Parkmore Railway Station 1
Status
Abandoned
Condition
Poor
Date opened
1 September 1888
Date closed
1 October 1930
Architect
BNCR
Architect
BNCR

Parkmore Railway Station is an abandoned railway station located in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The station opened in 1876 and was one of the highest in all of Ireland, rising to 1,045 ft above sea level. It stands within an area of outstanding natural beauty, just beside Glenariff Forest Park.

Originally, the Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway, a narrow-gauge line, carried iron ore through Parkmore. It was the first narrow-gauge railway in Ireland to be sanctioned by Parliament. Several local mines were linked to the main line by sidings and branch lines. Each week between 1,200 and 1,500 tonnes of ore travelled to Ballymena and then on to Larne and Belfast for shipment to England.

By 1889 the iron was exhausted and the railway lost its primary purpose. The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway then took over Parkmore Station and ran trains from Ballymena to Retreat, skirting the foothills of Trostan. From that point the line catered mainly for tourists.

Tourists travelled here to visit the Glens of Antrim, a region comprising nine valleys. They would disembark from the train and often stop for lunch at the tea house at the foot of the valley before hiking into the glens, or they hired horse-drawn jaunting cars at Parkmore to continue down Glenariff.

Separate from this passenger route, the Glenariff Iron Ore and Harbour Company opened its own 3 ft-gauge mineral railway in 1873. This independent line ran from the Cloughcorr iron mines down Glenariff to a pier at Red Bay, where ore was loaded onto ships. The steep descent and lack of a connecting track meant it was never linked to the Ballymena, Cushendall and Red Bay Railway.

Parkmore Railway Station 2
Parkmore Railway Station in the 1920s

On 10th January 1921 the train from Parkmore to Ballymena was held up by members of the IRA. A red lantern signalled the train to stop and six armed men boarded, overpowered the guard and stole mailbags addressed to the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks at Cushendall. Similar interception attacks had occurred nearby previously.

On 1st October 1930 Parkmore Railway Station closed for good. The station house and water tower still stand. From here, passengers would disembark and continue their excursion either on foot or in horse-drawn jaunting cars.