The shortest sea crossing between the British mainland and Ireland was the passage across the North Channel between Stranraer (Dumfries and Galloway) and Larne (Co Antrim).

Mail, freight, troops and passengers were carried to Northern Ireland over the "Port Road", the wild, beautiful and heavily engineered railway line from Dumfries to Stranraer Harbour from the 1850s until the Beechinginspired closure of the route in 1965.

This is the first of a threevolume look at the route, seeking its remains and exploring the wild, sparsely populated area it traversed.