User:Djm-leighpark/RPSI
![]() The RPSI's oldest locomotive, No.186, a GS&WR Class 101, at Whitehead. | |
Abbreviation | RPSI |
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Location |
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Website | www |
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) is an Irish railway preservation group operating throughout Ireland, founded in 1964.[1] Mainline steam train railtours are operated from Dublin and Belfast, but occasionally from other locations as well.[1] The society has bases in Dublin and Whitehead, County Antrim, with the latter hosting a museum and occasionally operating short steam rides within the confines of its site.[2] The society owns heritage wagons, carriages, steam engines, diesel locomotives and metal-bodied carriages suitable for mainline use.[3]
History
[edit]![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2021) |
The RPSI was formed in 1964.[4] On 26 September 1981 with a run on the Mulligar to Collooney Junction section the RPSI had traversed every line still open in Ireland at that time with a steam railtour.[5]
The RPSI commemorated its 50th anniversary in 2014, with RPSI president Lord O'Neill driving the newly overhauled No. 85 Merlin through a tape to mark the occasion.[6]
Governance
[edit]The RPSI's 2019 financial statements indicated Management committees based in Belfast and Dublin were responsible to the Board for day to day and operational matters.[7] The report indicated it had been recognised there was an imbalance between facilities at Whitehead and Dublin and steps were in hand to develop those in Dublin.[7]
Bases
[edit]Whitehead site and museum
[edit]The Whitehead Railway Museum opened without ceremony in early 2017.[8] The 5-year project to expand the site from a working steam and engineering depot to include a rebuilt Whitehouse Excursion station and the museum. The total cost was £3.1m from various funding sources.[8] The museum received 10,000 visitors in 2017, its first year, and 15,000 in 2018.[9] The museum hosts five galleries and it is possible for visitors to see various heritage steam and diesel locomotives and observe work on railway carriage restoration.[9]
Inchicore, Dublin
[edit]The RPSI has arrangements for storage of stock at Inchicore Works with maintenance also being carried out there.[8]
Connolly shed
[edit]In 2015 the RPSI gained an arrangement with Iarnród Éireann to lease the locomotive shed just to the north of Connolly for the maintenance and storage of mainline diesel locomotives.[8]
Mullingar
[edit]The Society moved into the loco shed at Mullingar in 1974[10] and based steam locos 184 and 186 there. Carriages were also restored here. The base is now going derelict with funding instead being channeled to Whitehead, including a council decision not to spend money on the green carriages based there.[11] Generating Van 3173 was the last vehicle to be overhauled.[12]
Prior to Mullingar, Sallins Goods Shed was used as a base.[13]
Rolling stock
[edit]Steam locomotives
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Preserved_Steam_passing_Kileen_-_geograph.org.uk_-_334338.jpg/220px-Preserved_Steam_passing_Kileen_-_geograph.org.uk_-_334338.jpg)
The Society possesses a number of steam locomotives, typically only small number will be operational at any time:[3][a]
Passenger tender locomotives
[edit]The RPSI has three Great Northern Railway of Ireland 4-4-0's within its fleet.[3] No. 131, a 'Q' class, was built in 1901.[17] The others are 'S' Class no. 171 Slieve Gullion and 'V' Class No. 85 Merlin,[3] although the latter is owned by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and is on loan. These locomotives are suitable for longer distance main line work, but are speed restricted if they need to run tender-first in the event they cannot be turned.[18]
Mixed large tank locomotive
[edit]The RPSI's Northern Counties Committee (NCC) 2-6-4T, WT Class No. 4 holds significant records. It worked the last steam passenger train on Northern Ireland Railways, and with No. 53 operated the last stone goods train on 22 October 1970. Acquired by the RPSI in June 1971 it then went on to work over most of the remaining Irish railway network.[19][a]
