Minor Northern Ireland-related "strangeness" -- can anyone enlighten?

[Calthrop]

Definitely a trivial matter: only, something a little odd which I have just noticed in the caption of a postcard bought years ago at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, with its fine railway collection. Card depicts the Belfast & County Down Railway's 1910-built Beyer Peacock 4-4-2T No. 30, an exhibit in the museum. A sentence in the caption strikes me as strange: "No. 30 worked trains from Belfast (York Street) to Larne".

Immediate thought on the part of me -- not particularly erudite about the northern Irish broad gauge -- was, "what? Belfast to Larne was part of the Northern Counties Committee's system, not of the BCDR; and the NCC's Belfast station was named York Road, not 'Street' ". First response thus, is to see sloppiness and / or ignorance on the part of the makers and distributors of the card (this would be by no means my first experience of inaccurate captioning of postcards relevant to a particular railway "heritage" venue, and sold at that venue). However, I wonder a little -- and would be grateful for the opinions of anyone well-informed about Ulster broad-gauge railway history -- whether there might have been oddities, by which the references / implications re ownership and / or station name, could in fact be accurate? Imagination comes up with a few scenarios, though they feel as being on the far-fetched side. Would be thankful for any suggestions or information from folk more knowledgeable than myself.

 

[Taunton]

Possibly writing about the end of the loco's life, where it was withdrawn from, when the two companies were merged into UTA. Locos after the mergers became used all across the system.

And regarding the station name, although it was called York Road, it was actually in York Street. One runs into the other. The current Yorkgate intermediate station, effectively in the same place, is also in York Street. Descriptions are for the general public's understanding.

Nice museum there, by the way.

 

[Calthrop]

Possibly writing about the end of the loco's life, where it was withdrawn from, when the two companies were merged into UTA. Locos after the mergers became used all across the system.

Thanks. This is one of the scenarios which occurred to me. I doubted it, because of envisaging the new UTA circa 1950, as having plenty of better and more modern motive power for its surviving lines; than forty-year-old tank locos from the despised Belfast & County Down, the great majority of whose system the UTA had abandoned as of early '50. However, as said, I'm no expert on this historical scene.

And regarding the station name, although it was called York Road, it was actually in York Street. One runs into the other. The current Yorkgate intermediate station, effectively in the same place, is also in York Street. Descriptions are for the general public's understanding.

My bolding above -- thanks again -- "I get": the general idea, which one can understand and agree with, is to refer to the material in a way which the "ordinary punter" great majority of the visitors -- as opposed to hyper-learned railway nerds ! -- would have a chance of relating to. This, with the street / station names; likewise as regards the loco's use between Belfast and Larne: much more relatable-to for the great majority of folk, than the abandoned-a-lifetime-ago bulk of the BCDR would be.


My remark above, re heritage-railway inaccuracies in postcard captions; one such which sticks in my mind -- and which I mentioned on a "Railway History and Nostalgia" thread a few years ago -- concerns a postcard on sale some time back at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, showing a variety of scenes of action on that preserved line; but with a caption which stated, "The Isle of Wight was the last area of the UK to run steam trains in regular service..." My immediate reaction to that statement -- "Rubbish ! BR everyday steam continued for nineteen months after BR steam ended on the IOW -- to say nothing of regular steam working in Northern Ireland lasting for a couple of years after that." A poster responding to those sentiments of mine as expressed in the abovementioned thread, suggested that in broader terms, the caption's telling of things was not necessarily altogether wrong: the IOW having been the last area (in standard-gauge terms) on BR where every passenger service was steam-worked; elsewhere, steam -- working on ever fewer duties -- shared operations with diesel and electric traction. While I see where the commenter here, was coming from: to be frank, the comment strikes me as a rather wild flight of exegesis. And I don't see the postcard caption as a successful attempt at -- as raised above -- a comprehensibly-simplified summary for Joe Public, as to how things had gone: would seem to me that the wording as it stood, would guarantee J. Public's getting the wrong idea.