The Tourist Express—an early development in Irish railway tourism

The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was an early operator of excursion trains in Ireland and was quick to embrace the tourism market. As early as 1853, the company was operating excursion trains from Dublin to Galway. While their mainline network stretched from Dublin to Galway with secondary routes to Mayo and Sligo, perhaps their most famous excursion train was that which operated to one of their branches, that to Clifden.

An early proponent of Irish railway tourism

The Midland Great Western Railway had been quick to capitalise on the potential of rail tourism in Ireland. A railway hotel opened in Galway as early as 1852, just a year after the MGWR completed its Dublin-Galway mainline. Excursion trains to Galway soon followed. Therefore, it is no surprise that the MGWR would capitalise on the tourism appeal of its Clifden extension when that line opened in 1895. That same year the company operated excursions from Galway to Clifden, giving participants over 7 hours at the resort.

The MGWR purchased a hotel in Recess and ensured ease of rail access through the provision of a dedicated platform. In 1903, the MGWR commenced operation of a “Tourist Express” service connecting Dublin with Recess and Clifden. This service left the company’s Broadstone terminus in Dublin at 12 noon, arrived in Galway at 3.10 pm, ‘Recess Railway Hotel Station’ at 4.35 pm and Clifden at 5 pm.

A forerunner to the tourist trains and railtours of today

In many ways a forerunner to the dedicated charter/railtour carriage rakes used across the world today, the MGWR used a special set of carriages on the route. Both the locomotive and carriages were adorned in a special blue livery that would have been quite different from anything else operating on the Irish railway system at the time. One of these carriages, No.53, is now preserved at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway museum, and traces of this special livery have been found. From 1904, the tourist set also included a special twelve-wheeled dining car, No.3, which was very unusual for a train operating over an Irish branch line.

Excursion trains to Achill

Around the same time, the MGWR also opened a line from Westport to Achill. As with Recess, the company saw fit to purchase a hotel at Mallaranny. It operated its own daily coach service between available between Clifden and Westport. The Achill would also see a dedicated tourist train operating from Athlone, where it connected with the Galway/Clifden service referred to earlier, although the Achill service did not have a dining car.

However, the “Tourist Express” proved to be short-lived, ceasing operations after 1906. It is nonetheless an interesting development in the history of Irish railways and tourism in the early 20th century, perhaps even one ahead of its time.