Former Station, 1 Moneybrannon Rd, Aghadowey, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT51 4DH

Aghadowey Railway Station is a former railway station building of around 1880, now converted into a private house, situated on Moneybrannon Road, Aghadowey. It was designed by James Barton, architect and engineer to the Derry Central Railway (DCR), and built by Messrs Dixon & Co under a contract signed in April 1879, alongside stations at Maghera, Upperlands, Kilrea, Garvagh and Macfin. The station and line opened in February 1880. The line ran between Magherafelt and Macfin Junction and was worked by the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway, connecting its Belfast–Londonderry line near Coleraine with its Antrim–Cookstown Branch at Magherafelt. The BNCR acquired outright possession of the DCR's assets in 1901, and was itself taken over by the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1903. That 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 axed in 1950, at which point the station closed. It was subsequently converted into the present dwelling. Although the station house and waiting room are externally largely intact, the original window detailing has been lost along with the glazed panel to the platform elevation, and other alterations mean the building is not considered of sufficient interest to warrant listing, though it retains industrial archaeological interest as a reminder of the railway system in this area.

The complex comprises four elements — a station master's house, a public waiting room, a yard, and a toilet block — all aligned approximately north to south and amalgamated into a single dwelling following closure.

Waiting Room

The waiting room is a single-storey building that formerly incorporated both a waiting room and a ticket office. It has a pitched natural slate roof with plain terracotta ridge tiles, replacing the original serrated tiles. Rainwater goods are ogee cast-iron to the front and half-round plastic to the rear. The walls are red brick with slightly advanced chamfered base courses. Purple-brick platbands run at cill level and at window drip mould level. The wall heads to the sides and gable comprise a line of serrated red brick, over which are moulded yellow-brick specials, over which is a course of plain red brick with cut stone shoulder stones above the end quoins.

The interior is accessed from outside through a doorway on the west elevation of the north pile of the station master's house. The only opening on the west elevation of the waiting room is a one-over-one timber sliding sash window to the right, set in an opening with a purple and red brick head and a yellow-brick hood mould over it, with rounded red-brick jambs and a flush-mounted dressed sandstone cill. Unless otherwise noted, all windows elsewhere in the block are also one-over-one timber sliding sashes, being replacements of the original two-over-two sashes. The north gable has a single identical window, but set within a semicircular-headed opening. The platform elevation originally had a wide glazed screen and doorway at the left, but this has been removed, the void infilled with brick, and a new picture window and door inserted; the eaves decoration has been mimicked in the rebuild. To the right is an original window and door opening, the window retaining its sash and the door fitted with a tongue-and-groove panel door.

Station Master's House

The station master's house is a double-pile, two-storey building aligned east to west, with the south pile extending beyond the north pile on their west gables. At ground floor level the north pile was an extension of the waiting room, while the first floor was for the exclusive use of the station master. The roof is detailed as the waiting room, but with two rendered chimneys to the south pitch. There was originally a chimney on the north pitch of the north pile, but this has been removed. Rainwater goods are a mix of cast-iron ogee and plastic gutters. Walls and windows are detailed as the waiting room at both ground and first floor levels.

The north elevation of the north pile is abutted at ground floor level by the waiting room; the exposed section above is blank. The west gable of the north pile has a doorway at ground floor level that was originally a window but has been broken out, and a modern metal-framed glazed porch has been added to the front of this gable. Above, at first floor level, is a window. The north elevation of the south pile is abutted at the left by a lean-to porch, formerly seemingly shared between the public and the station master. There is a timber door to the north elevation of the porch and a small single-pane replacement window to the side, originally a two-over-two sash. To the right, on the exposed section of the pile, is a sash window; the first floor is blank. The south elevation of the south pile is abutted at ground floor right by the yard, and is otherwise blank. The rear gables of both piles, facing the platform, form a symmetrical façade. A downpipe from their shared roof valley runs between the piles. There is a window to each floor of each pile, and a pair of small staircase lights directly below the roof valley at first floor level.

Yard

The yard originally had several single-storey lean-to buildings around its inside, but these have been demolished and the entire yard has been covered with a flat roof and converted to living space. The yard wall is of red brick, raised by several courses and coped with concrete. It retains two purple-brick platbands — continuations of those on the house — on all exposed elevations. Two openings have been inserted into the west elevation of the wall: one towards the left end comprising a glazed door with picture window, and one at the right comprising a tongue-and-groove door with a rectangular overlight. On the rear elevation there is an original doorway at the left, an original window opening in the middle, and a modern flat-headed window insert at the right; both windows are replacement one-over-one top-opening timber casements with new cills.

Toilet Block

At the south end of the yard is a toilet block, converted first to a garage and now used as an office with an internal connection to the new yard building. It has a hipped natural slate roof with a glazed metal ridge light, probably not an original feature, exposed rafter tails, and half-round metal gutters. The west elevation is abutted by a slightly lower modern extension with a flat roof, glazed frontage, and brick side wall. The south elevation is blank and is embellished with purple-brick platbands that continue along the east elevation. The east elevation has an original doorway at the left fitted with a tongue-and-groove door.

Platform

The edge of the platform is visible at the north end as a course of rounded purple-brick coping over red brick. Its surface has been decked with replacement stone flags. At the north end of the platform is a relatively recent single-storey shed with a monopitched roof and red brick walls.

Setting

The station is accessed by a track off the main road, gravelled to the front with a planted garden along the road boundary. The single-track railway line ran along the back of the building but is now heavily overgrown. A cattle loading bank is just visible amongst the undergrowth on the opposite side of the track. A short distance to the north-east is a large single-storey former goods shed, now refurbished as a Masonic hall. It has a pitched artificial slate roof — originally hipped — with half-round metal gutters and rubble basalt walls brought to courses, with gable apexes raised and roughcast; the original openings appear to have been modified and all now have stucco cement architraves. Immediately to the south of the station complex is a bridge carrying the road over the railway.