Editing Northern Counties Committee (section)

===Steamer services===
The shortest distance between Great Britain and Ireland is the {{convert|22|mi|km}} across the [[North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland)|North Channel]] between [[Portpatrick]] in Wigtownshire, Scotland and [[Donaghadee]] in [[County Down]]. A privately run mail service had started in 1662 which. taken over by the [[General Post Office|Post Office]] and then the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]], continued for nearly 200 years. In 1849, problems at both Portpatrick and Donaghadee during severe weather and the difficulty in accommodating larger steamers at Portpatrick caused the termini of the Short Sea Route to be transferred to [[Stranraer]] and Larne.

Even before the Carrickfergus & Larne railway (C&LR) had been completed, the {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}} was playing a leading role in discussions with other railway companies about operating a steamer service between Larne and Stranraer. The {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}}, [[Glasgow and South Western Railway|Glasgow and South Western]], [[Portpatrick Railway|Portpatrick]], [[North British Railway|North British]] and [[Newcastle and Carlisle Railway|Newcastle and Carlisle]] railways formed a joint committee to operate a steamer. It purchased the iron-hulled paddle steamer {{ship|PS|Briton||2}} which made her first sailing in normal service on 2 October 1862. The service was not a success and continuing poor financial results led to its being suspended on 31 December 1863.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.portoflarne.co.uk/about-us/history/| title=History| publisher=Port of Larne| access-date=24 January 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190310020107/http://www.portoflarne.co.uk/about-us/history| archive-date=10 March 2019| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}} continued to promote the possibility of a steamer service but with a better ship. Although lacking capital it was able to encourage private investors to set up a new company in 1871. Known as the Larne and Stranraer Steam Boat Company it began operating the PS ''Princess Louise'' on a daily service from 1 July 1872.

In 1885, the [[London and North Western Railway|London and North Western]], [[Midland Railway|Midland]], [[Caledonian Railway|Caledonian]] and Glasgow and South Western railways had formed the [[Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway]] to operate the Portpatrick Railway and to, improve the profitability of the route, bought out the steamship company. A new, faster and larger ship, the ''Princess Victoria'' entered service in May 1890 and reduced the sea crossing to only 2{{frac|1|4}} hours. The new service was an immediate success and was well patronised by businessmen. Furthermore, the [[United Kingdom Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] recognised the crossing as a supplementary mail route in addition to [[Holyhead]]-[[Dún Laoghaire|Kingstown]]. Traffic increased by 40% between 1875 and 1885 and in July 1891 an additional ship was put on the service during the summer. The BNCR had subscribed a large sum in 1890 and in July 1893 it was able to join the four railways operating the Portpatrick Joint Railway in the newly created Larne & Stranraer Steamship Joint Committee. [[Edward John Cotton]] of the {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}} managed the service which continued to be a success.

Once the {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}} had absorbed the Ballymena and Larne Railway in 1889 and the Carrickfergus and Larne Railway in 1890, it possessed both of the Irish routes leading to the Larne-Stranraer steamer.