DOWNPATRICK and County Down Railway (DCDR) will not receive grant aid support from its local authority Newry, Mourne and Down District Council from the Business Flood grant scheme – despite flooding causing extensive damage to the railway at the end of October during Storm Ciaran (RM December 2023).
DCDR chairman Robert Gardiner told The RM:“We find the decision by the local council not to provide any financial support disappointing, just because we have insurance. While the grant of £7500 would be helpful, it’s a long way off the actual cost of the damage the flooding has caused. We estimate that damage to tools and equipment alone is more than £500,000.”
He added:“We have not finalised the cost of the damage to our rolling stock, which needs to be assessed by a specialist rail industry assessor, and that is not due to take place until mid- December. However, a potential insurance claim will not cover all the cost of the flood damage.
“We don’t know if there has been any damage to the station building and the carriage gallery which are council owned.We know that, for example, we must rebuild the platform at Inch Abbey before we can operate trains there as flood water caused subsidence and we need to ensure our bridges are safe.”
DCDR has started work to dry out the traction motors on its locos and railcars. It is proving to be a slow process, made even more complex by the lack of heavy lifting gear on the railway. Class 450 No. 458 and ex-CIE Deutz loco No. G617 are now operable. Efforts are being concentrated on returning GM No. 146 to traffic –which is key to future operations, and allow No. 458 with Mk.2 DSBO to be rescued in the event of failure.