29th June 2022
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.
21st August 2021
It has been quite a while since our last update, so here’s the latest update on what’s been happening at the railway and our plans to reopen to the public.
The past 18 months has been an incredibly tough time for the railway, with prolonged periods of closure and major loss of income. This has been offset somewhat by money obtained from various grant bodies and donations from the public and our members. We have been considering our plans for reopening and we feel that the time is right to share the latest news with our members.
The main reason we remain closed now is not actually Covid itself – it is the massive amount of ‘ordinary work’ that needs to be completed before we can open the doors again and allow members and the public to experience Ireland’s only full-size heritage railway again.
When will we reopen?
Both our operational steam locos are seen being tested to make sure everything is OK before the boiler inspection.
Following a review of the backlog of work the railway is facing, we are sorry to say that we will not be opening this summer at all.
Our current plans are to open fully for Christmas trains this year. We are also considering opening for limited trains over the school half term holidays, and perhaps opening the museum and carriage gallery as well for visitors, but these plans are not yet confirmed.
Why aren’t we opening sooner?
Most people expect all businesses to be operating more or less as normal again, subject to current public health restrictions. Unfortunately, DCDR is not a typical business, and we remain closed for three main reasons.
Firstly, regulatory work required to reopen has been immense. The days of ‘just playing with trains’ are long gone – indeed such a mindset has been inappropriate for decades. We had our five-year inspection from HSENI/DFI to obtain our operators licence earlier this year. This was to full ORR standards and we passed the inspection with flying colours, albeit with the usual few extra jobs the inspector wanted. It was a huge task to get through this, especially our Compliance Director Ian Cross who deserves everyone’s thanks for his tireless efforts on this. Without this, we would be unable to operate at all.
Work getting underway on the Loop Line, with the Komatsu excavator clearing the trackside.
Secondly, there is a huge maintenance backlog to overcome. Our railway was effectively abandoned for a long time, and was subject to vandalism, trespass and general deterioration of our assets in the County Down weather. In some cases this was worse because things like locomotives are intended to move around, and water gathering in diesel locomotives, railcars and carriages has created a lot of work (see below)
Thirdly, unlike most tourist attractions and museums, we are entirely run and managed by volunteers. Everyone working in the Board, on track, locomotives, carriages and station improvements is a volunteer. Our wonderful part-time admin officer Kathryn has been on furlough since Spring 2020.
Being volunteer-run and volunteer-led, our already small workforce has been further reduced by people shielding from the virus, and those who wished to avoid contact with the public and other volunteers. Whilst the overall situation has improved massively, some volunteers are still staying away for their own safety, and we cannot compel them to return. We are literally doing more work with fewer people, and it’s a struggle.
Work completed during lockdown
It’s not all bad news. We have completed a lot of work during the lockdown period. This is some of the work that we have carried out:
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Robert at work on the roof of the 80 class driving trailer, applying a second layer of Noxyde paint.
Rail joints have been adjusted and track inspected and overhauled all the way from Downpatrick to Inch Abbey. This includes dismantling, gap adjustment and oiling of every fishplate (track joiner) on the the rails, replacement of worn rails, repair or replacement of chairs and sleeper spacing improvements. The line is better now than the day it was laid!
- Brand new speed limit and whistle signs have been installed all along the North Line
- The Loop Line has had embankment repairs and track improvements, but more work is required to reconnect it to the North Line, and this is on hold while we focus our efforts elsewhere.
- Ground frame installation, including complex point rodding installation, has made impressive progress
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Justin McConnell from NIR at work spraying the roof of the 80 class driving trailer.
80 class restoration, maintenance and regular inspections continue. In particular, driving trailer 749 has been beautifully restored to be a 1970s time warp outside and inside.
- Both our steam locos have had annual maintenance and boiler inspections, to get them ready for service.
- The bay platform area had a major tidy up with discarded track materials and other rubbish dumped there removed, a vast improvement.
- The giant mountain of old rotten sleepers and other rubbish dumped in the permanent way yard has been largely cleared, with useful components stored and scrap sleepers and other parts ready for disposal.
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New fencing in place at Inch Abbey car park.
New fences and gates have been installed around the Downpatrick station site
- We now have a brand new CCTV system and supporting wireless network around the site, complete with remote access and high definition evidential quality video.
- New fences and gates have been installed at Inch Abbey station
- Weed control work, including cutting back of trees (before nesting season, don’t panic), cutting vegetation and full weed spraying of both of our lines, including weed spraying to the very end of the South Line for the first time in many years.
- We have ploughed through tonnes of paperwork to apply for grants and deal with awarding contracts for grant funded work.
The list of work above has been punishing, so thanks must go to the volunteers who have toiled so hard to make this happen. You may be surprised at how few working volunteers we have.
