Downpatrick & County Down Railway
| Downpatrick & County Down Railway | |
|---|---|
The DCDR crest, based on the crest design of many Irish railway companies
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| Locale | Northern Ireland |
| Commercial operations | |
| Name | Belfast & County Down Railway |
| Built by | Belfast & County Down Railway |
| Original gauge | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Irish Gauge |
| Preserved operations | |
| Operated by | Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway |
| Stations | 4 |
| Length | 4 miles (6.4 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Irish Gauge |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 1859 |
| Closed | 1950 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1985 | Work Starts On Preserved Railway |
| 1987 | First Public Trains Run |
| 1995 | South Line extended To Magnus' Grave |
| 2005 | North Line extended to Inch Abbey |
| 2014 | Carriage Gallery officially opened |
Coordinates: 54°19′34″N 5°43′19″W / 54.326°N 5.722°W
The Downpatrick & County Down Railway is a heritage railway in County Down, Northern Ireland. The project is based at Downpatrick, on part of the former route of the Belfast & County Down Railway.
The railway, which has a triangular layout, connects two local tourist attractions, Inch Abbey to the north, and a locally famous Viking site ('King Magnus' Grave') to the south, and will eventually reach an 18th-century corn mill to the south near Ballydugan. It is the only operational Irish standard gauge (5' 3") heritage railway in the whole of Ireland.
Local architect Gerry Cochrane M.B.E. was inspired to start the scheme after taking a walk along the route of the line, and by 1982 had gained support to rebuild part of the line as a heritage steam railway from the local council.Lord Dunleath, whose father had purchased the railway trackbed adjacent to his estate after the closure of the BCDR in Downpatrick, gave the newly formed society a package of land on which to build the line and station for a peppercorn rent. This was on the approaches to the old Downpatrick station, which had been demolished in the 1970s. Work started on rebuilding the railway in 1985, with public trains finally running in the town again in December 1987, making it the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland to carry passengers over its own track. Track has been relaid on nearly 6 km (4 mi) of Belfast and County Down Railway trackbed, and a 1.6 km (1 mi) extension south to the hamlet of Ballydugan has been proposed.
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