SANTA’S SELLING OUT!

Tickets are fast selling out for the Downpatrick & County Down Railway’s Lapland Express, which is arriving this weekend at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway for four weekends only with a very special passenger – Santa Claus!

Some days are now fully booked and, like writing your letter to Santa, don’t leave it too late to book.

Tickets are now available to buy online for the Lapland Express, which is arriving this Christmas at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway for four weekends only with a very special passenger – Santa Claus!

Railway chairman, Robert Gardiner revealed Santa’s itinerary, “He’ll have travelled in style on board his own steam train – the Lapland Express – to greet scores of children.”

Mr Gardiner also says that, although the details of his trip are tightly guarded secrets looked after by the Elf & Safety Executive, it is his understanding that kids eager to meet the jolly big man in the red outfit will be invited everyone to join Santa Claus for some festive fun on the Christmas train.

He adds, “Once the Steam Train has arrived at the Loop Platform, Santa will invite everyone to join him over in his travelling workshop – the carriage where he makes all the toys for all the little boys and girls. Here, they will get to speak one-to-one with Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.”

The steam train will be leaving the railway station for the following weekends, 26th & 27th Nov, 3rd & 4th, 10th & 11th, 17th & 18th December. Santa will also be providing his guests refreshments on the buffet coach.

Tickets are selling quickly already online – and cost £8.50 for adults, £10 (including present) children.  This includes a present from Santa, as well as the train fare. Log on to our website to choose your train and purchase your ticket – but you better get on your snow shoes as they are selling out quickly!

Admission to see Santa in his workshop is also dependant on children having been good throughout the year.

Mr Gardiner also advises to come well wrapped up, “Don’t forget, this is an outdoor event so both parents and children should wear appropriate warm clothing.”

And after Christmas Day is over, you can steam into the New Year with the railway’s popular Mince Pie Specials on Saturday, 7th January.

“The Downpatrick & County Down Railway is your guaranteed sanctuary from turkey sandwiches,” jokes Mr. Gardiner.

“Mince or apple pies are available from our buffet car on New Year’s Day, after relaxing on board a heritage train coasting through the County Down countryside,” he says, “as a well as a wee glass of something to refresh you.”

Find our special Lapland Express page here.

There’s something strange happening at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway this Halloween. There’s ghosts on the platforms and ghouls on the train, it can only be the return of the Phantom Flyer for the railway’s Halloween Ghost Trains!

“Anyone who visits on Halloween weekend is in for a double treat,” says Railway spooksperson, Robert Gardiner.

He explains, “As well as travelling on a ghostly steam train, children who dare to alight at the Forbidden Platform, as well as any brave grown-ups, will be granted an audience with the Great Wizard in his own haunted Grotto train.

“If those who dare to enter Merlin’s domain pass his tests, then the children will receive a mystical gift.”

Mr. Gardiner adds, “And of course, why not try to turn the tables and scare Merlin by coming in ghostly fancy dress yourself?”

To add a really scary touch visitors could turn evil with some ghoulish facepainting as well.

So are you brave enough to visit a Viking Graveyard on Halloween night?  The train will be stopping at the grave of King Magnus Barefoot on its travels and be warned as ghoulish things rise out of the ground before your eyes!

The Phantom Flyer will be dearly departing on Halloween weekend – Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th and Monday 31st October at the Witching Hour from 4pm-7pm for all Three Knights (or nights). Refreshments will be served onboard a buffet carriage at the Loop Platform, and car parking is free.

On Halloween Night there will also be a fireworks display after the last train in Downpatrick Town Centre just down from the station.

Tickets are available on the day at Downpatrick Station only and cost £8.50 for Ghoulish Grownups and Little Monsters (children aged 4-15), £5.50 for Tiny Terrors (children aged 0-3) and Spooky Seniors (childrens’ ticket includes visit to Merlin, swag bag as well as train fare), .

Mr. Gardiner also reminds people about autumn weather, “Don’t forget that this is an outdoor event, so please remember to wrap up well.”

And also keep an eye out for Santa’s visit to the railway this December – tickets are available online now.

Tickets for our annual Santa trains, The Lapland Express, are now on sale.

For full details, see our special Lapland Express webpage.

Another successful summer of steam trains (and the occasional diesel too) has come to an end. We’d like to thank all our visitors for supporting us, and we hope you enjoyed coming to see our railway and experience travel the old-fashioned way.

We’re closed now for a few weeks, to allow us to carry out maintenance work and prepare for the next steam trains – Halloween! Our spooky experiences will be in full swing on Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th and Monday 31st October. Trains will run from 4pm-7pm on all three days, and Merlin will be in his spooky cavern as usual to see how scared you all are.

Watch this website to find out more details closer to the time. You can also follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/downrail

There’s still time to catch the train this weekend at the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway before the last summer train pulls out of the station.

