Railway Hopes Tamper Will Mean Goodbye to Picks and Shovels!
Saturday, 10th May 2008

The Tamper being craned on to the track

The Downpatrick and County Down Railway gave a "lift" to an unusual train today.

The machine, known as a 'tamper' was acquired from Northern Ireland Railways and was delivered to Downpatrick after being craned onto a lorry at NIR's Adelaide Depot in South Belfast.

Andy Cook, Infrastructure Manager with the DCDR, explains that this is an essential piece of maintenance equipment designed to pack stones nderneath railway track.

"Over time trains moving over railway track cause gaps, known as 'voids', to form in the ballast that holds the line in position. On any railway where this has happened you can clearly see sleepers bouncing up and down as the wheels pass over them. When this happens passengers notice a distinct bounce."

"From a technical viewpoint this movement wears out the track quicker, which may mean having to relay sections. So voids need to be filled in to give a firm base for each sleeper."

He adds, "This machine will help prevent any such voids developing on our line, and stop the track from going out of alignment, as well as meaning a smoother ride for our passengers."

Mr. Cook explained that the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway is Ireland's only full-size heritage line, and has laid and maintains nearly three miles of track by hand.

"It's back-breaking work, as we're using picks and shovels to do this work at the moment," he says, "We've done an amazing job but if we're to keep the line in shape or extend it at some stage our handful of volunteers would face a daunting task. While we're a heritage railway committed to preserving our Victorian and Edwardian railway past, I don't think we should rely on 19th Century track laying and maintenance techniques!" jokes Mr. Cook.

So the DCDR jumped at the chance when a mechanical tamping machine became available. An older type of machine had been withdrawn from service by NIR, and was lying in storage at their depot at Adelaide.

The Tamper is prepared for lifting at Adelaide Yard. One of the newly refurbished NIR 80 Class railcars can be seen on the right hand side.

Eugene O'Brien, Infrastructure Engineer with Translink said, "This piece of equipment which was used to maintain the track is now obsolete. As we no longer have any requirement for it we are pleased to be able to let the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway have it."

He explained that this machine packs ballast under an old type of old jointed track known as bull-head rail, which NIR no longer uses on any of its lines, but that the DCDR's line is made entirely from this type of track.

It is expected to take around a year to refurbish and overhaul the tamper, and any diesel engine buffs or anyone with an interest in getting it going or helping out with the track at the DCDR should get in touch with Andy Cook at Downpatrick Station any Wednesday or Saturday.

Saving Your Old Snaps of the Railway
Sunday, 27th April 2008

The Marshallstown Road level crossing on the Ardglass line, just outside Downpatrick in 1949 - with the Curran family operating the ground frame to let No. 27 pass.

With the 150th Anniversary of the railway opening to Downpatrick fast approaching next March, the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway wants anyone with any photos of the old Belfast & County Down Railway to get in touch. It is important that photographs are recorded and preserved to show what life on the railway was like before the line was closed in 1950, and used to run from Belfast to between towns like Comber, Newtownards, Downpatrick, Newcastle and Ardglass.

Photos were meant to last, but all too often we find that they don't - the people who took them pass away and families throw them out because they're thought to have no historical value or importance. Indeed, everyone in the DCDR and in the wider railway fraternity knows of at least one story where something has been lost, forgotten or binned.

Although we would very much welcome original prints and negatives, we do know that photos often show loved ones and that people often don't want to part with them, which we perfectly understand, which is why we can offer anyone who has railway photographs the chance to have them digitally reproduced by us.

Porter Bob Seales standing on the bridge that carried the main line and Newtownards line over Comber's Glen Road in 1941.

Another area we're keen to see if anyone has recorded is the Harland & Wolff diesel engine that used to run between Downpatrick and Ardglass during the Forties. There's plenty of it in its later life at Great Victoria Street after the lines closed, but few of it on its native turf.

Distance isn't an issue, we can come round to where you are, whether you're in Bangor, Ardglass, Newcastle or further afield! We're also keen to hear from anyone who has a connection to the BCDR - maybe even a member of staff that we haven't met before, we'd like to record their stories and experiences to provide an oral history of the BCDR.

The Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway is currently planning to create a permanent exhibition about the BCDR in its station building in time for the 150th Anniversary, and is currently working on digitising its entire photograph collection with a view to making it more accessible to the public for research purposes and nostalgia.

