Adavoyle was a station in the rural

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

of Adavoyle, near

Dromintee Dromintee or Drumintee (, or ''Droim an Tí'' in modern Irish) is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 364 people. It lies within the Newry and Mourne District Council area. ...

, in

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

History

The station was opened in 1892 by the

Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway Dublin and the Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJct, Irish: Iarnród Bhaile Átha Cliath agus Acomhal Bhéal Feirste) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland. The company was incorporated in 1845 and opened its line in stages between 1849 and 185 ...

s, then absorbed into the

Northern Railway of Ireland Northern Railway of Ireland was an Irish gauge railway company in Ireland. It was formed by a merger of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) with the Dublin and the Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJct) in 1875. In 1876 it merged with the Irish ...

. Then it was taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). The station closed under this management in 1933. Adavoyle train derailing

On 24 June 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) derailed a British military train near the station. Four British soldiers were killed and twenty wounded. The attack was carried out by volunteers of the IRA's Fourth Northern Division, led by

Frank Aiken Francis Thomas Aiken (13 February 1898 – 18 May 1983) was an Irish revolutionary and politician. He was chief of staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA at the end of the Irish Civil War. Aiken later served as Tánaiste from 1965 to 1969 and Minister ...

. The soldiers had been returning from the opening of Northern Ireland's new

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, which took place in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

two days before. Future

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

was ‘deported’ through this station by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1924 when he was arrested at the Canal Street police station, and put on the train to Dublin at Adavoyle. The building is in ruins. A dwelling house has recently been built in the grounds of the station. The Dublin-Belfast railway line, including the

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

services, still passes the former platforms.

Modelling

Tony Miles' Adavoyle Junction in 1963 was an important early model railway using the P4 Finescale standards. The desire to model a local broad gauge prototype, without commercial model support, meant that scratchbuilding was necessary anyway and so the adoption of P4 was less of a change than was seen by British standard gauge modellers. The railway was somewhat fictionalised, as a larger junction with two GNR branches added to it: one running north-west to

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Lette ...

, and the other south-east to a

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the L ...

packet Packet may refer to: * A small container or pouch ** Packet (container), a small single use container ** Cigarette packet ** Sugar packet * Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network * Packet radio, a fo ...

port at

Greenore Greenore () is a village, townland and deep water port on Carlingford Lough in County Louth, Ireland. History A lighthouse was built on Greenore Point in 1830. Several decades later, the Dundalk and Greenore Railway Act of 1863 authorised th ...

. A typical Irish 3 foot gauge narrow gauge line ran South to

Inniskeen Inniskeen, officially Inishkeen (), is a small village, townland and parish in County Monaghan, Ireland, close to the County Louth and County Armagh borders. The village is located about from Dundalk, from Carrickmacross, and from Crossmaglen ...

References

* Disused railway stations in County Armagh Railway stations opened in 1892 Railway stations closed in 1933 1892 establishments in Ireland 1933 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Railway stations in Northern Ireland opened in the 19th century {{NorthernIreland-railstation-stub