Londonderry: Adults with disabilities teaching railway history

Tour guides at the Foyle Valley Railway Museum are proving very popular with locals and tourists

A museum in Londonderry is promoting disability inclusion by employing tour guides with learning disabilities.

The Foyle Valley Railway Museum officially reopened on Tuesday after a major upgrade.

Destined, the charity which runs the centre and trains adults with learning disabilities, secured a long-term lease of the building from Derry City and Strabane District Council in 2016.

They then began setting out to restore the building to its former glory.

The museum boasts a state-of-the-art interpretative centre and is proving very popular with locals and tourists - not least because of its very knowledgeable tour guides.

Adele Darby is a tour guide at the museum and says she really enjoys teaching people a lot of interesting facts about the old railway lines

Caolan Friel, who is suitably dressed in an old-fashioned railway controller uniform, is one of the first people to warmly welcome guests to the museum.

Caolan has been with Destined for about six years and said he absolutely loves being a tour guide.

The railway museum has information stations all around the building

"I love meeting and getting to talk to new people," he told BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson Show.

"Especially here in Derry, people are super-friendly. You could say hello and even if they're a complete stranger, they'll have a chat with you.

"Derry isn't like other big cities where people go about their day not really talking to many people."

Staff like Caolan Friel dress the part to show guests around the museum

The railway museum features rail artefacts from the north west of Ireland as well as personal items of historic value donated by locals.

The exhibition consists of a recreated station platform and information stations where visitors can find out about the various railway companies which once operated out of the city.

One of the main attractions is a steam narrow-gauge locomotive built for the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee dating back to 1907.

The staff are knowledgable and friendly and give presentations at various points in the museum

Adele Darby is another tour guide with Destined and said she really enjoys teaching people a lot of interesting facts about the old railway lines.

"I would like people to come in and see what we do and maybe learn something they didn't know before," she said.

Adele said the museum is a great place to work because she gets to spend a lot of times with her friends.

The museum is full of historic artefacts from a bygone age of railway

Museum manager, Caroline O'Hara, said the whole ethos behind the charity's involvement at the museum is about empowerment and social inclusion.

She said the tour guide scheme allows people with learning disabilities to work in a safe environment and be involved in something that they are passionate about.

The renovation work at the museum is finally complete and Ms O'Hara said the staff are very eager to show off all the great items on display.

She said people can expect a warm welcome and come away from the experience having learned about the north west's rich railway history from very dedicated team members.