IRISH NEWS
Sister 2-6-4Ts Meenglas and Drumboe cosmetically repaired, but could steam in the future.
Two County Donegal Railway 2-6-4Ts are heading home after cosmetic overhauls at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s Whitehead workshops.
Sister locomotives Nos. 4 Meenglas and 5 Drumboe have been partially restored by the RPSI’s engineering subsidiary, Heritage Engineering Ireland.
Meenglas is returning to the Foyle Valley Railway Museum in Londonderry more than a year after it left in November 2017, while Drumboe will be repatriated to the Donegal Railway Restoration Society across the border in Donegal town – having been sent to Whitehead in 2006.
It had been hoped that the moves could take place before Christmas, but a delay until the new year was possible.
Neither of the locomotives – both built by Nasmyth Wilson of Glasgow in 1907 – are capable of being steamed, but neither group is ruling that out in the long term.
Niall McCaughan, manager of Donegal RRS, admitted that Brexit was a factor in the decision to move Drumboe from Northern Ireland.
The objective in both cases was to make the locomotives look more presentable for static display, but in the case of Drumboe the funding ran out several years ago before the project could be completed. In recent years, its dismantled parts, along with a CDR wagon, have been in store at Whitehead pending a decision on the engine’s future.
Meenglas has received cosmetic repairs to its tanks, cab and bunker, a new smokebox and boiler cladding, a new dome cover and a replica chimney. Peter Scott of the RPSI’s locomotive department adds: “Replica parts were made for the missing valve gear and corroded leaf springs were rebuilt to look more functional.
“Replica safety valves were made – they will look grand from a distance but would not do too well at relieving steam pressure!”
Dermot O’Hara – manager of Destined, the charity that owns the Foyle Valley museum – said that Meenglas will initially return to a plinth beside Craigavon Bridge: “Eventually we hope to move it into the museum and exhibit it beside a Co. Donegal carriage.
“In partnership with Donegal Railway Restoration, we are making plans for a major programme to mark the 60th anniversary of the closure of the CDR in 1959.”