30/12/18 - The Christmas Choo Choo

I fell in love with the goods trains that used to visit Ardee station from a very early age and was a regular visitor to the station to observe the comings and goings. The passenger service had been discontinued in 1934.

I was just reaching my teenage years, by which time I was able to ramble down to the railway station on my own, in the mid 70's but unfortunately the train service was discontinued in 1975. I have great memories of travelling on some of the special excursions to Dublin that were ran before the station and line closed down.

So it's no surprise that I still have that fondness for the steam trains that are ran by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland and I was out photographing the recent Mince Pie Special that ran on 30th December. No 85 (Merlin) towed the carriages on the morning trip from Belfast to Dublin whilst it was No 4 who had the honour of towing them on the return trip.