24th December The final Santa steam trains have operated
and Santa has gone home to prepare for his big night. Over the Christmas
period lots of volunteers will be active at our Engineering depot at Whitehead.
If you would like to work off some Christmas turkey, please come down to
Whitehead and join in on 27th, 28th and 29th December and 1st January.
To all our passengers and website surfers,
we wish you all the best for Christmas 2007 and we look forward to seeing
you again in 2008.
21st December - News All tickets for the December 30th "Mince
Pie and Mulled Wine" train have now been sold out. Please note that there
will be NO tickets available on the day.
8th December - update OOPS! The ticket price advertised
for the 30th December train last night was incorrect. The correct
prices are now on our Events
Page (Adult £20, Under 16/Over 65 £10 and Family (2 adults
and 2 children under 16) £45).
7th December - update There is a need to swap our steam locomotives
No.4
and
No.186
around before the end of the year and this has given us an opportunity
to offer something a little special to you. Tickets are now on sale
for a Mulled Wine and Mince Pie Steam Train from Belfast, Lisburn or Portadown
to Dublin and back on the 30th December 2007. There will be cup of
mulled wine and a mince pie for all passengers, a full bar (no draught
beer), tea bar, snacks and the swapping of our locomotives during the day
- not to mention the GNR(I) mainline and 2 hours in Dublin!
Tickets are keenly priced and available
online right now from our Events
Page or from Belfast Welcome Centre (02890246609).
4th December - update
Ticket availaility table on the Events
Page has been updated for Belfast Santa trains - Belfast Welcome Centre
now sold out of all trains. Bangor Tourist Information centre may
have a few remaining tickets.
Locomotives of the LMS NCC Locomotives
Illustrated Magazine No.168, December 2007
30 x 21 cm, 5 colour, 78 B&W photos,
46 pages, £3.50
Railways in Ireland Part Two
by Martin Bairstow
Paperback, 24 x 18 cm, 7 colour and 190
b&w photos, 5 maps, 122 pages, £14.95
Steam in Ulster in the 1960s by
Richard Whitford and Ian Sinclair
Paperback, 21 x 24 cm, 60 b&w
photos, 64 pages, £8.99
29th November - update Ticket availaility table on the Events
Page has been updated for Santa trains. Tickets are now only
available from Bangor Tourist Information Centre or Belfast Welcome Centre.
28th November - update As Santa Train tickets start to sell out
in some of our outlets, I have added a table to the Events
Page showing where tickets can be found for our Belfast based trains.
18th November 3 new books have been added to our online
shop:
Austerity Ulster 1947 to 1951 – photos
from the UTA Archive by Norman Johnston
Paperback, 20 x 24 cm, 60 b&w photos,
64 pages, £8.99.
Ireland’s Railways Past and Present
: Ireland by Michael Baker.
Paperback, 24 x 17 cm, 190 b&w photos,
144 pages, £17.99.
Irish Buses in the mid-1960s
by Richard Newham
Paperback, 20 x 24 cm, 3 colour &
60 b&w photos, 64 pages, £8.99.
As always, see our Sales
Catalogue for an in depth description of the items for sale.
13th November - update Some notes have been added to the Santa
ticket sales on our Events
Page. In particular it should be noted that tickets for Santa
trains from Belfast are available from Bangor, Carrickfergus and Lisburn
Tourist Information Centres and also from Belfast Welcome Centre. If one
ticket is sold out, or the online ticket sale is sold out, then tickets
may still be available from other outlets.
31st October - update Some Iarnród Éireann drivers
are being trained to work on our steam locomotives. A photo (taken only
a few hours before it was put on this website!) of No.186 on crew training
duties has been added to the gallery.
26th October - update
The Broomstick Belle trains sold out today.
Belfast Santa Steam Train tickets are now
available to purchase in person, by telephone and online - see our Events
Page for full details.
Ballymena and Portadown Santa Steam Train
tickets should be on sale very soon and by Monday 29th October at the latest.
