Area poorer for rail closure
This week is the old Richhill station, opened as part of the Portadown – Armagh line which was completed in February 1848 and closed October 1957, as part of the Government’s seeming paranoia to close as many lines as it could.
The line was the first of the new 5’3” gauge dictated by The Gauges (Ireland) Act of 1846, and many lines in the country including the Belfast-Portadown track had to be re-laid.
The first part of the line to Armagh was the building of a timber rail bridge over the Bann at Portadown, consisting of five arches – each with a 39-foot span – it was replaced by the present iron structure in 1871.
The next landmark was the reaching of Richhill station, 6.25 miles away, and the only main station between Portadown and Armagh, with the first train running on the finished line on March 1, 1848, arriving at 10am.
Huge crowds greeted the first train, and this was the case at Richhill as well as Armagh.
Journey
There was also huge crowds on the last train 1957 before the closure of the line, and aboard that train was Portadown Times journalist Brian Courtney, who describes the scenes- “My most compelling memory of the last train journey from Portadown to Armagh was the remark of a railway man I interviewed as we were approaching Richhill station on the return journey – ‘Northern Ireland will regret the closure of the railways some day.’ he told me.
“Amid all the excitement of a packed train, hundreds of people on the platforms at Richhill and other halts, that comment of a man who had worked on the railways for many years lingered with me long after the track had been lifted and fields had intruded on where the rails had been, and nature took over the ‘Iron Road’ obliterating all trace of the line in many parts of the route. “To the 500 people like me who were on that train in October, 1957, it was a day of excitement – a feeling on being on a piece of history.
Thoughts
“The detonators exploded as the train rolled into Richhill station and later as it entered Armagh before the return journey to Portadown. “People waved through the open carriages of the train at people in fields and small country halts as the way to and from Armagh. “I got a story, and everyone had their own thoughts, but to the men who had worked on the trains and saw their beloved Armagh line disappear into the history books, it was a feeling of sadness, mingled with anger and frustration. “Hoe perceptive that man was, because the past three decades have seen a transformation in the fortunes of the Ulster Railways with the lines that are still in existence doing a brick business and talk of new lines opening. “There was even talk of a line to Armagh but that is unlikely to happen and even if it does there is little chance of a line going through the neat and tidy station of Richhill. “I used to admire the way Richhill station was kept, as I travelled in the 1950s to courts, health and welfare and education committee meetings in Armagh.
Village
“It was delight to relax on the journey to and from the Primatial City, and Richhill was always one of the highlights as the station was a mass of colour with flowers, window boxes and well kept garden. “But like so many stations in Ireland, the Richhill halt was some distance from the community it served, and the line didn’t go through the actual village but skirted around it. “Since the closure, Richhill has practically trebled in population and of course the Armagh-Portadown road is busier than ever with traffic very heavy at peak times. “Had it been possible to postpone the closure of lines like the Armagh and Londonderry links out of Portadown for another 15 years, then perhaps the powers-that be at Stormont would have not only reprieved them but spent the money that would have improved the carriages and rolling stock. “But it didn’t happen and so Richhill, like so many former stations on the Great Northern Railway system lost its station and everyone, not least the people of that progressive village is all the poorer for it.
Taken from The Portadown Times November 26 1993
|