Last month we looked at some of the luxury carriages and trains that have operated in Ireland over the centuries. This month we’ll look at more premium services, all of which had at least some First Class accommodation (in some cases, exclusively so). Some of these had an important business function, speeding up journey times between cities while in another case it was entirely a tourism proposition, very much a predecessor to the railtours which operate in Ireland today.
The Holden Excursion Train
A Lawerence postcard depicting the Holden carriages on a "Glens of Antrim" train tour.
William Holden owned a hotel in Larne and was an early proponent of tourist and excursion trains in Ireland. He arranged for the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway to construct special First Class carriages for use on a private tour train. A restaurant car was included, and passengers enjoyed a waiter service as the train took them around Ulster. As will be seen from the postcard depiction, the carriage doors were recessed into the body, not unlike those of Pullman cars. This tour lasted six days, covering 400 miles by rail (with an additional 40 miles or so being covered by road connections. Commencing in 1903, this service ran until WWI.
The Cork-Rosslare Boat Express
With the opening of the Rosslare-Waterford line in 1906, the Great Southern & Western Railway (GSWR), in association with the Great Western Railway of England, introduced a new express train from Cork to Rosslare (operating via the now-closed Mallow-Dungarvan-Waterford line). A new rake of carriages was specially constructed for this service, including some special twelve-wheeled composites (containing First and Third Class accommodation) and a dining car, No.353. Originally finished in the GSWR’s brown & cream livery, it would have made a striking sight as it steamed across Munster. The service continued on the route until the Dungarvan line closed in 1967, with trains then being diverted via the Limerick Junction-Clonmel-Waterford route. In the GSR and early CIÉ era it was entrusted to the powerful K1/K1a class 'Woolwich' mogul locomotives, the largest to be used on the service.
The North Atlantic Express of the LMS(NCC)
A 1930s illustration of the North Atlantic Express behind a NCC W Class Mogul locomotive.
In the 1930s, the London Midland & Scottish Railway’s Northern Counties Committee, which operated the line from Belfast to Derry and Portrush via Coleraine, invested in a new junction at Bleach Green near Greenisland, enabling, for the first time, trains to run directly from Belfast to the north coast without needing to reverse at the latter. Around the same time, new express locomotives, the W class moguls, were constructed and this enabled the NCC to launch a new premier train service from Belfast to Portrush, ‘The North Atlantic Express’. A set of luxury carriages, with larger-than-usual windows, was specially built for this new service, including a buffet car. By 1938 the journey time between Belfat and Portrush was just 73 minutes, quite a feat indeed considering much of the route was over single track. In addition to its main run from and to Portrush, the set of carriages was also used on a boat train to Larne which enabled a through connection between Larne and Portrush. Sadly, the outbreak of WWII in 1939 saw this service end, although the carriages would continue to see use on other services.
The Greenore Boat Express
The port of Greenore was developed by the London & North Western Railway in the 1870s to provide an alternative sea route from Holyhead to Ireland, with the existing port at Dundalk not being wholly suitable. The Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway (DNGR), a subsidiary of the LNWR, was a key component in this operation, and from its opening in 1876 introduced an express service direct from Greenore to Belfast, joining the GNR(I) mainline at Newry. While most of the DNGR’s fleet consisted of small 6-wheel carriages, this train included some specially-built bogie vehicles. The bogie coaches included accommodation for First, Second and Third class passengers. The new service would leave Belfast Great Victoria Street for Greenore at 5pm, where they would board a ferry for Holyhead connecting into a night sleeper train for London, where they would arrive around 7am the next morning. Likewise, a reverse journey operated out of Greenore early in the morning, connecting off the ferry from Holyhead and arriving in Belfast before 8am (complete with breakfast service). While the DNGR’s own loco fleet consisted exclusively of tank engines, this working was entrusted to a GNR(I) 4-4-0 tender engine. With the loco in GNR(I) green livery and the carriages resplendent in the LNWR’s ‘plum and spilt milk’ colour scheme, the Boat Express must have made a distinct splendid sight steaming out of the Cooley Peninsula and indeed along the mainline to Belfast. The service ceased operation during WWI, with some historians attributing this to the tragic Greenore ferry diaster of 1916. The carriages were eventually sold on to the LMS(NCC) in the 1930s who converted them to vans, a somewhat ignominious end to what had been such a prestigious trains.
Of course, the above list is but another sample of express trains and luxury vehicles that have operated in Ireland over the years. If you found this article interesting, you might also enjoy our earlier blog on the tourist and excursion trains of Ireland.
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