0:00:06 > 0:00:09For me, trains are about getting from A to B,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11but there are people of all ages
0:00:11 > 0:00:15who love the romance of the golden age of the railway.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19When the first train left Belfast for Lisburn in 1839,
0:00:19 > 0:00:21it changed our lives forever.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Fast, dangerous and exciting,
0:00:25 > 0:00:27the railway sped up the pace
0:00:27 > 0:00:30of industry, commerce and communication.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33At one time, almost everyone in the country
0:00:33 > 0:00:35lived within five miles of a station.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38People who'd never been out of their hometown or village
0:00:38 > 0:00:42could take a trip to the city or spend a day at the seaside.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46I'm much too young to remember all that,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49but I've spoken to people up and down the country
0:00:49 > 0:00:52who can't understand why most of our railway network
0:00:52 > 0:00:55was abandoned almost 50 years ago.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59'I want to find out what the attraction is,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03'to see if there's any trace left of these old lines,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05'any hidden history to be found
0:01:05 > 0:01:08'in some of the places they passed through.'
0:01:08 > 0:01:10And that brings us to tomorrow - temperatures will rise
0:01:10 > 0:01:14to about 18 or 19 degrees for many of us.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Then as we look ahead to the rest of the week and into the weekend,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20plenty of more dry weather to come.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Well, there you are. That was the weather. Not looking too bad at all.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Perfect for getting away from the weather desk for a few days
0:01:25 > 0:01:26to Walk The Line.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55If it's not too strange an idea,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58I'm going to start my walk at the end of a line.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02This line, part of the old Ballymena, Cushendall
0:02:02 > 0:02:04and Red Bay railway route. As the name implies,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07it should have gone all the way to Cushendall and Red Bay,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11but railway engineers were defeated by the steepness of the slope.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16So this is the last stop, Retreat high up in the Antrim Hills.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20This uninhabited railway cottage and platform,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23close to the ruins of Retreat Castle on this desolate moorland,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25marks the end of the line.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30And the reason the line ends here
0:02:30 > 0:02:34is that for the train to ever reach its proposed destination of Red Bay,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38the line would have had to drop around 1,000 feet
0:02:38 > 0:02:43over four miles, zigzagging its way down the Glens towards the coast.
0:02:49 > 0:02:50Our journey today will take us through
0:02:50 > 0:02:54some of the most breathtaking scenery of County Antrim -
0:02:54 > 0:02:56from the Glens to the coast...
0:03:04 > 0:03:06..over rugged rocks and rushing rivers,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08through lowlands and highlands.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11In fact, the Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay line
0:03:11 > 0:03:15made it to a summit of 1,045 feet above sea level,
0:03:15 > 0:03:20making it the highest point ever reached by an Irish railway.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28The line of the old railway runs past Essathohan Bridge
0:03:28 > 0:03:32and straight as an arrow ahead of me and down Glenballyemon.
0:03:36 > 0:03:37It's hard to believe that trains
0:03:37 > 0:03:41once disturbed the peace and quiet of this landscape.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45But this was once a commercial centre, a hive of activity.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Hundreds of workers mined iron ore out of these hills.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Hundreds of horses carted it down the mountains.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02This area became well known for its high-quality ores
0:04:02 > 0:04:06when James Fisher from Barrow and Furness in northern England
0:04:06 > 0:04:11started his mining operation in Glenravel in 1866.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14This was before large-scale mechanisation.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20Mining was very labour intensive and demanded a lot of local man power.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23At first, it was difficult to find competent workers,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26but in a short time, ordinary farm labourers
0:04:26 > 0:04:28adapted to the difficult work
0:04:28 > 0:04:34and most were capable of picking two to three tonnes of ore each day.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37I'm on my way to meet local historian and tour guide,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Donnell O'Loan.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Donnell, how are you?
0:04:41 > 0:04:42Hello, Barra. Good to meet you.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45So what is this, apart from a ruin?
