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Welcome to the Web Site of The Belfast & County Down Railway Museum Trust
'Down' Memory Line An Associate Member of the Northern Ireland Museums Council Index History of the B.& C.D.R. Locomotives of the B.& C.D.R. Trust's Plans Ballynahinch Branch An
Irish Railway Challenge Membership
The Railway at War Trust
Publications Help us to build the only Standard (4' 8½") Gauge Heritage Railway in Northern Ireland!
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Click on STOP PRESS below for latest news - or go to the 'Trust's Plans' page above for more information. STOP PRESS - Click here for latest information. TRAINS - JOIN US ON A JOURNEY - AND HAVE A GOOD HOLIDAY Last updated 9th May, 2012
The first railway to be built in Ireland was that from Dublin to Kingstown. It was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1831, and was opened for traffic in October, 1834. The Engineer for the construction of the line was the famous William Dargan, who was also responsible for the construction of the first portion of the Belfast & County Down Railway.
The line from Dublin to Kingstown was built using a track gauge of 4’ 8½”, a gauge that was preferred by George and Robert Stephenson, and that was already in use in Great Britain, and in other countries. This gauge was also to become the standard gauge to be used in the United States and Canada.
As other railways were constructed in Ireland over the next number of years a variety of different gauges were used, and so a decision was taken by Parliament in 1843 ordering that all future railways in Ireland should be constructed to a uniform track gauge, as it was considered inevitable that they would all eventually join up. Unfortunately, the gauge that was chosen for Ireland was 5’ 3”. As a result of this, all existing lines at the time, including the Dublin & Kingstown, were eventually converted to this new gauge so that they would not be isolated from the rest of the expanding railway network.
The decision to adopt a different track gauge for Ireland is all the more difficult to understand when one considers that most of the engines and rolling stock of the period being used on Irish railways was being supplied by manufacturers in England, where the 4’ 8½” gauge had already been adopted as standard.
In undertaking the reinstatement of part of the former Belfast & County Down Railway therefore, the Trust has chosen to take Irish railways back to their roots, and to construct the line using the original track gauge of 4’ 8½”. This will give us an opportunity to introduce famous locomotives from the U.K. mainland, and from further afield, that could never before have been seen operating in Ireland.
The decision to revert to the original gauge will perhaps also allow us to give some idea of what might have been possible had the decision been taken to retain the original 4’ 8½” gauge, rather than to adopt a totally different track gauge of 5’ 3”.
Whilst reverting to this original track gauge the Trust also proposes to recreate the character of the former Belfast & County Down Railway, and plans to restore a number of old B.& C.D.R. carriages for use on the line by placing them on 4’ 8½” gauge chassis.
To succeed we need the support of every Irish railway enthusiast, whether living in Ireland, or anywhere else in the world. This will undoubtedly be a major tourism development for Northern Ireland, so please lend us your support, even by simply joining us as a member.
You will be made most welcome.
Did any of your ancestors work for the B.& C.D.R? Go to - A Journey in Time
Are you interested in Irish Railway History? Go to - Trust Publications
Why not join us? Go to - Membership
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‘YOU One in a Thousand’? To restore the railway to Ballynahinch, we need to raise at least £100,000 very quickly. To achieve this objective we are looking for 1000 people to donate £100 each to help put the restoration of the line firmly on the ground. Each contributor will receive a special numbered certificate, and will be kept up to date with progress reports on the project for the next TWENTY YEARS. Each contributor will have all the privileges of regular membership, will receive invitations to special events organised by the Trust during that period, and will have privileged access to the Trust’s museum at any convenient time once this has been established. The funding raised from this promotion will allow us to purchase the remainder of the track bed, and will enable us to get the project firmly on the ground very quickly. THE NEXT 50 PEOPLE TO APPLY FOR 'One In A Thousand' MEMBERSHIP WILL EACH RECEIVE AN ORIGINAL BANBRIDGE EXTENSION RAILWAY SHARE CERTIFICATE ISSUED IN 1861, AND VALUED AT APPROXIMATE £50:00. These will be issued on a 'First Come - First Served' basis, so apply today! Simply e-mail us at info@bcdr.co.uk for more information, or click here for an Application Form
========================================================================================================= For further information please contact us:- Freephone:-
0800 980 1242 or write to us at:- The B.& C.D.R. Museum Trust 9 Kilbright Road Carrowdore NEWTWONARDS
Co. Down, BT22 2HQ
Northern Ireland
or visit some of our other pages using the links at the top of the page =========================================================================
What
is
the B.& C.D.R. Museum Trust?
