Railway Bridge, Beside 1 Moneybrannon Rd, Aghadowey, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT51

A single-arched brick-and-stone road bridge of late 1870s date carrying a minor two-lane road over the former Derry Central Railway, located immediately south of the former Aghadowey Station. This is a good and intact example of well-executed utilitarian railway bridge design with a degree of embellishment, and is of particular interest for its brick arch soffit, which reflects the later 19th century progression from stone to brick construction.

The bridge is constructed of quarried rubble basalt throughout, except for its orthogonal brick soffit. The abutments feature rusticated and margined quoins topped with a string course, though the latter does not run through the arch at spring level. Just beyond the abutments are shallow tapered abutments with similarly detailed quoins. The arch itself is of semi-elliptical profile, formed by five soldier courses of brick. The span was designed to accommodate two railway tracks—the main line on the down (north-west) side and a siding on the up (south-east) side. The parapets are coped with very large roughly hewn sandstone copings. The road is embanked up to each end of the bridge.

The bridge sits within a setting of woodland to its east and south, with fields to the west and the former Aghadowey Station immediately to its north. The disused railway line is now completely overgrown with trees in this vicinity.

The Derry Central Railway ran between Magherafelt and Macfin Junction and was designed by James Barton, the railway's architect and engineer. A contract for the construction of the station and line, along with stations at Maghera, Upperlands, Kilrea, Garvagh, and Macfin, was signed with Messrs Dixon & Co in April 1879. The station and line opened in February 1880. The line was worked by the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway, which connected its Belfast–Londonderry line near Coleraine with its Antrim–Cookstown branch at Magherafelt. The Belfast & Northern Counties Railway acquired the Derry Central Railway's assets outright in 1901 and was itself taken over by the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1903. This company was reconstituted as the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1923. At nationalisation in 1949, the line passed to the Ulster Transport Authority. All services on the Kilrea–Macfin section were withdrawn in 1950 and the station closed. It was subsequently converted to residential use. The bridge survives as a tangible reminder of the former railway and is of considerable local historical and industrial archaeological interest.