Steam Dreams announces 2023 date for nine-day Emerald Isle Explorer tour
STEAM Dreams has advertised its next ‘explorer’tour, which will take place between Wednesday, May 3 and Thursday, May 11, 2023 – in the form of a nine-day trip of a lifetime tour of Ireland.
Beginning in Dublin, tour participants will spend the evening in the city before dinner and an overnight stay at their designated hotel.
The second day will see passengers board a steam-hauled train and head west towards Athlone on the banks of the River Shannon.
From there, the tour continues to Galway, where the afternoon and evening can be spent enjoying the 18th century city centre before transfer to hotels. There will be a further day in Galway with optional excursions to Aran Island, the Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey.
On the fourth day, the tour leaves Galway and travels south to Limerick, where guests will enjoy two hours before continuing on via Limerick Junction and Mallow to Killarney.
The next three days will be spent in Killarney, with optional trips to Tralee and a team-hauled excursion to Cork.
The seventh day will see an opportunity for a photograph or two at Tipperary, and then a stop at Waterford to visit the famous House of Waterford and the Crystal Café.
The train will then continue to Kilkenny for the overnight stop. The next day passengers will have the opportunity to look around Kilkenny, with it cathedral, castle and distillery to explore, or take an optional tour to Wexford by train.
The final day will see a coach transfer from Kilkenny to Wexford and then a journey north along the coastal route back to Dublin.
Motive power will be provided by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, and for the majority of the tour it will be headed by GNR(I) V 4-4-0 No. 85 Merlin, joined by S 4-4-0 No. 171 Slieve Gullion. The coaching stock will consist of 1960s Craven carriages and a wood-panelled bar car, all built to the slightly larger 5ft 3in gauge.
Steam Dreams is also offering a steam-hauled journey to the Lake District between Tuesday, September 27 and Friday, September 30 this year. The outward journey from London will take the West Coast Main Line before picking up the Settle and Carlisle line. The train will then head for Oxenholme for guests to transfer by coach to hotels in the Lake District National Park.
The second and third days are ones of leisure in the Lakes, where guests can please themselves or have the option of an organised tour to the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway or the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway.
Alternatively, there will be options to visit other attractions such as Beatrix Potter’s house, Wordworth’s house, Holker Hall, or Brantwood House, or take in a lake cruise.
The final day will involve a leisurely steam-hauled return journey to London, stopping on the way back at a city yet to be confirmed.
For further details on both trips, visit www.steamdreams.co.uk