25th October - update The following items have been added to
the Sales Order Form:
1) Christmas
Cards from paintings by Debra Wenlock -
Set of 6 comprising 2 each of three RPSI scenes. £7.50
2) DVD by Markle - Northern Ireland
Railways Archive Volume 2 - 75 minutes, £18.95
3) DVD by VIDEO 125 - Dublin to
Cork – Driver’s Eye View - 110
minutes, narrated by Henry Kelly, £19.95
24th October - update A few tickets are still available for
the 11:45 Broomstick
Belle train departing from Belfast Central on Sunday 28th October.
The 14:50 departure is now sold out.
The ability to buy tickets online for
these trains has been closed. Please telephone Belfast Welcome Centre
for advice on how to purchase tickets - 02890246609.
8th October - update
Tickets for the Santa Steam trains from Dublin
are now sold out. Tickets for Santa Steam trains from Belfast, Portadown
and Ballymena will go on sale at the end of October (more details will
be posted on our website or by email to those who have registered
for a reminder).
It’s October and that can mean only one thing
- it’s the start of the St. Jude’s season of meetings in Belfast.
So first off is:Wednesday 10th October 2007,Fare Thee Well, Enniskillen.
Charles Friel marks the 50th anniversary of the big closures with a review
of railways across Fermanagh - from Clones to Bundoran and Omagh plus the
Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties - in their final years, on that fateful
last day and its aftermath. Illustrated with slides.
For new-comers, St Jude’s Church Hall
is on the corner of St. Jude’s Crescent and the Ravenhill Road in Belfast.
Meetings start at 7:30pm and finish around 10:15pm, with an interval for
tea or coffee.
There is no entrance charge but visitors
are asked to make a donation on leaving. At least £2 is suggested
- extremely good value for money.
Please download our printable
poster of the season’s meetings and display them in appropriate public
locations. Thank you.
1st October - Update
Groomsport artist and designer Debra
Wenlock has very kindy provided our Broomstick
Belle poster again this year. The poster is available for download
and we would really appreciate it if you could print off copies and put
them up in public places where you live.
Just in case you missed activities in September
(there has been a lot going on), some news clippings and photographs from
have been made up into a September
photonews on our website.
28th September - update Tickets are now on sale for "The
Broomstick Belle" Halloween steam trains from Belfast. Taking
place on Sunday 28th October, these are a 1.5 hour round trip by steam
train from Belfast Central. A fun family train – entertainers on
board, fancy dress prizes, a Hallowe’en goodie bag for all ticket holding
children. Scenic Lough shore views from your authentic steam train
for the adults. All tickets £8.50 on sale now:
Visit our ticket outlet - the Belfast Welcome
Centre, 47 Donegal Place, Belfast, BT1 5AD (opposite Marks&Spencers
in the city centre).
Telephone the Belfast Welcome Centre on +44(0)28
90246609 Pay by credit card and have the tickets posted to you (£1
extra charge for this service).
You can purchase tickets online (pay by credit
card and have the tickets posted to you - £1 extra charge for this
service).
16th September - update
The "Country Comes to Town" steam specials
between Lisburn and Portadown were well patronised on Saturday 15th September.
Many people were seen taking photographs of the train. If you have
any good shots, please send them in for the website.
The train kept to time, looked very smart
and this photograph of it harks back to the late 1950's early 1960's.
More photographs are available from Wilson Adams site: http://irishrailwayimages.fotopic.net/c1370192.html
No.4 hurries the Country
Comes to Town passed Seagoe. Photo W Adams
No.4 departs Lisburn with
the 13:35 to Portadown. Video by J Lockett
Although the Dublin Santa trains are nearly
sold out, the Belfast Hallowe'en and Santa trains are yet to go on sale.
For those of you who are not members (and receiving all the latest news
in our email members bulletin), an email capture box has been provided
on our Events Page.
