Railway Preservation Society Ireland’s Easter Eggspress.

To Wicklow and Return, April 21, 2014.

Railway Preservation Society Ireland celebrates 50 years this year. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens.

A clear bright day and an excellent crowd made for a great day out with locomotive 461 and the preserved Cravens carriages.

The train boarded at Dublin’s Connolly Station and ran directly to Wicklow with stunning views of Dublin bay from Killiney and Bray Head.

Irish Rail 227 with the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise rests alongside locomotive 071 (now 0117071 & etc) that was about to shunt the RPSI train from platform 3 at Connolly. 461 was steamed up and ready to couple to the train and take it into platform 5 for boarding. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens. — Irish Rail 227 with the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise rests alongside locomotive 071 (now 0117071) that was about to shunt the RPSI train from platform 3 at Connolly. 461 was steamed up and ready to couple to the train and take it into platform 5 for boarding. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens.

Steam on a sunny morning. Locomotive 461 pulls into platform 5 at Connolly Station. Canon EOS 7D with 20mm lens.

Departing Dublin offered views from the Loop Line bridge of the Customs House and RIver Liffey. Canon EOS 7D with 20mm lens. — Departing Dublin offered views from the Loop Line bridge of the Customs House and River Liffey. Canon EOS 7D with 20mm lens.

Passengers and RPSI staff at Wicklow. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens.

Unloading prams from the van. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens.

461 runs around at Wicklow for the short turn up to Greystones. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens.

461 couples up at Wicklow. I miss the old mechanical semaphores with lattice masts that once protected Wicklow station. Canon EOS 7D with 20mm lens.

At Wicklow, the special was overtaken by a holiday ‘relief’ special to Gorey that operated with the freshly painted candy apple green 29000 set.

A short trip was run from Wicklow to Greystones and return, with some spirited running along the beaches south of Greystones.

Engine 461 is a former Dublin & South Eastern 2-6-0 goods engine, so it was working on old home rails. The locomotive was steaming well and made for a great performance.

Reported difficulties with the points at Wicklow resulted in minor delays on the return trip, but clear signals up to Dublin and excellent running by the steam crew found us back at Connolly only a few minutes behind the advertised.

I traveled on the train, and used opportunities at station stops to make photos of the crew.

These are some of my digital results. I also used my old Nikon F3 with a 24mm lens to exposed some Fuji Acros 100 black & white film. Somehow steam and B&W seems like an appropriate combination! Those images remain latent, and perhaps will be a topic for a future post!