Anyone with any photographs, or any other BCDR items or artefacts, or knows someone who might be able to help is urged to email us downtrains@yahoo.co.uk, or write c/o Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway, Market Street, Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 6LZ.

As part of this appeal our Vice President, Michael Collins, spoke to Linda McAuley on BBC Radio Ulster and George Jones of U105, click on the buttons below to listen to the broadcasts:

Local Fire Brigade's Gift to the Railway
Monday, 31st March 2008

John Beaumont receives the donation from David Dryden, Downpatrick Station Commander

The DCDR has been given a given a very generous donation of £500 by the local Downpatrick station of the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service.

The local Fire Brigade have an annual collection every year for their favourite charities, and this year the DCDR was selected.

Finance Officer John Beaumont and Hon. Vice President Michael Collins, representing Chairman John Wilson, attended a reception at Downpatrick Fire Station last Wednesday night to receive the donation.

Downpatrick Fire Brigade had previously, of course, been instrumental in saving our station building from total destruction after an arson attack in the early hours of Boxing Day in 2002.

Our sincere thanks go to the crews at the Fire Station.

Joe Lindsay Catches the Eggspress
Thursday, 27th March 2008

Joe Lindsay, sitting in the hotseat on BBC Radio Ulster's afternoon show, talked to Michael Collins on Easter Monday about how the Easter Eggspress has done, and why men need a shed. Click on the buttons below to listen to Monday's broadcast:

Paddy's Day and Easter Prove Massive Success!
Tuesday, 25th March 2007

The 2008 running season at the DCDR kicked off with the Shamrock Specials and the Easter Eggspress trains running on the 17th March and the following weekend.

Just under 1,000 people travelled on St. Patrick's day - 933 to be precise - with just over half travelling in from Inch Abbey - a first for the DCDR, having more people travelling INTO town than travelling out. Below are a selection of photos from St. Patrick's Day, and the town's carnival that terminates outside the main station.

I thought Leprechauns were meant to be small? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

With Easter being abnormally close to St. Patrick's Day this year, it was afraid that Easter would be quieter following Patrick's Day. Fortunately this was not the case, and despite the cold all trains were very well filled throughout the three days, with Easter Monday being the busiest.

However we are aware that the ever-increasing popularity of these services means that every seat is being squeezed into use, with sometimes not enough room for everyone wanting to travel. This will be addressed by the restoration and return to service of higher capacity carriages, and we hope you can bear with us until this work is completed - indeed why not come down and give us a hand? The Carriage Team is always keen to get new members! Just come down on a Wednesday or Saturday and introduce yourself to the team.

U105's Rick Nugent Climbs Onboard the Shamrock Express
Saturday, 15th March 2008

Rick Nugent from U105 talked to Michael Collins today about the up-coming Shamrock Specials, and how to beat the traffic on St. Patrick's Day. Click on the buttons below to listen to today's broadcast:

Tree-mendous Developments on the South Line
Tuesday, 11th March 2008

Philip McKinstry and one of Conservation Volunteers planting the new trees

Just over week before St Patrick’s Day the DCDR joined forces with Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland to plant 100 trees.

With the supermarket extension now complete and the railways site on our southern boundary restored and re-fenced it seemed an opportune time to turn the site into something attractive for passengers to view and to build on DCDR’s ‘green’ credentials.

The DCDR’s officer for environmental issues, Bob Osborne, commented ‘With recycling of waste initiated last September, the planting of indigenous deciduous oak, birch, hazel, spindle, hawthorn and rowan marks a significant step in the railway’s commitment to enhancing the environmental profile of the railway in the local community’.

St. Patrick's Day and Easter Fares Now Available
Friday, 7th March 2008

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway kicks off this year’s train services with the St. Patrick’s Day ‘Shamrock Specials’ and 'Easter Eggspress', and fares are now available on our fares section.

With the new car park at the railway’s Inch Abbey terminus, the St Patrick’s Days trains are a sure way of beating the traffic and letting you steam into the town for the festival celebrations. The train now acts as a by-pass for the town. We know that many people end up parking as far out as the Abbey Lodge Hotel and the Down Business Park on the Belfast Road and end up having to walk a fair distance into the town centre. Well, if you find yourself having to park out on the Belfast Road – you can save yourself a long walk and follow the brown signs for Inch Abbey and walk onto a steam train that will take you into the heart of the carnival!

Tickets will be available at Inch Abbey Station, and there are a small number of car parking spaces at the Abbey as well as the station.

