Castlerock railway station

Castlerock railway station serves the villages of Castlerock, Articlave and their surrounding hamlets in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Walkers use the station to reach Mussenden Temple, Downhill Strand and Benone.

Castlerock
Castlerock station in 2009, prior to the line being singled.
Location	Castlerock Northern Ireland
Coordinates	55°9′55″N 6°47′13″W
Owned by	NI Railways
Operated by	NI Railways
Platforms	1
Tracks	1
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Key dates
1853	Opened
1970	New signalbox opened
2008	Refurbished
2016	Passing loop removed, signalbox closed
NI Railways Translink NI railway stations
Route map Belfast Great Victoria Street Belfast-Dublin line to Portadown, Newry, Dublin Connolly City Hospital Botanic Lanyon Place River Lagan Belfast-Bangor line to Holywood, Helen's Bay, Bangor Lagan Viaduct over River Lagan Cross Harbour Rail Link over Port of Belfast Yorkgate York Road York Road depot Fortwilliam Traincare Depot Whiteabbey Belfast-Larne line to Carrickfergus, Whitehead, Larne Town Belfast-Derry line via Greenisland Monkstown Mossley Mossley West Ballyclare Junction Ballyclare branch line to Lisnalinchy, Ballyclare Ballyrobert Doagh Templepatrick Dunadry Muckamore Lisburn-Antrim line to Crumlin, Knockmore, Lisburn Antrim Cookstown Junction Cookstown branch line to Randalstown, Cookstown Kellswater Andraid Ballymena and Larne Railway to Kells, Kilwaughter, Larne Town Ballymena Ballymena, Cushendall & Red Bay Rly to Rathkenny, Parkmore, Retreat Cullybackey Glarryford Killagan Dunloy Ballymoney Ballycastle Railway to Dervock, Armoy, Ballycastle Derry Central Railway to Garvagh, Kilrea, Magherafelt Macfin Coleraine Coleraine-Portrush line to University, Dhu Varren, Portrush River Bann Barmouth Castlerock Castlerock Tunnel Downhill Tunnel Downhill Umbra Magilligan Bellarena River Roe Limavady Railway to Limavady, Dungiven Limavady Junction Ballykelly Carrichue Faughanvale Eglinton River Faughan Londonderry

The station opened on 18 July 1853[1] and was built to a design by the architect Charles Lanyon. It comprised a single-storey red brick on the 'up' platform. There is a modern two storey addition to this in a similar style.[2]

As part of works to upgrade the Coleraine-Derry railway line, the passing loop at Castlerock station was discontinued and replaced with a new loop at Bellarena. The station signalbox - the last full-time mechanical signalbox on the NIR network, and the last to use block tokens - was subsequently closed on 2 November 2016.[3] The down platform, despite receiving a complete refurbishment two years prior, has now been taken out of service and the track lifted. All services calling at Castlerock now use the former up platform.

Service

Trains crossing at Castlerock in 2016. The down platform on the left has now been taken out of service and no longer has a running track.

Mondays to Saturdays there is an hourly service towards Londonderry or Belfast Great Victoria Street operated by Northern Ireland Railways.

On Sundays there are 6 trains in each direction.

References

1. "Castlerock station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
2. The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland. William Alan McCutcheon, Northern Ireland. Department of the Environment. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-37857587