Yes! We like to get around as much of the 5'3" network as possible, especially with our annual May railtours which go to different destinations each year. 131 will play a big part in those, and our other main line trips all year round!
Thanks for making a great video. Good mix of historical and technical information, all clearly explained and set in the context of the period. I hope you will make many more videos in future. I look forward to seeing the Guinness engine again soon at Whitehead Railway Museum.
We are currently working on building a replica Class W boiler. It will be a spare boiler for our class WT No. 4, and in the future could potentially be part of a recreated Class W or WT.
Is there any news on the SLNCR tank 0-6-4 Lough Erne? I would really like to see her run. I would also really like to see no. 800 "meadhbh" run aswell. I think it would be very good to have an engine of that size because it means larger trains can be pulled. It would be a nice change to see a 4-6-0 on the line.
Thanks for the question! It would be amazing to see 800 in steam some day - it's not our decision, but we'd all love to see it! It certainly could pull a big train, but a major down side is that a lot of lines would not be able to accommodate the engine's size weight. (When we helped move it to Cultra in 1993, the safety valves were actually taken off to make sure it would get under the bridges!) We find that engines like 4 and 85 give us the correct balance between range, speed and power to allow us to operate on modern main lines. Lough Erne would not pose any problems for weight or size, but would probably not be able to pull a big enough train to make main line operation viable. Although we have no current plans to return Lough Erne to steam, we hope to display it more prominently in the museum - it has such an interesting history! Upvote this comment if you'd like Lough Erne to be the subject of a future video :)
It went for scrap about 1965. Ours is the only remaining 5'3" gauge Guinness engine, but there are also 8 narrow gauge engines preserved at other museums.
