The railway is currently closed to the public while we continue to recover from 2023’s floods

Find out more here

Happy New Year!

Our volunteers wish you all the best for 2025

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway is Ireland’s only full size heritage railway with multiple destinations. Take a journey on our vintage trains through the drumlin countryside, explore our museum and carriage collection, and experience rail travel as it used to be. As well as summer running days, we host family events throughout the year, from St Patrick’s Day through to Christmas.

Upcoming events

We host a variety of family and enthusiast events throughout the year. With dinosaurs, superheroes, ghosts, Easter bunnies, Santa, summer steam trains and more, our events calendar is the most unique of any family visitor attraction in Northern Ireland. In addition, we also host several events for grown ups, including afternoon teas and even paranormal experiences.

There’s no events scheduled at the moment. You can subscribe to our mailing list here or follow us on Facebook to find out when the next trains are running.

Linking some of Northern Ireland’s most historic sites

Downpatrick is a town steeped in history, most notably being the last known resting place of St. Patrick himself. Our railway links several of Northern Ireland’s historic sites such as Inch Abbey, the grave of Viking King Magnus, Down Cathedral and other attractions in Downpatrick town. Our museum intertwines the history of these locations with that of the railway itself, enabling visitors to see these attractions while experiencing the magic of travel by vintage steam and diesel trains.

Latest news

A lot of track work (including heavy lifting) takes place during winter at our railway, when while our heritage diesel and steam trains are slumbering during the town time. Safety Lift (Ireland) Ltd kindly provided slinging refresher training on Saturday.
An update on train cancellations and new arrangements as Storm Darragh makes travel unsafe.
We're running a quiet train again this year for the Lapland Express.
Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure Minister, John O’Dowd, had the opportunity to experience the rich railway heritage from across the island of Ireland during a visit to Downpatrick and County Down Railway.