Railway Preservation Society of Ireland

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Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
Railway Preservation Society of Ireland logo.png
GS&WR No 186 in Preservation.jpg
The RPSI's oldest locomotive, No.186, a GS&WR Class 101, at Whitehead.
AbbreviationRPSI
Location
  • Dublin
  • Whitehead
Websitewww.steamtrainsireland.com

The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) is an Irish railway preservation group operating throughout Ireland, founded in 1964.[1] Mainline steam train railtours are operated from Dublin and Belfast, but occasionally from other locations as well.[1] The society has bases in Dublin and Whitehead, County Antrim, with the latter hosting a museum and occasionally operating short steam rides within the confines of its site.[2] The society owns heritage wagons, carriages, steam engines, diesel locomotives and metal-bodied carriages suitable for mainline use.[3]

History[]

The RPSI was formed in 1964.[4]

RPSI operations were curtailed in 2020 and 2021 due to the restrictions placed to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Governance[]

The RSPI's 2019 financial statements indicated Management committees based in Belfast and Dublin were responsible to the Board for day to day and operational matters.[6] The report indicated it had been recognised there was an imbalance between facilities at Whitehead and Dublin and steps were in hand to develop those in Dublin.[6]

Whitehead site and museum[]

The Whitehead Railway Museum opened without ceremony in early 2017.[7] The 5-year project to expand the site from a working steam and engineering depot to include a rebuilt Whitehouse Excursion station and the museum. The total cost was £3.1m from various funding sources.[7] The museum received 10,000 visitors in 2017, its first year, and 15,000 in 2018.[8] The museum hosts five galleries and it is possible for visitors to see various heritage steam and diesel locomotives and observe work on railway carriage restoration.[8]

Rolling stock[]

Steam locomotives[]

GSWR steam locomotive No.186 on former GNR tracks, near Newry.

The Society possesses a number of steam locomotives, typically only small number will be operational at any time:[3]

4-4-0[]

See also: GNRI Class Q, GNRI Class S, and GNRI Class V

The RPSI has three Great Northern Railway of Ireland 4-4-0's within its fleet.[3] No. 131, an 'Q' class, was built in 1901.[9] The others are 'S' Class no. 171 Slieve Gullion and 'V' Class No. 85 Merlin,[3] although the latter is owned by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and is on loan.

2-6-0 & 2-6-4T[]

See also: NCC Class W, NCC Class WT, and DSER 15 and 16

No. 461, a 2-6-0 K2 Class heavy good locomotive, is the only Dublin and South Eastern Railway example that has been preserved.[10]

No 4., the RPSI's Northern Counties Committee (NCC) 2-6-4T, WT Class holds significant records. It worked the last steam passenger train on Northern Ireland Railways, and with No. 53 operated the last stone goods train on 22 October 1970. Acquired by the RPSI in June 1971 it then went on to work over most of the remaining Irish railway network.[11]

The RSPI was reported in 2019 to have begun work on a "new-build" locomotive project, choosing to commit to a Class W 2-6-0 in preference to a second 2-6-4T tank sister to No. 4.[12] The Class W were the NCC's top express passenger locomotives build c. 1933 and were noted for excellent performance.[13] They were a parent design to the Class WT which were essentially a tank variant.[14]

0-6-0[]

Main article: GS&WR Class 101

The society possesses two of the 101 (J15) class, of which over 100 were built between 1866 and 1903 and which lasted until the end of the steam era on CIÉ in 1963.[15] The RPSI possesses two version of these simple, reliable and robust engines, No. 184 with a saturated boiler and round-shaped firebox, and No. 186 with a superheated boiler and squarer Belpaire firebox.[15]

Diesel and other locomotives[]

134 at Inchicore railway works
See also: CIE 121 Class and CIE 141 Class

The RPSI has indicated it has a strategy to create a mainline heritage diesel fleet.[16] To this end it has accumulated four c. 65t 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) General Electric Bo-Bos Nos. 134, 141, 142 and 175.[3] No. 134, one of the original 15 with cabs only at one wnd, was sent for renovation at Inchicore Works.[17]

