127-900: The Ulster Railway was a railway company operating in Ulster , Ireland . The company was incorporated in 1836 and merged with two other railway companies in 1876 to form the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) . The Ulster Railway was authorised by the Ulster Railway Act 1836 ( 6 & 7 Will. 4 . c. xxxiii), an act of the UK Parliament , and construction began in March 1837. The first 7 miles 60 chains (12.5 km) of line, between Belfast Great Victoria Street and Lisburn , were completed in August 1839 at
254-762: A break-of-gauge , in 1846 the UK Parliament passed an Act adopting a compromise gauge of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) for Ireland, to which the Ulster Railway's track was then re-laid . Extension of the Ulster Railway resumed, reaching Monaghan in 1858, Smithborough in 1862 and Clones on the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway, later the Irish North Western Railway (INW), in 1863. The Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJct) between Drogheda and Portadown
381-421: A day trip to the seaside resort of Warrenpoint , County Down , a distance of about 24 miles (39 km). A special Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNR(I)) train was arranged for the journey, intended to carry about eight hundred passengers. The railway route was steeply graded and curved, and the first two and a half miles (4.0 km) from Armagh railway station involved a steep continuous climb, up
508-542: A cost of £107,602 11s. 5d. The line was extended in stages, opening to Lurgan in 1841, Portadown in 1842, and Armagh in 1848. In 1836 a Railway Commission recommended that railways in Ireland be built to 6 ft 2 in ( 1,880 mm ) broad gauge . The Ulster Railway complied with this recommendation but the Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) did not. In order for Dublin and Belfast to be linked without
635-655: A defeat on a Scottish Covenanter army at Benburb in County Tyrone, but the native Irish forces failed to follow up their victory and the war lapsed into stalemate. The war in Ulster ended with the defeat of the native army at the Battle of Scarrifholis , near Newmills on the western outskirts of Letterkenny , County Donegal , in 1650, as part of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland conducted by Oliver Cromwell and
762-462: A family saloon in 1862 and withdrawn in the 1920s having passed into GNR hands, is preserved at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway . It has been moved to the carriage workshop where restoration is now underway. The body has been stripped down framing repaired and reassembly is underway. Many original features remain with many of the original panels being refurbished and re-installed. Some of
889-402: A gradient of 1 in 82 (1.22%) and then 1 in 75 (1.33%). Elsewhere on the line, there were gradients as severe as 1 in 70.2 (1.42%). Asked to provide rolling stock for a special train to take 800 excursionists, the locomotive department at Dundalk sent fifteen vehicles hauled by a 'four-coupled' ( 2-4-0 ) locomotive; however, the instructions to the engine driver , Thomas McGrath, were that
1016-789: A new form, towards the end of the 18th century. In the 1790s many Roman Catholics and Presbyterians , in opposition to Anglican domination and inspired by the American and French revolutions joined in the United Irishmen movement. This group (founded in Belfast) dedicated itself to founding a non- sectarian and independent Irish republic. The United Irishmen had particular strength in Belfast , Antrim and Down . Paradoxically however, this period also saw much sectarian violence between Roman Catholics and Protestants, principally members of
1143-479: A war before it will be capable of good government; and when it is fully subdued and conquered, if it be not well planted and governed after the conquest, it will eftsoons return to the former barbarism. The Plantation of Ulster continued well into the 18th century, interrupted only by the Irish Rebellion of 1641 . This Rebellion was initially led by Sir Phelim O'Neill ( Irish : Sir Féilim Ó Néill ), and
1270-488: Is a family saloon with two large compartments and a small toilet compartment accessible to each compartment. Both toilet compartments are in the centre of the coach. The internal piping rises to roof level where a water tank will have been fitted. The internal branch indicates that a small wash basin must have been fitted. It was lit by four pot lamps with two in each of the main saloons. The original roof holes and interior bezels remain. The lower level of roof canvas remains with
1397-853: Is a noted scenic route. Belfast is also connected with Carrickfergus and Larne Harbour , Portadown , Newry and onwards, via the Enterprise service jointly operated by NIR and Iarnród Éireann , to Dublin Connolly . The main railway lines linking to and from Belfast Grand Central and Belfast Lanyon Place are: Only five Irish counties, all in Southern and Western Ulster, currently have no mainline railway. The historic Great Northern Railway of Ireland connected them. They are Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Donegal. A plan to re-link Sligo and Derry through Donegal has been postponed until at least 2030. Most people in Ulster speak English. English
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#17327730020851524-595: Is all very well for the Midland Railway Company now to plead that they are busily employed in fitting up their passenger trains with continuous breaks, but the necessity for providing the passenger trains with a larger proportion of break power was pointed out by the Board of Trade to all Railway Companies more than 20 years since; and with the exception of a very few railway companies that recognised that necessity and acted upon it, it may be truly stated that
1651-1025: Is in County Donegal, as are the sixth-highest (601 metres (1,972 ft)) sea cliffs in Europe, at Slieve League , and the province's largest island, Arranmore . The most easterly point in Ireland is also in Ulster, in County Down , and the most westerly point in the UK is in County Fermanagh . The longest river in the British Isles, the Shannon , rises at the Shannon Pot in County Cavan with underground tributaries from County Fermanagh. Volcanic activity in eastern Ulster led to
1778-657: Is located at Aldergrove , 11.5 miles northwest of Belfast near Antrim . George Best Belfast City Airport (sometimes referred to as "the City Airport" or "the Harbour Airport") is another, smaller airport which is located at Sydenham in Belfast. The City of Derry Airport is located at Eglinton , 13 kilometres (8 mi) east of the city of Derry . There is also Donegal Airport ( Irish : Aerfort Dhún na nGall ), popularly known as Carrickfinn Airport, which
1905-485: Is located in The Rosses . Railway lines are run by NI Railways (NIR). Belfast to Bangor and Belfast to Lisburn are strategically the most important routes on the network with the greatest number of passengers and largest profit margins. The Belfast-Derry railway line connecting Derry~Londonderry railway station , via Coleraine , Ballymoney , Ballymena and Antrim , with Lanyon Place and Belfast Grand Central
