The railway is currently closed to the public while we continue to recover from 2023’s floods

Find out more here

Join us

Find out how to become a member of our railway, or maybe even join us as a working volunteer. Your membership will help us to continue to preserve historic rolling stock and railway artefacts, as we aim to always give the public access to our collection.

The Downpatrick & County Down Railway Society has hundreds of members, mainly from Northern Ireland, but many from further afield too. Membership entitles you to complementary travel on normal trains and discounted travel on special events. You will also receive email updates, and our periodical newsletter.

There is no obligation to become a volunteer with membership, but you need to be a member to become a volunteer.

You will also be entitled to attend our Annual General Meeting and have your chance to put your views directly to the management of the railway, or if you’re up for it you can stand for election to the Board of Directors, and help to manage and run the railway. Just by joining you are helping to keep heritage diesel and steam trains alive in Northern Ireland.

Membership fees are:

  • Adult: £22
  • Family (two adults, two kids): £55
  • Concession: £15

Apply for membership online

The easiest way to apply and pay for membership is online. You can fill in your membership form now and pay with PayPal.

1. First fill in the membership form

(This link will open in a new window or tab)

2. Now pay your membership fee using PayPal

Membership type
Name of member

Join by post

If you don’t want to pay online, you can of course still apply and pay by post.

For new members, please download the Membership Application Form. Print this out and fill it in.

If you are a UK tax payer, please download and fill in the Gift Aid form, it raises an extra 25p for every £1 you give us.

You can pay your membership fees by enclosing a cheque or postal order for the required payment with your form.

Once you’ve done all this, post your form to:

The Membership Secretary
Downpatrick & County Down Railway
Market Street
DOWNPATRICK
County Down
BT30 6LZ
Northern Ireland, UK

Membership types

There are two tiers of membership of the Downpatrick & County Down Railway Society Ltd:

  • Most members will be in the Associate/Supporter tier of membership
  • Regular volunteers will be Full Members of the Company.

There is no difference in fees or general benefits for the two member types, but Full Members have more say in how the railway is run.

Note: All new membership applications are subject to Board approval.

Membership period

Membership runs from 1st January for one year. If you join after September, your membership will run until through until the end of the following year at no extra charge. e.g. If you join in October 2021, your membership will run through to 31st December 2022.