Local scribe and railway enthusiast Colin McAlpin rides NI's rails and recounts his journey, station-by-station. First stop; the history of our local railways...

​Northern Ireland's modern railway system may be small, but it is an excellent one... if only the gleaming new trains ran on the Larne Harbour line - and the Lisburn to Antrim line was reopened with a dedicated station serving the International Airport. And if only a line could be re-laid to Armagh, Omagh, Dungannon and Enniskillen.

But, alas, the story of NI's once vast railway system - trains to Enniskillen and Bundoran, to Comber and Newcastle and to Cookstown – is one of if-only.

Click below to read up on the many fascinating stories embedded along NI's four main routes; Belfast-Bangor, Derry~Londonderry, Larne and Newry. And plan your journey via the Translink website.