In this paper, the author discusses the very innovative use of reinforced concrete made by the railway company north of Belfast in the period 1911 to 1939. The acceptance of the use of reinforced concrete for railway works was slow in coming, partly because of a lack of knowledge of the design methods involved and partly because of the belief that concrete could not cope with the hammer blow effect produced by passing trains. Despite this, the railway in Northern Ireland was prepared to use not only reinforced concrete but bridges made entirely of precast units from an early date. Study of the design of a succession of these bridges reflects the increasing confidence shown by the design staff and, by 1928, the engineers were prepared to adopt at Carrickfergus a design method not normally used for bridges. This increasing confidence led, in 1934, to the construction of the viaduct at Greenisland, then the largest reinforced concrete structure on any British railway.

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