The Railway is running its last trips to Inch Abbey this weekend, Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September, as part of the European Heritage Open Days, and in the spirit of Province-wide scheme there will be guided tours on request of the lesser seen parts of the railway site not normally accessible to the public, as well as the chance to sample the atmosphere of rail travel at its most traditional.

After this weekend the next time the train will be out will be for the Hallowe’en Ghost Trains at the end of the October, so this will be the last opportunity people will have to let the train take the strain before it is infested with ghouls and ghosts at that spooky time of the year.

As part of the European Heritage Open Days, a trip to the museum in the station building and the new Carriage Gallery brings the golden age of the railway vividly to life and looks at the impact that the railways had on people’s lives, through artefacts from the smallest such as a ticket in the upstairs exhibition, or the largest such as a lovingly restored railway carriage in the Carriage Gallery.

Children can enjoy their own ‘Kids’ Station’ in the Gallery, and dress up as a train driver or guard. There’s also the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ model railway will be back as usual.

From 2pm to 5pm, the train will run to Inch Abbey, and visitors can disembark and take a short walk up to Inch Abbey, where a Living History Monk, an early 13th century Cistercian Brother, walks the ruined grounds and explains the simple piety of his day.

These extensive remains are of a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1180 by John de Courcy, who led the 1177 Anglo-Norman invasion of East Ulster.

Refreshments are also served in a 1950s ‘buffet carriage’ parked at Inch Abbey Station where you can wait to make the return journey to Downpatrick.

Train fares, separate to access to the station and museum, cost £6.00 adults, children £4.50, and £5.50 senior citizens, whilst a family ticket costs £18 and children aged three years old or below go free. There’s no prebooking and a ticket lasts all day.

Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/downrail to keep up to date with events and stories from the railway.

Heritage diesel traction has its turn in the limelight this August Bank Holiday weekend, as the Downpatrick & County Down Railway turns over its passenger trains to diesel locomotives for one day only, Sunday 28th August.

Railway Chairman, Robert Gardiner said, “This is your only chance to experience classic 1950s and 60s Irish diesel locomotives in action on a passenger train this year!”

The day will mark the public debut of “A” class locomotive A39R, following a complete repaint into an attractive heritage livery.

Mr Gardiner adds, “We delighted to say that this is A39R’s first outing on passenger trains since the Irish Traction Group completed a full repaint into the highly distinctive 1970s black & orange colour scheme, more commonly referred to as ‘Black and Tan’ by railwaymen.”

This locomotive entered traffic with Coras Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), the Irish state-owned transport company in May 1956 and saw widespread service across Ireland, including on cross-border Enterprise services to Belfast.  Originally fitted with an English Crossley diesel engine, due to poor reliability they were re-engined with American General Motors engines in the late 1960s.

Also joining A39 will be ‘Baby GM’ 141 class locomotive No. 146, a yankee engine built by General Motors at their premises at La Grange, Illinois, USA in 1962.

Mr Gardiner says “This American baby boomer is one of the last remaining examples of a class that saw service all over Ireland, including the famous ‘Derry Road’ line from Portadown to Dungannon, Omagh and Strabane, giving that line a short-lived taste of the future before it controversial and premature closure in 1965.”

A limited number of cab ride passes are available for the day, priced £20 for one return journey. These are only available on application at the ticket office. Visitors must have a reasonable level of fitness to climb into the cab of a diesel locomotive.

Ordinary admission fares apply for the day, you can travel up and down on as many passenger trains as you want with your tickets. Adults: £6, Under 18s £4.50, concession £5.50, Family (2 adults, 2 children) £18. Children 3 and under travel free.

Steam services also run on Saturday 27th August as well as Bank Holiday Monday, 29th August. As usual, our museum, carriage gallery, gift shop, model railway and buffet carriage will be open all afternoon, so there’s plenty to see and do in between the train trips.

Keep an eye on this website and our Facebook page for more details: www.facebook.com/downrail

With County Down catching the summer sun, the steam train is once again about to head out along the Downpatrick Marshes to Inch Abbey at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway.

If you’ve ever taken a walk or a cycle along the Comber Greenway or Dundrum Coastal Path, you might know it was a former railway line – but have you ever wondered where it went to? It was, in fact the main line from Belfast to Newcastle via Downpatrick.

And over the last thirty years a small group of volunteers in Downpatrick have painstakingly rebuilt two miles of the line as Northern Ireland’s only full-size working heritage railway, running from the town centre out through St. Patrick’s Country to the ruins of the 12th Century Cistercian Inch Abbey.

Every weekend until 11th September, visitors will be able to travel back in time to the golden age of rail travel, on vintage carriages through the picturesque County Down countryside along nearly two miles of restored track.

Railway Chairman Robert Gardiner said that Inch Abbey is a popular destination with train passengers.

“People who have lived in Downpatrick all their lives have travelled on our trains and told us that they were sorry that they’d never been to the Abbey and didn’t realise how beautiful it and this area of the Quoile River was,” he says, “So if the sun’s still out, why not hop on board and bring a picnic with you and catch one of the later trains back?”

