The northern extension to the Downpatrick Railway Museum from Downpatrick Station to Inch Abbey, a ruined 12th Century Cistercian Monastery, gets underway this month, with a massive civil engineering task being undertaken to bring it to fruition.

The original bridge was built by the Belfast and County Down Railway in 1859, the route from Queen's Quay Station, Belfast, passing through Comber, Ballygowan, Saintfield and Crossgar before crossing the River Quoile approximately half a mile north of Downpatrick.

The Quoile Bridge was one of the few major river bridges within the BCDR network. The first bridge originally consisted of lattice trusses on timber piles driven into the riverbed. It was always known locally as the "Pile Bridge" even after its replacement with a steel girder bridge in 1928. After the closure of the BCDR main line in 1950 the girders were removed, but fortunately the abutments and the centre pier survive intact. It is a replica of the 1920s steel girder bridge, fabricated by IES Ltd. of Dunmurry, that will be reinstated. Costing around £110,000 the funding for the bridge has been grant aided by the International Fund for Ireland and Down District Council.

A 100-ton crane will crane the main girders into position from each abutment on separate days. Work starts on Saturday 16th January and finishes on Sunday 17th January. All work, with the exception of the laying of the bridge, is being carried out by volunteers. Once the bridge has been completed it will then be possible to commence track laying along the former BCDR main line towards Inch Abbey. The line will veer off the original line roughly 260 metres north of the Quoile Bridge towards Inch Abbey, which was not originally a stop on the railway. A new station is to be built close to the Inch Abbey Road, out of sight of the Abbey to avoid ruining the tranquillity of the area.

The approximate length of the Inch Abbey line is one and a half miles and is due to be completed by the summer of 2002 and hopefully it will coincide with the opening of the St. Patrick's Heritage Centre, which will be located close to the Railway Museum.

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