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Well, it certainly looks like a ruin, but it's the last,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54most noticeable feature of the iron ore mining of Glenravel.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58- Indeed, they were taking iron out of the ground.- They certainly were.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02And it's hard to realise just looking at the windswept area here
0:05:02 > 0:05:03just with sheep,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07that there are actually miles, miles upon miles of underground tunnels,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10where so much iron ore was taken out of the ground.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And once upon a time, you had hundreds of men here
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and hundreds of horses all as part of this operation.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Yes, they estimate that there were 700 miners working here.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23It was the most intensive iron ore mining period in Ireland.
0:05:23 > 0:05:24And when you say iron ore,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27what did it look like when they were taking it out of the ground?
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Well, it certainly didn't look like a piece of iron or a nail.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32It looked like...this.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34This is one sample of iron ore.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36So this big orange rock?
0:05:36 > 0:05:39This bit orange rock, and you can feel that it's actually quite heavy.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41How did they get this out of the ground?
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Well, it was done by manual labour, using tools like picks,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50shovels, wheelbarrows, and I have one of the picks right here.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52And, as you can see, it's quite short
0:05:52 > 0:05:55because work in the mines was so cramped.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58It was very difficult work, very dangerous work,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and I certainly wouldn't like to have had to do it.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05So they took this out of the ground and then what did they do with it?
0:06:05 > 0:06:08The problem was there was plenty of iron ore here,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11but there was nothing to smelt it with.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15That had been tried using peat, but unsuccessfully,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17so the iron ore had to be taken cross channel
0:06:17 > 0:06:20to places like Cumberland or to Scotland
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and that meant it had to be taken to a port.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25How did they get it off this hill?
0:06:25 > 0:06:28The problem here was that there's a very steep slope
0:06:28 > 0:06:33down into Cargan village, like a ski slope, we might describe it.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36And that meant that wagons couldn't be taken down it,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40so a special system had to be produced in order to do that,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42and that is what we have here, the drum.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44There was a large wooden cylinder
0:06:44 > 0:06:47which was suspended between the two walls,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and a cable around it that lowered the wagons to the bottom
0:06:50 > 0:06:52of the steep hill which is on the other side of it.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55700 men, hundreds of horses...
0:06:55 > 0:06:59- Big operation.- Well, 700 men working here and, of course,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03this was the original reason why the railway had to be developed.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Ore production was at its height in 1880
0:07:12 > 0:07:17when almost 120,000 tonnes of ore was locally produced.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20However, the richest ores in this area were soon mined
0:07:20 > 0:07:25and almost as quickly as it had appeared, mining disappeared.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30Fisher's mines, the original Glenravel mine, closed in 1913.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33And the miners... Well, they had little choice.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37They either migrated to Scotland and England to continue mining,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40or fell back into their former agricultural jobs.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55This sculpture keeping watch over the glen
0:07:55 > 0:07:57is called The Angel Of The Drum.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00It was designed by Ned Jackson Smyth
0:08:00 > 0:08:05to celebrate the area's one-time association with iron ore mining.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08The human outline, depicted by the rust-coloured steel,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12symbolises man's connection with the rust-coloured earth.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26I'm really glad something remains of the iron ore industry.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Something else which remains, only just,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33is the station building and water tower at Parkmore.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35That was the last stop for passengers
0:08:35 > 0:08:38on the Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay railway route,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42and that's where I'm headed to now to meet Peter Irvine,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44also known as Irishmanlost.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Peter is a dereliction photographer.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55He travels all over the country
0:08:55 > 0:08:59searching for places unseen by the public.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Over the past decade, he has visited and photographed abandoned buildings
0:09:03 > 0:09:05under the pseudonym Irishmanlost.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10He wants to create an artist's vision of these buildings
0:09:10 > 0:09:13before they are gone forever.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17- Pete, why are we here?- We're here basically to record the building
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and basically to see what's left of it.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24The fact that they're not going to be lasting that much longer,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28as you can see, on this one here, the walls are about to give up.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30A lot of them have already...crumbled.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Yeah, I would say another couple of seasons
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and this building will be no longer, so...
