Northern Irish Railways

[trainrider1985]

I am thinking of travelling to Northern Ireland possibly next year are there any Charter companies that travel over the routes ? If not are Translink NIR services any good

 

[jamesontheroad]

The RPSI have a small stock of preserved trains and carriages up at Whitehead, north of Belfast on the Larne line, and they run a number of charters throughout the year in NI and the RoI.

NIR services have improved dramatically over the last five years. The CAF-built C3K stock are now in full service and the first of the follow-on C4K units is apparently scheduled to arrive in Belfast today. When the 20 units are here, there should be an entirely modernised fleet, so depending on your penchant for thumpers, you might want to head over sooner rather than later. The obscure 'Castle' class 450 trains, which predominantly serve the Larne Line and the ancient class 80s (now reformed as four-car units with two driving units for reliability) are not long for this world.

Meanwhile the Enterprise to Dublin is just divine. Slow, frequently delayed, but a taste of how intercity trains ought to be. Don't bother with first class, standard class has big squishy seats and a very comfortable atmosphere. £10 daytrips to Dublin always available online from Translink.

 

[Flying Snail]

The RPSI http://www.rpsi-online.org/ are the only group that run regular charters, mostly with steam traction.

ITG http://www.irishtractiongroup.com/homepage.htm occasionally run railtours as well which are aimed at the enthusiast market rather than the general public.

For travelling on service trains, if all you want is mileage then it is easy and cheap to do the whole of the NIR network in a single day. If you want to sample the unique NI Thumpers (highly recommended especially the last remaining 80 class) then sooner rather than later. Their replacements are arriving in NI as we speak and will have the entire network barring the Belfast-Dublin operated by 2 classes of modern dmus within the next year.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Forgot to add: there's also a small preserved railway at Downpatrick. Caters more for the family than enthusiast, but I believe you'll find a rare (and working) Leyland Railbus prototype there.

 

[Csalem]

^Half working RB3 as it failed two Saturday's ago during the ITG event and was rescued by 146.

 

[jamesontheroad]

^Half working RB3 as it failed two Saturday's ago during the ITG event and was rescued by 146.

I believe that means it's in "original condition" then