Recap: The North West Frontier—A Mini Railtour

Photo: Adrian Dawe.

Our first Dublin-based tour of 2026 took place on Sunday, 19th April: "The North West Frontier—A Mini Railtour". For this outing, we took our passengers from Dublin Connolly station to Dromod on the 13:05 Dublin-Sligo service train, formed by ICR sets Nos.22004+22020, with our participants taking seats in the former set. The sun shone, and we enjoyed a pleasant run alongside the Royal Canal on the former Midland Great Western Railway mainline as far as Mullingar, where we swung north west on what was once their secondary mainline to Sligo, now of course a mainline in of itself.

Nancy departs Dromod with the steam leg of the railtour. Photo: C. Corrigan.

At Dromod, our group disembarked and made its way across the car park to the small red brick station building of the Cavan & Leitrim Railway. Nancy, the line's Avonside tank engine, was simmering away, proudly wearing the Táilte Tours headboard. Everyone gathered into carriage 13L, which is built in the style of the original Cavan & Leitrim Railway carriages. With the C&LR's Nigel and Peter on the footplate, Nancy gently drew our special out of the station and past the yards, where a variety of Irish industrial narrow gauge locomotives were on display. Among these was the immaculately restored Bord na Móna Hunslet diesel No.LM384.

Nancy chuffed along through the woods as we swung away from the Sligo mainline. It is quite a pleasant route, in many ways devoid of modernity, so it is easy to imagine what a journey along this famous Irish narrow gauge line was like prior to closure in 1959.

Our little train drew to a stop short of the buffers at Clooncolry, the outer limit of the preserved line. Here, there was time for a group photo with the locomotive, and to ponder the original route of the railway beyond here towards Ballinamore.

Photos taken, everyone reboarded. Nancy then pushed our train back towards Dromod, stopping short of the station near the workshops, where our group disembarked for a tour of the railway's extensive collection. From trains to buses to planes, there was plenty to entertain all types of transport enthusiasts.

LM114 "Joe St Ledger" becomes the latest locomotive to haul one of our railtours.

There was then time for a break, with many of our participants venturing to the nearby Copper Still for a hearty meal. It was then time for the second phase of our "Mini Railtour". Arriving back at the station, our passengers discovered that Nancy had been swapped for ex-Bord na Móna diesel locomotive, No.LM114 Joe St Ledger. While this was Nancy's third appearance on one of our railtours, it was a first for LM114, thus adding another loco to the ever-increasing list of those to have worked our specials. Normally, only one loco is used on passenger trains on running days, but for our tour, a special treat had been arranged so that passengers could enjoy both steam and diesel haulage. With Driver Peter at the controls, LM114 set off, with much 'thrash' and horn-blowing as we made our way back down the wooded line towards Clooncolry. At the end of the line, there was a quick reversal before heading back to Dromod. There was time for photos before we said goodbye to the Cavan & Leitrim Railway team, and made our way back to the mainline station for the evening service train home. This was made up of the same set that had taken us out, Nos.22020+22004, with our group once again being seated in set 22004. The sun continued to shine, at it seemed like no time at all before we were back in Connolly Station Dublin.

All in all, a straightforward but very enjoyable day out. Special thanks to all the team at the Cavan & Leitrim Railway Museum for pulling out all the stops. Meanwhile, the Táilte team are already working on the plan for our next outing, watch this space.