2032-881: Is now demarcated by 11 districts. Counties shaded in grey are in the Republic of Ireland. Counties shaded in pink are in Northern Ireland. Settlements in Ulster with at least 14,000 inhabitants, listed in order of population: The GDP of the province of Ulster is around €50 billion. Salary levels are the lowest on the island of Ireland. The biggest lake in the British Isles , Lough Neagh , lies in eastern Ulster. The province's highest point, Slieve Donard (848 metres (2,782 ft)), stands in County Down. The most northerly point in Ireland, Malin Head ,
2159-536: Is taught in all schools in the province; Irish ( Gaeilge ) is taught in all schools in the counties that are part of the Republic, and in schools in Northern Ireland, almost exclusively in the Roman Catholic and Irish-medium sectors. In responses to the 2001 census in Northern Ireland 10% of the population had "some knowledge of Irish" and 4.7% could "speak, read, write and understand" Irish. Large parts of County Donegal are Gaeltacht areas where Irish
2286-474: Is the fourth worst railway accident in the history of the United Kingdom. At the time, the disaster led directly to various safety measures becoming legal requirements for railways in the United Kingdom. This was important both for the measures introduced and for the move away from voluntarism and towards more direct state intervention in such matters. Armagh Methodist Sunday School had organised
2413-473: Is the first language and some people in west Belfast also speak Irish, especially in the "Gaeltacht Quarter". The dialect of Irish most commonly spoken in Ulster (especially throughout Northern Ireland and County Donegal) is Gaeilge Thír Chonaill or Donegal Irish, also known as Gaeilge Uladh or Ulster Irish . Donegal Irish has many similarities to Scottish Gaelic . Polish is the third most common language. Ulster Scots dialects , sometimes known by
2540-458: Is the proper form for railway companies to use. I am of opinion that the lives of passengers and railway men will be safer in the long run, if these matters are left in the hands of those who understand them best. I cordially approve of the pressure of public opinion being applied, through this House or through the Press, to railway managers, to compel them to consider both the safety of the public and
2667-789: The Táin Bó Cúailnge . According to historian Francis John Byrne the Ulaid 'possibly still ruled directly in Louth as far as the Boyne in the early seventh century' when Congal Cáech made a bid for the kingship of Tara . In 637, the Battle of Moira , known archaically as the Battle of Magh Rath, was fought by the Gaelic High King of Ireland Domhnall II against his foster son King Congal Cáech of Ulster, supported by his ally Domhnall
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#17327730020852794-625: The tír or 'land' (a word borrowed from Irish) of the Ulaidh ; this was then taken into English as Ullister or Ulvester , and later contracted to Ulster . Another, less probable explanation is that the suffix - ster represents the Old Norse element staðr ('place'), found in names like Lybster and Scrabster in Scotland. Ulster is still known as Cúige Uladh in Irish, meaning
2921-591: The Armagh accident (1889), but by this time the Smiths simple vacuum brake had been fitted and the under frame may have been renewed, so exact details are unknown. A 4-wheeled, vacuum-braked underframe replica will be built using vintage components, but replacing wood with modern steel channel assembled such it will look like wood when painted. Ulster a. ^ The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency census of 2021 results (1,903,100) combined with
3048-637: The Church of Ireland (Anglicans, who practised the British state religion and had rights denied to both Presbyterians and Roman Catholics), notably the " Battle of the Diamond " in 1795, a faction fight between the rival " Defenders " (Roman Catholic) and " Peep O'Day Boys " (Anglican), which led to over 100 deaths and to the founding of the Orange Order . This event, and many others like it, came about with
3175-630: The Earldom of Ulster . By the late fourteenth century the Earldom had collapsed and the O'Neill dynasty had come to dominate most of Ulster, claiming the title King of Ulster . Ulster became the most thoroughly Gaelic and independent of Ireland's provinces. Its rulers resisted English encroachment but were defeated in the Nine Years' War (1594–1603). King James I then colonised Ulster with English-speaking Protestant settlers from Great Britain, in
3302-522: The Home Rule Crisis . In the last all Ireland election ( 1918 Irish general election ) counties Donegal and Monaghan returned large Sinn Féin ( nationalist ) majorities. Sinn Féin candidates ran unopposed in Cavan. Fermanagh and Tyrone had Sinn Féin/Nationalist Party ( Irish Parliamentary Party ) majorities. The other four Counties of Ulster had Unionist Party majorities. The home rule crisis and
3429-650: The New Model Army , the aim of which was to expel all native Irish to the province of Connaught . Forty years later, in 1688–1691, the Williamite War was fought, the belligerents of which were the Williamites and Jacobites . The war was partly due to a dispute over who was the rightful claimant to the British Throne , and thus the supreme monarch of the nascent British Empire . However,
3556-574: The Plantation of Ulster . This led to the founding of many of Ulster's towns. The inflow of Protestant settlers and migrants also led to bouts of sectarian violence with Catholics, notably during the 1641 rebellion and the Armagh disturbances . Along with the rest of Ireland, Ulster became part of the United Kingdom in 1801. In the early twentieth century, moves towards Irish self-rule were opposed by many Ulster Protestants , sparking
3683-534: The Regulation of Railways Act 1889 , which authorised the Board of Trade to require the use of continuous automatic brakes on passenger railways, along with the block system of signalling and the interlocking of all points and signals. This is often taken as the beginning of the modern era in UK rail safety. An exceptionally frightful ... [accident] ... in 1889 prompted the passing of a new Regulation Act, two features of which were notable. First, Parliament rushed
3810-594: The Ulster Cycle . The archaeology of Ulster, formerly called Ulandia, gives examples of "ritual enclosures", such as the Giant's Ring near Belfast, which is an earth bank about 590 feet (180 m) in diameter and 15 feet (4.5 m) high, in the centre of which there is a dolmen . The Boyne and its tributary the Blackwater were the traditional southern boundary of the province of Ulster and appear as such in
3937-477: The United Irishmen and against Roman Catholic and Protestant republicans throughout the province. In 1798 the United Irishmen, led by Henry Joy McCracken , launched a rebellion in Ulster, mostly supported by Presbyterians. But the British authorities swiftly put down the rebellion and employed severe repression after the fighting had ended. In the wake of the failure of this rebellion , and following
