NI : historical photos

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nirs
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by nirs »

Wow - fabulous pic! Hadn't seen that one before. Same view today.
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A42_Sparks
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by A42_Sparks »

It is a great pic. Taken in 1966 as well. The mid-60's in Northern Ireland must have been such an optimistic time for NI road fans with improvements like this and several motorway sections being opened before everything started to go terribly wrong several years later.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by Bens33 »

bothar wrote:Image

The scene as work on the Sydenham by-pass flyover nears completion. This is part of the new Queen Elizabeth bridge traffic scheme. 8/3/1966
Very impressive find.

Do you have a link with picture above? I tried find it in Belfast telegraph website nothing.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

Quite striking alright, if it wasn't for the old Austin Cambridge it looks very "modern". This is the link. Perhaps this would look well on a Sabristi's wall, or even on a mug.

This oneof the bridge to the harbour airport is less striking.

Image

The new bridge which will link Belfast Harbour Airport with the main airport road. On the right is the original wooden bridge. 14/4/1961
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by Trebeck »

bothar wrote:Quite striking alright, if it wasn't for the old Austin Cambridge it looks very "modern". This is the link. Perhaps this would look well on a Sabristi's wall, or even on a mug.

This oneof the bridge to the harbour airport is less striking.

Image

The new bridge which will link Belfast Harbour Airport with the main airport road. On the right is the original wooden bridge. 14/4/1961
I assume that this is this bridge?

Airport Road - No longer an official link to the passenger airport - thats off the Sydenham Bypass, but takes you to air cargo and fuel storage, as well as commercial units before ending at the Harbour Estate retail park.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by nirs »

Trebeck - yes, I agree that it's that bridge.

But I'm not sure why this road was necessary? The Sydenham Bypass opened in 1959, and as far as I know the original entrance lay-by was in existence from the start, not least because that's where the Commemorative Plaque of the new road is placed. This is also, incidentally, the only plaque I'm aware of commemorating the opening of a modern dual-carriageway anywhere in NI.

EDIT - Actually, I see that the original terminal building was here, so that road does make sense.
Last edited by nirs on Wed Jun 27, 2012 14:30, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by Trebeck »

I can only assume that when it was being used by Shorts and the Military, it was handy enough to use the back road, but when it became a Commercial airport in the 80s, the entrance by the layby on the Sydenham Bypass was ideal for getting people in and out.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

A1 at the Banbridge Cut in the 1950s.
Note the fluorescent tube street lights
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

Not taken from the Belfast Telegraph, this seems to be Augher(despite the mention of Armagh). I've never been there, I cannot quite reconcile the picture with Google Streetview.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-1950s ... 53093.html
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nirs
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by nirs »

bothar wrote: Mon May 14, 2018 23:50 Not taken from the Belfast Telegraph, this seems to be Augher(despite the mention of Armagh). I've never been there, I cannot quite reconcile the picture with Google Streetview.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-1950s ... 53093.html
Interesting. It's definitely this view, but you're right, many of the buildings appear to have been replaced. Interesting that there was a roundabout here as early as the 1950s, when traffic levels were still likely very low.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

It must have been interesting on the A4 a decade earlier when the train ran along the main street in Fivemiletown!
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fLKuqVnFVJs/ ... BFINAL.png
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bothar
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

This is not from the Belfast Telegraph but the interesting Belfast Historical Photos twitter. It is the A24 and A7 junction, somewhere around here , some research on the road layout is needed.

https://twitter.com/BelfastHistori5/sta ... 7045097475
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by AndyB »

I think it is probably that corner of the present roundabout.
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bothar
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

AndyB wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 21:38 I think it is probably that corner of the present roundabout.
I think so, the house at the start of the A7 (under the Alliance poster on the Google view) is the same house today.
The garage has become a Chinese takeaway, which is a social commentary of a sort.

I suppose someone has an explanation as to why the road into Belfast was the A24 and not the A7.
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by AndyB »

Best guess: A7 was not the original intended number of the road to Downpatrick (maybe an A3x number?), and the A24 was already intended for Ballynahinch, Down bagged it for their county and main cathedral town, but Belfast wasn’t moving on the A24 starting in Belfast.

As the A7 was in the 192x Road lists we won’t easily find out whether that guess is anything like accurate.
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bothar
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Re: NI : Belfast Telegraph historical photos

Post by bothar »

AndyB wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 22:35 Best guess: A7 was not the original intended number of the road to Downpatrick (maybe an A3x number?), and the A24 was already intended for Ballynahinch, Down bagged it for their county and main cathedral town, but Belfast wasn’t moving on the A24 starting in Belfast.

As the A7 was in the 192x Road lists we won’t easily find out whether that guess is anything like accurate.
But the same county council was involved in both routes, and I expect that Belfast would have liked the key routes to go to Belfast. Perhaps the A7 was originally going to Ballynahinch and was swapped with the A24 and someone forgot to leave the section from Carryduff as as the A7.

However, I suppose it would logical to find the A7 in Antrim, as the A6 and A8 are and perhaps to find an A9 in Down.

This is all lost in the mists of time at this stage.
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bothar
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Re: NI : historical photos

Post by bothar »

another tweet with a 1930s picture, the Sabristic interest here is the traffic light, which appears to have a wire coming out of the top of it.
This is at this junction
https://twitter.com/BelfastHistori5/sta ... 4680659968
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Re: NI : historical photos

Post by wallmeerkat »

There are a couple of interesting photos in the old Rewind thread, including Greencastle junction before the M5 was completed

viewtopic.php?p=1149324#p1149324

Image

I don't remember this but I do remember the other end, the M2, before the M3 was built, 2 lanes to Duncrue, 2 lanes to Nelson Street, and a lane closure over lane 5
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