New leisure train: Belmond Grand Hibernian (Ireland)

As I said in another thread, I'd have bet good money that this would never happen but here it is: a refurbished consist of 9 Irish Rail Mark III coaches and a Mark III generator trailer behind 201 Class locomotives 215 and 216 (the latter repainted in BGH colours) doing network trials, with service beginning in September. For North American viewers: there is a lot of running around the power because there are few locations in Ireland where a wye is feasible (Limerick Junction, Belfast, Kilkenny is all of them I think)
https://youtu.be/YB1Z3oCqscs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

dowlingm wrote:there are few locations in Ireland where a wye is feasible

Surprising.
I wonder why they don't have push-pulls? But running around the train isn't that difficult, as long as the engine has cabs on both ends.
Very good videos and yes, they soundlike EMDs.

Where loco-hauled passenger trains are used in the UK now they often have a loco on each end of the train, or else a single loco with a DVT (driving van trailer) on the non-loco end, so running around is not necessary.

This video has shots of the "auto trains," steam push pulls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMlXDmN9cok" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes, auto trains were popular in the old days of steam, particularly on small branch lines. There are a few still operating in preservation on heritage lines.

Most of the mk3's were written off , so I imagine they got these carriages at scrap price.

Air conditioned IE (Irish Rail) Mark 3s weren't wired for push pull and that's what Belmond selected from the decommissioned fleet. There were 5 non aircon push pull DVTs which theoretically could have been used if the AC units were rewired during refit, but they weren't allowed above 75mph in push mode.

I think the DVT might have made a better observation car than sticking a window in a Mark 3 gangway given the wide driver windscreen but I guess there were too many caveats or IE had scrapped most of those by then.

The choice of a 201 class precludes operation on one of Ireland's most scenic routes through Wicklow and Wexford but weight restrictions preclude a 201 in anything other than emergencies down there.

First day in service: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost ... tcount=261" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The group referred to in the post:
https://blog.irtsociety.com/2016/08/25/ ... rain-ball/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To me the "luxury train" seems a bit incongruous in the land of the potato famine. I suppose that I am living in the past.
"There were 5 non aircon push pull DVTs which theoretically could have been used... but they weren't allowed above 75mph in push mode." To me 75mph would seem fast enough for Ireland.
"auto trains... are...still operating in preservation on heritage lines." Isn't that interesting. I don't believe that we ever had steam push pulls on this side of the Atlantic. On a number of roads the function was filled by gas or diesel railcars, doodlebugs; McKeen cars; Budd RDCs, etc. (Note to John; "doodlebug," that's one for FOTR.)

philipmartin wrote:the land of the potato famine. I suppose that I am living in the past.

Yes, I think you are. Ireland has become a pretty prosperous nation overall.

philipmartin wrote:To me the "luxury train" seems a bit incongruous in the land of the potato famine. I suppose that I am living in the past.
"There were 5 non aircon push pull DVTs which theoretically could have been used... but they weren't allowed above 75mph in push mode." To me 75mph would seem fast enough for Ireland.

I know this is a message board and we shouldn't take each other too seriously, but let's not put a frame around a current rail service which invokes a catastrophe which a) halved the population of Ireland by a combination of death and emigration and b) occurred over a decade before the US Civil War.

I'm half Irish because some of my ancestors felt it necessary to cross the Atlantic to New York.
My above post wasn't meant to be demeaning, but simply the impression I got on about two visits, about forty-seven years ago. That was in the days when they had farm animals on the coins.
I do appreciate the information about Ireland's disastrous time in the nineteenth Century.

philipmartin wrote:

dowlingm wrote:there are few locations in Ireland where a wye is feasible

Surprising.
I wonder why they don't have push-pulls? But running around the train isn't that difficult, as long as the engine has cabs on both ends.
Very good videos and yes, they soundlike EMDs.

Running round takes time and labour. On a very intensively worked network that is very important to reduce time in station. I doubt if there is any running round now. American systems are mostly so sparsely operated that it wouldn't matter but on European networks saving every second is important.

I'm amazed that there's actually a market for a luxury train in Ireland given just how relatively small the island is as a whole -let alone the Republic itself- and the relatively sparse rail network that sees regular commuter/regional/intercity traffic at least several times a day on each line on a daily basis. It's definitely not the Rocky Mountains, mainland Europe, or even New England/Eastern Canada (and that was a stretch with the Acadian train) where there's more territory to cover and doesn't see anything more than daily sleeper trains at best.