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===Diesel and other locomotives=== ===Diesel and other locomotives===
{{See also|CIE 121 Class|CIE 141 Class}} {{See also|CIE 121 Class|CIE 141 Class}}
The RPSI has indicated it has a strategy to create a mainline heritage diesel fleet.{{Sfn|RPSI|2021f}} To this end it has accumulated the {{circa}} the ] ]s Nos. 134, 141, 142 and 175.{{Sfn|RPSI|2021c}} The single-engined No. 134 was sent for renovation at ].{{Sfn|Hewitt|2017p}} The RPSI has indicated it has a strategy to create a mainline heritage diesel fleet.{{Sfn|RPSI|2021f}} To this end it has accumulated the {{circa}} the ] ]s Nos. 134, 141, 142 and 175.{{Sfn|RPSI|2021c}} The single-engined No. 134 was sent for renovation at ].{{Sfn|Hewitt|2017p}}


===Carriages and other stock=== ===Carriages and other stock===

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Heritage rail society in Ireland

Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
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. Mainline steam train railtours are operated from Dublin and from Belfast, but occasionally from other locations as well. The society has bases in Dublin and Whitehead, County Antrim, the latter also has a museum and occasionally operates short steam rides within the confines of its site. As well as heritage wagons, carriages, steam engines and diesel locomotives the society also owns steel-bodied carriages suitable for mainline use.

GSWR steam locomotive No.186 on former GNR tracks, near Newry.
134 at Inchicore railway works

Whitehead site and museum

The Whitehead Railway Museum opened without ceremony in early 2017. 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. The museum received 10,000 vistors in 2017, its first year, and 15,000 in 2018. 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.

Rolling stock

Steam Locomotives

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

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. No. 131, an 'Q' class, was built in 1901.. The others are 'S' Class no. 171 Slieve Gullion and 'V' Class No. 85 Merlin.

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.

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 on June 1971 it then went on to work over most of the remaining Irish railway network.

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. The Class W were the NCC's top express passenger locomotives build c. 1933 and were noted for excellent performance. They were a parent design to the Class WT which were essentially a tank variant.

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. 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.

Diesel and other locomotives

See also: CIE 121 Class and CIE 141 Class

The RPSI has indicated it has a strategy to create a mainline heritage diesel fleet. To this end it has accumulated the c. the General Electric Bo-Bos Nos. 134, 141, 142 and 175. The single-engined No. 134 was sent for renovation at Inchicore Works.

Carriages and other stock

In the 2000s, with more rail stringent regulations, the RSPI was forced to acquire rakes of steel bodied carriages for mainline railtours.

Incidents

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.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ RPSI 2016.
  2. RPSI 2021s.
  3. ^ RPSI 2021c.
  4. ^ Hewitt 2017.
  5. ^ Newsroom 2019.
  6. Newsroom 2021.
  7. ^ Boocock 2009, p. 19.
  8. Scott 2008, p. 142.
  9. Devereux 2019.
  10. Boocock 2009, p. 87.
  11. Mitchell 2021, p. 232.
  12. RPSI 2021f.
  13. Hewitt 2017p.
  14. BJ 2008, pp. 14–15.
  15. O'Brien 2016.
  16. Wall 2016.
  17. O'Regan 2016.

Sources

Further reading

  • Cassells, Joe; Friel, Charles (2004). Forty Shades of Steam – The Story of the RPSI. Newtownards, County Down: Colourpoint. ISBN 9781904242260. OCLC 57167803.

External links

Heritage railways, museums and preservation societies in Northern Ireland
Heritage railways, museums and preservation societies in the Republic of Ireland
Railtour operating companies in the United Kingdom
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