London, Midland and Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee)
The Midland Railway, and with it the NCC, was grouped by the Railways Act 1921 into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923. On grouping, it was recorded as having 201 miles (323 km) of Irish broad gauge and 64 miles (103 km) of 3 ft (0.91 m) narrow gauge track. The LMS started painting NCC locomotives and carriages into crimson lake (also known as Midland red).
A new railway bridge over the River Bann at Coleraine was opened in March 1924. It had been built to replace an older bridge dating from 1860. The construction of this 800 ft (240 m) long bridge was carried out to the design and largely under the supervision of Bowman Malcolm. The opening span was the first application of the Strauss underhung bascule principle in the United Kingdom.
The NCC took over the operation of the narrow gauge Ballycastle Railway in August 1924, completing its acquisition of the line in June 1925. This brought the NCC up to its maximum route mileage of 282 miles (454 km).
The first line closure took place when the Portstewart Tramway ceased operating on 31 January 1926 due to continuing losses, deferred maintenance and obsolete equipment. The NCC sponsored a replacement bus service.
York Road station, Belfast was resignalled with colour light signalling. The installation, which was brought into use in 1926, was the first of its kind in Ireland and among the earliest large installations in the United Kingdom.
During the 1920s, the railways began to face increasing competition from road transport operators. The NCC responded by taking over competing bus services and running its own bus network.
Read more about this topic: Northern Counties Committee
Famous quotes containing the words scottish and/or railway:
“We’ll never know the worth of water till the well go dry.”
—18th-century Scottish proverb, collected in James Kelly, Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, no. 351 (1721)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)