If you use this to tell us your email address, we'll email to tell you
when the tickets go on sale. Becoming
a member is the best way to keep informed of events and your membership
fee is a great help in ensuring we can all continue to enjoy steam trains
on the mainline.
14th September - update Santa's steam special from Dublin on the
8th, 9th and 15th of December are now also sold out. A limited number of
tickets are still available for trains on the 1st, 2nd and 8th December.
Please see our
Dublin
area booking form for more details.
12th September - news and update
Santa's steam special from Dublin on Sunday
16th December is now sold out. A limited number of tickets are still available
for trains on the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th and 15th December. Please see our
Dublin
area booking form for more details.
This new item has been added to the sales
order form:
"Garavogue Railtour", a 90 minute
DVD by Brian Stinson costing £12. This railtour featured steam
haulage on four consecutive days from 11th to 14th May, 2007. The
tour covered the routes from Dublin to Limerick, Sligo, Bray and Whitehead
via Belfast. The train was hauled on some sections by Irish Rail
class 141 and 181 Bo-Bo diesel electric locomotives. There is coverage
of Dromod headquarters of the Cavan and Leitrim Railway. See our sales
pages for how to buy this and other items of railway interest.
7th September - news The wood for our our GNR(I)
Brake Van arrived during the week. Brian Kelly of Scrabo Timber delivered
the consignment in style on the back of his restored Bedford flatbed lorry.
The much awaited batch of specially cut timber was transferred to a flat
wagon and placed in the carriage shed so it can be fitted to the van.
Brian Kelly (left) with
Francis Richards, carriage and wagon officer.
Whitehead workers rallied
round to get the wood unloaded.
These thick floorboards
are particularly special - very few sawmills would even quote for timber
as thick as this!
The youths wasted no time
in getting stuck in to the new timber - new stepboards being trial fitted
onto the brake van on Friday September 7th.
You can view progress on IVAN (as the brake
van has come to be known) by browsing through our photonews
pages.
5th September - update
Tickets are on sale for our Santa Trains from
Dublin. You can book tickets by printing off the form on our events
page.
A picture from the lens of David Cavanagh
has been added to the gallery
pages.
31st August - update Details of our Country
Comes to Town trains with No.4 in Northern Ireland have been added
to the Events Page.
The Events Page trains list has also been
updated. We have added two new Santa trains; a santa steam train
from Ballymena to Antrim and back (to try and compensate for the cancellation
of the Coleraine Santa trains) and a Santa train from Portadown to Lisburn
and back.
Details and timings of the 9th September "Steam
Enterprise" from Whitehead-Belfast-Dublin (stops at Lisburn, Portadown
and Dundalk) have been added to our Events Page. This is a day out
to experience steam travel with 2 locomotives (No.186 south and No.4 north)
on the GNR main line. There should be sufficient time in Dublin for
passengers to organise a meal and drink. Ticket price a flat fare
of £25 for the return trip.
A downloadable version of the Belfast
Meetings programme has been added to the Events
Page. We would be very grateful if you could print it out and
display it in your local libraries, shops, doctors waiting rooms etc. Thank
you.
An updated Photo
News report has been posted to illustrate the progress from May
- July made by the RPSI Youth Team on restoring our GNR(I) Brake Van
to running order. There is plenty more to do, so if you would like
to join us, please get in touch!
22nd August - update The 2007-2008 schedule for RPSI
Belfast Meetings can now be viewed here. Meetings are open to all and
will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in Irish Railways.
11th August - News Please note that tickets for the Sea Breeze
on Sunday 26th August are available from our Dublin ticket agents on 01
280 9147, they have not made it out to our usual outlets yet. We'll
advise as soon as they have.
Full details and advance booking is available
through our Dublin
Area booking form.
9th August
- News
Unfortunately, the previous news that our
"Portrush Flyer" trains have been cancelled due to Translinks work required
on the railway line north of Ballymena has been extended to our "Coleraine
Shopper" and the same-day Ballymena and Coleraine Santa trains. Belfast
Santa trains are not affected as they operate over a different bit of railway
line.