0:09:35 > 0:09:39This is the reason why I come to shoot these type of buildings.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43And some people might wonder why you actually do this.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44It's like walking through history.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49People that have lived here and gone on or possibly died,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52things like that, it's always good to record them
0:09:52 > 0:09:54before people build new buildings
0:09:54 > 0:09:56and then they wonder what was here before.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58So that's why I do it.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00When you're out taking your photographs,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02what exactly are you looking for?
0:10:02 > 0:10:07Basically, I'm looking for not only the details, but sometimes it's just
0:10:07 > 0:10:14a door or a window, or, erm, remains of what's been used beforehand.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Even the fireplace can be quite an interesting shot.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Well, I was about to say, there's not very much in this area
0:10:20 > 0:10:22that would suggest that this is a train station,
0:10:22 > 0:10:23but you see the old fireplace here
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and you can almost imagine the passengers huddled around the fire
0:10:26 > 0:10:28during the winter months waiting for the train.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Some of the buildings I've been in,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32the fireplaces are usually the first things that disappear.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36But any ones that are left are actually very interesting features.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Have you photographed any other railway stations
0:10:40 > 0:10:42and, if so, how does this one compare to those?
0:10:42 > 0:10:46I have photographed stations both here in the north and in the south.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49This is probably the barest one of them all.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52It's hard to pick out any details within the building.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56There's nothing really left, it's basically scraped clean.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00And it does seem a little bit different. This is concrete.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02A lot of the railway stations
0:11:02 > 0:11:04are in the red brick or yellow brick as well,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08which make a much more interesting subject to photograph.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Concrete can be difficult.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21The water tower's just up the track bit, and it's red brick
0:11:21 > 0:11:23with the water tower on the top
0:11:23 > 0:11:25and it's an interesting subject to photograph.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32When passengers left Parkmore station,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35they made their way to a line of jaunting cars,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37a bit like a modern-day taxi rank.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40But, like the trains, they've disappeared.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Siobhan Ni Luain was born and reared in Glenravel.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59She was a prolific writer of poems and short stories
0:11:59 > 0:12:03and many of her poems were written about her childhood memories.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05This one is called The Narrow-Gauge Line.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10"Looking up through the trees, leaning out from the door
0:12:10 > 0:12:15"I shall never again see the train from Parkmore
0:12:15 > 0:12:19"With its small, shining engine so sturdy and grand
0:12:19 > 0:12:22"And it winding its way through the length of the land.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26"You never knew what that small train might be bringing
0:12:26 > 0:12:30"To the halt by the bushes with all the birds singing
0:12:30 > 0:12:34"With its soft train of smoke and its rumble of thunder
0:12:34 > 0:12:37"And who would get out would be half a day's wonder.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41"When I was a child I'd have said that forever
0:12:41 > 0:12:44"The train would endure, just the same as the river
0:12:44 > 0:12:48"But the world's in a hurry with your life and mine
0:12:48 > 0:12:51"And it hasn't much use for a narrow-gauge line."
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Let me tell you about a man called Berkeley Deane Wise.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26His title was Railway Civil Engineer,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29but that doesn't do justice to his structural designs,
0:13:29 > 0:13:31some of which still exist today,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34like Portrush and Whitehead railway stations
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and the place I'm heading to now...
0:13:38 > 0:13:41..the tea room at the foot of Glenariff,
0:13:41 > 0:13:42the queen of the Glens.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49BD Wise worked under Edward John Cotton,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52General Manager of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and together they developed the most prosperous railway in Ireland,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00showing a particular flair for the promotion of tourism.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04So, as well as his normal work on the railway and its stations,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Wise designed promenades, bandstands, footpaths,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10golf courses and tea rooms.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Mark Kennedy is curator
0:14:16 > 0:14:20of Road and Rail Transport, National Museums, Northern Ireland.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23The railway companies may have been concentrating on industry,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27but he had the foresight to see that tourism could bring in the money.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Very much so, yes. His normal stock in trade
0:14:30 > 0:14:32would be railway stations.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Good track, bridges, that sort of thing.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Erm, to design his own tea rooms in a very distinct style
0:14:39 > 0:14:43- is something really quite unusual. - Why did he do it?
