Place Lisburn | Area County Antrim | |
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Post-grouping Northern Ireland Railways Platforms 2
(One on Belfast-Newry down line, one on Lisburn-Antrim bi-directional single line.) 1841 Lisburn - Lurgan line opened 1863 Banbridge branch opened Original company Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Similar Ballinderry railway station, Glenavy railway station, Duleek railway station, Templepatrick railway station, Aldergrove railway station | ||
Knockmore railway station (Irish: Cnoc Mór) was a station on the Belfast–Newry railway line. The station served the suburb of Knockmore in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Great Northern Railway (GNR) opened Knockmore station as a halt in 1932. Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) closed the station on 25 March 2005.
Contents
Knockmore station had two platforms. One platform was served by "down" trains only on the service from Belfast Central via Lisburn to Portadown, while the other platform was served by trains in both directions on the Belfast – Lisburn – Antrim – Derry service. "Up" trains travelling from Portadown to Belfast could not serve Knockmore as it was the middle line with no platform.
History
The station is near Knockmore Junction, which came into service in 1863 for the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Junction Railway (BLB) to connect with the Ulster Railway. The junction gained another branch in 1871 when the Dublin and Antrim Junction Railway (D&A, now the Lisburn–Antrim railway line) was opened. The Ulster Railway, BLB and D&A all became part of the GNR by the end of the 1870s. A halt was finally provided at Knockmore Junction in 1932, but it did not last long and was closed a year later. The GNR was nationalised in 1953 as the GNR Board, which closed Banbridge branch on 29 April 1956.
In 1960, the Antrim branch was closed to passenger traffic, although it remained open for freight. By this point, the line was under UTA control; All GNR assets in Northern Ireland having been ceded to the UTA in 1958. In 1968, the UTA was replaced by Northern Ireland Railways, which reopened the Antrim branch and rerouted all Londonderry line services via Knockmore. A new Knockmore halt was built on a different site to the original, slightly closer to Lisburn. Instead of using a crossover as per the original setup, a 3rd line was laid directly from the former junction to Lisburn station. Unfortunately, this required the demolition of Knockmore Junction signal cabin.
In 2001 NIR reopened the more direct Belfast – Antrim route via Whiteabbey. An attempt was made to keep the Antrim - Knockmore line open alongside it using a skeleton service, but this was unsuccessful and NIR withdrew passenger services altogether in 2003. Due to the platform layout, this left Knockmore station with a train service in only one direction: "down" trains from Belfast to Portadown. Unsurprisingly this arrangement was not well-used, and so on 25 March 2005 NIR closed Knockmore station.
The Portadown-bound platform was demolished in 2012, with the branch platform following in 2014.
Future
NIR have included in their corporate plans for a new Knockmore park and ride station further down the line called Lisburn West. The station would serve Portadown line trains in both directions, as well as Antrim branch trains if the line is reopened. So far, Translink has bought and demolished the former Lisburn South Eastern Regional College, which is where Lisburn West is to be built.
Incidents
The Great Northern Railway to Banbridge and Newcastle
The station was opened by the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Railway on 13 July 1863.
Then 30 April 1956 the line via Dromore to Banbridge and Newcastle, County Down was closed under the auspices of the Ulster Transport Authority.