Remember that steam trains will be operating
this Sunday 12th August at Whitehead. Our open days have been extremely
successful this year and we have extended to this extra date. This
is an opportunity to see behind the scenes of Irelands only mainline steam
train operator - a rare opportunity to see the heavy engineering required
to keep steam trains operational. More details on our Events
Page.
Due to technical reasons within the RPSI,
the 25th August "Steam Enterprise" from Dublin-Belfast-Whitehead and return
will NOT run on the date proposed. Instead, an extra "Sea Breeze"
train is to operate on Sunday 26th August from Dublin - Rathdrum - Wexford
- Rosslare & return.
Tickets for the "Sea Breeze" are on sale
from our Dublin ticket agents on 01 280 9147
No.4 and passengers had a good day on the
sold-out Sea Breeze on 29th July. Barry Pickup was on hand to take
a few photographs of the action - click on the thumbnails below to see
larger versions.
29th July Sea Breeze at
Sydney Parade by Barry Pickup
29th July Sea Breeze at
Arklow by Barry Pickup
29th July Sea Breeze at
Glenealy by Barry Pickup
29th July Sea Breeze at
Lions Bridge by Barry Pickup
4th August - News Following the success of earlier "Summer
Steam" train rides and open days, we're running another open day on Sunday
12th August. If you had been looking forward to the Portrush Flyer for
your steam fix, why not come to Whitehead instead, and get to see "behind
the scenes" of our operations.
23rd July - Updates The 29th July "Sea Breeze" from Dublin-Rathdrum-Wexford-Rosslare
and return is now sold out.
The next mainline steam train for sale
in Ireland will be the Steam Enterprise from Dublin to Belfast and return
on August 25th. Book
now.
Summer
Steam will be in action at Whitehead on 28th July, 4th August and 8th
September.
1st July - Updates The following have been added to the sales
order form:
Garavogue Railtour Souvenir Brochure
compiled by Charles Friel
Paperback, 28 x 14 cm, 58 b&w photos,
8 maps, 80 pages, £3.00
The Garavogue railtour was the first to
feature steam haulage on four consecutive days. The routes described
are: Dublin Connolly – Thurles – Limerick Junction – Limerick – Nenagh
– Ballybrophy, Dublin Connolly – Mullingar – Sligo , Dublin Connolly –
Bray.
Hibernian Steam Scene Volume 3
by Brian Stinson
79 minute DVD, £15
The DVD Program consists of scenes from
eleven RPSI trains run over the period from 2004 to 2005 hauled by a combination
of the following three locomotives, ex Great Northern Railway of Ireland
class V 4-4-0 Loco. No 85, Merlin, ex London , Midland & Scottish
Railway (Northern Counties Committee) class WT 2-6-4T Loco. No. 4 and Great
Southern & Western Railway class J15 0-6-0, No. 186.
Iarnród Éireann – Twenty
Years of Progress by Tom Ferris
Hardback, 25 x 19 cm, 85 colour
photos, 80 pages, £14.99
This pictorial album shows the remarkable
changes made to Iarnród Éireann in the last 20 years. Starting
with the railway which IR inherited, the book shows just how much has already
been achieved in bringing the railways of the Republic of Ireland into
the 21st century.
Narrow Gauge Rolling Stock – an Irish
Railway Pictorial by Desmond Coakham
Paperback, 28 x 22 cm, 175 b&w
photos, 80 pages, £14.99
The author of this book, Desmond Coakham,
an acknowledged expert on Irish railway rolling stock on both the broad
and narrow gauges, is unique among those who recorded the railways of Ireland
in the 1950s and 60s, in that he did not concentrate solely on what was
at the front of the train - he also turned his camera on the rolling stock
behind the engine.
