Downpatrick and County Down Railway Society Ltd EHOD 2025

About

For European Heritage open days 2025, Downpatrick and County Down Railway are offering free access to our station museum, workshop viewing area, carriage gallery and Bundoran signal cabin, with behind the scenes tours of our restoration workshops and other areas of the railway. In doing so people can explore the architectural heritage of the railway, discovering how the railway connects to our past.

Downpatrick and County Down Railway is the only full size heritage railway anywhere in Ireland. Trains run through the County Down countryside for 2 miles from Downpatrick to Inch Abbey. Trains will be running from 13:00 to 16:00. Please note fares will apply for train rides. Trains will run to Inch Abbey, where visitors can disembark and take a short walk up to Inch Abbey, the ruins of an ancient Cistercian Abbey, which was also used as a location for the TV Series ‘Game of Thrones’.

During your visit explore the station museum upstairs in the station building, which houses a fascinating collection of relics, telling the story of Irish Railways in general, and also a unique collection of Belfast & County Down Railway artefacts. Explore the carriage gallery and workshop viewing area, where you can view vintage rolling stock under restoration and explore our unique collection of vintage railway carriages and locomotives. The Carriage Gallery brings the golden age of railway travel vividly to life, exploring restored vintage carriages and even a genuine Travelling Post Office, with displays and video showing you the fascinating history of this long-lost service. Children can play in our children’s play area and dress up as a train driver.

Also open to the public is the beautifully restored Bundoran Junction signal cabin, now taking pride of place at Downpatrick Station rechristened ‘Downpatrick East’, where you can imagine yourself as the signalman controlling the trains and learning about the vital role signalling had on our railways.