This steam breakdown crane was built by Cowans Sheldon and Co. in 1931 for the LMS (NCC) railway to assist in the construction of the new Bleach Green viaduct between Belfast and Antrim, and has a lifting capacity of 36 tons.

After passing into the hands of UTA and later NIR the crane was used less and less, until it lay out of use at York Road depot (close to Yorkgate Station) until 1994 when it was purchase from NIR by the DCDR.

One of the crane's last uses was in helping lift overhead equipment into place for the DART.

This vehicle is one of the few remaining examples of a goods wagon that were a common sight throughout Ireland, north and south. They were used extensively on goods trains all over Ireland, from Cork to from the Republic travelling to north Donegal via Derry City. Indeed, the remains of one can still be seen near Bellarena Station, north of Castlerock.

While every railway company had a large stock of these standard four wheel covered vans, No.18885 belongs to perhaps the largest group of all, to the extent that it may be seen as typical for the 1950s / 70s period. From 1949 until the early 1960s, CIE produced a large fleet of these "H" vans, as they were known, at its Inchicore Works in Dublin.

No. 18885 is currently used as a generator van, and has a 30 kVa generator fitted. Unfortunately this generator is too powerful for the job required, and is exceptionally noisy. As a result the wagon has gained the nickname "Roaring Meg".

The DCDR has four of these brown vans, so-called due to their livery and the traffic dirt they accumulated!

They were built after the war partly by the NCC, partly by Harland and Wolff Shipbuilders, and were used on passenger trains between Belfast and L'Derry, and carried luggage and mail. They were not just used on steam trains - it's not uncommon to see one attached to diesel railcars in photographs from the 1970s!

They are currently used as stores and can be seen from the station platform.

This wagon is used on our Permanent Way trains and is used to help spread the ballast that's deposited into the middle of the track by the centre dropping ballast wagons.

It's nickname is "The Shark", though how it got that is anyone's guess... The Great Western Railway had names for rolling stock based on their telegraphgic codes. A 10 ton ploughvan was a 'cockle', 12T ploughvan are 'oysters' and the 20T ones are 'sharks'.

However, such terminology is rare in Ireland, and whether it had this nickname in service or acquired it later in preservation is not known. With thanks to John Cannon, South Devon Railway

There are two GSWR ballast wagons at Downpatrick, and are extensively used on our Permanent Way trains.

They deposit their load into the centre of the track, which is then spread by a ploughvan (see above).

This is a more modern version of the GSWR variety. As well as deposting its load into the centre of the track, the hopper can also spread it along the edge of the sleepers, allowing the supporting edge of ballast either side of the track to be built up with greater ease.

It was recently used on the relay of the Belfast-Antrim line via Bleach Green.