0:14:43 > 0:14:47I think he was very interested in the tourism potential of Ireland.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52Along with his boss, EJ Cotton, they did a number of things of which
0:14:52 > 0:14:56this was probably the first large-scale development.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00The idea that they would lease one of the Glens of Antrim,
0:15:00 > 0:15:05build a tea room, add in a photographic dark room
0:15:05 > 0:15:10for use by the public, was really cutting-edge stuff.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13I suppose it's like having Wi-Fi available today, something like that.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Is this typical of his signature look?
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Yes, he was reputed to have gone on holiday to Switzerland
0:15:21 > 0:15:25and come back with a new look with hipped roofs,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30very steep pitches, a sort of a mock-Tudor or stockbroker-Tudor
0:15:30 > 0:15:33black and white timbered look,
0:15:33 > 0:15:39very often with the downstairs in a nice orangey brick colour.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43The best example probably would be Portrush railway station,
0:15:43 > 0:15:44probably the best one surviving.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48And indeed, something like this would have helped develop this area
0:15:48 > 0:15:50into a little tourist Mecca.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Very much so, yeah, even today.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55It's still a lovely, dramatic place
0:15:55 > 0:15:57with loads of tourists in the car park here.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01But it must have been really quite something in the 1890s to come here
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and if you think of the late-Victorian and Edwardian costumes
0:16:04 > 0:16:06of ladies in full-length dresses,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09to actually come out into the wilds of County Antrim.
0:16:09 > 0:16:10And it's still here today.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13It must have been quite successful in its time.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16It was originally hoped that the narrow-gauge line
0:16:16 > 0:16:19would make them a profit from the iron ore business,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23but when that fell away, the tourism stuff came in
0:16:23 > 0:16:26and did really well for them for many, many years,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28to the extent that even in the 1930s,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31they actually bought the property outright from the landowner.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33And this isn't the only part of his legacy.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37We have Portrush railway station, Whitehead railway station...
0:16:37 > 0:16:41How unusual was that for a railway engineer?
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Wise managed to pack an awful lot in
0:16:43 > 0:16:46to less than 20 years with Northern Counties.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52He developed Glenariff here, Blackhead Path and Whitehead
0:16:52 > 0:16:54and ultimately, the Gobbins,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57I suppose is his best-remembered feature.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12William Makepeace Thackeray, best known for his novel Vanity Fair,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16wrote a travel book in the 1840s called The Irish Sketch Book
0:17:16 > 0:17:18and when he visited Glenariff,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21he described it as "Switzerland in miniature".
0:17:25 > 0:17:29BD Wise would be happy to know that his waterfall walkway
0:17:29 > 0:17:31still attracts visitors from all over the world.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50The Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay line
0:17:50 > 0:17:53brought their ore down to the main station in Ballymena.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57I am staying with a narrow-gauge line,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01but this time the Ballymena to Larne route which opened in 1877.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Passengers may have been an afterthought on the Cushendall line,
0:18:13 > 0:18:14but not on this one,
0:18:14 > 0:18:18which ran the most luxurious narrow-gauge boat train in Ireland.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24My route takes me through Moorfields.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27The railway station opened here in 1878
0:18:27 > 0:18:29for passenger and goods traffic.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33The two-storey, red-brick station house
0:18:33 > 0:18:36still stands in a cutting under the bridge.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39The signal box is also a reminder of train traffic.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43A linen beetling mill and dyeworks provided employment
0:18:43 > 0:18:47and a Post Office, store and dispensary
0:18:47 > 0:18:50catered for the other needs of this small community.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55The nearby Kells Water river is fast-flowing
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and supplied water to the beetling mill,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00the mill now vanished from the landscape.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10This is the townland of Ballyboley and looking around,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14it's hard to understand why a railway station was needed here.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18But, of course, Larne is just down the track
0:19:18 > 0:19:20and this line was used
0:19:20 > 0:19:23for the transportation of cattle, people and paper.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38But before I reach the busy seaport of Larne,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41the train line runs through here - Clements Wood.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known to you and me
0:19:46 > 0:19:48as the great American author Mark Twain,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50is reputed to have observed,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54"I spent a fortune researching my ancestors
0:19:54 > 0:19:56"and another covering them up again."
