Full steam ahead for Barra

Full steam ahead for Barra

8 October 2014

A NEW BBC Northern Ireland series which focuses on the golden age of rail begins next week with the spotlight on County Down.

Barra Best, a man more accustomed to looking into the future and predicting what the weather holds for us, is travelling back in time to explore the history of our railways.

Before the era of the car and road network, the rail industry flourished with numerous private operators setting up their own lines connecting people with ports, towns and industry.

Even historical monuments had their own dedicated halts with companies tailoring day trips and destinations for potential passengers.

The new three-part series, entitled Walk The Line, starts next Monday evening at 7.30pm, with Barra taking viewers on a trip back in time to uncover some of the hidden history, the landscapes and people connected with our rail heritage.

The series explores some of Northern Ireland’s lost railways from Co. Down to Fermanagh and reveals the motivation behind why they were built, how they revolutionised the local areas and what signalled the end of the line for so many routes.

In next Monday night’s programme, Barra travels along what was the Belfast and Co. Down line, beginning his journey in Downpatrick where he visits the railway museum.

He explains how the Victorians’ fascination with ancient history meant that a halt, or stop, was especially built at Ballynoe and how even then, the railway companies were quick to spot a business opportunity.

It’s then on to Ballykinler where archaeologists have uncovered a network of forgotten training trenches used to prepare soldiers before they left for the Front in World War I.

Passing Dundrum, Barra reaches the final destination on the line — Newcastle. He finds out that the railway company actually built one of its main hotels. But less well-known is that the Royal County Down Golf course also owes its existence to the railway.

Barra also reveals how a battle between two giants of the railway industry at the time, over access to the town, transformed a once genteel place of recuperation and rest for the well-to-do, into a popular holiday resort.