One of the best things about living in Spain again is how easy it is to travel to other countries for a few days. And even better, we get to visit friends who live on this side of the world! Two summers ago, we went to Dublin to visit our Irish friends Sarah and Kelan before taking a road trip/camping trip together to West Cork. This past spring, they came to visit us in Alicante, and we made plans for our next meetup in Ireland. So we just got back from spending a few days with them, checking out their new house and even visiting Sarah’s family’s farm.
Deciding to bring only a small personal item (since we were flying with RyanAir), I asked Sarah what we would be doing and what we should pack. While she gave us a good overview of what we could expect during the trip, she did tell us there was a “surprise” on Sunday.
So on Sunday afternoon, we followed Sarah and Kelan to Connolly Train Station in Dublin, still with no idea what the surprise was, except it seemed we were maybe going to board a train in order to get there.
Turns out… the surprise was the train itself! And it wasn’t just any old train — no, it was an old refurbished steam train, complete with a renovated on-board bar. Which meant we could enjoy some pints of Guinness along the journey! It was going to be the perfect way to pass a cool, rainy afternoon in Dublin.
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
The first thing I need to tell you about this whole experience is that it is run completely by volunteers. The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) was founded in 1964 with the goal of preserving Irish steam locomotives, carriages, and more. The Society’s goal is to share these living pieces of history with the public, so that all are able to see them, appreciate, and even travel on them.
So volunteers are the ones who have been preserving and restoring railway vehicles from the steam train era, but it’s also volunteers who serve as drivers, steam raisers, cleaners, operators, track maintainers, stewards, and more. You can tell that everyone involved just really loves trains, and they love what they do. The excitement is infectious!
Midlander Journey: Dublin to Maynooth
When we arrived at the platform around 2:30 p.m., the passenger carriages were already there, and some people had taken their seats. We decided to stay outside for a bit longer as we watched the locomotive arrive.
The RPSI currently has three operational steam locomotives, and our locomotive was No. 131, which was originally built in 1901. It worked on the rails until 1964. In 2014, the restoration project began, and after several years of testing, No. 131 made its “triumphant return” to Dublin in April 2023.
We grabbed a few photos on the platform before boarding our carriage and making ourselves at home before the 3:05 p.m. departure. We were onboard the “Midlander” journey, which would take us from Dublin to the university town of Maynooth — about 45 minutes away — and back.
The train was really clean with pretty, colorful plush seats. I loved that they were green! So Ireland-coded. There was a bit of storage in the overhead racks, but since our train wasn’t going too far, we didn’t have too much with us other than jackets.
Pretty much every seat ended up being full, mostly with families who had children. Many of them had packed snacks and card games to enjoy along the short journey, which was really cute. Every set of four seats had a table, so it was perfect that there were four of us. It may have been a little awkward to sit across from strangers, but everyone there loves trains, so the strangers can’t be that bad. 😂
Once we were seated and the train took off, we pretty much immediately made a beeline to the bar car. Since I had made it my goal to drink as much Guinness as possible during our time in Ireland, I was excited to have one (or two) while riding on the steam train. But there were also other drinks and Taytos (if you know you know). There was always a bit of a line, but it was never too bad. A couple of cars away, there was also a little snack car that was selling sandwiches and cupcakes.
When we officially arrived in Maynooth, we stopped at the train station briefly, where most people chose to get out for a few minutes. As we stood at the platform, the locomotive detached from the front of our train and drove away… only to go past us on the other track and then back up, re-attaching at the other end to pull us on our journey back to Dublin.
One thing to note: The train does have several bathrooms, and they’re actually pretty nice for how old the carriages are! However, they are locked while the train is stopped in the stations.
So after about 15 minutes at the train platform in Maynooth, we re-embarked the train to head back to Dublin, of course stopping at the bar to grab another Guinness for the ride.
As we neared the end of the journey, a volunteer came around selling little flags, pins, and other train memorabilia, all which benefits the RPSI. I bought a cute little pin that was an illustration of the No. 131 locomotive we were riding on, for only €3. Then, another volunteer came through selling raffle tickets. We gave €10 just to show our support, and we ended up drawing a winning ticket!
(It turns out, every ticket is a winning ticket. 😉)
Booking Your Tickets for the Dublin Steam Train
As cool as the RPSI and the steam trains are, you’ll have to do some planning if you want to make it a part of your visit to Dublin. While the trains are running each weekend of this month, August 2024, most of them are short journeys at the Whitehead Railway Museum in Northern Ireland.
There were only two trips starting and ending in Dublin — our “Midlander” trip and the “Marble City” trip to Kilkenny, which is sold out at the time of this writing. Also, keep in mind that ticket prices for the different trips vary. (Sarah told me that ours were about €20 per person.)
While the Dublin steam trains experience is still fairly new, I’d encourage you to keep an eye on the RPSI website for upcoming train events if you’re interested in hopping on board soon! Here’s a link to their schedule.
Find more unique things to do in Dublin.
Overall, we had a great time, and I feel so lucky we just so happened to be visiting on a weekend when the RPSI steam train was running. 🙂
Have you ever been on a steam train? Are you interested in checking this out on your next visit to Dublin? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
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