Last journey of summer for history local railway

10 September 2014

THIS weekend is the last chance to catch the Downpatrick and County Down Railway steam train before it pulls out of the station for the summer.

The railway is running its last trips to Inch Abbey on Saturday and Sunday as part of the European Heritage Open Days, with guided tours of the parts of the railway site not normally accessible to the public on request.

After this weekend the next time the train will be out will be for the Hallowe’en Ghost Trains at the end of the October.

As a special offer as part of the European Heritage Open Days, a special train will depart Downpatrick Loop Platform on both days at 1pm.

The Loop Platform, a listed building and the sole surviving original building in Downpatrick, built in 1893, was famous for it’s porters’ cries of “All change for

Ballynoe, Killough and Ardglass”.

It served as an interchange platform for trains running from Belfast to Newcastle

and Downpatrick to Ardglass on the old Belfast & County Down Railway.

This special train must be pre-booked through the European Heritage Open Days by calling 028 9054 3022.

From 2pm to 5pm the train will run to Inch Abbey.

Here visitors can take a short walk up to Inch Abbey, where a Living History Monk, an early 13th century Cistercian Brother, walks the ruined grounds and explains the simple piety of his day.

Refreshments are also served in a 1950s ‘buffet carriage’ parked at Inch Abbey Station where you can wait to make the return journey to Downpatrick.

Tickets cost £5.50 for adults, £4.50 for children or senior citizens, and children aged three years old or below go free. Booking is not required and a ticket lasts all day.

For further information on events or joining as a volunteer log on to the railway’s website at www.downrail.co.uk, find them on Facebook at www.facebook. com/downrail or follow @downrail on Twitter.

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