Downpatrick and County Down Railway volunteers battle against the odds to keep their railway working
Just when they thought they had made it through Halloween safely with their popular festive family train trips to Inch Abbey station, a real horror emerged like a phantom in the dark of the night… the flood.
Downpatrick railway located adjacent to the Ballydugan Retail Park on the corner of the Grove Shopping Centre car park with Down Cathedral towering overhead, was one of the first front-line victims of the flood in Downpatrick.
The marshland along the rail line flooded from the over-flowing banks of the River Quoile and before long the rail line, workshops, carriages, the popular railway museum, electrical equipment and store areas were under three feet of water causing immense damage.
Downpatrick railway is a popular attraction in Downpatrick and runs family train excursions from St Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Easter ‘eggs-press’ trips, summer specials, Halloween and Christmas trips to see Santa at Inch Station. It is embedded in the local tourism infrastructure.
Robert Gardiner, Downpatrick railway chairperson, said: “This past month has been very traumatic for our volunteer helpers and management alike. The flood has devastated the great work built up over the past two decades. It is heart-breaking to see this. Just soul-destroying.
“Any plans we had of future development are certainly out the window at the moment. We are still assessing the huge amount of damage the flood waters caused.
“In a clean-up operation it’s hard to know where to start. There is so much damage and destruction done it is unbelievable. It does have a demoralising effect on the volunteers but they are a great bunch and doing what they can to help.
“I expect it will take us a year to get back up and running properly. The damage is colossal.
“We still have electric systems shorting. Motors and equipment have been ruined. For example, traction motors on the carriage axils are seizing up and need repaired and ball-barings replaced.
“A couple of more modern engines have electric motors closer to the track and these were therefore submerged when the water rose into the rail yard”.
Altogether, Robert Gardiner said that the devastation caused by the flood could amount to £500,000.
“We are still coming across issues as we tidy up the yard but in one way we were lucky that the flood did not reach the wooden parts of the rolling stock and damage the seats and interiors. That could have been totally catastrophic. for us.
“We have asked Newry Mourne and Down District Council for assistance. The rates relief for businesses did not help us as we are a charity and exempt from rates. And we didn’t qualify for the £7,500 grant either. We have fallen into a crack in the bureaucracy by the looks of it.
“We did ask council for help with fixing a roof in a building damaged by wind previously. This building is now deemed dangerous so the volunteers can’t use it.
“This old stone building would have been ideal for the volunteers to work in doing repairs to carriages etc. But we are still waiting to see where we can go with this with the council.”
Robert Gardiner added: “Even the infrastructure at the Inch Abbey platform is affected. Part of the platform has subsided. Also, we don’t have heavy lifting gear so that adds to the problems we face.
“Our volunteers are brilliant. We have a pool of about up to 40, but of these around 12 are key personnel who are trained in engineering, heavy lifting, and electrical work and key operations and they keep an eye on safety.
‘If anyone feels they would like to volunteer, even for a short time, all hands are very welcome. We have a huge task in front of us to clear up the rail yard and facilities and get it into shape again.”
And given that the Downpatrick and County Down Railway can’t be used at the moment for public events, the management have made arrangement to run their usual Christmas Santa event at Down County Museum.
“The Santa at the Railway has run for two weekends and will run this coming weekend from 10-5pm Saturday and Sunday and the following week ending on Saturday 23rd December.
“Children love Santa and have always had a great time with us at the Downpatrick and County Diown Railway.
“We are looking forward to a better year next year and getting levelled off with all the recovery work we have to do, but we certainly hope we can continue with the railway project for the years ahead,” said Robert Gardiner.