Carriages and other stock[]

In the 2000s, with more rail stringent regulations, the RPSI was forced to acquire rakes of metal bodied carriages for mainline railtours.[18]

Operations[]

Railtours[]

Mulligan has noted the RPSI did "sterling work" in the area of organising steam railtours around the country following the end of Steam on CIÉ in the 1960s.[19]

Films[]

There is a demand for film-making in Ireland and the RPSI has been able to assist in the provision of suitable rolling stock for train related scenes.[19]

Incident[]

On 7 November 2014, an RPSI train chartered by Web Summit blocked a level crossing in Midleton for over 25 minutes. The operation was referred to the Commission for Railway Regulation. The resulting investigation found that the Society had knowingly run a train that was too long for the station's platform and that it would block a level crossing, yet senior IR management overrode their internal safety department by allowing the train to run.[20][21][22]

See also[]

References[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b RPSI 2016.
  2. ^ RPSI 2021s.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e RPSI 2021c.
  4. ^ Cassells & Friel 2004, p. 12.
  5. ^ RPSI 2021b.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Finegan Gibson 2020, p. 2.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Hewitt 2017.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Newsroom 2019.
  9. ^ Newsroom 2021.
  10. ^ Boocock 2009, p. 38.
  11. ^ Scott 2008, p. 142.
  12. ^ Devereux 2019.
  13. ^ Boocock 2009, p. 87.
  14. ^ Mitchell 2021, p. 232.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Boocock 2009, p. 19.
  16. ^ RPSI 2021f.
  17. ^ Hewitt 2017p.
  18. ^ BJ 2008, pp. 14–15.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Mulligan 1990, p. 179.
  20. ^ O'Brien 2016.
  21. ^ Wall 2016.
  22. ^ O'Regan 2016.

Sources[]

  • BJ (2008). "Irish railtour Mk 2 set" (PDF). Model Rail. No. July 2008. pp. 14–15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2021.
  • Boocock, Colin (1 October 2009). Locomotive Compendium Ireland (1st ed.). Hersham: Ian Allan. ISBN 9780711033603. OCLC 423592044.
  • Cassells, Joe; Friel, Charles (2004). Forty Shades of Steam – The Story of the RPSI. Newtownards, County Down: Colourpoint. ISBN 9781904242260. OCLC 57167803.
  • Devereux, Nigel (5 October 2019). "RSPI cuts frames for new-build LMS-NNC 'W' class mogul". Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  • Finegan Gibson (21 December 2020). The Railway Preservation Company of Ireland : Company Limited by Guarentee : Financial Statements : 31 December 2019 (Report). Companies House. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021.
  • Hewitt, Sam (22 February 2017p). "Inchicore to carry out RPSI's Class 121 Overhaul". The Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  • Hewitt, Sam (12 April 2017). "RPSI's Whitehead museum opens its doors to public". The Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  • Mitchell, Walter F. (February 2021). "Moguls and Jeeps — The W and WT class locomotives of the NCC — a design appreciation". Irish Record Railway Society. 29 (204): 224–234.
  • Mulligan, Fergus (1990) [1983]. One Hundred and Fifty Years of Irish Railways. Belfast: Appletree Press. ISBN 9780862812331. OCLC 20525095.
  • Newsroom (6 March 2019). "£4m Whitehead attraction draws 25,000 visitors". CarrickTimes. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  • Newsroom (26 May 2021). "Trains steam back on track in Whitehead at weekend". CarrickTimes. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  • O'Brien, Stephen (27 March 2016). "Irish Rail fights safety rap over Summit train". The Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
  • O'Regan, R. (28 April 2016). "21/15-PII — Post Incident Inspection following a planned out of normal operation on the Midleton Branch 7 November 2014" (PDF). Railway Safety Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  • Scott, William T. (2008). Locomotives of the LMS NCC and its predecessors. Newtownards, County Down: Colorprint. ISBN 9781904242840. OCLC 506214865.
  • Wall, Martin (21 December 2016). "Regulator's report reveals tensions with Iarnród Éireann bosses". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019.

Primary sources[]

External links[]

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