Goods tender locomotives
[edit]The Society possesses three goods tender locomotives all of which are suitable for slower speed passenger workings. Two of these are from the 101 (J15) class, of which over 100 were built between 1866 and 1903 and which lasted until the end of the steam era on CIÉ in 1963.[20] The RPSI possesses two examples of these simple, reliable and robust engines, No. 184 with a saturated boiler and round-shaped firebox, and No. 186 with a superheated boiler and squarer Belpaire firebox.[20] No. 461, a 2-6-0 K2 Class heavy goods locomotive, is the only Dublin and South Eastern Railway example that has been preserved.[21]
Shunting locomotives
[edit]Shunting locomotives are useful and economical for shunting and short passenger work within Whitehead yard. These include the 0-6-0ST No.3 'R.H. Smyth', affectionally known as Harvey, which has also been used ballast workings for NIR.[22]
Diesel and other locomotives
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/CIE_134.jpg/220px-CIE_134.jpg)
The RPSI has indicated it has a strategy to create a mainline heritage diesel fleet.[23] To this end it has accumulated four c. 65t 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) General Motors (EMD) Bo-Bos Nos. 134, 141, 142 and 175.[3] No. 134, one of the original 15 with cabs only at one end, was sent for renovation at Inchicore Works.[24]
Carriages and other stock
[edit]In the 2000s, with more rail stringent regulations, the RPSI was forced to acquire rakes of metal bodied carriages for mainline railtours.[25]
Operations
[edit]Railtours
[edit]The main work of the society is in securing and maintaining steam rolling stock, with a view to running rail tours and Mulligan, in "One Hundred and Fifty Years of Irish Railways" noted that the RPSI did "sterling work" in the area of organising of such rail tours around the island, following the end of steam as a regular means of service provision on UTA and CIÉ lines.[26]
Films
[edit]The RPSI has been able to assist in the provision of suitable rolling stock for train-related scenes in films made on the island of Ireland.[26] The shooting of The First Great Train Robbery in 1978 was an early significant involvement in film making by the RPSI.[27]
Incident
[edit]On 7 November 2014, an RPSI train chartered by Web Summit blocked a level crossing in Midleton for over 25 minutes. The operation was referred to the Commission for Railway Regulation. The resulting investigation found that the Society had knowingly run a train that was too long for the station's platform and that it would block a level crossing, yet senior IR management overrode their internal safety department by allowing the train to run.[28][29][30]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ a b RPSI 2016.
- ^ RPSI 2021s.
- ^ a b c d e RPSI 2021c.
- ^ Cassells & Friel 2004, p. 12.
- ^ town Talk 1981, p. 8.
- ^ Newsroom 2014.
- ^ a b Finegan Gibson 2020, p. 2.
- ^ a b c d Hewitt 2017.
- ^ a b Newsroom 2019.
- ^ Morton, Robin (Spring 1979). "News from Council". Five Foot Three (23).
- ^ "RPSI News Letter". November 1996.
- ^ McKeown, Joe (April 2016). "Dublin Carriage Report". Five Foot Three (61).
- ^ Scott, Peter (Summer 1971). "Locomotive Report". Five Foot Three (11): 15.
- ^ Devereux 2019.
- ^ Boocock 2009, p. 87.
- ^ Mitchell 2021, p. 232.
- ^ Newsroom 2021.
- ^ Steam Railways 2018.
- ^ Scott 2008, p. 142.
- ^ a b Boocock 2009, p. 19.
- ^ Boocock 2009, p. 38.
- ^ RPSI 2005.
- ^ RPSI 2021f.
- ^ Hewitt 2017p.
- ^ BJ 2008, pp. 14–15.
- ^ a b Mulligan 1990, p. 179.
- ^ Newsroom 2018.
- ^ O'Brien 2016.
- ^ Wall 2016.
- ^ O'Regan 2016.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b The RPSI was reported in 2019 to have begun work on a "new-build" locomotive project, choosing to commit to a Class W 2-6-0 in preference to a second 2-6-4T tank sister to No. 4.[14] The Class W were the NCC's top express passenger locomotives built c.1933 and were noted for excellent performance.[15] They were a parent design to the Class WT, which were essentially a tank variant.[16]
Sources
[edit]- BJ (2008). "Irish railtour Mk 2 set" (PDF). Model Rail. No. July 2008. pp. 14–15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2021.
