Irish 111/071 tour 09.09.2017

Online Booking: https://visitbelfast.ticketsolve.com/shows/873578620
(print at home available)

The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland and The Modern Railway Society of Ireland are delighted to announce a unique diesel hauled railtour on Saturday 9 September 2017 from Whitehead RPSI at 07.30, Belfast Central 08.22 to Wexford and Rosslare Strand in the far south east of Ireland. The RPSI’s Mk 2 carriage set will be used throughout. Motive power will be provided by an NIR 111 class (former Enterprise) locomotive to and from Dublin, and beyond by an Irish Rail 071 class diesel locomotive.

The day will feature over 460 miles maximum travel with a very rare opportunity to travel by a diesel locomotive hauled train from Belfast to Wexford and Rosslare Strand over the former Dublin and South Eastern Railway (DSER) main line; Ireland’s most scenic line.

The day return fare is £59.00 boarding either at Whitehead RPSI (not the NIR station), Carrickfergus, Belfast Central, Lisburn and Portadown. The fare from Drogheda and Dublin Connolly is £54.00. Tickets may be purchased from the Belfast Welcome Centre, 6 Donegall Square North, Belfast, either in person, on-line, or by telephone 028 9024 6609.

The railtour is operating but, unfortunately, not to Rosslare. Irish Rail have apologised that the line is closed due to engineering works south of Bray, originally believed to be commencing on Saturday evening, but*actually starting on Friday night - a misunderstanding between their internal Departments.

It is disappointing that we cannot go to our planned destination. However, on the up side by going to Sligo we gain an added 70 miles of travel.

A bonus suggested by Irish Rail is to travel out and back from Dublin by the little used Connolly - Newcomen Junction line.

There will be no change to the Whitehead and Belfast Central departure and return times.

The RPSI and MRSI apologise for this change to the itinerary, which is outside our control.

Tour is now planned to be NIR 112 throughout

Whitehead RPSI - 0735 departure
Belfast Central - 0806 / 0827
Lisburn - 0839 / 0841
Portadown - 0904 / 0906
Dundalk - 0940 (Pass)
Drogheda - 1005 / 1010
Dublin Connolly - 1100 arrival - 1130 departure via Newcommen.
Maynooth - 1159 (Pass)
Mullingar - 1249 / 1259
Dromod - 1344 / 1404
Sligo - 1505 Arrival.



Sligo - 1600 Departure
Ballymote - 1625 / 1633
Boyle - 1648 / 1658
Train then operates straight to Connolly , Passing ;
Longford 1747, Mullingar 1814, Maynooth 1849,
Dublin Connolly - 1927 Arrival via Newcommen.

Dublin Connolly - 1950 departure
Drogheda - 2031 / 2033
Dundalk - 2057 (Pass)
Portadown - 2133 / 2135
Lisburn - 2158 / 2200
Belfast Central - 2215 / 2225
Whitehead RPSI - 2257 Arrival

What a crap ending. If I didn't have so much money laid down on flights I'd bail out.

Maybe Sligo could do a deal with Irish Rail and have a tourist slogan of "where you get stuffed because your tour has delivered very little of what it advertised" although it's not the most catchy I admit.

No-one needs more mileage on 112 of all things FFS!

Great for me, the whole objective of flying next week was to go see the 112 so I'm mighty pleased

Evening folks,

Yesterday I travelled on the RPSI / MRSI "East Coaster" railtour from Connolly to Sligo using the Whitehead based MK2 set. The use of the MK2 set gave the rare opportunity to sample these carriages beyond Dublin. Haulage for the entire day used NIR's 112. This loco's claim to fame was it spent several years in the mid 2000's on loan to IE.

Click http://smu.gs/2wTbflm to view.

Superb!