Remaining work
A new combined 10mph + Whistle sign near Inch Abbey.
We’ve completed a huge amount of work during the past 12 months – but there is a lot more still to be completed.
Remaining work includes:
There is more work than is listed above, but that shows you the major tasks we are trying to complete.
We need more help
Our small team of volunteers has been working flat out to get through all the jobs needed before we can reopen. In the middle of the heatwave, some came in before 6am to get track work completed before the heat became unbearable. At other times, the rain has poured through them while they toil.
Track maintenance underway near Inch Abbey.
We need more help though. Even a few more people coming forward to volunteer would make a massive difference to us. Skilled painters, joiners, electricians, gardeners – we need you! If you don’t have a trade but have enthusiasm to help out, there is a place for you as well. The only current restrictions, on top of government health advice, are we are unable to train new drivers and firemen.
Please contact us if you think you can offer practical help. You can find details of how to contact us here.
Every pound helps!
Rubble and scrap being removed in Downpatrick station.
Funding is also a major ongoing concern for us. We have lost 18 months of revenue, but careful financial management and grant funding success has kept us in a fairly healthy state. But grants are running out, and we don’t have ticket sales money coming in yet.
If you can make a donation, please consider doing so. To those who have already donated – thank you so much for your generosity. If you haven’t donated or you wish to donate again, then check out our donations page.
And finally…
While this all seems a little overwhelming and maybe depressing, we are actually very positive about our prospects. We have seen a close-knit, hard-working team of volunteers prove themselves to be heroes in this past year. The efforts put in have been impressive, be it toiling out on the track doing heavy manual labour, or toiling at a keyboard trying to keep the admin and finance on the straight and narrow.
We will be back just as soon as possible!
17th March 2020
An important letter from Robert Gardiner, DCDR Chairman, on the suspension of railway services during the COVID-19 epidemic
It is with deep regret that following the UK government’s advice on new social distancing measures required in order to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), that people should avoid gatherings and crowded places, such venues like ours during this pandemic, that we are suspending online sales for our planned Easter Eggspress.
The health and safety of our customers and our all-volunteer staff is of utmost importance to us, and we feel it inappropriate to be encouraging gatherings of people at this time. As many of our volunteers would be in an at risk category we also have a duty of care to them to avoid potential exposure. Indeed, as we expect volunteers to self-isolate, we would also find it very difficult to run train services at all during this period.
We will not be running any trains at Easter and are unlikely to run any events at the May Bank holidays either. We have also closed the museum to visitors and will not be able to accept any group visits for the foreseeable future.
It looks incredibly unlikely that we will be able to host any events until the current restrictions are lifted. This could have a huge financial impact on us, we are a self-funding not-for-profit charity, and you may have seen in the news that the Northern Ireland tourism industry has told the economy minister up to 3,000 tourism businesses might not survive without immediate help.
We hope that we can reschedule an “alternative Easter” later in the year. Whilst we will refund anyone who has purchased tickets for this event on request, given that this situation means we will have no income for most of the first part of 2020, I would plead with you to consider instead exchanging these for vouchers that we will honour for any future events of your choice.
We need your support and understanding in order to survive during this period.
Robert Gardiner
Chairman
Downpatrick and County Down Railway
15th March 2020
Due to the ongoing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Downpatrick and County Down Railway have reluctantly taken the decision to postpone our Mother’s Day Afternoon Teas on Sunday 22nd March.
The health and safety of our customers and our all-volunteer staff is of utmost important to us, and we feel it inappropriate to be encouraging gatherings of people at this time, and as many of our volunteers would be in an at risk category we also have a duty of care to them to avoid potential exposure.
We will be contacting everyone who has booked already to give them the choice of:
- Convert your ticket to a voucher for a rescheduled Afternoon Tea event (details will be made available in due course)
- A full refund
We are very sorry if this causes any disappointment to those who have already booked, however we hope an afternoon tea voucher will still be an appropriate Mother’s Day gift, and these will still be available as gifts for anyone who was considering booking, but we hope you understand the reasons for this and we look forward to welcoming you later in the year.
10th March 2020
Due to the ongoing public health concerns around the COVID-19 epidemic, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has taken the decision to cancel the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Downpatrick.
DCDR management have reviewed this situation, and we have taken the reluctant decision to cancel our train operations on this date as well.
For clarity, that means the railway is CLOSED on Tuesday 17th March.
We apologise for any disappointment this has caused, and hope you understand our reasons for this decision. Aside from the health consideration, with the parade cancelled we would expect very few passengers to actually turn up for the trains.
We will be issuing refunds to anyone who has already booked tickets.
At this stage we have not made a decision regarding Mother’s Day Afternoon Teas or any subsequent events.
