I will always regret not taking that train to Dublin that day. By then (1991) 001s/'A's on front line duties were rare and I'd only ever had them on slow trundles on CIE on (very) secondary workings. I basically passed up my only chance ever to take one on Irish Rail's toppest top rank train, the non-stop 18:00 up Enterprise (other non-stop trains on that line were NIR workings so guaranteed 111 class). There were only 20 minutes in Dublin and with a 001 in charge lateness was a risk, and late-running Belfast trains then as now got more late from Howth Junction in as they missed their path and got stuck behind a DART. It was truly move to oblivion potential, and I was no Man Of Steel considering I knew nobody in Dublin at that time. I had a girlfriend who came from Dundalk at the time (now she was seriously HOTTTT!), but her parents hated me with the hatred only the most narrow-minded of Irish Catholics can muster up for a long-haired English layabout who has been ravishing their daughter! I could have got back as far as Dundalk on a local working, but hardly begged for lodgings there, as they would have happily seen me out on the street for the night in that hardline IRA town!
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