Major new railway gallery opens

Major new railway gallery opens

25 July 2012 - by David Telford

THE Downpatrick and Co Down Railway is welcoming visitors to its impressive new £700,000 carriage gallery.

A mammoth track laying project was undertaken recently to connect railway lines to the new gallery at the Lower Market Street station.

On public display will be many unique railway carriages that have never been accessible to the public before, providing people with a unique insight into the history of the local railway.

Carriages on display include the Belfast & County Down Railway’s Royal Saloon, which carried the future King George V and VI, and the reigning King Edward VII.

Railway officials are currently working on a special opening

ceremony for mid-August to mark the completion of the carriage gallery project and admit they still have a few jobs to do in preparation.

The new gallery was constructed by Glasgiven Contracts and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Tourist Board. The local railway also contributed to development costs.

A lot of hard work has gone into building the new gallery which provides a living history of the railway and the key role it played in the life of the local area. The gallery boasts a variety of attractive exhibits to catch the imagination of visitors, the number of which is set to increase.

Railway officials say they received great assistance from both Northern Ireland Railways and Irish Rail in acquiring specialised track materials.

Railway chairman Michael Collins said while the superstructure of the new building has been complete for a number of months, it was only through the hard

work of the track team creating an intricate track layout into the building that allowed the organisation to put the building to it intended use.

“This was no easy feat,” he explained. “It’s a layout Translink would be proud to have. Over July 12 and 13 we carried out a carefully planned shunting exercise, with three diesel locomotives moving carriages all around the site to where we could get them into the gallery to put on public display.

“Logistically, this was very intricate as due to the relatively small size of the yard in Downpatrick station, carriages had to be stored on every piece of track we had while the gallery was being built.”

In total, six passenger carriages, one steam locomotive, one diesel prototype Railbus and four goods wagons were moved into the gallery.

Mr. Collins said with the shunting exercise now complete, the doors of the gallery are open to the public and already causing a stir are two ancient six-wheeled carriages from the Midland Great Western Railway which operated from Dublin to Galway which have been hidden from view to the public under tarpaulins since they were donated by Irish Rail in

2007. Railway officials say their dilapidated condition creates a direct contrast to the three fully restored vintage carriages also on display.

Outstanding work on the gallery project includes developing a small interpretative space in the railway’s workshop to allow visitors to safely see restoration work being carried out, and new front gates to improve the station frontage, which are due to be completed by March 2013.

Meanwhile, trains are running every weekend at the Downpatrick & Co. Down Railway and tickets cost £5.50 for adults and £4.50 children/senior citizens, including entry to the new gallery.