Then the following weekend there’ll be eggs-travagant fun with free eggs galore on this year’s Easter Eggspress, running on Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th March.

Cameo Appearance on ATL Rock School
Tuesday, 19th February 2008

The railway made a small, but unexpected cameo appearance on last Saturday's ATL Rock School 2008 finals on BBC2 NI.

The reason? Local band The Station recorded their introductory film in front of the railway station (see photo on the right - a familiar sign to our visitors behind one of the band's members). And no, we don't know if we were the inspiration for their name!

Unfortunately The Station didn't win the final, but you can still watch their performance here, and they're often to be found in Mullan's Bar in the town, so if you like what you see from the clip, check them out.

Railway Featured in BBC Online Gallery
Tuesday, 12th February 2008

A photograph (right) by railway volunteer Robert Gardiner is being featured on the BBC NI's website.

The shot (No. 6 in the selection) shows the sun setting just behind the signal gantry and water tower, as well as the roofs of carriages, last Saturday evening.

See the BBC's readers' selection

In a bizarre coincidence, the selection of photos also includes one of the sunset at Nendrum, taken by Vice-President Michael Collins. We just have too many good photographers, that's what it is...!

Raising Steam - Your FAQ
Tuesday, 28th January 2008

Raising Steam as well as generating a lot of interest in the Society has also raised a lot of questions that you've been emailing us! Hopefully this Q&A section will address most of these.

Will there be a DVD released?
That's not up to us, but very unlikely. Not because the programme wasn't popular - anything but - merely because BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, doesn't release DVDs or videos of regional programming.

Is the Royal Saloon restored?
No, we're afraid not. The main reason is that it needs a specially constructed or adapted metal chassis (or underframe). When these carriages were scrapped the wooden body was removed from their wheels. Until this problem is addressed we cannot move its restoration on any further, and to adapt or construct an underframe will cost £££s, and will most likely require grant aid. But we have it and it's safe and sound. If we'd left it where it was it would not have survived.

When do you hope to get to Ballydugan?
We can't put a timescale on that. We don't own the trackbed between the end of our line to Ballydugan, and that depends on the goodwill of those landowners, as well as the availability of grant aid in order to reverse nearly 60 years of dereliction along the route. But we are committed to acheiving it.

I've an artefact from the BCDR, how can I donate it?
We're a fully accredited museum, recognised by the Museums and Library Archives Council, and we can make sure your BCDR artefacts are carefully looked after. Indeed we are developing proper display facilities for these artefacts in the station. If you have photographs and don't want to part with them as they show family, we can scan these at high resolution and return the originals to you, or come to your house and scan them there. We're also on the look-out for things like BCDR uniforms, etc. For more information, visit our how to make a donations page.

I, or my father/grandfather, was a former BCDR employee - can I tell my story?
Of course, we're very interested to speak to anyone with a connection to the old BCDR. If you are or know of a veteran of the line we're very keen to record their stories for posterity and ultimately upload them here on our history section for future generations to learn about the BCDR.

How can I volunteer?
Simple! Just print off a membership form from the Join Us page, and come down any Wednesday or Saturday and make yourself known.

So just what is the maximum curve?
We don't know, Andy and Billy are still debating this...

Raising up a Steam in the Ratings
Tuesday, 15th January 2008

Raising Steam scored very well in the overnight ratings from BARB - with an average 114,000 viewers tuning in (final figures will be out in the next week or so), and an average 26% audience share, growing from 22% (which was the same as the news) to 29% at the end of the programme, which meant that people were coming to the programme from other channels.

None of the other TV channels came anywhere close to this figure - and was substantially higher than the audience share for GB (which was 17%). Audience share is the percentage of the available audience - those that were actually watching TV in Northern Ireland at that time - split between BBC1NI, BBC2NI, ITV, C4, C5 and digital cable, satellite and Freeview.

To put this into perspective - this is a rating comparable with other highly rated local programming, such as Nolan Live, etc. - so congratulations to all from the DCDR to all at BBC Northern Ireland.

If you weren't lucky enough to catch "Raising Steam" last night on BBC1 Northern Ireland - the fantastic folks at the BBC have streamed the programme for seven days on their iPlayer website - click on the images below to watch it again.

Alan Simpson Talks 'Raising Steam'
Monday, 14th January 2008

Alan Simpson talked to Michael Collins today on BBC Radio Ulster about the BBC1 Northern Ireland documentary "Raising Steam", tonight at 10.35pm - on why steam trains hold a fascination to people of all ages, why he volunteers and about the programme in general.

