"The Mighty Kingdom" - 071 Class Diesel Railtour

Saturday 18th October 2025

The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland is delighted to announce the "Mighty Kingdom" Diesel Railtour.

The tour will depart from Dublin Connolly at 07:50 with our Big GM 071 Class loco immediately powering off from the capital, initally taking the Phoenix Park Tunnel route to Islandbridge Junction and then we set our course South and West heading along the Cork mainlaine out of Dublin. This journey will recreate the journey from the 70s, 80s & 90s as you travel on our 1960s built carriages which have been beautfully restored and maintained by our volunteers and are hauled by an 1976 built 071 class locomotive.

The journey out of Dublin will be a fast one along the mainline, passing through The Curragh of Kildare and then for a pickups Kildare and Portarlington. We will power through the counties of Laois, Tipperary and Cork.

Following a stop at Mallow, the tour will turn off the mainline and take the "Kerry Road" with some photo stops along the way. On our outward journey we will be bypassing Killarney station and head straight for the end of the line at Tralee, over 200 miles from Dublin.

Arrival in Tralee is scheduled for 12:20. Following a complicated shunt manoevure, we will depart Tralee at 13:30 and head for Killarney, our main break location for the day. We will have from 14:15 - 16:50 in Killarney, where you can explore this special Irish town with its many bars, restaurants, cafés and shops.

Hopping back on board at Killarney, we will retrace our steps to Mallow and then onto the mainline for an epic run up to Dublin with our 1976 built GM loco powering along through the countryside.

We will set down at Portarlington and Kildare before arriving back into Dublin Connolly, where we an estimated arrival time of just before 21:00, our journeys end.

The train will be made up of our Cravens coaching stock complete with usual facilities of snack car serving a variety of hot and cold items throughout the day alongside our renowned bar car with draught and bottled beverages available all day. We accept debit / credit cards on board as well as cash payments.

Route:

07:50 DUBLIN CONNOLLY - KILDARE (PICK UP)- PORTARLINGTON (PICK UP) - LIMERICK JUNCTION - MALLOW - FARRANFORE - TRALEE (REVERSE)12:20 / 13:30 - KILLARNEY (BREAK) 14:15 / 16:50 - MALLOW - PORTARLINGTON (SET DOWN) - KILDARE - DUBLIN CONNOLLY ARRIVE 20:55.

Requested haulage - IÉ 071 Class locomotive hauling the RPSI Cravens carriages.

N.B. IMPORTANT INFORMATION RE: ONLINE TICKETS

Tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE once purchased.

If travelling as part of a group - you MUST make one booking to be seated together. Seating requests cannot be made after.

You will receive your tickets by email as soon as your booking goes through. These are you tickets which you must print off or have QR code available for inspection on the day.

Seating allocations will be emailed, no later than 2 days before departure. Please check your emails.

Children aged 2 and under can travel free of charge on their parent's lap.

Child Tickets are valid for 3 - 15 year old's inclusive.

We have seats for sale in the carriage opposite the guards van and in the bar carriage for the day. Please note that these are ONLY available as adult tickets.

Host or Publisher Railway Preservation Society of Ireland