About Us - Who We Are

Who We Are...

Welcome to the on-line guide to the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway. The railway is Northern Ireland's only standard gauge (i.e. full size) heritage railway and is based in the county town of Down.

The railway was founded in 1985 with the intention of rebuilding the entire former Belfast and County Down Railway branch line to Ardglass.

However, it soon became apparent that this was an unrealistic goal and instead the railway was or is being rebuilt to Inch Abbey and Ballydugan - both of which are on the former BCDR Belfast to Newcastle main line. A more detailed history of the scheme is available on the 'History' page here.

The Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway is a not-for-profit society as well as a registered charity and museum. We currently have a membership of just under 200 people from all over the world. We earn our revenue from the fares we charge per trip, donations and membership subscriptions. Major restoration jobs usually required large expenditure and we try to source grant aid for these.

We are staffed entirely by volunteers, the railway has been painstakingly rebuilt from nothing by people giving up their Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays or even Thursday evenings! This website is also designed and maintained by a volunteer.

Unlike many other Northern Ireland attractions, members of the public can - and are positively encouraged to shape the future direction of the railway. That's because our Management Committee is democratically elected from our membership every year.

To join, all you have to do is complete a membership form and post it to us!

Management Committee 2007/2008

Posts for the 2007/2008 term were elected at the DCDR Annual General Meeting on 9th June, 2007 as follows:

		Chairman: John Wilson John started volunteering at the railway little over a year ago and since then has been instrumental in many major projects since Day 1.
		Company Secretary: Raymond Dougan Raymond is a veritable "do-anything" at the railway - whether it's decorating the station for events or doing guard duty on the train - which he's aptly qualified to do as he works as a guard for NIR - he's there.
		Commercial Manager/Vice Chairman: George Legge George has run a successful shoe business in East Belfast for longer than any of us can - or dare - remember, and so can only blame himself for getting the job of looking after the Station Shop! Around the station, George can usually be seen out track laying midweek.
		Carriage & Wagon Officer: David Briggs David, like John Wilson, is a relatively newcomer to the railway, but having almost single-handedly rebuilt a wickam Inspection Trolley dived in to the Carriage & Wagon role.
		Marketing Officer : Robert Gardiner Robert has been volunteering at the railway since he was 16 and mainly works on the carriage fleet, but like everyone mucks in with most things. In between this he works for a large media organisation.
		Finance Officer : John Beaumont John comes from a railway family and has over 35 years experience working in preservation with us and the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.
		Locomotive Superintendent: Normal Bodel Norman is the youngest of our management team, and looks after the locomotive fleet, and is currently studying mechanical engineering.
		Signals & Telegraph Manager: Herbie Bodel Herbie has been volunteering for a couple of years now, and comes to the railway with a background in telecom engineering. This is his third term as S&T supremo and provides the railway with it's own double-act with his son, Norman.
		Engineering Consultant : Philip McKinstry Philip is the first incumbant of this new post, designed to provide engineering backup across all areas of responsibility, such as Permanent Way, Signalling, buildings, etc. Philip himself started volunteering, like John and David, just over a year ago and has been instrumental in designing the proposed new carriage shed.
		Station & Collection Manager: Neil Hamilton Neil is a Downpatrick local and looks after the station maintenance and the archive and museum collection. He also owns his own railway carriage - GSWR No. 69, which he says he'll get working on at some stage when all the other wee jobs are done...
		Permanent Way Inspector: Andy Cook Andy is a long time volunteer, and a former DRS Chairman, has previously held the post of PWI in the early 1990s, and was also PW Inspector with NIR at Lisburn.

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Steam in the Heart of Down
We hope you enjoy visiting our website, and that you'll visit us in person soon!