Ulster Transport Authority
In 1946 the Northern Ireland Government announced that it would unite under a single authority all public transport that was wholly within Northern Ireland. The Transport Act (NI) 1948 created the Ulster Transport Authority which took over the BCDR on 1 October 1948 and the Northern Counties Committee on 1 April 1949.
On 15 January 1950 the UTA withdrew services on the former BCDR lines between Comber and Newcastle; Ballynahinch Junction and Ballynahinch; and Downpatrick and Ardglass. The Northern Ireland Transport Tribunal had authorised these closures on 15 December 1949.
The UTA withdrew services between Ballymacarrett Junction and Donaghadee on 22 April 1950. The line between Castlewellan and Newcastle remained open until 1 May 1955, served by Great Northern Railway Board trains to and from Banbridge. Once these two sections had been closed, the line between Belfast and Bangor was the only part of the former BCDR that remained open.
When the UTA took it over, the BCDR had 29 locomotives, 181 carriages and 25 other coaching vehicles, 629 wagons mostly covered vans and wagons but also including some 6-wheeled fish vans, and 54 service vehicles.
Read more about this topic: Belfast And County Down Railway
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