• RPSI Website Photo News
• Wilson Adams Irish transport photographs
• Gordon Hawkins Irish transport photographs
• Irish Railway News photographs of RPSI steam trains
• RPSI Photo Gallery

• We have been asked by Translink to again support the annual Portadown "Country Comes to Town" festival with a series of return trains from Portadown-Lurgan-Moira-Lisburn and return.  These trains are traditionally very well supported.  Train times and ticket details are being decided and the website will be updated as soon as they are agreed.
• Tickets are now available for our Halloween "Broomstick Belle" trains.  You can call or collect from Belfast Welcome Centre now and online booking will be available shortly.
  

• Tickets are still available for our Portrush Flyer steam trains this weekend and next weekend (22nd August and 29th August).  
  If you live in the environs of Coleraine, you can join us on the same days for our "Dalriada" excursion from Coleraine to Ballymoney and back.

• This item has been added to the Online Shop:  
  RPSI Colour Brochure
  Paperback, 30 x 21 cm, 48 colour and 4 b&w photos, 36 pages, £4.00
  This brochure celebrates the achievements of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland since its formation in 1964. There is a detailed description of each of the Society’s ten steam locomotives and of the operational coaches. The restoration facilities of the RPSI at Whitehead are described along with suitable photographs.  There is a list of films and TV programmes which have featured RPSI trains. The Society was originally formed to keep steam trains running on Irish main lines and the magnificent photographs of these in action show just how much has been achieved since 1964.   

• The 'Steam Enterprise' listed on the events page on 1st August has had to be cancelled.  We are hoping to run it on the 8th of August instead of the 'Portrush Flyer' intended for that date but confirmation is awaited from NIR.
• Online Shop Update; the following items have been added to the Online Shop:
• DVD by Brian Stinson – May 2010 – Dalriada Railtour, including the South Wexford Diesel Railtour  In widescreen format (16:9), can be played in normal format (4:3) 76 minutes, £12
  Highlights include: No.186 storming up the Wellington and Holywood Banks, No.4 climbing past Ballyboyland and charging through Templepatrick, and shots of both locomotives on the Larne line from the vantage point of Knockagh Monument.
• From CIE to IR – the Changing Face of Irish Railways by Mark Darby, Neil Higson & Paul Quinlan.   Hardback, 22 x 29 cm, 126 colour photos, 128 pages,   £19.99
  In 1987 the operations of the once monolithic CIE were split between Irish Railways (Iarnrod Eireann, IR) and two bus companies. It was only after the creation of IR that the railways of Ireland underwent major modernization. This new book is a large-format, all-colour album (most of the photos occupy a complete page)featuring some of the best railway photography to provide a graphic portrait of the evolution of Ireland's railways from 1980 onward. 
•  Great Northern Railway – an Irish Railway Pictorial by Tom Ferris.  Paperback, 28 x 22 cm, 290 b & w photos, 112 pages  £14.99
  For those who knew and used the GNR this book will bring back many nostalgic memories of a large and efficient railway network now mostly closed and discarded. Those not fortunate enough to have known the railway in its heyday will be able to see from the pages of the book how much of value was lost with the closure of so much of the GNR system.
• Trains, Turf and Coal – Transport in Emergency Ireland by Peter Rigney.  Paperback, 24 x 16 cm, 8 b&w photos, 244 pages  £19.95
  During the middle of the twentieth century, the Great Southern Railways (GSR) operated all railway lines in Éire, was the country’s biggest coal importer, and one of the State’s largest single employers. Crucially, it was also the main transport provider during the Emergency.  In this fascinating account, Irish transport historian Peter Rigney describes how the GSR kept the trains moving, and successfully challenges the view that rail service during the Emergency was in a state of chaos. He highlights the importance of a rail service to the State at the time: it played a key role in the Anglo-Irish trade diplomacy which helped the Allied war effort, it kept the economy ticking over, and it was the main means of transporting turf to heat homes. Based on a wide range of sources, such as the British and Irish national archives, the archives of the Irish Railway Society, contemporary media reports, and railwaymen memoirs, Rigney goes on to examine such other diverse themes as soap rationing, fuel diversity, and desertion from the British forces, and ultimately succeeds in producing the most comprehensive account of the Irish economy during the Emergency.
  
  Free copy of "Dalriada Railtour" brochure with each order of £19 or more (whilst stocks last)
  

• Back On Track  Ennis-Athenry  1895-2009  edited by Bernard Share
  Paperback, 20 x 21 cm, 44 colour & 17 b&w photos, 72 pages, £14.95.
  This book was published by Iarnrod Eireann to mark the re-opening to passenger traffic of the 36 mile long Ennis-Athenry line on 30-3-2010 at a cost of 106 million Euro.

