A train, fit for a Queen, will be used this Sunday, 24th July, for a public excursion from Belfast to Dublin and back.
The train has been restored by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, based in Whitehead and was used on 28th June to transport the Queen and Prince Philip to the re-opening of Bellarena station.
The locomotive hauling the train will be sky-blue coloured steam locomotive No.85 “Merlin”, built in 1932 especially for operating the then-new “Enterprise” service.
RPSI Operations Officer Mervyn Darragh explains “When the Great Northern Railway of Ireland wanted to re-launch it’s Belfast-Dublin railway service in the 1930’s, it wanted to enthuse the public. So they built very powerful locomotives, capable of hauling long trains at great speed on the hilly Belfast-Dublin railway line. They named them evocatively after birds of prey and painted them a very eye-catching sky blue colour. ”
National Museums Northern Ireland preserved one of the locomotives built for the Belfast-Dublin railway. Number 85, named “Merlin” was built in Manchester in 1932 and spent it’s working life on the “Enterprise” service. The locomotive has been lovingly restored by volunteers and staff of the Railway Preservation Society at their base at Whitehead in County Antrim.
RPSI Operations Officer, Mervyn Darragh commented “We have been using the locomotive for some months now and we have been very impressed with it’s power and steam-making capabilities. It was a great honour to provide a train for the Royal visit and we are delighted to now be able to share that train with everyone on public steam trains this summer.”
Advance ticket purchase is essential. Return fares cost £30 for adults and £14 for children, with tickets on sale by phone and in-person from the Belfast Welcome Centre, 9 Donegall Square North in Belfast, telephone 028 9024 6609. Tickets are also available online from the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland website steamtrainsireland.com – something that would be inconceivable to a cross-border passenger in 1932!
The RPSI is a not-for-profit charity, so all income from these trains goes back into the continual job of restoring steam locomotives and carriages for future trains.
FACTFILE:
• The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland was formed in 1964 and celebrated it’s Golden Anniversary in 2014. Set up to preserve and operate steam trains and associated railway heritage stock and items, the RPSI is still managed by volunteers and the majority of restoration work is carried out by volunteers in Whitehead, Dublin and Mullingar.
• The steam locomotive for this event is named “Merlin” and it is unique, the last of 5 “V”-class, three-cylinder compound locomotives built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester for the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) in 1932. The locomotives were built to be powerful and fast, but still be small enough to be worked-on inside the dimensions of the railway company workshops at Dundalk.
• The 5 locomotives were named after birds of prey – No.83 Eagle, No.84 Falcon, No.85 Merlin, No.86 Peregrine, No.87 Kestrel.
• No.85 was last steamed in railway company service in about 1962 and was eventually bought by the Belfast Transport Museum. The locomotive was on display at their museum in Witham Street Belfast until 1982 when Lord Henry Dunleath provided substantial funding to have the locomotive restored.
• The locomotive’s first overhaul in preservation was largely carried out by Harland and Wolff and she ran from 1985 to 1990 before returning to the RPSI depot at Whitehead for further extensive work.
• She hauled steam trains all over Ireland from 1994 to 2004 before retiring again for overhaul and returning to traffic in 2014. The overhauls are largely carried out by volunteers and the work on “Merlin” earned junior volunteer Nathan Lightowler from Moira the national award of UK Volunteer of the Year 2013.
• The RPSI is always seeking new volunteers and interested persons should first of all join the Society, details of which can be found online at http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/
• Since 1991, the RPSI has carried the Queen and two Presidents of Ireland on it’s trains.
• The RPSI is developing a £3.1m museum, education and interpretative centre at its base in Whitehead. Visitors will be able to see the sole surviving traditional railway workshop in Northern Ireland. This is where the RPSI overhauls its heritage steam locomotives and carriages.
• The development project comprises extensions to the locomotive workshop, locomotive sheds and carriage shed, construction of a carriage workshop, provision of a 60ft turntable, conversion of the former stables building to an education centre, substantial upgrading of staff and volunteer facilities, and upgraded material storage premises.
• Heritage Lottery Fund is the lead funder for the project, backed by Tourism NI (part financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for NI), with additional support from Mid and East Antrim Council and Ulster Garden Villages.
• Construction work is being carried out by MSM Contracts, a Portadown-based building and civil engineering company, while RPS from Belfast is the lead design consultant.