The
Belfast & County Down Railway Museum Trust is a voluntary organisation that
was established by a small group of railway enthusiasts in 1972, the primary aim
being to preserve relics, artifacts, and photographic material relating to the
railways of Ireland in general, and of the former Belfast & County Down
Railway in particular.
The formation of the Trust was prompted by the loss in
the early 1970's of a number of extensive collections of Irish railway archive
materials which where not unfortunately protected in any way.
As a safeguard therefore, the Trust was registered through the Northern
Ireland Legal system at the time of its formation, thereby giving a guarantee of
security to the materials and artifacts within its collection.
The collection is overseen by a Board of Trustees who are charged with
the responsibility of ensuring its continued preservation.
The day to day running of the Trust, is in the hands of
a committee that is made up of members of the Trust who are elected at an A.G.M.
each year. This Committee
also has a representative from the Board of Trustees, who acts as the 'Go
Between', being the link between the Trustees and the membership.
Soon after its formation the Trust proposed the
development of a Working Railway Museum using a portion of the track bed of the
former Belfast & County Down Railway, and indeed was the first railway
preservation organisation in Ireland to promote the idea of an operational
railway museum. The
section of line chosen was that between Saintfield and Ballynahinch, which
incorporated two miles of the former main line between Rowallane Gardens at
Saintfield (The headquarters of the National Trust), and Ballynahinch Junction,
and also the 3½ mile branch line from Ballynahinch Junction to Ballynahinch
Town. It is still the Trust’s intention, to relay the track between Saintfield and Ballynahinch, but to do so using the standard British and International track gauge of 4' 8½", rather than the Irish track gauge of 5' 3". Towards achieving this objective the Trust has acquired a section of track bed at Cahard, on the Ballynahinch branch, and is currently in negotiations to acquire the remainder of the route. Trust is now undertaking a major operation to have track laid before the end of the year, and Planning Application for the Ballynahinch Branch line is currently in course of preparation. Full details of the Trust's proposed developments, and how you can help, can be found on the 'Trust's Plans' page of the web site. ====================================================================================================================== WANTED ALL
KINDS OF OLD
RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHS, BOOKS
and MAGAZINES Particularly
anything relating to the Belfast
& County Down Railway FOR
PERMANENT PRESERVATION PLEASE
CONTACT THE
B.& C.D.R. MUSEUM TRUST 9 Kilbright Road Carrowdore NEWTOWNARDS Co. DOWN, BT22 2HQ Freephone:
0800 980 1242
E-mail info@bcdr.co.uk All items in our collection are protected for posterity under the terms of our Deed of Trust =========================================================================================== THE LAST TICKETS HAVE BEEN ISSUED, NEWCASTLE HAS SEEN THE LAST TRAIN OFF, AND THE SHARP WHISTLE BLASTS THAT DAILY RENT THE MORNING STILLNESS HAVE BEEN SILENCED
AFTER EIGHTY YEARS. A
shade of sadness cast its sentimental gloom over sweet County Down when the last
train passed over the many miles of the serpentine iron ribbon between Newcastle
and Comber. Yes,
that train rocked and shook and passed by the hills and dales and vanished like
a phantom on its journey into the past, and reminded one of the funeral cortege
of a gallant warrior who had served his country well.
Though there was no muffled drum, a death-knell did sound, not from a
louvered belfry but from the occasional short blasts from the locomotive
whistle, the signal of a duty being performed for the last time. As
those sonorous blasts died away in the evening air, so passed into the limbo of
history a major portion of a railway whose embankments and cuttings will
perpetuate it in the archaeological future when much of its story will have been
long forgotten. To
those of us who remember its heyday, its decline and fall in this age of
automotive transport on the highways and byways, the old 'County Down Railway
will remain one of our most cherished memories.
Reprinted
from the
BELFAST
TELEGRAPH at
the closure of the main line of the Belfast
& County Down Railway on
16th January, 1950. =========================================================================================================== All photographs on this site are copyright, and are not to be copied for re-sale. |
