IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Manse Road, BANGOR, BT20 3DE

A bollard, in the style of an old town-boundary post, at the end of the lane leading from Manse Road to this path Image and the Brunswick Road Image

A small access cover marked 'Gas' located on Manse Road in Bangor. It almost certainly dates from when the town gas was produced and supplied in Bangor - this ended c1987. The cover was cast by Hattersley and Davidson of Sheffield. This engineering company was established in 1894; the company still trades today as Hd Sports Ltd. http://www.hdsports.co.uk/hdsports-history.html but specialises in ice skating blades.

As noted in other captions, the BCDR signal cabin at Bangor was demolished in November 1995 while the station was rebuilt in 2000. The new platform roofs can be seen in the background as NIR 111 class diesel locomotive No. 111 "Great Northern" pulls out of the station with a special train for the Irish Railway Record Society (http://www.irrs.ie/ ) .

C3K set 3010 crossing from platform 3 to the up line with the 13.57 Bangor – Portadown. 3015 is at platform 2. The withdrawn 450 set seen in Image (May 2012) was sent for scrapping earlier this year. See also Image

Bangor railway station consists of three passenger platforms - No. 1 (the most frequently used) on the left of this photograph together with No's 2 & 3 (on the right), generally used only at peak times. Until the station was re-signalled in 1988, exit from No's 2 & 3 platforms was controlled by BCDR semaphore signals (which have since been preserved by the Downpatrick & County Down Railway - see: http://www.downrail.co.uk/ ). One of NIR's 80-class DEMU sets pulls out of No. 2 platform with the 16.33 passenger service to Portadown.

See Image The view, towards the station, from near the start of the path. Continue to Image

On 18 December 2000, the Northern Ireland Assembly approved expenditure for complete track renewal between Belfast and Bangor. Work began on 13 August 2001 and was declared "complete" in July 2002 after lengthy periods of single line working and total closure. Track renewal and ballasting was well advanced at Bangor by April 2002, all taking place in the shadow of the new bus/rail interchange centre.

A narrow street, on the western side of the Manse Road (bottom) built, in the early 1930’s, on the site of what had once been allotments. The view is from Windsor Gardens Image

Most arrivals and departures use platform 3 at Bangor station. This facing crossover (centre) connects it to the up line to Belfast and can be seen in use in Image The rusty line (top) is the “middle road” Image

A very old cast-iron bollard at the end of Manse Road in Bangor. It has probably just been place here to prevent vehicles passing from the road onto a short lane which runs to the Brunswick Road. I believe that bollards of this style were once common in the town as they had been used in groups of 4 to surround gas lamps, protecting them from accidentical damage from passing carts or vehicles. The images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambangor/6057528496/in/set-72157605377535044/ & http://www.francisfrith.com/bangor,county-down/photos/bangor_40270/ show examples. No foundry name is visible, but it looks identical to an example seen in Lurgan cast by George Smith’s Sun Foundry, Glasgow Image See also Image and Image for related images of the same bollard.