0:19:58 > 0:20:02But would he have said that if he'd ever visited this part of the world?
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Mark Twain was of Scotch-Irish descent
0:20:06 > 0:20:09on both his mother's and father's side of the family,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13his father being related to the Clements of this neck of the woods.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18It's nice to enjoy the solitude of this forest
0:20:18 > 0:20:20before my journey takes me onwards to Larne.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40Looking out across the lough from beside the James Chaine Tower,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43I watch the ferries power their way in out and of the port.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51The Ballymena and Larne railway line opened in 1878
0:20:51 > 0:20:55and boat trains ran to Larne Harbour station from Ballymena,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58as well as Belfast on the standard-gauge line
0:20:58 > 0:21:00via Carrickfergus.
0:21:02 > 0:21:03Known as the short sea route,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Larne-Stranraer was the route favoured by most businessmen
0:21:07 > 0:21:11travelling to and from London and at Stranraer,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14trains with sleeping accommodation met the ships.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19The steamers, since the introduction of regular sailings in 1872,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21were mostly named after princesses -
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Margaret, Maud and the infamous Victoria
0:21:25 > 0:21:30which sank in 1953 off the County Down coast in treacherous weather
0:21:30 > 0:21:32with the loss of 133 lives.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Trains may still run to Larne harbour on the mainline,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40but not as a special boat train.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And the ferries don't sail to Stranraer either,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47marking the end of 120 years of formal rail and sea connections.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Writer and broadcaster Colm Flanagan
0:21:51 > 0:21:53recalls, with affection, the boat trains.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58We're told that the narrow-gauge, the boat trains here,
0:21:58 > 0:21:59were the most luxurious in Ireland,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03if not the whole of the British Isles. What made them so popular?
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Well, the narrow-gauge was built because there wasn't enough money
0:22:06 > 0:22:09to build standard or broad-gauge railway.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10So it was a cheap way of doing things,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14so inevitably, passenger comfort was not really
0:22:14 > 0:22:17a priority for the management of those companies.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19They trundled along quite slowly.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21I mean, if you were doing 30mph, that was flat out
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and that was considered unsafe.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26So really most trains meandered through the countryside,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28stopped at all kinds of little places maybe a mile or two
0:22:28 > 0:22:32from the nearest village, shunted some wagons - the passengers sat on.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35But to actually have a special train which ran nonstop
0:22:35 > 0:22:39over 25 miles of track was unheard of, so these carriages
0:22:39 > 0:22:42with corridor connections, toilets, electric lighting,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44they were really mainline carriages on this narrow-gauge.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46That was what was unique about them.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Your father was heavily involved with them as well
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and he would have known the boat trains. What were they for?
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Well, to give an example of how my father used them,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57he worked in what was called the Ulster Transport Authority
0:22:57 > 0:22:59and in fact he was actually a busman.
