Covid restrictions have seen the Downpatrick and County Down Railway closed for two years and due to a vast backlog of maintenance work was not able to open earlier in 2022.

However, following a huge amount of work from the heritage railways’ dedicated team of volunteers, they are now able to open their doors to the public this summer.

The award winning railway will initially operate on Saturdays only from mid-July and will see its 450 class diesel railcar operating services for the public, this is due to ongoing steam locomotive overhauls which were delayed due to the loss of key volunteers during the pandemic.

Work is currently underway to get the steam locomotives back in service in time for the Lapland Express trains this Christmas, further details about which will be revealed very soon!

The railway’s doors will open for the first time on Saturday the 16th of July with trains operating every Saturday through July, August and into September as part of the Downpatrick and County Down Railways summer trains programme. To find out more about the summer trains programme please visit: https://www.downrail.co.uk/event/summerdiesel/

Alongside the summer programme, two special events have also been confirmed, the first of which is the SuperTrain which is a super-hero experience that children will love and will run on Saturday the 23rd of July. To find out more about the SuperTrain, please visit: https://www.downrail.co.uk/event/superheroes/

The Jurassic Express will also run on Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21st of August and will bring an exciting dinosaur adventure to the Downpatrick and County Down Railway. Further details of this event will be added to the railway’s website soon.

The railway still faces ongoing issues with Newry, Mourne and Down Council regarding the main station buildings and this does, unfortunately, mean that some areas of the station are not available to visit at the moment.