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Museum Trust 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 Rail 150 Great
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Welcome to the Web Site of The Belfast & County Down Railway Museum Trust ========================================================================================================== A Merry Christmas to all our Members
Next Meeting Wednesday 21st January - Ballynahinch Library at 8:00pm. Our Chairman will present "A Rummage through the Trust's Photographic Archive" =========================================================================================================================================
Obituary EDWARD WILLIAM GRIFFITH It was with deep sadness that we learned
of the death on Thursday 6th November of our dear friend, and former
Trust Committee member, Eddie Griffith. Eddie, who had been a Trust committee
member for many years, was also an avid railway modeller, having formed the
Comber Model Railway Club a number of years ago, and with whom he exhibited
model layouts at various exhibitions, including the North Down Model Railway
Exhibition in Bangor Leisure Centre for quite a number of years. He was also a leading light in the Scout
movement, being Scout Leader with the Comber Scouts at St. Mary’s Parish
Church in the town for very many years.
He was also a keen golfer, and indeed he and his wife Christine never
went on holiday without taking their golf clubs. Eddie will be very sadly missed in
railway circles. He was a
gentleman, and anyone who knew him, was fortunate to have such a friend. We offer our sincere condolences to his dear wife Chris, and to the rest of the family circle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To help put this project firmly on the ground the Trust is seeking a number of benefactors who will help us to raise £100,000 as a matter of urgency. This funding will be used to secure further portions of the track-bed between Saintfield and Ballynahinch, and to restore the route to its pre 1950 state.
In the absence of any major funding contributors we are seeking 1,000 people who would be willing to donate £100 each towards achieving this same objective.
Please take the time to study our web site, and consider joining us to help develop this project as a major Heritage Railway to recreate the real Belfast & County Down Railway.
Please visit Great Irish Railway Challenge for further information.
In this special year we are throwing down a 'Great Irish Railway Challenge' to all Irish Railway enthusiasts and to all people, wherever they are, who are of Irish descent. To learn more please click on the link at the top of the page. ==========================================================================================================
The aim of this web site is to promote interest in the history of the former Belfast & County Down Railway, and to allow railway enthusiasts and others to participate in the preservation of its history. It is also to promote the Trust's plans for the restoration of part of the system between Saintfield and Ballynahinch as a Heritage Railway that will truly depict as closely as possible the image, the aura, and the character of the Belfast & County Down Railway during its hundred years of operation through the drumlin countryside of County Down.
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 using the standard 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. 2008 being the 150th Anniversary of the opening of the Ballynahinch line, the Trust is undertaking a major operation to have track laid before the end of the year. Full details of the Trust's proposed developments, and how you can help, can be found on other pages 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: countydownrailway@yahoo.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. ===========================================================================================================
In this special year we are throwing down a 'Great Irish Railway Challenge' to all Irish Railway enthusiasts and to all people, wherever they are, who are of Irish descent. To learn more please click on the link at the top of the page. |
The Belfast & County Down Railway