Railway Preservation Society of Ireland rolls out the barrel for Guinness van
THE Railway Preservation Society of Ireland unveiled its newly-restored bogie Guinness wagon, former Great Northern Railway of Ireland No. 504, on September 26, at its Whitehead base.
A ‘stout' job has been done on the steel frame and wooden body of Dundalk-built No. 504 of 1911, constructed to transport 104 butts, or 52 hogsheads of Guinness from St James Gate Brewery in Dublin to destinations across the GNR(I) system. The van, which runs on unusual Fox's bogies, is the sole survivor of a fleet of 12 sister wagons, built by the GNR(I) in two batches – six in 1903, and six more in 1911 – to the same diagram.
It was converted to a grain wagon in 1938 and saw further service with the GNR(I) and the Ulster Transport Authority before withdrawal in 1965.
After storage on rail at Maysfield Yard, Belfast, Ballymena and Carrickfergus, No. 504 and sister wagon No. 2518 arrived at Whitehead in 1969, having been presented to the fledgling RPSI by Guinness. The vans did duty as stores, and No. 504 acted as a popup fish-and-chip shop at an open day in 1970!
The van was nearly lost, however, after it was severely charred in a fire started by vandals in 1978. Following the fire, the van lay for some years in the open and No. 2518 was scrapped, with parts being used in the restoration of No. 504, which, with most of the body timbers needing to be replaced, was no small beer itself. The restoration, which began in 2015, was part-financed by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.
The project achieved runnerup status in the restored freight rolling stock category at this year's Heritage Railway Association awards.
RPSI general manager Lisa Adair said: “We are most grateful to the NLHF and to our dedicated volunteers for restoring this van, which has a great story to tell, to pristine condition. No. 504 is now on display in our museum.”