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The Great Britain Guide

Natural landmarks · Northern Ireland

Ballymacarrett rail crash

Ballymacarrett rail crash in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

The Railway Stand at The Oval - geograph.org.uk - 1599414

Dean Molyneaux — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

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Typical visit
1 h–2 h

About

Ballymacarrett rail crash is a place of interest in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom — drawn from open-data sources for visitor reference. See the linked Wikipedia article for the full description.

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From the Wikipedia article

The Ballymacarrett rail crash occurred on 10 January 1945 at 7:50am in the Ballymacarrett area of Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland on the Belfast to Bangor Line of the Belfast and County Down Railway, when a train led by a heavy autotrain driving trailer ran into the back of a stopped passenger train consisting of lightweight wooden coaches. 22 died with 27 injured. It was the worst crash in Northern Ireland since 1889. The cause was found to be carelessness of the driver of the autotrain (also called a railmotor) who was running too fast for conditions. Fog, unsafe railway rules, and possible distraction from passengers all may have contributed to the accident. Old lightweight rolling stock contributed to the great number of injuries and deaths. The accident led to the demise of the railway company which was nationalised three years later.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

The Belfast and County Down Railway operated the very busy line from Belfast to Bangor. The heyday of the railway was in the late 1800s. By the end of the First World War, the railway was facing competition from buses and private vehicles and was facing economic pressures. In the 1920s some economy measures were put in place such as replacing manned signal boxes with automatic signals. In the 1930s there was an economic depression which put the company under even greater financial pressure. By the end of the Second World War, the pressures were even worse. When this railway implemented the automatic signals on this line, they also introduced a unique "Stop and Proceed" rule. This allowed…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
54.6033, -5.8927
Address
Ballymacarrett

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Ballymacarrett rail crash?
Ballymacarrett rail crash is in Northern Ireland, in the United Kingdom — coordinates 54.6033°, -5.8927°.
Who owns Ballymacarrett rail crash?
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