0:22:59 > 0:23:00And he used to go over to work in London.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05He would leave home in the morning, travel to work in Belfast,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07get the boat train, as it was called, to Larne.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09It was a special fast train that didn't stop
0:23:09 > 0:23:11at the intermediate stations.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Then he would get the ferry over to Stranraer, go to London
0:23:14 > 0:23:17on an overnight train, do his business, come back the next day.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21So the boat trains both sides of the channel were very important.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24The ferries were run by railway companies initially
0:23:24 > 0:23:26and so they made the trains connect with the boats.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29- And hence the name boat train. - Exactly.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Colm was a boarding pupil at Coleraine Institute
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and going home for the weekend, he can remember with excitement
0:23:39 > 0:23:43the sight and sound of the train as it approached the station.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45He started filming those train journeys,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48but this lifelong enthusiasm for trains
0:23:48 > 0:23:50was sparked even before his school days.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Tell me why you love the railway so much.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58My interest in the railway started when I was about five years old.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00I was given a train set and my mother said,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03"If this isn't looked after, it will get taken away."
0:24:03 > 0:24:04But it didn't and for some reason,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06I just became more and more interested.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Through my teens and then when I was in my late teens,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12I got interested in the railways of Ireland through meeting a friend
0:24:12 > 0:24:13at school who was fanatical and was, in fact,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15writing a book about them at that time
0:24:15 > 0:24:18even while he was still at school. So he failed his exams.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Here we are, you are a railway enthusiast.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Your dad's closing the railways.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24There must have been a bit of conflict there.
0:24:24 > 0:24:25Well, in fairness to my dad,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28he wasn't actually responsible for closing them, but he was part
0:24:28 > 0:24:30of the organisation which was involved in closing the railways.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Yes, we did, we used to argue the bit. Were trains better than buses?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37And the fact is, there's no one answer to that question.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Trains do certain things exceedingly well,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42that's why we still have railways today.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45They carry large numbers of people very quickly between fixed places.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46They're very good at that.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50But they can't possibly have a network that covers all the houses,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53all the places of work that people need to go to today,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55because society is so much more scattered now.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57We travel in our cars all over the place.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01We want something that'll do that for us. Trains can't do that.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Earlier, we visited Glenariff where I told you about railway engineer
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Berkeley Deane Wise and his visionary ideas.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25So I've left the boat trains of Larne,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29hopped down to Ballycarry, en route to one of his most spectacular
0:25:29 > 0:25:31engineering masterpieces - the Gobbins.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Just as at Parkmore Station,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51jaunting cars would have been available
0:25:51 > 0:25:55to take tourists along this route, but I'm enjoying the walk.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24One of Wise's most spectacular civil engineering masterpieces,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The Gobbins Path, which winds its way dramatically under cliffs
0:26:28 > 0:26:33over 200 feet high on the Islandmagee coastline.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35The construction started in May 1901.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54The Gobbins cliff path was built
0:26:54 > 0:26:57so that tourists could literally walk over water -
0:26:57 > 0:27:00a heart-stopping, mind-blowing trail
0:27:00 > 0:27:03that ran along more than two miles of cliff face,
0:27:03 > 0:27:07all of it just a few feet above the waves of the Irish Sea.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17The railway company advertised the Gobbins as a walk with ravines,
0:27:17 > 0:27:22caves and natural aquariums that has no parallel in Europe.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Berkeley Deane Wise was a visionary
0:27:30 > 0:27:34and what a legacy he has left for us all to enjoy.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37He was an outstanding civil engineer.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41In his obituary, The Railway Engineer Journal recorded,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45"Berkeley Deane Wise's designs were both original and artistic
0:27:45 > 0:27:49"and he always strove to make the stations under his charge
0:27:49 > 0:27:51"as attractive as possible.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53"He was a great lover of the beauties of nature
0:27:53 > 0:27:57"and he will perhaps be best remembered as one
0:27:57 > 0:28:01"who made several of the beauty spots of a beautiful country
0:28:01 > 0:28:06"easily accessible without in the least marring their natural charms."
0:28:07 > 0:28:12When this cliff path opened in 1902, it drew worldwide acclaim.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Newspapers of the day said, "The varied beauty of this cliff path
0:28:16 > 0:28:19"baffled all description." I would certainly agree.
0:28:21 > 0:28:22Till next time, bye-bye.