RPSI MULTI-DAY ‘INTERNATIONAL’ AND ITS THREE UNIQUE MAIN LINERS
You’ve got to hand it to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. Most outfits would be quite happy just to have one unique survivor on the main line – but these guys are planning to field three in May. Yes, I’m talking about the epic trip that is the ‘International’, as well as the so-called ‘fringe’ trains that surround it. In this, the 50th year of the RPSI’s multi-day trips, the package has been expanded to no fewer than six days. This year brings the long-awaited appearance of Great Northern Railway (Ireland) inside-cylinder 4-4-0 No. 131. Rather than take place during the main three-day ‘Cork and Kerry Railtour’, it is expected on May 15, on lines around Belfast. Another ‘fringe’ trip takes place on May 10, when GNR(I) Compound 4-4-0 No. 85 Merlin heads out from Whitehead to Belfast and Dublin. The main tour, meanwhile, features Merlin and LMS (Northern Counties Committee) 2-6-4T No. 4. I think it’s correct to say that on the eastern side of the Irish Sea, the only current main liners to be the sole survivors of their classes are ‘K1’ 2-6-0 No. 62005 and ‘A3’ No. 60103 Flying Scotsman – with a third unique engine to add to that in the shape of Tornado. The RPSI events feature the only main line 2-6-4T in the British Isles, the only main line inside-cylinder 4-4-0 and the only main line compound. It’s more as if you were running Stanier
‘LTS Tank’ No. 2500, the Midland Compound and ‘D’ class No. 737 back-to-back… Perhaps that’s one reason the main three-day tour is already full – another being that the train is limited to six vehicles, the key factor being the steep climb through the tunnel at Cork that Merlin will have to face on May 13. As I write, there’s still space on the fringe trips on May 10 and 15 – so if it’s the long-lost No. 131 you’re after, you can still do it.