A SEPTUPLE HEADER! The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway’s Gala weekend on May 13/14 ended with this incredible train formed of seven locos and 22 coaches running nonstop from New Romney to Dungeness – seen on the return with River Esk (visiting from the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway) leading RHDR locos No. 1 Green Goddess, No. 2 Northern Chief, No. 3 Southern Maid, No. 5 Hercules, No. 6 Samson and No. 10 Doctor
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CHRIS KENNEDY
OVER an eight-day period in early May, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland operated almost 750 miles of steam haulage around the Iarnród Éireann network for Steam Dreams – the ‘Emerald Isle Explorer’.
This was the first Steam Dreams tour in Ireland since September 2019, and thus the first with new owners Locomotive Services, and was notable that it saw two former Great Northern Railway 4-4-0s working the same tour for the first time since 2001. It also marked several firsts for Q Class No. 131, which had never operated to Galway, Limerick or Waterford in service or preservation.
Starting on May 4 at Dublin Heuston, V Class No. 85 Merlin worked the 09.15 Heuston-Galway with seven Cravens coaches and a van as far as Portarlington, swapping there with No. 131 to take the tour on to Galway.