Downpatrick and County Down Railway not intransigent

SIR, — We regret that Alan Johnston (Down Recorder, December 7) feels that the DCDR is being intransigent with regard to the recently re-announced plans of the Belfast and County Down Railway Museum Trust for a heritage railway linking Saintfield, Ballynahinch and Crossgar. 

However, I think Alan will agree with our position if he looks back through the public record, where he will see how regularly this scheme has been “launched” since the 1970s, as well as the numerous similar schemes emanating from this organisation or variations thereof.

We are not being intransigent, but realistic. Quite simply, the cost and logistics of purchasing and transporting from England the amount of material, track, rolling stock, etc., required to build an English-gauge railway of the size envisaged would be astronomical. 

Add to this the cost of acquiring the trackbed and construction of buildings, plus the complications involved in complying with the safety and legal requirements of the Department of Regional Development to operate a railway — these things, and funds for them, do not fall from the sky.  We are talking about what would amount to a multi-million pound venture, and we see no evidence of the financial underpinnings or business plan for this latest incarnation of the BCDRMT ‘project’ to suggest there is anything substantial behind this latest version of the idea.

We would welcome the growth of the heritage railway sector throughout Ireland, and would welcome the preservation of more of our local BCDR heritage. In fact, we have very active and cordial relationships with all the key players in the Irish heritage railway world and have already provided advice and assistance to various new projects around the country.

Our concerns are over transparency and the ability to deliver what has been promised.

In regards Alan’s comment that we appear to be in the “wilderness” we are, in fact, in the final stages of completing a new £750,000 Carriage Display Gallery, a major civil engineering project, which will be a massive boost both to the DCDR and Down District in general. This is only one of our projects with other exciting developments in pipeline, many of which are outlined in the Downpatrick Masterplan and St. Patrick Tourism Development Plan.

We have an efficient, highly skilled and well staffed volunteer structure and a clear vision of what our future should be. However, we believe our success in building from scratch over the last 25 years, the only full-sized heritage line in Ireland, speaks for itself.

Yours etc.,

MICHAEL COLLINS

Chairman

Downpatrick & County Down Railway