150th Anniversary sees “Gala Opening” Ceremony
Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the Belfast & Co. Down Railway extending their line to Downpatrick. To mark this significant anniversary the DCDR, successor to the old BCDR, re-staged a “Gala” official opening ceremony yesterday, Sunday 22nd March. Living History interpreters Cameron and Hilary Robinson step into the shoes of Mr. and Mrs. William […]
150th Anniversary Celebrations Launched
March 2009 is a very special date for railway enthusiasts throughout the county as it marks the 150th Anniversary of the opening of the railway line from Belfast to Downpatrick, and the 140th of its opening to Newcastle. At 8 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, 23rd March, 1859, the first train bound for the […]
Standing Room only on the Buses
The DCDR is grateful to Ulsterbus for allowing us to acquire enough seating to (eventually) fit out our Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railcar. The SLNCR vehicle, built in 1947, was fitted with seating that could hold three people on one side of the vehicle, and two on the opposing side (3+2 seating). However, during […]
The Rail Now Arriving…
Yesterday, Friday 27th February, we took the first deliveries of bull-head rail acquired from Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann). This rail is intended for our planned extensions both east to the St. Patrick Centre, as well as for sidings into our new carriage display gallery (both subject to NITB approval) and in the longer term for […]
Tributes paid to Peter Mutton
Volunteers of the Downpatrick and Co. Down Railway joined with family and friends in Chapeltown last Saturday for the internment service of their friend and fellow volunteer Peter Mutton, who died suddenly in England last November. Having just returned to Surrey, Peter suffered a stroke in the early hours of Wednesday 5th November. He was […]
Irish Rail Boss Launches Vintage Steam Engine
A veteran of the steam age returned triumphantly to service at the Downpatrick &Co. Down Railway on Saturday 18th October after a £23,000 overhaul. Steam engine No. 90 was officially launched at a ceremony at Downpatrick by Dick Fearn, the chief executive of Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail), the national rail operator of the Republic of […]
Another Archive Radio Report Unearthed
It is with delight that we have unearthed another classic radio clip of the DCDR (then Downpatrick Railway Museum) on the airwaves, found on a cassette in the bottom drawer of one of our member’s desks! In this 2003 edition of Your Place and Mine Michael McNamee journeys down to Downpatrick to see the restoration […]
Railway Takes Delivery of New Track Maintenance Machine
The Downpatrick &Co. Down Railway has taken delivery of a specialised excavator. Not only can this machine work, like a normal digger, on the road, but this beast can mount the track and run along it too! This is a Daewoo 170 rail/road excavator, and is a very modern track machine. Although 5 years old […]
Back on the Rails after Sixty Years
The Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway welcomed a special visitor at the weekend, as a former railwayman took to the rails again after a 60 year break. Eighty-year old Jimmy Majury, originally from Belfast but now living in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, was a fireman on the old line back in the days of the Belfast […]
Archive Lambasting of the Old Railway
Today’s edition of BBC Radio Ulster’s Radio Years with John Bennett looked at the year 1948, and included a short snippet of noted playwright St. John Greer Ervine, who looks back at his birth-place. In this recording he attacks the Belfast & Co. Down Railway for calling their station “Knock”, instead of “The Knock”, which […]