 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2015) |
 1926 map of the railway | |
 Class U2 74 Dunluce Castle at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1903–1949 |
| Predecessors | List of prior companies[1]
|
| Successor | Ulster Transport Authority |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) 3 ft (914 mm) |
| Length | 281 miles 17 chains (452.6 km) (1925)[1] |
| Track length | 388 miles 2 chains (624.5 km) (1925)[1] |
The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge (1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)) but later acquired a number of 914 mm (3 ft) narrow gauge lines. It had its origins in the Belfast and Ballymena Railway which opened to traffic on 11 April 1848.
The NCC itself was formed on 1 July 1903 as the result of the Midland Railway of England taking over the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR), which the Belfast and Ballymena Railway had become. At the 1923 Grouping of British railway companies, the Committee became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). After the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948 the NCC was briefly part of the British Transport Commission, which sold it to the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) in 1949.
The BNCR and its successors recognised the potential value of tourism and were influential in its development throughout Northern Ireland. They were able to develop and exploit the advantages of the Larne to Stranraer ferry route between Northern Ireland and Scotland which gained importance in World War II.