Mid-Antrim Narrow Gauge by Dr.E.M.Patterson
and Norman Johnston
Paperback, 26 x 21 cm, 3 colour paintings
& 160 b&w photos, 175 pages, £15.99
This is a new edition of Dr EM Patterson's
book The Ballymena Lines, originally published in 1968. County Antrim was
the cradle of the Irish narrow gauge railways and this updated edition
covers the Ballymena, Cushendal and Red Bay Railway, the Ballymena and
Larne Railway, the NCC and the various industrial lines that operated,
such as the Glenariff Railway, the Carnlough Mineral Railway and the British
Aluminium lines at Larne.
Radio interview online Our friends at Carrickfergus
FM have made available online an interview with one of our society's
founder members, Charles Friel. Click
here to listen to it.
27th June - News
PORTRUSH FLYER 2007
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
has been informed by Northern Ireland Railways that it is unable to operate
the Portrush Flyer steam hauled tourist train this year. NIR have not taken
this decision lightly and have tried unsuccessfully to accommodate the
operation of the Portrush Flyer.
There are a number of reasons for this
unfortunate cancellation:
1. NIR’s passenger traffic has increased
so much that they are now supplementing the train service to Portrush which
reduces the opportunity to provide a path (effectively a place to run a
train which fits in with their timetable) for the Portrush Flyer.
2. NIR have informed us that because of
the condition of the railway track between Ballymena and Coleraine they
have been compelled to introduce a series of Temporary Speed Restrictions,
and increase the journey times. Again this makes it difficult to provide
a Path for the Flyer.
The Railway Preservation Society regrets
that we have had to cancel this year’s Portrush Flyer and we apologise
to our customers and friends.
We hope that the New Assembly will be able
to make available the money required to upgrade and increase the capacity
of the line from Ballymena to Londonderry.
The RPSI will continue to work with NIR
to see what can be achieved for 2008.
17th June - Update A busy weekend for the RPSI. A full
train of Jazz lovers enjoyed a pleasant evening on our first "Steam and
Jazz" on Friday night. On Sunday, passengers enjoyed the experience
of No.4 running from Belfast-Lisburn-Portadown-Dublin and then swapping
with No.186 for the return working of the days "Steam Enterprise" train.
No.4 was moving to Dublin to operate "The Midlander" from Dublin-Mullingar-Enfield-Mullingar-Dublin
on June 23rd and No.186 was moving to Dublin to operate the remaining two
June "Steam and Jazz" trains.
Here are some film/photos of Fridays Jazz
train - if you would like to travel, there might be a few tickets left
for the 22nd June Jazz train (try Belfast Welcome Centre or Carrickfergus
Tourist Information Centre) but the 29th June train is now sold out.
No.4 passing through Moira
- click on image for video clip (6Mb)
No.4 and train await departure
from Belfast Central on their way home.
Photo by J Friel
The glow of Lisburn station
lights caught on camera on the return train to Belfast.
Photo by J Friel
And here are some photos of today's "Steam
Enterprise" train:
No.4 gleams in the morning
light as she prepares to rejoin the RPSI's Dublin based operation.
The opportunity was
taken to celebrate No.4's 60th birthday in style with a lump coal "cake".
Driver Noel and fireman
Stephen grab a few moments rest before taking No.186 further north to Whitehead.
The photonews of the "Garavogue" International
Railtour has been added to the website. Click
here to view it.
4th June - Update Details of the 17th June "Steam Enterprise"
train from Belfast-Lisburn-Portadown-Dublin and return have been added
to the Events Page.
Booking now open with tickets available in the usual Northern Ireland outlets.
This will be No.4's Diamond Anniversary train - 60 years from her birth!
2nd June - Update Thanks to one of Whitehead's "Youth Team",
there are now a couple of low resolution aerial pictures of Whitehead yard
available on the website. They show the length of the carriage shed and
the long thin nature of the site. As any of Whitehead's resident shunters
will tell you, the site seems much smaller when you're trying to shunt
in it!
