‘JEEP’ REACHES NEW HEIGHTS IN RETURN TO HOME TERRITORY
Re-tyred ‘WT’ 2-6-4T returns to former LMS(NCC) stamping ground after eight-year absence.
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Jeep’ No. 4 will be a taller locomotive when it makes its comeback in August to its old stamping ground of the LMS(NCC) main line from Belfast to Coleraine.
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s ‘WT’ 2-6-4T is two inches taller – though still within the loading gauge – since it went into Whitehead works in January to have new tyres fitted.
The 1947-built locomotive was accepted at the end of June by Translink NI Railways for a return to the main line, and its first outing in seven months was on the ‘Steam
& Jazz’ special from Whitehead to Lisburn and back on July 5.
The biggest test will be in August, when No. 4 takes its place at the front of the ‘Portrush Flyer’ for the first time since 2011.
It is booked for all three ‘Flyers’ – on August 4, 11 and 18 – but as with last year, steam haulage will be curtailed at Coleraine, and passengers taken forward to Portrush by a diesel railcar.
The problem is capacity on the Portrush branch. While the station underwent a £5.6m
upgrade prior to the Open Golf tournament, sufficient paths are not available on the six-mile branch from Coleraine.
RPSI operations officer Mervyn Darragh said: “We are still hoping that we will be able to get steam back into Portrush at some stage, but the upside is that we can use the turntable at Coleraine and service No. 4 during the afternoon for the run back to Whitehead.”
The RPSI expects No. 4’s new South Africa-manufactured tyres to last for 50 years, based on present running requirements. The project to replace the tyres, involving the use of the former York Road lathe, was a first for the RPSI and its engineering subsidiary Heritage Engineering Ireland at Whitehead.
RPSI chairman John McKegney said: “The successful completion of this challenging, complex and timeconsuming project is a credit to the skills and hard work of the RPSI volunteers and full-time staff at HEI.” ●● The long-awaited return of ‘Q’ 4-4-0 No. 131 to the Dublin-Belfast line has also inched closer, with the completion of work to install an Irish Rail radio on the locomotive. It now needs to be commissioned by Irish Rail and signed off by the Commission for Railway Regulation, which will open the way for the engine to cross the border.