Ulster Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
4064-465: The United Kingdom ); the remaining three are in the Republic of Ireland . It is the second-largest (after Munster ) and second-most populous (after Leinster ) of Ireland's four traditional provinces, with Belfast being its biggest city. Unlike the other provinces, Ulster has a high percentage of Protestants , making up almost half of its population. English is the main language and Ulster English
4191-565: The fifths ( Irish : cúige ) ruled by a rí ruirech , or 'king of over-kings'. It is named after the overkingdom of Ulaid , in the east of the province, which was in turn named after the Ulaid folk. The other overkingdoms in Ulster were Airgíalla and Ailech . After the Norman invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, eastern Ulster was conquered by the Anglo-Normans and became
4318-555: The neologism Ullans , are also spoken in Counties Down, Antrim, Londonderry and Donegal. Ulster is one of the four Irish provinces . Its name derives from the Irish language Cúige Uladh ( pronounced [ˌkuːɟə ˈʊlˠə] ), meaning 'fifth of the Ulaidh ', named for the ancient inhabitants of the region. The province's early story extends further back than written records and survives mainly in legends such as
4445-475: The "over-confidence" of the excursion engine driver as to the capabilities of his engine and regretted that his better judgment must have been overcome by the words of the Armagh station master. The chief clerk came in for further criticism for not having persisted with his instructions for the regular train engine to provide assistance. There was no direct criticism of the station master; either for having increased
4572-444: The 18th century saw a calming of sectarian tensions in Ulster. The economy of the province improved, as small producers exported linen and other goods. Belfast developed from a village into a bustling provincial town. However, this did not stop many thousands of Ulster people from emigrating to British North America in this period, where they became known as " Scots Irish " or " Scotch-Irish ". Political tensions resurfaced, albeit in
4699-407: The 19th century. Ulster Protestants usually opposed Home Rule — fearing for their religious rights calling it "Rome Rule" in an autonomous Roman Catholic-dominated Ireland and also not trusting politicians from the agrarian south and west to support the more industrial economy of Ulster. This lack of trust, however, was largely unfounded as during the 19th and early 20th century important industries in
4826-552: The American identity. In the United States Census, 2000 , 4.3 million Americans claimed Scots-Irish ancestry. The areas where the most Americans reported themselves in the 2000 Census only as "American" with no further qualification (e.g. Kentucky , north-central Texas , and many other areas in the Southern US ) are largely the areas where many Scots-Irish settled, and are in complementary distribution with
4953-476: The Bill through all its stages at an exceptionally high speed. The accident itself occurred on 12 June; the act went into force on 30 August. And secondly, here at last the government accepted the responsibility for dictating methods of operation to the companies, requiring all lines carrying passenger trains to be worked on the block system and all such trains to be fitted with instantaneously working continuous brakes,
5080-402: The Board of Trade ('automatic continuous brakes') in which brakes were held off by vacuum (or compressed air) generated by the engine, so that on loss of vacuum (e.g. from a leaky connection or a connection parting) the brakes came on automatically. The two brake vans , however, (one immediately behind the engine tender, the other at the rear of the train) also had hand-operated brakes, each under
5207-413: The Board of Trade inspector carried out calculations which established that a train similar to the excursion train could be hauled over the Armagh bank at about 15 mph (24 km/h) by the excursion train engine, and supported this by a practical trial. However, he did criticise the allocation of an engine with only just enough power for such a duty, especially with a driver who had little knowledge of
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5334-399: The British army to enforce home rule from Dublin on Ulster's unionist minority. Armagh accident The Armagh rail disaster happened on 12 June 1889 near Armagh , County Armagh , in Ireland, when a crowded Sunday school excursion train had to negotiate a steep incline; the steam locomotive was unable to complete the climb and the train stalled. The train crew decided to divide
5461-568: The Company that an automatic brake would have absolutely prevented the collision, by arresting the carriages the moment the separation occurred; whether at that time the secretary of the company informed General Hutchinson that the simple vacuum brake, whose failure caused this accident, was being merely tried experimentally on the line, and that the company had not yet come to a decision as to what brake would be finally adopted; and, whether, in spite of this recommendation, this simple vacuum brake, upon
5588-628: The Dundalk personnel were not charged, the 'practical trial' showing that the engine supplied should not have been defeated by Armagh bank if correctly handled having been carried out on Saturday 22 June. The jury are not reported to have made any findings against more senior management of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland. Elliott was tried in Dublin in August, when the jury reported they were unable to agree; on re-trial in October he
5715-553: The Earls ) to Roman Catholic Europe. This allowed the English Crown to plant Ulster with more loyal English and Scottish planters , a process which began in earnest in 1610. The Plantation of Ulster ( Irish : Plandáil Uladh ) was the organised colonisation (or plantation ) of Ulster by people from Great Britain (especially Presbyterians from Scotland ). Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while
5842-639: The Freckled ( Irish : Domhnall Brecc ) of Dalriada . The battle was fought near the Woods of Killultagh, just outside the village of Moira in what would become County Down. It was allegedly the largest battle ever fought on the island of Ireland, and resulted in the death of Congal and the retreat of Domhnall Brecc. In early medieval Ireland, a branch of the Northern Uí Néill , the Cenél nEógain of
5969-401: The North American colonies throughout the 18th century (160,000 settled in what would become the United States between 1717 and 1770 alone). Disdaining (or forced out of) the heavily English regions on the Atlantic coast, most groups of Ulster-Scots settlers crossed into the "western mountains", where their descendants populated the Appalachian regions and the Ohio Valley . Here they lived on