Mr. Gardiner added, “Or if the rainclouds return, you’re always undercover inside a railway carriage – so hop about our buffet carriage to stop the sarnies getting soggy!”

Doors are open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, with the first train leaving at 2 o’clock and the last train returning from Inch Abbey at 5 o’clock.

Teas and coffees, as well as lots of buns, at highly competitive rates, will be served all day on board a buffet carriage parked at Inch Abbey station; if travelling in to the town from Inch Abbey the return journey can be made on any of the services.

Mr. Gardiner says “A trip to the station museum and our Carriage Gallery visitor centre brings the golden age of the railway vividly to life and looks at the impact that the railways had on peoples lives, through artefacts from the smallest such as a ticket in the upstairs exhibition, or the largest such as lovingly restored railway carriages in the Carriage Gallery and the stark contrast of the wrecks these vehicles once were when rescued.

“For the younger train fans, children can enjoy their own ‘Kids’ Station’ in the Gallery, and dress up as a train driver or guard, or can get to drive Thomas the Tank Engine on a model railway – or will they let the ‘big kids’ get a go too?

“For those a little more adventurous, and perhaps live out a childhood dream, you can buy a Footplate Pass for just £20 and get to travel up in the locomotive cab with the driver.”

Trains run 2pm to 5pm, with ticket costing: adults £6.00 return, £4.50 children and £5.50 senior citizens, and don’t forget that children aged three years old or below go free.  A family ticket costs £18, or if you join the DCDR Society you get free travel for the entire summer months, as well as get regular updates on what’s happening at Northern Ireland’s steam centre.

Mr Gardiner also expressed his thanks to everyone who has donated money towards the restoration of ‘Sugarpuff’ or Orenstein & Koppel steam locomotive No. 3 in their ‘Steamed Up’ appeal, and remember donations are still needed to get it back up and running – you can donate online too.

For further information on events – or if you are thinking about joining as a volunteer contact the Downpatrick Tourist Information Centre on 028 4461 2233, log on to our website, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

In BBC Radio Ulster’s “Stories in Sound” series this week, John Bennett investigated the story of the 1945 Ballymacarrett railway disaster on the old Belfast & County Down Railway in “An Accident Waiting to Happen”.

John Bennett learns how a series of errors and poor decisions, dating back many years, led to the worst accident on Ireland’s railways since 1889, with the deaths of 22 passengers. The accident essentially sealed its fate as a private company and led to the nationalisation of Northern Ireland’s rail network and the closure of the Belfast-Newcastle main line.

The episode was partly recorded at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway on board the sister carriage to Railmotor No. 3 which was involved in the accident.

As well as DCDR curator Neil Hamilton, John heard from survivors, spoke to family members left behind and learned how railway safety has been transformed in the intervening years.

Catch up with the episode for the next 30 days here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071x3fd

Or download the programme as a podcast here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041jvr9/episodes/downloads

Railway volunteers at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway were celebrating a major milestone this weekend in a large scale track renewal at the town’s heritage railway station, as they take advantage of the winter break to carry out some essential work.

The entire length of track that runs along the station platform has been entirely removed and completely replaced in a rush against time to be ready for St. Patrick’s Day, when the steam train will once again be used as part of the town’s “Park and Ride” services for the carnival and celebrations.

DCDR Chief Civil Engineer, David Crone, explained the size of the project, “The track in the station was the only remaining wooden sleepered track left on the system, and it was beginning to show it’s age.”

Mr Crone continues, “It’s been a long time since Translink or Irish Rail have used large sections of wooden track and supplies of good quality sleepers are hard to obtain in Northern Ireland so we are replacing them with concrete ones, which will make maintenance in the future a lot easier.”

He adds that passengers will notice a difference with this work, “One of the key goals in this project is to lower the height of the step from the platform into the train, making it much easier for passengers of limited mobility to board.

“The track was 5 inches too high along most of the platform face making it more difficult for passengers entering and leaving trains so we needed to address this problem as well.”

So far, work has seen all the old wooden timbers removed,  old ballast stone removed and new ballast added– and volunteers are now moving on to replacing the track with concrete sleepers which originally came from the Belfast-Antrim “Bleach Green Line”, which were recovered when the line was reopened after being “mothballed” for over two decades.

Work has seen volunteers working three days during the week as well as weekends to complete the mammoth operation – which also required moving the passenger and buffet trains out of the way to access the track – not an easy task Mr Crone says when the station yard is comparatively small to work in.

David Crone explains, “Now that all the track on the platform face is laid, we are going to tackle the second line, the passing loop, which our visitors will know as the line the locomotives uses to run round the train on running days.  Here we need to replace two sections of wooden track and addition of a new safety feature known as a trap point”.

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway is a volunteer run not-for-profit charity, and is always on the lookout for new recruits – if you have a passion for mucking in with heritage, check out the Get Involved section of our website or our Facebook page and maybe you’ll find yourself a new hobby?