The Bellevue Park Railway, which closed in 1950, operated in Bellevue,

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 Kingdo ...

History

Bellevue Park was a popular recreational facility between the two world wars, providing gardens, ponds, amusements, refreshments, a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

, and a

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

miniature railway for the entertainment of visitors. The Bellevue Park Railway, which received a new locomotive and carriages in 1933 from

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, closed in 1950. The locomotive, a German-built tender engine named 'Jean', was sold for scrap, but having been rescued by

Sir William McAlpine Sir William Hepburn McAlpine, 6th Baronet, (12 January 1936 – 4 March 2018) was a British businessman who was director of the construction company Sir Robert McAlpine. Early life and career Born in London in 1936 at the family-owned Dorches ...

eventually returned to its original railway, the

Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) is a gauge light railway in Kent, England, operating steam and internal combustion locomotives. The line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, under its original name, 'The Bug'.

References

{{15 inch gauge railways 15 in gauge railways in Northern Ireland Railway lines closed in 1950