Model railway to return to Malahide

The Fry Model Railway is set to return to a new purpose built venue in Malahide, Co Dublin, Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar announced today.

The vast miniature collection will be placed in a new museum building next to the town’s old Casino House.

The railway has been in storage since it was evicted from the grounds of Malahide Castle last year to much public outcry.

The models will be conserved and the presentation upgraded as part of the ¤2million development. The interpretation and the layout will also be updated.

Mr Varadkar acknowledged the generosity of the late Michael Gaffney who bequeathed money for the development of the new home for the railway at Malahide.

Fáilte Ireland and Fingal County Council were in the “final stages of negotiations” over the return of the collection to Malahide, the Department of Transport said in a statement.

“I’m delighted that this matter has finally been resolved,” Mr Varadkar said.

Other aspects of the development include the restoration and conservation of the Casino House thatched building.

The collection was created by a railway engineer Cyril Fry and his family over 40 years. He made many of the models of locomotives, coaches and trams in the vast collection himself.

It contains a model of every type of train that ran on the railways of Ireland, including an experimental turf-burning train, the DART and the Luas.

It was purchased by Dublin Tourism from the Fry family in the 1970s.