DCDR Flooding

[GSWR 90]

Unfortunately Downpatrick has been severely affected by flooding over the past three days. The railway and many businesses are under several feet of water. We won’t know the full extent of the damage until we can get on site, hopefully in a few days time. We’ve never seen anything close to this level of flooding in the 40 years that the railway has been there. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves!

https://www.downrail.co.uk/flood/

Edited November 2, 2023 by GSWR 90

[Darrman]

I was only in Downpatrick the other day for the Halloween trains, and it was a great day. Such a shame to see the place flooded.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Shocking weather, such a pity.

[MD220]

As a Downpatrick man born and raised I've spent all my 49 years living in and around the town and I have never seen anything like this.

Shops and businesses in the town centre are under several feet of water. This is a devastating time for business owners along with the the DCDR, not only an important local attraction but a railway heritage centre of national importance. 

Truly awful.

[tonybonneyba]

Unfortunately,  Downpatrick is built upon a gaint flood plain.... Apparently this sort of flooding used to be common in the early 20th century, especially along market st. Along with this, it was only a few centuries ago that Downpatrick was a harbour town, with the harbour being near where the cathedral is.

(or this is what i've been informed at least over the years by various people).

Nonetheless, its extremely sadening to see this, so much damage done to our beautiful little railway, the town, local shops & organisations. We can only hope things improve from here. 

[GSWR 90]

I went out round the back of the yard today (closest I can get) and took a look. Water has dropped by maybe an inch – mercifully it’s stayed below station/carriage body/engine room level.

[tonybonneyba]

I see that, alongside the wooolly sheep, DCDR has made the papers!

 

 

[tonybonneyba]

Some good news, the DfI has started pumping the flood water out of Downpatrick....

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=718790620284869&id=100064618122842

[Horsetan]

12 hours ago, tonybonneyba said:

I see that, alongside the wooolly sheep, DCDR has made the papers!

 

 

I see Joe Brolly doing his bit for international relations!

[tonybonneyba]

8 hours ago, Horsetan said:

I see Joe Brolly doing his bit for international relations!

I thought it was talking of an umbrella! You can understand my confusion

17 hours ago, tonybonneyba said:

Some good news, the DfI has started pumping the flood water out of Downpatrick....

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=718790620284869&id=100064618122842

Update from Downpatrick....

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=719250543572210&id=100064618122842&sfnsn=scwspmo

[GSWR 90]

Important to remember that there is a ‘hump’ between Market Street and the railway – so even though the Street is dry the railway is still very wet, although the water levels have gone down by about 2 foot or so

[tonybonneyba]

14 minutes ago, GSWR 90 said:

Important to remember that there is a ‘hump’ between Market Street and the railway – so even though the Street is dry the railway is still very wet, although the water levels have gone down by about 2 foot or so

Indeed!

Hopefully over the next few days it'll decrease even more

[GSWR 90]

FLOODING UPDATE

Since I last posted, a few of us have gone on site to make a preliminary assessment of the damage.

Apart from the station building, all of the buildings/sheds have had at least some water in them, ranging from a max of about 5 foot in parts of the Workshop to about 18 inches in the Maghera Shed. Containers for track equipment and railcar spares were also under about 3 foot of water as well.

This means that the water level has gone above the axleboxes of a lot of our rolling stock, and that the traction motors are wet on most of our diesel-electric locos and railcars.

The Diesel Gala in January has been cancelled, but we’re looking into different formats for our Christmas trains.

If you’re interested in supporting us, you can become a member of DCDR at https://www.downrail.co.uk/get-involved/become-a-member/

 

 

The red line on 836 shows approx where the water went up to in the Carriage Gallery.

Edited November 7, 2023 by GSWR 90

[Flying Snail]

Thanks for updating us. It sounds like there's a lot of work to be done to get over the floods, but am I right that so far most damage appears recoverable (eventually)?

[GSWR 90]

34 minutes ago, Flying Snail said:

Thanks for updating us. It sounds like there's a lot of work to be done to get over the floods, but am I right that so far most damage appears recoverable (eventually)?

Well, as far as I can see we won’t need to scrap any rolling stock. But it’s important to bear a few things in mind. For a lot of the spares that we have, they stopped making them 30+ years ago (particularly railcar parts), and a lot of the track machinery will cost a fortune to replace. For the diesel locos, we don’t have the facilities to simply lift them up to take a look at the condition of the bogies or replace a traction motor. And we only have 4-5 people who work on our diesel locos regularly. When everything settles down and we have everything assessed, we will need people + money to sort this out.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Devastating update, I'm so sorry to hear all that, the pictures are shocking, I'm afraid the rainfall on this island is only going to get worse and we will all have to adapt, I am glad I live on a small mountain, I hope you recover.

[Flying Snail]

Thanks for clarifying that @GSWR 90, and I wish all involved in the railway the very best as you work through this.

Obviously you'll need more than best wishes and I see there's a link for donations on the railway's website. I've made a small donation and others on here may wish to do so too: https://www.downrail.co.uk/donatemenu/general/ 

[enniscorthyman]

Simply awful to see this.I will make a donation and membership in the next few days.

[GSWR 90]

Thank you very much for your donations. It’s really been heartwarming to see the amount of support that we’ve been given from both the local community in County Down and the railway enthusiast community across Ireland, the UK, and beyond. We will hopefully start a fundraising appeal over the next week or so, following discussions with our insurers.

[Tractionman]

I have rejoined ITG, I had planned to go to the January gala but not yet booked--so sad to see so much devastation  

[GSWR 90]

Time to start un-wrecking the place. Things are very bad, but it’s important to stay positive – like I said before, at least the water didn’t get into any carriage bodies or diesel engine rooms. 458 seems to have made a lucky escape, everything else not so much. On top of everything else, the place is filled with condensation, so the electricity is slowly getting worse.
 

We’ve had the green light from our insurer to do a fundraiser, so we should be getting started with that over the next weeks or so. I was hoping that we’d start 90’s fundraiser about now, but sin an saol!

Edited November 11, 2023 by GSWR 90

[jhb171achill]

That is absolutely awful. Hope the fund raiser goes well - folks, let's all donate!

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Devastating, I really hope everything can be restored and even more crucial that the flooding be prevented in the future.

[GSWR 90]

Following preliminary examinations by our loss assessors, it seems that the floods have caused, at the very least, £250,000 (approx €290,000) worth of damage to infrastructure, machinery, etc. That doesn't include loss of earnings or damage to our locomotives and carriages, which we are currently looking into.

We're still in the process of setting up a fundraiser, but if you want to support DCDR in the meantime you can buy some Christmas cards from our eBay shop or you can buy a GSWR 90 badge from the Táilte Tours website.

Thanks.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

That's shocking