Click HERE to listen to Alan Simpson in Windows Media
Click HERE to listen Alan Simpson in Real Media

Don't forget that Raising Steam is on Sky Channel 973 for those outside Northern Ireland.

Raising Steam on the BBC
Monday, 7th January 2008

Michael Collins is interviewed for Raising Steam

On Monday 14th January at 10.35pm on BBC1 Northern Ireland a 40 minute documentary on the DCDR called Raising Steam will be broadcast! For those of you not in Northern Ireland - if you've got Sky you can watch it on Channel 973.

The documentary commemorates 20 years since the DCDR first ran a passenger train, and 60 years since the nationalisation of the majority of the railways in Northern Ireland.

Narrated by John Toal, a voice familiar to anyone who listens to Radio Ulster, Raising Steam interviews the key players who set up the DCDR all those years ago, and those who keep the place evolving and growing to this day. It also looks back at the original railway, the Belfast & County Down Railway, and talks with some of the few surviving veterans of that railway, their memories and experiences working for it, and how they felt about the closure of the line.

Tommy McMullan remembers his time as a signaller

Raising Steam takes former fireman Adam Hamilton back to his old engine, No. 30, at Cultra, and former signaller Tommy McMullan to the signal cabin at Saintfield – much the same as his old haunt at Crossgar, now long gone. And old friends James Magill and Willie Watterson go back to their old station at Tullymurry.

Rare archive footage of the BCDR filmed in 1950, recently rediscovered, shows Tommy as a young man at Crossgar as a train arrives. Other footage shows American troops travelling on the BCDR during World War 2, giving people who may only have seen the BCDR in still photographs, or had never seen it at all, a unique chance to see the railway in its heyday, and the reasons why it closed.

Raising Steam then, again through the use of home video shot by the railway's founder Gerry Cochrane, illustrates the scene 30 years later, and the struggle to get the railway off the ground. Many DCDR stalwarts are interviewed during the 40 minutes, including Gerry Cochrane, Michael Collins, Raymond Dougan, George Legge and Ian Davis – even getting into their houses!

Although the bulk of the programme was filmed over Easter 2007, it was shot over several months, starting with our Santa Trains in December 2006, St. Patrick’s Day and May Day.

Adam Hamilton is reunited with his old locomotive

If you have digital, the BBC will also be screening the 1956 documentary "The End of the Line" about the crisis facing NI's railways at that time - via the red button service after Raising Steam is over. Find out more.

But we hope you can all tune in and enjoy both programmes - if you can! And let your friends and families know too.

It will provide a fascinating insight into the DCDR, and those who keep it running. And you never know, if you're not already a member or volunteer maybe it will give you that little bit of encouragement...?

Raising Steam - Monday 14th January - 10.35pm - BBC 1 Northern Ireland

Read the Press Release here

Raffle Winner
Sunday, 23rd December 2007

Many thanks to everyone who entered our raffle for the Thomas the Tank Engine Complete Story Library, worth £120, that we raffled over the Christmas period.

After the trains were finished on Sunday night, Santa himself performed the honours and the winner was Louise Stevenson of Lisburn.

Our congratulations to her, and commiserations for those whose names weren't pulled out of the hat.

U105's Rick Nugent Books his Ticket for Santa
Saturday, 22nd December 2007

Rick Nugent from U105 talked to Michael Collins today about the last weekend of Santa's Lapland Express, and the 20th Anniversary of his first visit to Downpatrick back in 1987.

Click HERE to listen to Rick Nugent in Windows Media
Click HERE to listen Rick Nugent in Real Media

Travelling on the Lapland Express
Wednesday, 19th December 2007

A visitor to the DCDR, Ken Morris, has very kindly sent us this video of his time on the Lapland Express last Saturday, 15th December, which he has uploaded to Youtube.

Last Outing for the Lapland Express
Monday, 17th December 2006

This weekend is the last one that Santa will be travelling to his "rail" workshop onboard the Lapland Express at the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway, before having to return to the North Pole for Christmas Eve. If you haven't been down yet, you're really missing a Christmas treat as Santa really gets everyone into the festive mood on board the train, singing Christmas songs such as Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer until the train reaches his Grotto.

