The news you have all been waiting for – Downpatrick and County Down Railway is opening its doors to the public once again in summer 2022 after two-and-a-half years of closure.
Two years of Covid closures and a huge backlog of maintenance meant we could not open earlier this year, but now that summer is upon us, after a huge amount of work from our volunteers we are finally opening our doors to the public.
Initially we will be operating mainly on Saturdays only from mid July, and are using our 450 class diesel railcar for public trains as the steam locomotive overhauls have been delayed by the loss of key volunteers during the pandemic. We are working to get them back in action for the Lapland Express trains this Christmas. More details of Christmas trains will be announced very soon!
Starting on Saturday 16th July, we are running trains each Saturday through July, August and into September as part of our Summer trains programme. You can find out more about our summer trains here.
As well as this, our first two special events are confirmed. The first is the SuperTrain, a super hero experience that the kids will love, running on Saturday 23rd July. Full details of the SuperTrain can be found here.
We will also be running The Jurassic Express, a dinosaur adventure on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st August. More details of this will be added soon.
We are still facing ongoing issues with Newry, Mourne and Down Council with the main station buildings, so we apologise if some areas of the station are not available on your visit.