At Downpatrick Station, buy your tickets from our ticket office in the booking hall. Our staff will then clip your tickets and show you onto the platform, and your railway adventure begins.

A green flag from the guard, a whistle from the steam engine, and off we go.

Our station is located below St Patrick’s Cathedral in the town, which makes a lovely backdrop for our departing trains. You can wander around the station, drive a train on the model railway, visit the museum and explore our carriage gallery while you wait for your train.

As the train pulls in, stand back and let other passengers off first! You may get to see the loco crew uncoupling their engine from one end of the train and running round to the other end ready to haul your carriages on their next journey. Sometimes you even get to see the steam crew watering their locomotive as well.

With five minutes to go, it’s time to board your train and get a seat in one of our heritage carriages. Watch for the guard – with his whistle and flags, he’s the one who tells the driver ‘right away’.

As the train pulls out of the station, look around and you will see our signal cabin, engine sheds and some more locomotives and other railway vehicles, then you are off into the countryside, winding around the rolling drumlins of County Down and over the River Quoile.

On a nice sunny day, smoke may waft in through the carriage windows from the locomotive, stirring the memories of the sounds and smells of yesteryear.

O&K No. 1 crosses the River Quoile bridge.

Sit back and enjoy the scenery from your carriage window, which is varied and beautiful all year round, from superb views of the Mourne Mountains, to reed and willow-filled marshes, deep fern-lined cuttings to farmland and pastures.

Keep an eye out for a wide variety of wildlife along the route. If you’re lucky you might catch a glimpse of swans, pheasants, herons, ducks, coots or rabbits (and maybe even the rarer Lesser Spotted Hi-viz Lineside Track Walker).

Round the curve to Inch Abbey station, and you’re almost there. When you arrive you can visit our buffet carriage for drinks and light snacks, watch the loco shunting, or go for a walk to Inch Abbey.

You can watch the train head off into the countryside, and enjoy the tranquillity of the countryside. You haven’t long to wait for your next train, the next departure is never more than 45 minutes away. Just don’t miss the last train home shortly after 4pm!