6096-421: The President of the Board of Trade Sir Michael Hicks Beach revealed that More specifically, for the Great Northern of Ireland : Mr. Channing (Northamptonshire, E.) : I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether 11 years ago, in reporting upon a serious collision on the Great Northern of Ireland Railway, between two portions of a train which had become separated, General Hutchinson pointed out to
6223-401: The ROI 2011 Census for counties Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, there is a Roman Catholic majority over Protestant of 50.8% to 42.7%. While the traditional counties continue to demarcate areas of local government in the Republic of Ireland , this is no longer the case in Northern Ireland. Since 1974, the traditional counties have a ceremonial role only. Local government in Northern Ireland
6350-508: The Ulster Plantation were considerably affected by the existence of British colonies in the Americas, which served as a more attractive destination for many potential emigrants. The official reason for the Plantation is said to have been to pay for the costly Nine Years' War , but this view was not shared by all in the English government of the time, most notably the English Crown -appointed Attorney-General for Ireland in 1609, Sir John Davies : A barbarous country must be first broken by
6477-490: The Ulsterman'. Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster , despite including only six of Ulster's nine counties. This usage is most common among people in Northern Ireland who are unionist , although it is also used by the media throughout the United Kingdom. Some Irish nationalists object to the use of Ulster in this context. Ulster has a population of just over two million people and an area of 22,067 square kilometres (8,520 sq mi). About 62% of
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#17327730020856604-430: The Union with Britain; mostly, but not exclusively, Protestant) and nationalist (advocates of repeal of the 1800 Act of Union, usually, though not exclusively, Roman Catholic). Northern Ireland's current politics originate from these late 19th century disputes over Home Rule that would have devolved some powers of government to Ireland. At least a dozen large scale sectarian disturbances/riots occurred in Belfast during
6731-399: The area of Ulster is in the UK while the remaining 38% is in the Republic of Ireland. Ulster's biggest city, Belfast , has an urban population of over half a million inhabitants, making it the second-largest city on the island of Ireland and the 10th largest urban area in the UK. Six of Ulster's nine counties , Antrim , Armagh , Down , Fermanagh , Londonderry and Tyrone , including
6858-402: The areas which most heavily report Scots-Irish ancestry. According to the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, 400,000 people in the US were of Irish birth or ancestry in 1790 when the first US Census counted 3,100,000 white Americans. According to the encyclopaedia, half of these Irish Americans were descended from Ulster, and half from the other three provinces of Ireland. Most of
6985-486: The assistance. The train therefore set off with fifteen carriages, containing about 940 passengers. The carriages were full, and some passengers travelled with the guards . Tickets were checked before setting off and to prevent people without tickets joining the excursion; once each compartment had been checked its doors were locked. Initially the train made progress up the steep gradient at about 10 mph (16 km/h) but stalled about 200 yards (180 m) before
7112-415: The brake working properly before the train left Armagh, and the brake apparatus had been found in the wreckage and appeared to be in good working order. Nonetheless, the rear portion had run away, and had done so with the braked wheels revolving freely. Therefore, either the brake had not been applied properly by the guard, or it had been tampered with by passengers in the brake carriage. In the circumstances,
7239-406: The brake would have remained on, or (had it been previously taken off) would have been at once applied to, the rear vehicles, and these would have remained immovable, notwithstanding any possible bump they might have received from the front of the train, when the driver was setting back to make a start. It may also be remarked that the ordinary train had a narrow escape from serious collision between
7366-522: The contractor, William Dargan , sold the Ulster a 999-year lease on it in 1860. The BLBR opened between Knockmore Junction and Banbridge in 1863, and the D&AJR opened between Knockmore Junction and Antrim in 1871. In 1876 the Ulster Railway merged with the INW and the Northern Railway of Ireland (formed by a merger of the D&D and the D&BJct the previous year) to form the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) . One example of Ulster Railway rolling stock has survived. The body of No. 33, built as
7493-442: The control of a guard. These were applied. The chief clerk directed the train crew to divide the train and proceed with the front portion to Hamilton's Bawn station, about two miles (3.2 km) away, and leave that portion there, and return for the second portion. Owing to limited siding capacity at Hamilton's Bawn, only the front five vehicles could be taken on there; so the rearmost ten vehicles would have to be left standing on
7620-399: The couplings were under tension. Once the vacuum brake connection to the rear portion was broken, any attempt to introduce slack into the coupling between the two portions would be defeated by the rear portion settling back to rest its weight upon the rear van brakes. To assist uncoupling the front van guard therefore scotched one of the wheels of the sixth vehicle, that is, the front vehicle of
7747-422: The driver: The station-master replied "I did not write those instructions for you"; I said "Mr. Cowan [the company's general manager] wrote them." The station-master then said "Any driver that comes here does not grumble about taking an excursion train with him." I replied "Why did you not send proper word to Dundalk, and I should have a proper six-wheel coupled engine with me." I said no more, but walked away down
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#17327730020857874-404: The early thirteenth-century through to the beginning of the seventeenth-century. The O'Donnells ruled over Tír Chonaill (most of modern County Donegal) in West Ulster. After the Norman invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, the east of the province fell by conquest to Norman barons, first De Courcy (died 1219), then Hugh de Lacy (1176–1243), who founded the Earldom of Ulster based on
8001-418: The east of modern Ulster until the Norman invasion in the late 12th century. It would only once more become a province of Ireland in the mid-14th century after the collapse of the Norman Earldom of Ulster , when the O'Neills who had come to dominate the Northern Uí Néill stepped into the power vacuum and staked a claim for the first time the title of "king of Ulster" along with the Red Hand of Ulster symbol. It
