The Scottish connection

The Scottish connection

18 December 2013

A DOWNPATRICK heritage project is celebrating the delivery of an early Christmas present from Scotland.

Instead of a box of shortbread the Downpatrick and County Down Railway has received a semaphore signal gantry from the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway and Network Rail.

The gantry will be erected at the Downpatrick project as part of a project to relay the track approaches to the station.

Local railway enthusiasts have been on the look out for a gantry for some time and knew there was no longer such a structure left in Northern Ireland.

“We needed a signal which has three arms to control the point where the Inch Abbey and Ballydugan lines meet and we knew there were none left in Northern Ireland, so we turned our attention across the water, never thinking that something would come of it,” said David Crone, the chief civil engineer.

The main railway line into Stirling was still using old semaphore signals, which are the same type used by the Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR).

Mr. Crone added: “Railway signalling was usually standard equipment purchased from a few manufacturers and the BCDR bought theirs from the Stevens and Son Company based in Glasgow, the same supplier as the Caledonia Railway, which served Stirling, used.

Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway were offered all of the signals from Stirling, but they contacted Network rail to say they only needed one gantry and the second bracket signal was offered to DCDR.

Mr. Crone added: “The chance to get something as close to what was originally here in Downpatrick was too good to miss and we are immensely indebted to Walter Watson Steel who transported the signal on a return load from a major job they are working on in Scotland.

“I think the Network Rail people were very surprised at the speed they were able to collect the signal.

“We hope this will become a major back for our trains and our line for photographers and filmmakers,” he said.

The signal requires some restoration work before it is erected, along with upcoming work to complete a major part of the track relay works to allow it to be correctly placed.

For further information on DCDR, or to help with any project or volunteer, contact the Downpatrick Tourist Information Centre on tel: 028 4461 2233, visit www.downrail.co.uk or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/downrail or follow on Twitter @downrail