The lights of winter: a different view of the Lapland Express
Lev Pavliuk took his drone to the skies over Downpatrick on the last weekend of our Lapland Express Santa trains to experiment with night time drone photography, and we think you will agree that the results were pretty special. The relatively slow speed of the train made for some dramatic nocturnal views of our diesel […]
Santa picks Grand Draw 2025 winners
SANTA PICKS GRAND DRAW 2025 WINNERS The prize winners for our Grand Draw were finally chosen on Saturday 13th December 2025 onboard a packed Lapland Express train. Santa Claus selected the lucky prize winners, watched carefully by Mrs Claus and two of their elves to ensure everything was properly handled! The winning ticket holders were: […]
SERC students lend a helping hand
Christmas is the busiest time of year at our railway. As a result, our Lapland Express Santa trains need a larger team of volunteers to run than other services. So when SERC Downpatrick offered to send us a few of their students to help out over the Christmas period we were only too glad to […]
Lapland Express 2025 season comes to an end
Phew! After four weekends of hard work and five months of preparation, our Lapland Express 2025 season is finally over. Four weekends saw 39 Santa trains operate, carrying thousands of passengers who met Santa, Mrs Claus and the elves. This involved a support crew of dozens of our hard-working volunteers. Passengers came from across the […]
DCDR Volunteer Awarded Gaisce by President Connolly
We have great pride in congratulating DCDR volunteer Shea McKee on receiving his Gaisce Gold Award from Uachtarán na hÉireann / President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly, last week. The Gaisce – President’s Award is similar to the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme that some of our followers may be familiar with from their school days. […]
80 Class Restoration Update: December 2025
It’s not all about Santa, even at this time of year. In between Santa trains, Robert has been keeping work moving on 80 Class railcar No. 69 by tackling a job that’s been quietly waiting its turn: fitting the replacement Guard’s Compartment door. Mk2-type carriage doors have a habit of corroding from the inside out. […]
Festive fun continues on the Lapland Express
Our Lapland Express Santa trains are now three weeks in. Many hundreds of happy families have enjoyed their visit to see Santa, Mrs Claus and the naughty elves. We’d love to see any of your photos, please feel free to send them in to us – just email info@downrail.co.uk. Mr & Mrs Claus have certainly […]
Angel Eyes NI join Santa on the Lapland Express
Our Santa trains were running at peak festive energy over the weekend thanks to the brilliant families from Angel Eyes NI. Angel Eyes NI is a charity that supports children and young people with a visual impairment and their families across Northern Ireland, and we were proud to welcome them on board. We love working […]
Santa season is in full swing on the railway
We’ve our work cut out for us to find out who has been naughty or nice over the past two weekends – with our sold out Lapland Express Santa Trains proving as popular as ever. Saturday gave us blue skies and crisp air, perfect for elf-spotting and mince-pie-powered merriment. Sunday… well… Sunday was the kind […]
Munster members visit for a day of volunteering
More progress took place on steam engine No. 90 on Saturday 22nd November. This was thanks to a delegation of three Munster-based members. The trio made a journey of biblical proportions from just to get to Downpatrick for a day’s labour. Alex, Cathal, and Shane made the journey up from Cork. They were rewarded with an […]