- Boocock, Colin (1 October 2009). Locomotive Compendium Ireland (1st ed.). Hersham: Ian Allan. ISBN 9780711033603. OCLC 423592044.
- Cassells, Joe; Friel, Charles (2004). Forty Shades of Steam – The Story of the RPSI. Newtownards, County Down: Colourpoint. ISBN 9781904242260. OCLC 57167803.
- Town Talk (25 September 1981). "Benbulben Railtour". The Sligo Champion. Sligo. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Devereux, Nigel (5 October 2019). "RSPI cuts frames for new-build LMS-NNC 'W' class mogul". Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- Finegan Gibson (21 December 2020). The Railway Preservation Company of Ireland : Company Limited by Guarantee : Financial Statements : 31 December 2019 (Report). Companies House. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021.
- Hewitt, Sam (22 February 2017p). "Inchicore to carry out RPSI's Class 121 Overhaul". The Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- Hewitt, Sam (12 April 2017). "RPSI's Whitehead museum opens its doors to public". The Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- Mitchell, Walter F. (February 2021). "Moguls and Jeeps — The W and WT class locomotives of the NCC — a design appreciation". Irish Record Railway Society. 29 (204): 224–234.
- Mulligan, Fergus (1990) [1983]. One Hundred and Fifty Years of Irish Railways. Belfast: Appletree Press. ISBN 9780862812331. OCLC 20525095.
- Newsroom (6 April 2014). "Work created and skills saved by RPSI". CarrickTimes. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
{{cite news}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - Newsroom (17 August 2018). "Hollywood star Liam Neeson at Whitehead for movie scenes". CarrickTimes. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
{{cite news}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - Newsroom (6 March 2019). "£4m Whitehead attraction draws 25,000 visitors". CarrickTimes. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
{{cite news}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - Newsroom (26 May 2021). "Trains steam back on track in Whitehead at weekend". CarrickTimes. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
{{cite news}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - O'Brien, Stephen (27 March 2016). "Irish Rail fights safety rap over Summit train". The Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
- O'Regan, R. (28 April 2016). "21/15-PII — Post Incident Inspection following a planned out of normal operation on the Midleton Branch 7 November 2014" (PDF). Railway Safety Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- Poots, Nelson (1996). "Five Foot Three No.43". Whitehead, Co. Antrim: RPSI. ISBN 9781904242840. OCLC 506214865.
{{cite magazine}}
: Cite magazine requires|magazine=
(help) - Scott, William T. (2008). Locomotives of the LMS NCC and its predecessors. Newtownards, County Down: Colorprint. ISBN 9781904242840. OCLC 506214865.
- Wall, Martin (21 December 2016). "Regulator's report reveals tensions with Iarnród Éireann bosses". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019.
Primary sources
[edit]- RPSI (21 July 2016). "The RPSI, how it all began..." SteamTrainsIreland. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- RPSI (13 August 2021b). "Dublin Operations — Report on Dublin Operations 2019". www.steamtrainsireland.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- RPSI (24 August 2021f). "Córas Iompaor Éireann : 175 Class BO-BO Diesel Electric B175". Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- RPSI (14 August 2021s). "Steam Whitehead". www.steamtrainsireland.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- RPSI (20 August 2021c). "RPSI - Collection". www.steamtrainsireland.com. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
Newsletters
[edit]- Aug 1994
- Nov 1994
- Jan 1995
- Apr 1995
- Jun 1995
- Aug 1995
- Dec 1995
- Feb 1996
- Mar 1996
- Jun 1996
- Aug 1996
- Nov 1996
- Feb 1997
- Apr 1997
- Jun 1997
- Sep 1997
- Nov 1997
- Feb 1998
- Mar 1998
- Jun 1998
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