BCDR Railmotor test runs

We’re delighted that our Belfast & County Down Railway carriage No. 72 (a.k.a. the Holywood Railmotor) is among nearly 20 carriages nominated for the Heritage Railway Association Carriage and Wagon awards. As a wee treat to celebrate and wish the carriage good luck, here’s a film of the vehicle taking to the rails for the […]
Running days for 2017 now online

We’ve now put all of our running dates for 2017 online – see Our Running Days for details. Out next train running days are for St Patrick’s Day in March. We’re running trains from Downpatrick to Inch Abbey on Sunday 12th March to take people to the St Patrick’s Landing event at Inch Abbey. We’re also running […]
Rebecca becomes first woman guard

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway has achieved another first for railway preservation in Ireland, with the passing out of the railway’s first woman Train Guard. Twenty year old Rebecca Dougan from Comber in County Down is not only the youngest guard on the local heritage railway, but also believed to the first female Guard […]
New Year Diesel Trains – 7th January 2017
The traditional New Year Diesel Trains are running on Saturday, 7th January 2017. A heritage diesel locomotive from the Irish Traction Group will be hauling the trains, as our steam locomotive will be out of service for its annual inspection and servicing. Trains will be running to and from Inch Abbey on our North Line. This is […]
MP and MLA Visit Santa Claus at DCDR

South Down MP Margaret Ritchie and MLA Colin McGrath called down to the Downpatrick & County Down Railway for the last day of the Lapland Express, meeting volunteers as well as the jolly big man himself – Santa Claus. As well as welcoming this festive VIP to the town, Margaret Ritchie and Colin McGrath saw for themselves the […]
LAPLAND EXPRESS IS SOLD OUT!

That’s all folks… we have no seats available for booking now. We’re sorry if anyone missed out on their visit to Santa, but we hope you understand we have an upper limit on how many people we can bring to this event. If anyone has any queries about a current booking, then please contact us […]
Hurry – we’re almost sold out

The Lapland Express is very, very nearly sold out with just a few seats remaining for Saturday 10th December. Book those tickets now! Once the tickets are all sold, we’re very sorry to say that there’s no more seats available on any of our trains. If you’ve missed out, please accept our apologies, but we can only […]
Santa tickets update

STOP PRESS! More Lapland Express trains have been added, so if you want to travel over the next three weekends, then you need to book soon. Visit our online ticket office now!
Santa’s selling out!

SANTA’S SELLING OUT! Tickets are fast selling out for the Downpatrick & County Down Railway’s Lapland Express, which is arriving this weekend at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway for four weekends only with a very special passenger – Santa Claus! Some days are now fully booked and, like writing your letter to Santa, don’t […]
Santa Now Arriving at Platform 1

Tickets are now available to buy online for the Lapland Express, which is arriving this Christmas at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway for four weekends only with a very special passenger – Santa Claus! Railway chairman, Robert Gardiner revealed Santa’s itinerary, “He’ll have travelled in style on board his own steam train – the Lapland Express […]