chicken house.

But, if I mentioned the names King George V, King George VI,

and King Edward VII, and a bunch of chickens,

what do you think they'd have in common?

They all used this carriage?

They've all used this carriage.

This was the Belfast & County Down Railway's royal saloon.

It was built in 1897, for Queen Victoria's jubilee.

And, one day, you will restore it, to regal splendour.

'It's a labour of love for the volunteers,

'and reminds us of the railways' important part

'in this region's history.'

For the first time, my railway journey

has taken me across an international border.

During my lifetime, relations across that border have been strained,

and rail services have been disrupted by political issues.

But, since Bradshaw's day,

whenever peoples were able to live at peace,

the train was there to smooth trade

and to link families and friends.

'On the next leg of my journey,

'I'll be taking a step back in time.'

This is like the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

'Seeing what gave pleasure-seeking Victorians

'the thrill of their lives.'

Being 30 to 70 feet above the sea crashing below you.

A big change from city life.

'And taking to the tracks in the latest high-tech train simulator.'

Oh, dear! I think we're all dead!

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