8128-403: The east, is the largest lake in the British Isles , while Lough Erne in the west is one of its largest lake networks. The main mountain ranges are the Mournes , Sperrins , Croaghgorms and Derryveagh Mountains . Historically, Ulster lay at the heart of the Gaelic world made up of Gaelic Ireland , Scotland and the Isle of Man . According to tradition, in ancient Ireland it was one of
8255-434: The eight vehicles closing on the rear two was sufficient to push them over the stones, crushing them in turn, so that now only the handbrake on the rear brake van was effective. It was overcome by the weight of ten vehicles, and the rear portion began to move downhill and gathered speed down the steep gradient back towards Armagh Station. ... as I was putting down the last stone, I felt the carriages coming back. I went on
8382-439: The exception of the Williamite strongholds at Derry and at Enniskillen in Ulster. The Jacobites besieged Derry from December 1688 to July 1689, ending when a Williamite army from Britain relieved the city. The Williamites based in Enniskillen defeated another Jacobite army at the battle of Newtownbutler on 28 July 1689. Thereafter, Ulster remained firmly under Williamite control and William's forces completed their conquest of
8509-425: The excursion train been fitted with them, it is unnecessary for me to say more upon the subject. For many years the Railway Inspectorate of the Board of Trade had been advocating three vital safety measures (among others) to often reluctant railway managements: The Board of Trade had got as far and as fast as it could by persuasion, but an inspector commented in 1880 after the Wennington Junction rail crash : It
8636-411: The excursion train did not. The guard in the rear van having applied his handbrake then (on the instructions of the chief clerk) dismounted and scotched the wheels of his van with pieces of ballast. He then also scotched the near rearmost vehicle on its righthand wheels and intended to similarly scotch its lefthand wheels before going back down the track with flags and detonators to protect the train from
8763-483: The excursion train stopped near the top of the bank and to send back one of the guards to protect his train, with instructions to ask the driver of the following ordinary train to help the excursion train up the short remaining distance, he would hardly have lost time and would, besides, have avoided the risk inseparable from the delicate operation he unwisely determined to carry out and which should have been resorted to under only most exceptional circumstances and not, as in
8890-464: The failure of which General Hutchinson reported in 1878, has remained in use on the Great Northern of Ireland line ever since, and is the same brake that was in use in the recent disastrous collision near Armagh? Sir M. Hicks Beach: The facts are as stated in the question. The government was already short of parliamentary time in which to pass legislation it was already committed to, and had promised to introduce no further controversial measures. A bill
9017-402: The fifteen with which the locomotive had arrived. The general manager's chief clerk was to accompany the excursion; he suggested that the engine of the routine train that would be following twenty minutes behind could assist the excursion up the bank, or that some carriages could be left to come on with the routine train. Following his conversation with the station master, however, McGrath refused
9144-412: The following scheduled passenger train had left Armagh. With an engine of similar performance, but a much lighter train (six vehicles), it was managing about 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) up the gradient when, at a distance of about 500 yards (460 m), the driver of the ordinary train saw the approaching runaway vehicle. He braked his train, and had reduced speed to 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) at
9271-522: The formation of the Antrim Plateau and the Giant's Causeway , one of Ireland's three UNESCO World Heritage Sites . Ulster also has a significant drumlin belt. The geographical centre of Ulster lies between the villages of Pomeroy and Carrickmore in County Tyrone. In terms of area, County Donegal is the largest county in all of Ulster. The province's main airport is Belfast International Airport (popularly called Aldergrove Airport), which
9398-438: The former parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry , form Northern Ireland which remained part of the United Kingdom after the partition of Ireland in 1921. Three Ulster counties – Cavan , Donegal and Monaghan – form part of the Republic of Ireland . About half of Ulster's population lives in counties Antrim and Down. Across the nine counties, according to the aggregate UK 2011 Census for Northern Ireland, and
9525-454: The front van guard, the driver attempted to start the front portion away. It rolled back slightly, jolting the rear portion; which caused the wheels of the front vehicle of the rear portion to ride up over the stones underneath them. The rear portion had been standing with its couplings tight, but now only the rear two vehicles were in any way restrained, so that the leading eight vehicles of the rear portion fell back on to them. The momentum of
9652-551: The frontiers of America, carving their own world out of the wilderness. The Scots-Irish soon became the dominant culture of the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Georgia . Author (and US Senator) Jim Webb puts forth a thesis in his book Born Fighting to suggest that the character traits he ascribes to the Scots-Irish such as loyalty to kin, mistrust of governmental authority, and a propensity to bear arms, helped shape
9779-501: The gradual abolition of official religious discrimination after the Act of Union in 1800, Presbyterians came to identify more with the State and with their Anglican neighbours, due to their civil rights now being respected by both the state and their Anglican neighbours. The 1859 Ulster Revival was a major Christian revival that spread throughout Ulster. In the 19th century, Ulster had
9906-451: The guard should be given the benefit of the doubt. Responsibility lay primarily with Mr Elliott, the chief clerk. He had directed a course of action which ignored Company rules. These laid down that the main guard should not leave his van until perfectly satisfied that his brake would hold the train (the train should therefore have been allowed to ease back upon the rear brake van); once he had left his brake, no attempt should be made to move
10033-507: The hazards of shunting expressed disappointment that the bill did not go far enough. On the other hand, during the second reading a Liberal MP made the classic argument against detailed and prescriptive regulation: It would be a very serious thing if the Government in its attempt to protect the lives of passengers by rail, and the lives of working men, should take on itself to decide what form of carriage, what form of coupling and break,
