Armagh railway station was a railway station that served

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

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 dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

Development

The

Ulster Railway 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). History The Ulster Railway was auth ...

opened Armagh station in 1848, linking the city with

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 ...

. The Ulster Railway was extended from Armagh 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 Let ...

in 1858 and Clones in 1863. The Newry and Armagh Railway (N&A) opened in 1864, and had its own temporary terminus just outside Armagh until it started using the Ulster Railway station in 1865. The Castleblayney, Keady and Armagh Railway (CK&A) was completed in 1910. In 1876 the Ulster Railway became part of the new Great Northern Railway (GNR), which took over the N&A in 1879 and the CKA in 1911.

Rail disaster

The

Armagh rail disaster 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 stall ...

, which killed 80 people and injured 260, occurred on 12 June 1889 on the N&A line near Armagh. An

excursion train An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples are trains to major sporting event, trains run for railfans or tourists, and special trains operated by the railway company for employees and prominent customer ...

had to climb a steep gradient, but the locomotive stalled. The crew decided to divide the train but when they did the rear portion had inadequate brake power and ran back down the gradient, colliding with a following train. Most of the eighty people killed were women. It was previously thought that more children were killed, but most children were saved by jumping out of windows.

Decline and closure

The

partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. ...

in 1922 hastened the railways' decline, and the GNR closed the Keady –

Castleblayney Castleblayney (; ) is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town had a population of 3,607 as of the 2016 census. Castleblayney is near the border with County Armagh in Northern Ireland, and lies on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Let ...

section of the CKA in 1923.Hajducki, ''op. cit.'', map 39 The GNR withdrew passenger trains from the Armagh – Keady section of the CKA in 1932 and closed the Armagh –

Markethill Markethill () is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is beside Gosford Forest Park. It had a population of 1,647 people in the 2011 Census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Governme ...

section of the N&A in 1933. The

Government of Northern Ireland The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland. Following the partitio ...

made the GNR Board close the remaining lines serving Armagh on Monday 1 October 1957: the goods branch from Armagh to Keady and the main line through Armagh from as far as the border at

Glaslough Glaslough ( ; ) is a village and townland in the north of County Monaghan, Ireland, on the R185 regional road south of the border with Northern Ireland and northeast of Monaghan town. Glaslough won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1978 a ...

on the way to Monaghan.

Routes

Proposals

As of 2013, it was reported that a future reopened railway line to

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

was under consideration. Then minister for Northern Ireland's

Department for Regional Development The Department for Infrastructure (DfI, ga, An Roinn Bonneagair; Ulster-Scots: ''Depairment fur Infrastructure'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. Up until May 2016, the department wa ...

, Danny Kennedy, indicated possible railway restoration plans. In proposals, published in 2014, the Armagh Line was also included in a list of potential projects. Railway Street, Armagh - geograph

References

* * Disused railway stations in County Armagh Railway stations opened in 1848 Railway stations closed in 1957 Buildings and structures in Armagh (city) Proposed railway stations in Northern Ireland 1848 establishments in Ireland 1957 disestablishments in Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-railstation-stub Railway stations in Northern Ireland opened in 1848