• Keith Pirt Colour Portfolio – Irish Railways Volume One  by Roger Hill and Hugh Ballantyne.
  Hardback with dustcover, 22 x 28 cm, 79 colour photos, 80 pages, £10.99
  One glimpse of the cover of this book – a colour shot of GNR(I) No.85 “Merlin” in ex works condition in 1956 – tells you that every enthusiast should buy it!  The photos were taken between 1956 and 1961.

• RPSI Railtour Brochures edited by Charles FrielPaperback, 21 x 15 cm,  £3 each
  The route of each railtour is described in detail with many references to railway operation in steam days.  The black and white photographs come from a wide variety of sources and almost all are previously unpublished.
  2010  “South Wexford Diesel”  Dublin-Rosslare-Waterford-Dublin, 41 ph, 52 pp
  2010  “Dalriada”  Dublin-Belfast-Whitehead-Coleraine-Bangor, 50 ph, 64 pp

• Safety check that the handbrake is on, the wheels are scotched, the boiler has water in it, the drain cocks are open, the previous fire has been cleaned out, the ashpan emptied and the smokebox emptied.
• Line the edge of the firebox with clean lumps of coal (no dust).
• Place some larger chunks of wood in the middle of the firebox as the base of our fire.  Place on top of these two or three burning diesel-soaked rags.  Place the remainder of the wood on top of the flames.
• Whilst the wood caught light we put a hose in the locos tanks to top them up with water for the mornings journey.
• After the wood has caught light a few hand picked lumps of coal are put on top of the fire and the firehole door is closed tight.  Time for the first cup of tea and egg sandwich!
• We don't want to stress the boiler by heating it too quickly.  Every hour or so the fire is checked to ensure that it is burning all over the grate.  Eventually the sound of water starting to boil can be heard and the smell of warming oil and steam starts.
• Once enough steam is available to get the blower working, we can polish the brasswork in the cab, brush down the footplate and fill the oil cans for warming.  At 0900 we handed over to the RPSI locomotive reps for the day and got cleaned up to watch the shunt.

186 between Lexlip and Confey.  C Cooney.

186 between Lexlip and Confey.  C Cooney.

186 between Lexlip and Maynooth.  J Nicholls.

• The website events page has been updated with a complete programme of our events planned for 2010.
• The exhibition  "King Class, Majestic Journeys" runs from April 15th-September 5th in the Netherlands Railway Museum in Utrecht.  Among a number of carriages from European royal trains will be our Irish State Saloon No.351.  She was captured at Inchicore by Peter Fletcher, prior to departure.

• No.186 successfully transfered light-engine from Whitehead to Dublin in readiness for our Easter trains.  Upon arrival she was met by the local RPSI crew, turned and disposed.
• These items have been added to the Online Shop:
  DVD by Brian Stinson - Hibernian Steam Scene Volume 9 , 100 minutes, £15
   vieLinesidews of Dublin based RPSI trains during 2009.  Highlights include shots at the scenic Bray Head, No 186 storming through Maynooth and an Enterprise diesel locomotive hauling a Santa Special.
  DVD by Brian Stinson - Hibernian Steam Scene Volume 10 , 82 minutes, £15
  Lineside views of Whitehead/Belfast based RPSI trains during 2009.  No 3BG "Guinness" is featured on Train Rides duties at Whitehead Excursion Station.  Recently fallen snow adds to the seasonal atmosphere of the "Mince Pie and Mulled Wine" train to Coleraine.
  

• Details of our Easter Eggspress train from Dublin on Easter Monday have been added to our Events Page.  You can purchase tickets for this Dublin train by calling into the EBS Offices at Malahide, Drumcondra and Dun Laoghaire or from Pearse Station or Westland Row Station.
• A full booking form for the "South Wexford" Diesel Railtour on Friday 7th May has been added to our Dalriada Railtour page. 
Further full booking forms will follow.
• Mike Beckett has shared some videos of our 2009 Santa trains on his YouTube site

9th March - News and update
We're pleased to announce our first steam trains of the year - the "Easter Eggspress" departing from Belfast Central Station and Dublin Connolly Station. Tickets for the train from Belfast are now on sale - click here for more details.

21st February - News
Locos B141 and B142, specially repainted into their original black, white and tan livery, hauled the "Diesel Do" railtour from Dublin Connolly to Longford and back today. B141 now belongs to the RPSI while B142 is expected to follow shortly.

RPSI stalwart Stephen Cooke was on hand to capture the occaision and took this picture of the pair hauling the heritage set of wooden bodied carriages through Glasnevin Junction towards Connolly this evening.

We hope to publish a photonews page on this historic train shortly.

19th February - Update
Some more dates have been added to our 2010 Events Page.

2nd February - Update
"The Diesel Do" railtour has had some alterations to its schedule; it will now run from Dublin Connolly to Longford & return. It departs Connolly at 10:55, and returns by 17:40.

28th January 2010 - Update
Details of four of our trains in 2010 have been added to the events page.  Details of more trains will be added soon!