10160-407: The hedges as we passed. The train crew reversed the front portion and tried to catch the rear portion and re-couple it, but this proved to be impossible. The line was operated on the time interval system (rather than block working) so that there was no means at Armagh of knowing that the line was not clear. The required 20-minute interval before letting a fast train follow a slow one having elapsed,
10287-458: The inadequacy of the brake. The immediate cause was the want of the application of sufficient brake power to hold the rear portion of the excursion train, when this portion, consisting of nine coaches and a brake van; which had been separated from the front of the train by direction of Mr. Elliott, was slightly bumped by the front portion of the train when the driver had to set back previously to starting for Hamilton's Bawn. Two witnesses had seen
10414-524: The indigenous Irish) and Presbyterians (mainly descended from Scottish colonists) both suffered discrimination under the Penal Laws , which gave full political rights only to Anglican Protestants (mostly descended from English settlers). In the 1690s, Scottish Presbyterians became a majority in Ulster, due to a large influx of them into the Province. Considerable numbers of Ulster-Scots emigrated to
10541-443: The inspector "The tender was slightly damaged, but none of the vehicles, and I heard from the guard that a horse in the box next the tender was not injured". The occupants of the rear of the excursion train were not so lucky. The two rearmost vehicles of the excursion train were utterly destroyed, and the third rearmost very badly damaged. The debris tumbled down a 45-foot-high (14 m) embankment. As part of his investigations,
10668-530: The linen trade. Estimates suggest that up to 7000 Roman Catholics suffered expulsion from Ulster during this violence. Many of them settled in northern Connacht . These refugees' linguistic influence still survives in the dialects of Irish spoken in County Mayo , which have many similarities to Ulster Irish not found elsewhere in Connacht. Loyalist militias, primarily Anglicans , also used violence against
10795-647: The main dialect. A minority also speak Irish, and there are Gaeltachtaí (Irish-speaking regions) in County Donegal which is home to a quarter of the total Gaeltacht population of the Republic of Ireland. There are also large Irish-speaking networks in southern County Londonderry and in the Gaeltacht Quarter, Belfast . Ulster-Scots is also spoken extensively in Counties Antrim, Down, Londonderry, Tyrone and Donegal. Lough Neagh , in
10922-602: The modern counties of Antrim and Down. In the 1600s Ulster was the last redoubt of the traditional Gaelic way of life, and following the defeat of the Irish forces in the Nine Years War (1594–1603) at the battle of Kinsale (1601), Elizabeth I 's English forces succeeded in subjugating Ulster and all of Ireland. The Gaelic leaders of Ulster, the O'Neills and O'Donnells , finding their power under English suzerainty limited, decamped en masse in 1607 (the Flight of
11049-412: The moment of collision. By now, the runaways had travelled about 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km). The pursuing driver said he did not believe they had reached more than 30 miles per hour (48 km/h); the Board of Trade inspector thought 40 mph (64 km/h) a fair estimate of their speed at the collision. The engine of the scheduled train overturned, and the connection to its tender
11176-415: The official Colony. However, most of the counties, including the most heavily colonised Counties Antrim and Down , were privately colonised. These counties, though not officially designated as subject to Plantation , had suffered violent depopulation during the previous wars and proved attractive to Private Colonialists from nearby Britain. The efforts to attract colonists from England and Scotland to
11303-433: The official plantation controlled by King James I of England (who was also King James VI of Scots) began in 1609. All land owned by Irish chieftains, the Ó Neills and Ó Donnells (along with those of their supporters), who fought against the English Crown in the Nine Years War , were confiscated and used to settle the colonists. The Counties Tyrconnell , Tyrone , Fermanagh , Cavan , Coleraine and Armagh comprised
11430-502: The only large-scale industrialisation and became the most prosperous province on the island. In the latter part of the century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the island's largest city. Belfast became famous in this period for its huge dockyards and shipbuilding – and notably for the construction of the RMS Titanic . Sectarian divisions in Ulster became hardened into the political categories of unionist (supporters of
11557-417: The original lamp holes remaining. The underframe has not been preserved. It was fitted with electric lighting in late 1890s and it may have had a new GNR under frame fitted at this time. It likely had an unbraked, six wheel wooden framework. The short body length of 23 feet (7.01 m) would have meant a relatively short wheelbase. A similar sized 6-wheeled Ulster Railway coach was part of the train involved in
11684-422: The platform, this was about ten minutes before the train started. Two other witnesses said that McGrath had asked for a second engine if more carriages were added and had been refused by the station master, as none was available; McGrath (in supplementary evidence given "through the railway company's officers") denied this. The station master's evidence was that the discussion was about adding further carriages to
11811-528: The portions into which it was divided, or with buffer stops; whereas had it been supplied with an automatic brake, there would have been no risk of such collisions. As the President of the Board of Trade has stated in Parliament his intention to introduce a Bill to make compulsory the adoption of automatic continuous brakes, should the report on this collision point out that it would have been avoided had
11938-426: The preliminary results of 2022 census of Ireland for Ulster (part of; 314,076). Ulster ( / ˈ ʌ l s t ər / ; Irish : Ulaidh [ˈʊlˠiː, ˈʊlˠə] or Cúige Uladh [ˌkuːɟə ˈʊlˠə, - ˈʊlˠuː] ; Ulster Scots : Ulstèr or Ulster ) is one of the four traditional or historic Irish provinces . It is made up of nine counties : six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of
12065-426: The present case, where there was so easy a solution of the difficulty. The excursion train (even in the 15-vehicle form in which it set off) should have been able to climb Armagh bank at about 15 mph (24 km/h). The inspector considered that its failure to do so must have been "due to some want of proper management of the engine" by its insufficiently experienced driver. The locomotive shed foreman at Dundalk
12192-468: The principal Railway Companies throughout the Kingdom have resisted the efforts of the Board of Trade to cause them to do what was right, which the latter had no legal power to enforce, and even now it will be seen by the latest returns laid before Parliament that some of those Companies are still doing nothing to supply this now generally acknowledged necessity In the aftermath of the accident, questions to