31st May - Update A new report has been added to our photonews
pages, showing the departure of Drumboe
and railcar trailer 5 to Donegal town, and a few pictures from the recent
MRSI railtour, which used RPSI coaches. Click
here to view it.
Tickets go on sale today for our Steam Enterprise
train from (Whitehead (10:00))-Belfast (10:45)-Dublin (a14:15, d16:10)-Befast
(19:41) -(Whitehead (20:36)). The train will comprise of No.4 and
Mark 2 carriages going South and No.186 and Mark 2 carriages coming North.
It was a very busy day at Whitehead
on Sunday 27th May. Firstly, No.186 was lit up in the early hours
(5am) for a 10am light engine departure to Dublin. The locomotive will
be operating the “Bray Shuttle” trains on Saturday 2nd June (see booking
form on website for details).
With No.186 safely lit up, it was the turn
of No.3BG “Guinness” and No.90.
The latter was in steam to test repairs
to its regulator – all appeared to be working satisfactorily.
186 at Drogheda on 27th
May. Photo by B.Pickup
No.3BG worked the afternoon train rides. This
was an event mainly to introduce the population of Whitehead to the work
of the Society. On previous occasions visiting local residents have usually
been amazed at what takes place under their noses. Thanks to a NI Museums
Council grant for Museums Month, invitation leaflets were printed and distributed
widely though the town. Over 220 visited during the afternoon.
In the workshop work continued as normal
on No.461. Preparations for welding of copper plates for the firebox were
being made. Bearings on the crank axle were being trued up.
Competency assessments were also carried
out on two of the Society’s firemen during the afternoon.
All in all, a worthwhile day’s work and
an excellent turnout by Society volunteers. Well done!
Recently No.5 "Drumboe" left
Whitehead and is now installed back in Donegal Town. The loco was loaded
onto a lorry on Saturday 19th May evening and departed on Sunday morning,
arriving around lunchtime. Watch this space for the inside story of the
move!
No.5 at Donegal Town on
20th May. Photo by N.Tee
19th May - Updates and News
Updates have been made to the Events
Page. These include:
A booking
form is now available for all Dublin area steam trains.
Details and a poster (designed by Debra
Wenlock) of a Whitehead
"Who are we" Open Day as part of Museums Month (sponsored by the Northern
Ireland Museums Council) on Sunday May 27th
Our major Irish Railway Heritage Weekend is
sadly over. What an enjoyable weekend it was. Full details
and links to photographic reports are available from our Irish
Railway Heritage Weekend webpage
The RPSI online Bibliography
of Irish railway literature has been brought right up to date by RPSI
Hon Secretary Paul McCann. It is available on the Bibliography webpage.
A number of the titles reviewed in the Bibliography are available from
the RPSI Online Shop. We hope you find this service useful. Paul
would be grateful for an update on any omissions you may find.
8th May - Updates The link to the booking form has been
removed from the Irish
Railway Heritage Weekend page.
Preparations are underway at Whitehead
this afternoon for the "Europe
Day" train from Whitehead-Belfast-Dublin tomorrow with 186 and the
RPSI's Whitehead based carriages.
30th April - Updates Our About
Us page has been updated with the latest Council Officers in their
posts following the AGM.
28th April - News
Our Helping
Us page has been updated with contact details that can be used if you
would like to become a volunteer in the Dublin/Mullingar teams. Our
volunteers have great fun and the results of their efforts are enjoyed
by thousands of passengers every year - you could very easily become part
of that team and enjoy a healthier life as well.
Our Northern Carriage and Wagon Officer, Francis
Richards, is the subject of a Channel 4 documentary on May 3rd. The
show is called "Life Begins Again" and will be screened at 12:30pm.
There is certain to be plenty of RPSI footage.
16th April - News The Events
Page has been updated to reflect that the Atlantic Coast Express/Castlerock
Luncheon Special proposed for May 27th has been canceled. We are
working to offer a steam train to another destination on that date - watch
this space.
