{"id":7027,"date":"2014-04-07T08:15:04","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T07:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=7027"},"modified":"2014-04-07T08:15:04","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T07:15:04","slug":"magical-merlin-is-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2014\/04\/magical-merlin-is-back-on-track\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGICAL MERLIN IS BACK ON TRACK!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passengers on the railway lines of Northern Ireland may recently have enjoyed a glimpse of blue, a rush of steam, the unmistakable sound of a steam train whistle.<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>After 10 years of restoration work, mighty express steam locomotive \u201cMerlin\u201d is back on track and ready to pull passengers on Sunday 13th<\/sup> April.<\/p>\n

The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, based at Whitehead, has worked since 2004 to restore, repair and breathe life back into one of Irelands finest express steam engines.\u00a0 The locomotive has been trial running for a few weeks and the results have been excellent.<\/p>\n

Sunday April 13th<\/sup> will see Merlin<\/em> pull a passenger train from Belfast Central to Portadown, with two return trips from Portadown to Lisburn, before returning to Belfast Central and the Society is selling tickets for the trains.<\/p>\n

Built in 1932 in Manchester, Merlin<\/em> was one of 5 locomotives built especially for the Belfast-Dublin \u201cEnterprise\u201d service operated then by the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland).\u00a0 Designed to climb the steep gradients and haul heavy passenger trains at averages of over 60mph, the locomotives revolutionised the Belfast-Dublin train service at the time.\u00a0 The Society is especially pleased to have Merlin<\/em> back in-traffic 50 years after the RPSI was formed in 1964.<\/p>\n

RPSI Operations Officer Mervyn Darragh picks up the story \u201cNaming steam locomotives was quite common.\u00a0 Whilst Merlin<\/em> is magical to us, she and her sister locomotives were actually named after birds of prey.\u00a0 The locomotives were painted a very striking shade of blue, trimmed in red and lined in black and white.\u00a0 Merlin <\/em>makes a very impressive sight and oozes pent up power.\u00a0 We are taking the opportunity to get as many miles of running-in as possible and it is great to get the opportunity to bring the engine back to the former GNR(I) route between Portadown and Lisburn.\u00a0 We hope lots of people in the Lisburn and Portadown area take the opportunity to experience the magic of travelling behind this marvellous machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Sunday 13th<\/sup> Aprils operations, we will take Merlin<\/em> back to our depot at Whitehead for checks, then she will be used to haul our annual Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday \u201cEaster Express\u201d trains.\u00a0 These trains are lots of fun for all the family, with Easter Eggs for children and plenty of nostalgia for the adults.\u00a0 Merlin<\/em> will be the icing on the cake for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ticket details, timings and online sales (where relevant) are handled through www.steamtrainsireland.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Sunday April 13th<\/sup> trains cost just \u00a310 and are available on the train on the day.\u00a0 For that fare passengers can choose to travel in any combination of Belfast Central (1110)-Lisburn (1130)-Portadown and then on two return trips from Portadown (1210 and 1455) to Lisburn and back (1310 and 1610), before departing Portadown at 1655 to drop off at Lisburn (1735), Belfast Central (1755).<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday steam trains are selling fast from Belfast Welcome Centre (Tel: 028 9024 6609).\u00a0 They cost \u00a311 each and ticket holding children will receive an Easter egg.<\/p>\n

Tickets are also on sale from the Belfast Welcome Centre for the Railway Society\u2019s annual Steam and Jazz trains with the Apex Jazz band.\u00a0 Held on Friday evenings in June each year, these trains are a social calendar mainstay.<\/p>\n

FACTFILE:<\/p>\n