It's been 20 years since the very first train ran in Downpatrick back in 1987 and the railway is still getting repeat visitors - we've met people over the last three weekends who were children themselves who travelled on the very first train - and who are now bringing their own children down to the train. If you're one of them - make yourself known to the railway staff - we'd love to feature you here online.

The steam train will be leaving the railway station with an "early bird train" at 1pm and then approximately every 40 minutes till 5pm. Santa will also be providing his guests refreshments on the buffet coach. Fares are £5 for adults, £6 for children who receive a present from Santa, while it is just £3 for children under three and £4 senior citizens.

However, the bad news is that while we've asked Santa to climb down a chimney so the children can see how he does it, he thinks using the steam engine's chimney just isn't on!

Photos of visitors last weekend (15th and 16th December)

Shirley & Robbie Maquire and Edna McClung from Annacloy	Denise, Nathan, Shea Drake and Nicole McStravick from Downpatrick with Santa
Harry, Rosie & George Johnston from Downpatrick	Conrad, Roma and Milo from Dungannon
A Packed Platform	The Elves in Santa's Workshop

All photos by Robert Gardiner & Michael Collins

Want to share your photos of your trip with us?
Send us your pics and see them here or in our magazine!

Busy Second Weekend Visit by Santa!
Sunday, 9th December 2006

Santa returned to the DCDR this weekend as part of his four week visit to Downpatrick, which ends in two weeks time- so if you haven't given the Big Man your Christmas wish-list, then you better hurry! Below is a selection of photos of those people who visited Santa today.

Click on the images below to enlarge.

Caoimhe McMullan(4) and Ethan McMullan (2) from Newcastle	Santa proves a crowd puller with the visitors!
The Henry, Boyle and O'Connell family from Crossgar	Sara Jane & Danielle Trainor and Amy Harper
Singing a merry song!	Daniel, Anthony, Katrina and Michael McNeill from Dromara

All photos by Robert Gardiner

Want to share your photos of your trip with us?
Send us your pics and see them here or in our magazine!

Driving the Train at Your Place or Mine
Saturday, 8th December 2007

BBC Radio Ulster's Saturday morning Your Place and Mine programme took up our Vice President, Michael Collins' offer to presenter Anne-Marie McAleese about learning to drive a steam train (see here). Driver Andy Cook and Fireman John Henry showed her the ropes, or regulator, to be precise...

Don't forget that you too can learn to drive a steam engine with our Footplate Experience Courses or get that someone special the Christmas Gift with a difference this year. Santa's Lapland Express will also be running over this and the following two weekends.

Click HERE to listen to Your Place and Mine in Windows Media
Click HERE to listen Your Place and Mine in Real Media

Railway Gets Official Seal of Approval
Friday, 7th December 2007

Neil Hamilton, the DCDR’s Collection Manager, with the certificate of accreditation. Photo courtesy of the Down Recorder

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway has just been awarded "Accredited Museum" status by the national museum governing body, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

The railway, run entirely by volunteers, is also a recognised museum and achieving this goal was 'no easy task' for an organisation that operates without a paid workforce. We are all delighted and very proud that the railway has achieved this prestigious award. The award demonstrates that the railway has achieved very specific national standards on all aspects of its museum operation - collection management, documentation, visitor facilities and services, as well as its own governance and management.

This award comes just after our neighbours Down County Museum were also awarded Accredited Status - meaning that Downpatrick is now home to two top-flight museums - rare enough in the Big Cities. Our congratulations to them as well.

Accreditation is a ‘national quality standard’ and this means that the Downpatrick & County Down Railway, in gaining the award, proves that it measures up to those high national standards. Achieving it involved a full years work for many volunteers on aspects such as audit, documentation planning and development as well as collection care protocols but we all feel now that it was well worth the effort.

It means that anyone donating artefacts to the railway knows that it is a properly recognised institution and that any items, particularly any relating to the old Belfast & County Down Railway, will know that they will be properly looked after and secure, as it is part of our endeavour to protect valuable items of our heritage and to create a suitable home for these items to be admired by future generations.

Alan Simpson Talks Trains
Friday, 30th November 2007

Alan Simpson talked to Michael Collins today on BBC Radio Ulster about Santa's 20th Anniversary trip to Downpatrick on board the Lapland Express that will be running over the next coming weeks.

Click HERE to listen to Alan Simpson in Windows Media
Click HERE to listen Alan Simpson in Real Media

Successful Restoration of Carriage for Christmas
Wednesday, 28th November 2007

The DCDR has just completed a two-year restoration of one of it's carriage fleet.