13th April - Updates We hope our passengers on our Easter Eggspress
trains from Belfast to Whitehead on Easter Monday enjoyed themselves.
Here are a couple of shots of the train in action. A few more can
be found here.
The Events
Page has been updated to reflect that the Easter trains are complete
and that our next public train is the Europe Day special from Whitehead-Belfast-Dublin
one way on the 9th May.
Finally, a quick reminder to get your
booking form in for our Irish
Railway Heritage Weekend in May.
N0.186 raises steam
at Whitehead for the Easter Eggspress.
No.186 hauls her train passed
Barn, with Kilroot Power
Station in the background.
6th April - Updates Details of the "Europe Day" train on Weds
9th May have been added to the Events
Page. Tickets are on sale now. We think this single steam
journey from Belfast to Dublin offers great flexibility to the passenger.
Your ticket covers the steam train portion of your journey, allowing you
the flexibility to choose yourself when you want to come back to Belfast
again. Equally, if you live near Dublin, you might want to come up
to Belfast, spend a day or two sight seeing and then return to Dublin in
style. Tickets are on sale now.
3rd April - Updates
The full Railtour
Prospectus and Railtour
Booking Form are now available for our Irish Railway Heritage Weekend
in May. We look forward to welcoming you on a special tour of Irelands
railway heritage from the narrow gauge to the broad gauge, with steam and
diesel, there is something here for everyone and its all organised for
you - just turn up and enjoy!
Iarnród Éireann – Twenty
Years of Progress by Tom Ferris
Hardback, 25 x 19 cm, 85 colour
photos, 80 pages, £14.99
Lost Lines : Scotland by Nigel Welbourn
Paperback, 24 x 17 cm, 234 b&w photos,
14 maps, 128 pages, £13.99
22nd March - Updates
Tickets have gone on sale for the Easter
Eggspress steam trains from Belfast Central to Whitehead on Easter
Monday, 9th April. Please help us if you can by printing out and
displaying our advertising poster - thank you if you can.
Due to technical difficulties, the 7th April
Sea Breeze steam train from Dublin to Arklow/Rosslare has been cancelled.
20th March - Updates 2007 was to be the year of the relatively
straightforward Irish
Railway Heritage Weekend to organise - wrong!
Our Operations Officers have been working
very hard with Irish Rail to overcome a number of hurdles (increasingly
busy timetables, crew issues, a weight restriction on Shannon Bridge at
Drumsna and a lack of a turntable at Sligo) and still provide an exciting
weekend of Irish railway heritage. They have succeeded and the updated
itinerary is outlined on the page linked above. Ireland remains a
fascinating country to travel through and we believe the weekend will enthuse,
excite and enthrall.
13th March - Updates
The overhaul of GNR(I) brake van No.81 by
some of the RPSI's younger members is continuing. Latest
progress can be seen on this photonews page. From looking at
the photos you will see that this is a great fun and very rewarding project.
To date it has brought our young team (there are seven of us) into contact
with metalwork, carpentry, bearing overhaul, spring overhaul; but more
entertainingly it has led to interest from ex-railwaymen and we have spent
some very enjoyable days with our friends at the Downpatrick and Co Down
Railway exchanging ideas and parts. We would love more people to
join in the fun - young at heart will qualify you! The project is
fully financed by the Northern Ireland Museums Council, BT and donations
from a private member. The plan is to have the van operational again
before the Christmas season. If you are interested in getting more
hands-on, perhaps you are a father and son team or recently retired or
simply think (as we do) that its a very interesting hobby, then drop us
an email to the Society address and
we'll get you started with the team. We look forward to sharing our
tea and biccies with you!
Our Events
Page has been updated with some changes to steam train details for
2007. "Easter Eggspress" tickets are due in the usual outlets (Belfast
Welcome Centre, Bangor, Carrick and Lisburn TIC's) from next week.
