IRISH NEWS
Freshly restored GNR(I) 4-4-0 expected to make its debut on RPSI ‘Santa Specials’.
Newly rebuilt GNR(I) ‘Q’ No. 131 has hauled its first passengers – as a return to its home turf on the Belfast-Dublin line draws closer. The 1901-built 4-4-0 worked trains within the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s Whitehead site for the annual Victorian Festival on November 25, and was set to play a part in the RPSI’s ‘Santa Special’ season in December. Provided all goes well, this will be the prelude to a foray onto the cross-border Belfast-Dublin line, the route for which No. 131 was originally designed. It last hauled expresses there in 1959 and was withdrawn from traffic in Dublin in 1963, later being displayed on a plinth at Dundalk. The RPSI views the return of No. 131 to the GNR(I) main line as its “Tornado moment”, but it is likely to be spring before this happens. At present the locomotive is restricted to 40mph, and its Train Protection & Warning System has to be fully commissioned to permit 60mph running. James Friel, the RPSI locomotive running officer, said: “We hope to complete the commissioning of the TPWS between January and March.” Peter Scott of the RPSI locomotive department said: “No. 131’s performance has been promising. Formal acceptance for passenger use on NIR is awaited, but appearance on the Belfast-Whitehead Santa trains is intended.” Before it ventures onto the Dublin line, approval will be required from the Irish Commission for Railway Regulation – as well as from Irish Rail, which originally presented the dismantled locomotive to the RPSI in 2003. One person who can recall travelling behind No. 131 on the GNR(I) main line is English-based enthusiast Conrad Natzio, who has just launched a new book, Irish Steam in the 1960s – End of an Era (Colourpoint Books, £16). He said: “No. 131 and her sister engine No. 132 must surely be unique on these shores, working over 50 years after their first appearance, the express duties for which they were designed. “OK, they were standing in for unavailable later power, but in autumn 1958/spring 1959 both were taking expresses out of Dublin. Happy days, and now a chance of reliving them!”