12319-427: The province (literally 'fifth') of the Ulaidh . Ulaidh has historically been anglicised as Ulagh or Ullagh and Latinised as Ulidia or Ultonia . The latter two have yielded the terms Ulidian and Ultonian . The Irish word for someone or something from Ulster is Ultach , and this can be found in the surnames MacNulty, MacAnulty, and Nulty, which all derive from Mac an Ultaigh , meaning 'son of
12446-604: The province of Ailech , gradually eroded the territory of the province of Ulaidh until it lay east of the River Bann . The Cenél nEógain would make Tír Eóghain (most of which forms modern County Tyrone ) their base. Among the High Kings of Ireland were Áed Findliath (died 879), Niall Glúndub (died 919), and Domnall ua Néill (died 980), all of the Cenél nEógain. The province of Ulaidh would survive restricted to
12573-468: The purposes of ISO 3166-2:IE , Ulster is used to refer to the three counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan only, which are given country sub-division code "IE-U". The name is also used by various organisations such as cultural and sporting bodies. Ulster's name ultimately derives from the Ulaidh , a group of tribes that once dwelt in this part of Ireland. The Norsemen knew the province as Ulaztir ,
12700-400: The rear portion being detached. Loosening the turnbuckle thus transferred the weight of the rear portion to the scotch on the sixth vehicle, rather than to the rear van brakes. The couplings to the rear of the sixth vehicle remained under tension, and the slack introduced remained in the coupling between the fifth and sixth vehicles, which could be unhooked. The uncoupling accomplished by
12827-399: The relaxation of the Penal Laws and Roman Catholics began to be allowed to purchase land and involve themselves in the linen trade (activities which previously had involved many onerous restrictions). Protestants, including some Presbyterians, who in some parts of the province had come to identify with the Roman Catholic community, used violence to intimidate Roman Catholics who tried to enter
12954-578: The rest of Ireland in the next two years. The war provided Protestant loyalists with the iconic victories of the Siege of Derry , the Battle of the Boyne (1 July 1690) and the Battle of Aughrim (12 July 1691), all of which the Orange Order commemorate each year. The Williamites' victory in this war ensured British rule in Ireland for over 200 years. The Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland excluded most of Ulster's population from having any Civil power on religious grounds. Roman Catholics (descended from
13081-399: The route. A further practical trial showed that a single brake van, with the brake correctly working and correctly applied, could (without the aid of scotching) hold 10 carriages on the Armagh bank, against both their own weight and a nudge similar to that which witnesses agreed in describing as having been caused by run-back of the front portion of the divided train. Hence, the problem was not
13208-508: The running line. Once this rear portion was uncoupled from the front portion, the continuous brakes on it would be released, and the only brakes holding it against the gradient would be the hand-operated brakes in the rear brake van. For a goods (freight) train in a similar situation, the wheels would have been 'scotched' against roll-back, and guard's vans on goods trains carried 'sprags' with which to do this. Those on passenger trains with continuous brakes were not required to carry sprags, and
13335-434: The safety of their men; but if we endeavour in this matter—as we have, in my opinion, sadly too often endeavoured in the past—to give Government officials the power to decide what is the precise form of appliances which shall be used in connection with railways, we shall not be providing for the safety of the public or the safety of railway servants. Nonetheless, within two months of the Armagh disaster Parliament had enacted
13462-413: The scheduled service which was to set off from Armagh 20 minutes after the excursion. The train was screw-coupled ; each carriage was first coupled by a loose chain and hook coupling to the next; the slack on this was then taken up by a turnbuckle screw arrangement, until the buffers of the two carriages were touching. To uncouple, there needed to be some slack in the coupling; as the train had stopped all
13589-400: The size of the train, or for persuading the engine driver to attempt Armagh bank without assistance. The organisation of this was criticised on a number of points: The running of such heavily laden excursion trains as the present on lines with bad gradients, is a practice much to be deprecated; it would be far better to limit them to about 10 vehicles. This remark more especially applies when
13716-731: The southernmost region of Cork included brewing, distilling, wool and like Belfast, shipbuilding. Thousands of unionists, led by the Dublin-born barrister Sir Edward Carson and James Craig , signed the " Ulster Covenant " of 1912 pledging to resist Home Rule. This movement also set up the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). In April 1914, the UVF assisted with the landing of 30,000 German rifles with 3,000,000 rounds at Larne by blockading authorities. (See Larne gunrunning ). The Curragh Incident showed it would be difficult to use
13843-483: The station from which the train starts is like that of the Newry and Armagh line at Armagh, which, as at present arranged, is perfectly unsuited for dealing with long passenger trains. In the present instance, the train, owing to its length, had to be loaded on the main line partly at the up platform and partly at the down platform, and afterwards by a series of shunts to be moved on to the Newry and Armagh Line. The inquest
13970-534: The subsequent Irish War of Independence led to the partition of Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 . Six Ulster counties became Northern Ireland, a self-governing territory within the United Kingdom, while the rest of Ireland became the Irish Free State , now the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster has no official function for local government purposes in either state. However, for
14097-407: The top of the gradient. To prevent the train rolling back, the brakes were applied. The train did have continuous brakes , ( i.e. , all carriages had brakes which could be operated by the driver), but they were of the non-automatic vacuum type. They were applied by creation of vacuum in the brake pipes and released by admitting air to the pipe. This was the opposite of the arrangement preferred by
14224-437: The train and take forward the front portion, leaving the rear portion on the running line. The rear portion was inadequately braked and ran back down the gradient, colliding with a following train. Eighty people were killed and 260 were injured, about a third of them children. It was the worst rail disaster in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century, and to this day remains the worst railway disaster in Irish history. It
