December 28 1923The report circulated yesterday that the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Co proposed to run a steamship service between Belfast and Holyhead created great interest in the city and gave rise to a variety of rumours. One story, told to me with a wealth of detail, was to the effect that the company mentioned proposed to purchase the Belfast and County Down Railway and to make either Bangor or Donaghadee the port of departure on this side.
A Belfastman, who knows the two ports intimately, said to me that Donaghadee would probably be the port. “Apart from the fact,” he said, “that half an hour could be saved on each passage, as compared with Bangor, Donaghadee is far more convenient for cross-channel purposes. It is true that the present pier would not do, but a company like the London, Midland and Scottish could easily afford to spend £40,000 or £50,000 on making a new harbour a short distance from the present one.”
Mr Pepper, the local manager of the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway, is from home, so that I was unable to see him, and Mr Moore, the manager of the County Down line, was unable to confirm or deny the report. In other quarters, however, I learned that the plans had been drawn up for the new service, and obviously this would not be done unless the London, Midland and Scottish Co hoped in the near future to have control over the Belfast and Co Down system.
It was evident from what I heard that railway developments in Northern Ireland are not started yet, and that within the next two or three years there will be a big change in the direction of bringing the three systems in Northern Ireland up to the standard of the leading English companies. Certainly a good deal more could be done than in the past in the way of developing the principle watering places in Antrim and Down, which ought to attract far more tourists than they did in the past, and from what I heard yesterday Portrush, Bangor, Newcastle and other beauty spots will be boomed next year in England and Scotland.
By drawing a line and creating a physical border spanning almost 300 miles, some of the most challenging issues faced by both Irish jurisdictions after partition related to infrastructure and services. Five railway companies were directly affected by the new border by serving both sides of it. Both Irish governments agreed in 1924 that the Irish Free State would legislate for railway companies based solely in the Free State territory and the northern government would not look to amalgamate railway companies in Northern Ireland with British ones.