Concerns at plans to ‘prune’ Ulster’s railway system (1956)

Mr C J Burrows, a Tyrone manufacturer, told the News Letter that the announcement had come as a “bombshell” to business people.

Mr Burrowes, who was the vice chairman of Dungannon Rural Council and a member of Tyrone County Council, said that to propose the closing of the passenger and goods services from Portadown to Londonderry with the large intermediate populations and industries was unthinkable.

He said: “It will isolate the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Londonderry and indeed the west of Ireland. To close the railways would be a death blow to many of the thriving industries and will not be tolerated.”

Mr R K. Henderson, chairman of Omagh Urban Council, said that the news that one of the lines to Londonderry would be closed came as a profound shock to him. As owner of a foundry he said that it would create an awkward position for him, but he was optimistic enough to hope that the line from Belfast to Londonderry via Portadown could be maintained.

Captain W Madden Scott, managing director of large flour mills in Omagh and Newtownstewart, said that he was astounded at the prospect of the line being closed. His said that his firm had a shuttle service of lorries, from the mill to the railway station, and “since the railway opened in 1852 my firm has used the railway extensively because they hads always got a wonderful service”.

He added that the closing of the railway would “most certainly interfere with the working - of the mills”.

Mr T F Lester, the manager of Nestles Ltd, Omagh, “the largest industry in the town”, said that the closing of the line would have a serious effect on coal supplies and to a certain extent on the importation of raw materials.