Carriage No. 3223 was built in 1953 by CIE, the then state transport company in the Republic of Ireland, originally as an all-passenger side corridor.

Heavily rebuilt in the 1980s by CIE, it now has a generator in it that provides light and heat, as well as a reduced passenger area.

Although restored in 1997 by ourselves, the roof began to leak two years ago causing damage. The decision was taken to take the vehicle out of service and give it a full body and mechanical overhaul, and to increase the passenger seating from 20 to 26 - by replacing the 2+2 seats with 3+2 seating reclaimed from a Northern Ireland Railways 80 Class Railcar that had been withdrawn from service - our thanks to NIR.

It has been repainted in CIE's old 1950s dark green livery as applied to their railcars.

Looking Back 20 Years at the First Train
Saturday, 24th November 2007

To commemorate our very first train on the 4th December 1987, here's a short video showing the arrival in Downpatrick of Santa Claus 20 years ago. We'd no carriages, no steam engine - and no station! All that was to come later...

Lapland Express Makes Anniversary Stop
Saturday, 17th November 2007

Santa poses with some visitors before boarding the Lapland Express

The Preston family from Belfast last year

The Lapland Express is arriving this December at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway for four weekends only with a very special passenger - Santa Claus!

This year it's 20 years since we ran our first ever public trains - a first since the original line closed in 1950! Back in 1987 our very first passenger was Santa, who came into the town by train. It wasn't really much of a train, just a diesel locomotive and a brakevan, running up and down on 200 yards of track. But the children loved it.

The anniversary was covered by BBC Radio Ulster's Your Place and Mine programme this morning, with Michael Collins speaking to Anne-Marie McAleese. You can listen to Michael here:

Windows Media Format
Real Media Format

20 years later we're much bigger, with 3 miles of track relayed, with a line to Inch Abbey and another being built to Ballydugan. And of course - steam! To mark this 20th Anniversary (we were formed in 1985 but didn't have anything workable on the ground till 1987) we'd like to put on a bit of a bash and something different for our visitors.

We'd love to invite any local choirs (schools' choirs etc) which would like the opportunity to perform for our visitors on the Loop platform while they are waiting to see Santa, or Scouts or Boys/Girls Brigade to help act as Elves.

Contact us at downtrains@yahoo.co.uk if you can help.

The steam train will be leaving the railway station for four weekends in December, the 1st & 2nd; 8th & 9th; 15th & 16th; 22nd & 23rd December. Santa will also be providing his guests refreshments on the buffet coach, and doors open from 2pm till 5pm.

Although the details of his trip are tightly guarded secrets, looked after by Elfin Security Services, it understood that Santa is expected to merrily lead the way in getting everyone into the seasonal mood by singing Christmas favourites, such as Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.

Fares are £5.00 for adults, £6.00 for children who receive a present from Santa, while it is just £3.00 for children aged two or below to see Santa and £4.00 for senior citizens as well. Admission to see Santa in his grotto is also dependant on children having been good throughout the year.

And after Christmas Day is over, you can steam into the new year with the railway's popular Mince Pie Specials on New Year's Day.

You can also check out what Santa got up to last year, as his arrival in Northern Ireland is obviously a big deal, so the Jolly Man in the Red Suit welcomed some special visitors in the shape of a crew from BBC Northern Ireland's regional news programme Newsline. Click the links below to watch the video

Windows Media Format
Real Media Format

Take A Virtual Tour
Wednesday, 7th November 2007

Thanks to iSpyni.com you can now take a virtual tour of Downpatrick Station!

Take a look around the booking office foyer, the station platform, and the Signal Cabin before coming down. Click on the image on the right to take the tour.

This tour will be permanently linked in our Visitor Information section.

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost!
Monday, 29th October 2007

Nearly 1,000 people travelled on our Halloween Ghost Trains this weekend. The three-carriage train was packed with scary looking children and some scarier parents, and downright frightening DCDR train crew (who weren't in fancy dress!).

The weekend also saw the public debut of two new items of stock - our new steam engine, No. 90 (see below), adding a Victorian touch to precedings, and Irish Rail generator van No. 3189 which cured the deafening generator noise and flickering lights of Grotto trains in previous years - no doubt to the relief of many passengers and railway volunteers!

It was great to see so many people once again in fancy dress, and below is a selection of photographs from the weekend. Click on the images for a larger version.