14351-422: The train until he was back at the brake. Meanwhile, the more junior guard should have gone back down the track to protect the train. These precautions had been omitted, to pursue a strategy (dividing the train) which, even had nothing gone wrong, would have had no advantages over awaiting the scheduled train to assist the excursion to Hamilton's Bawn. If Mr. Elliott had therefore only had the prudence to wait where
14478-439: The train was to be of thirteen vehicles. There were more intending passengers than anticipated and, to accommodate the excursion, the Armagh station master decided to use all fifteen vehicles. McGrath, who had never driven the route before (but had been over it with excursion trains when a fireman ), objected to these instructions, saying that his instructions were that the train was to be of thirteen vehicles at most. According to
14605-452: The unique features of the original body highlight that this coach was mid way between the stagecoach bodies of the 1850s and the classical Victorian coach body of the 1870s onwards. These features include rounded tops and bottoms of the windows, door handles placed below the normal waist line in stagecoach manner for access from lower platforms and internal water piping within the frames in a mixture of hessian hose and lead fittings. The coach
14732-469: The van, and got in, and tried, with the assistance of two passengers, to get an extra turn at the brake handle, and was still doing this when Mr. Elliott [the chief clerk] jumped up on the left step, and said Try and make the best you can without breaking it [meaning the brake handle], and I said I could make no more. He then said, "Oh, my God, we will be all killed", and jumped off. The speed then gradually increased, until it became so fast that we could not see
14859-713: The war was also a part of the greater War of the Grand Alliance , fought between King Louis XIV of France and his allies, and a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance , led by Prince William of Orange and Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire , supported by the Vatican and many other states. The Grand Alliance was a cross-denominational alliance designed to stop French eastward colonialist expansion under Louis XIV, with whom King James II
14986-409: Was acquitted. The cases against the other defendants were then dropped. The key recommendation was in fact couched as a finding: This terrible calamity would in all human probability have been prevented had the excursion train been fitted with an automatic continuous brake instead of (as it was) with only a non-automatic continuous brake. In the former case, on the dividing of the train taking place,
15113-576: Was allied. The majority of Irish people were "Jacobites" and supported James II due to his 1687 Declaration of Indulgence or, as it is also known, The Declaration for the Liberty of Conscience, that granted religious freedom to all denominations in England and Scotland and also due to James II's promise to the Irish Parliament of an eventual right to self-determination . However, James II
15240-636: Was completed in 1853. This connected the D&;D with the Ulster Railway, thus completing the main line between Dublin and Belfast. The Ulster Railway operated three lines that remained in the ownership of separate companies: the Portadown, Dungannon and Omagh Junction Railway (PD&O), the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Railway (BLBR) and the Dublin and Antrim Junction Railway (D&AJR). The PD&O reached Dungannon in 1858 and Omagh in 1861, and
15367-426: Was completed on Friday 21 June 1889, and made findings of culpable negligence against six of those involved; those at Dundalk responsible for selection of the engine, the driver and both guards on the train, and Mr Elliott who had taken charge. As a result, three of the accused were committed for trial for manslaughter on the following Monday. One guard had been injured in the crash and was presumably still in hospital;
15494-425: Was criticised for want of judgment in not sending a more experienced driver and in his choice of engine. The 2-4-0 supplied would have had insufficient margins (even when hauling a 13-vehicle excursion train) to be sure of maintaining a safe speed over the more onerous gradients farther up the line. For a 15-vehicle excursion, assistance should have been given by the engine of the regular train. The report criticised
15621-631: Was deposed in the Glorious Revolution , and the majority of Ulster Colonialists ( Williamites ) backed William of Orange . Both the Williamite and Jacobite armies were religiously mixed; William of Orange's own elite forces, the Dutch Blue Guards had a papal banner with them during the invasion, many of them being Dutch Roman Catholics. At the start of the war, Irish Jacobites controlled most of Ireland for James II, with
15748-471: Was drafted and introduced, only to be withdrawn when it became clear that some of its other provisions (most notably requiring specified improvements in couplings, so that those engaged in shunting could safely uncouple wagons without having to step into the gap between them) were sufficiently contentious as to jeopardise passage of the non-controversial portions of the bill. For that reason, some Liberal MPs sympathetic to railwaymen's concerns on working hours and
15875-522: Was intended to overthrow British rule rapidly, but quickly degenerated into attacks on colonists, in which dispossessed Irish slaughtered thousands of the colonists. In the ensuing wars (1641–1653, fought against the background of civil war in England, Scotland and Ireland), Ulster became a battleground between the Colonialists and the native Irish. In 1646, an Irish army under command by Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish : Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill ) inflicted
16002-412: Was lost. This train was also fitted with 'simple' (non-automatic) continuous vacuum brakes, and these were lost when the engine became disconnected. The train split into two sections, both running back down the gradient towards Armagh. Application of the handbrakes on the tender and on the brake van brought the front and rear halves of the scheduled train to a stop without further incident, a witness telling
16129-513: Was then that the provinces of Ailech, Airgialla, and Ulaidh would all merge largely into what would become the modern province of Ulster. Domnall Ua Lochlainn (died 1121) and Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn (died 1166) were of this dynasty. The Meic Lochlainn were in 1241 overthrown by their kin, the clan Ó Néill (see O'Neill dynasty ). The Ó Néill's were from then on established as Ulster's most powerful Gaelic family. The Ó Domhnaill ( O'Donnell ) dynasty were Ulster's second most powerful clan from
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