2nd March - Updates Our Events
Page has been updated with some changes to steam train excursions from
Dublin. Our Tourist
Railway Links page has been updated with the website of Debra
Wenlock, an Associate Member of the Guild of Railway Artists who has
very generously helped the RPSI by producing posters for our trains.
25th February - Update Our sales
pages have been updated with details of a new poster of No.186 climbing
the Holywood bank at Marino. The poster will be posted rolled up to make
it suitable for framing.
14th February - Updates A further photonews
has been added following weekly work at Whitehead last night.
Don't forget our Belfast
Meeting at St Judes church hall, Ravenhill Road, Belfast tonight.
Full details here.
A page detailing the history of the van and
a summary of what brake vans were for can be found by clicking
here.
11th February - Updates Regular readers of our website will remember
an archive
news item regarding the award of MBE to our Locomotive Officer, Peter
Scott, "for services to the Railway Preservation Society in Northern Ireland".
To mark the occasion, a special dinner
is being held at the Ulster Reform Club on the evening of Friday March
30, to which all members of the Society are invited. We have secured
the use of this sought after venue thanks to the good offices of our chairman,
Johnny Glendinning, who is a member of the Reform Club. Tickets for the
dinner cost £25 per person and the function is open to all members
of the Society and their spouses, partners and friends.
Details have been added to the Events
Page and a link is also provided to full details and a ticket booking
form.
1st February - Updates Three books have beenn added to our sales
order form:
1) "Lost Lines : British Narrow
Gauge" (including Ireland ) by Nigel Welbourn
Paperback, 24 x 17 cm, 250 b&w photos,
128 pages, £13.99
2) "Shap Steam Twilight" by
Tom Heavyside
Paperback, 21 x 24 cm, 59 b&w
photos, 64 pages, £8.99
3) "Steam Destination
Bournemouth" by Tom Heavyside
Paperback, 21 x 24 cm, 58 b&w
photos, 64 pages, £8.99
30th January - News Today it was announced that the RPSI has
successfully bought the site at Whitehead which it has rented for 40 years.
Click
here for more details.
L-R: RPSI Chairman Johnny Glendinning;
Alderman David Hilditch, Mayor of Carrickfergus; RPSI member Peter Montgomery,
who provided essential financial help, and RPSI member Bill King-Wood who
negotiated the deal.
21st January - Updates
All the proposed 2007 steam train dates are
now on our Events Page.
Obviously, these are subject to confirmation with the railway companies
and the Events Page
will be updated as soon as tickets are available for any of these trains
(usually 4 weeks before the train is due to operate).
The 90 minute DVD “Northern Ireland Railways
Then and Now” by Markle Associates, costing £18.95, has
been added to the sales order form.
The following items have been reduced
in price:
“British Railways in Colour - London Midland
Region” by A.Earnshaw & K.Derrick reduced from £9.95 to
£8.00,
“Carlisle’s Crane Makers - The Cowan Sheldon
Story” by Alan Earnshaw reduced from £9.95 to £8.00,
“Forty Shades of Steam” by Joe Cassells
& Charles Friel reduced from £12.00 to £6.00,
“From Connemara to Cock o' the North”
by L.Liddle reduced from £11.99 to £9.50,
“Harcourt Street Line -Back on Track”
by Brian Mac Aongusa reduced from £14.00 to £11.00,
“Horse Trams of the British Isles”
by R.W.Rush reduced from £8.95 to £7.00,
“Modelling Irish Railways” by S.Johnson
& A.O’Rourke reduced from £14.99 to £12.00,
“Northern Ireland Steam -the Final Years
1966-1970” 55 minute VIDEO reduced from £19.95 to £7.50
“The Coey / Cowie Brothers” by J.E.Chacksfield
reduced from £12.95 to £10.00
12th January - Updates
A page has been added to our photonews
section detailing the work carried out on the Great Northern brakevan
in the workshop at Whitehead. Click
here to view it.
and
we'll get you started with the team. We look forward to sharing our
tea and biccies with you!
