Ulster Railway
Ulster Railway was a railway company operating in Ireland. It ran from Belfast to Portadown and was sanctioned in 1836.
1845 Sanctioned to extend to Armagh.
A remarkable feature of it was that the gauge was 6ft. 2in., which was that recommended by the Commission - known as the Drummond Commission Railway Communication in Ireland appointed in 1836. But within seven years of the issue of this document the Commission's recommendations were repudiated, as the Act, just mentioned, sanctioning the extension to Armagh, ordered the gauge of the Ulster Railway to be altered to 5ft. 3in., the same as that adopted for the Dublin and Drogheda.[1]
It opened its first line, from Belfast to Lisburn, on August 12th 1839; to Lurgan on November 8th 1841; to Portadown in 1842; and to Armagh on March 1st 1848 and in 1876 merged with other railway companies to form the Great Northern Railway (Ireland).
The Ulster Railway opened a line between Belfast and Lisburn, County Antrim in 1839 and extended in stages to reach Clones, County Monaghan in 1863.
The Ulster railway (Belfast to Portadown line), Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) (Dublin to Drogheda line) and Dublin and the Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJct) (Drogheda to Portadown line, completed in 1852), together formed the main line between Dublin and Belfast.
1868 Engineer is Charles R. Atkinson.[2]
In 1876 the Ulster Railway merged with the Irish North Western Railway (INW), and Northern Railway of Ireland, to form the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) ((GNR(I) or GNRI).