Northern ireland railways from 1970 to 1976

12 min read

Jonathan Allen reviews the story of Northern Ireland Railways, with an emphasis on the early 1970s when railway staff struggled heroically to maintain a service in the face of unimaginable difficulties. Photographs by the author unless otherwise shown.

Built by the UTA between 1966 and 1968, the eight 70 class power cars represented the high point of UTA railcar design. Incorporating an English Electric 550hp 4SRKT engine and loosely based on the BR class 205, the ‘70s’ brought reliability and comfort to Northern Ireland’s hard pressed travellers. Having just hauled excursion coaches from Belfast (York Road), No. 72 ‘River Foyle’ rests at Portrush on Easter Monday 1974.

There were some disadvantages to living in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Public transport suffered badly from the politically inspired ‘troubles’ which began in 1968. Hardly a week passed without a railcar firebombed, a railway station destroyed or a section of the line attacked. Police and army were everywhere and, in an attempt to protect city and town centres from car bombs, watchtowers and security barriers appeared with searching of both vehicles and pedestrians. There was virtually no night life – cinemas, pubs and transport closed down at 8 p.m. as everybody was by then safely at home watching the television news for details of the latest ‘incident’.

Established on 21 April 1967, Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) assumed control of Northern Ireland’s railway system from the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) on 1st April 1968. A nationalised body under Government control, the UTA was created in 1948 from an amalgamation of the Belfast & County Down Railway (BCDR), London Midland & Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee) (NCC) and the Government owned Northern Ireland Road Transport Board. The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNR) was excluded from the process as many of its lines crossed the border between Northern Ireland (a self-governing part of the UK) and the independent Republic of Ireland. Following bankruptcy of the GNR in 1950, the UTA eventually controlled all road and rail public transport within Northern Ireland.

Held in contempt by Government, the UTA received no public funding from 1948 until 1962. Accordingly, it was forced to operate on a shoestring budget which saw steam replaced through a ‘make do and mend’ policy of turning former locomotive hauled coaching stock into diesel multiple units.

The UTA railcars

Of the twenty eight MED (Multi-Engined Railcars) and twenty nine MPD (Multi Purpose Railcars) introduced between 1952 a

This article is from...

Traction Magazine

26 November 2021

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