IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Rutherglen Park, BANGOR, BT19 1DX

Looking towards the centre of Bangor from Carnalea.

The Belfast and County Down Railway opened a station at Bangor West in 1928 to cater for the expanding population in the area. The railway remains a favourite way of travelling to work in Belfast. The photo shows returning commuters alighting from the 17.05 Belfast (Gt. Victoria St) - Bangor.

GVIR pillar box (BT20 94), on the Bryansburn Road, close to the railway bridge and Westburn Crescent (background - right). Previously seen (with a short history) in Image January 2010.

Old GPO cable marker on the Bryansburn Road in Bangor. This was placed by the General Post Office as a marker plate for their underground Cable network. Originally this would have had a plate giving the distance in feet and inches from post to the underground cable, but this has been removed. Often mistaken as bench marks, the arrow actually signifies that the GPO is a government department. The following information was accessed at http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?2886-GPO-line-marker-post : "Being a former GPO worker out in the field i can supply the following details. The marker is indeed to indicate that there is a buried joint at the distance specified on the post. Usually the LEAD joint was 'found' in a small coffin approx. 2ft long and usually found at the bottom of a Telegraph pole, before the advent of boxes being constructed. Nowadays, what with H.& S. boxes are provided to prevent footpaths and the like being dug up. In the sticks however, Lead cables usually ran a length of 151-154 yds and these markers were to be found in grass verges but these cables were 'Trunk cables' and somewhat larger (500prs cable as opposed to a 20-50pr cable), as such the 'coffin' was around 5ft in length. An absolute sod to dig out as they were usually quite deep as well. A manhole was provided at certain junctions to work on the larger joints and change-overs." See also Image for a similar but older version of such a marker and also Image for a contemporary version.

Looking beyond the platforms towards the track in the Belfast direction. The bridge carries the Bryansburn Road over the track.

Cut bench mark on a garden wall at the corner of Westburn Crescent and the Bryansburn Road in Bangor. The mark is 38.24 metres above MSL. See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=11037856 for many other examples I have found.

The basic brick shelter seen at right replaced the original BCDR building in 1978. Everything in this scene is dressed in Northern Ireland Railways' "Suburban" colours, which was applied to Bangor line structures (and some 80-class DEMU sets) from 1987 to 1991. The train is the 09.55 passenger service from Bangor to Portadown.

Inside the 1970s Ticket Desk at Bangor West. According to the bored cleric, the Ticket Desk is only open to "10-ish". I spent a few days trying to find opening times.

Facing North, away from the counter. Just out of sight are wooden benches that wrap around the north and eastern walls.

101 "Eagle" pauses at Bangor West station with the 12.55 passenger service from Portadown to Bangor. Built by BREL at Doncaster and introduced to service in 1970, 101 and her two sisters 102 "Falcon" and 103 "Merlin" worked cross-border "Enterprise" passenger trains until displaced in 1981. Increasingly unreliable, they were withdrawn between 1989 and 1993 - although 102 was briefly reinstated in 2002. Only 102 "Falcon" survives, preserved in the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum at Cultra.