Editing Northern Counties Committee (section)

===Proposals===
There had been a proposal by the Davison brothers of [[Ballymena]] to build a railway between [[Belfast]] and Ballymena in 1836 but this came to nothing due, firstly, to the inability to identify a suitable route out of Belfast that did not include excessive gradients and, secondly, an economic downturn.

However, in 1844, the same promoters, in association with Sinclair Mulholland, William Coates and John McNeile of Belfast drew up a new scheme that included a branch to [[Carrickfergus]]. [[Charles Lanyon]] was employed to carry out preliminary surveys of the proposed route.

In fact, two routes out of Belfast were surveyed. One was an inland route beginning at the [[Antrim Road]] and skirting [[Cavehill]]. The other started at the junction of York Road and Corporation Street; it ran north on an embankment across slob land on the western shore of [[Belfast Lough]]. To ease the gradient, it was necessary for the line to Ballymena to leave the Carrickfergus branch by means of a trailing junction {{convert|6+1/2|mi}} from Belfast. Lanyon strongly favoured this latter coastal route and reported accordingly at a public meeting in [[Antrim, County Antrim|Antrim]] courthouse on 20 May 1844. A motion was carried that a complete survey of the line was to be completed and that costs were to be defrayed by opening a subscription.

A prospectus was issued in September 1844 with an optimistic review of the financial prospects for the undertaking. There was a good response and capital accumulated steadily from both sides of the [[Irish Sea]]. By 1848, the Belfast and Ballymena Railway (B&BR) would have 221 shareholders.