RAILWAY history will be made on October 14 when the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland runs its next diesel-hauled railtour.
Agreement has been reached with Iarnród Éireann-Irish Rail for the ‘Munster Double’ to feature two Class 071 locomotives working in multiple throughout, something never before seen on the network.
Multiple working was once common with the Class 121s and the Class 141/181s, but the larger Class 071s have never yet worked in this manner, in spite of having the equipment required to do so.
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The last time two Class 071s were seen on a railtour was back in July 2013 when Nos. 071 and 073 worked an Irish Railway Record Society train from Dublin to Cork, and on that occasion No. 073 was actually hauled dead, so it was not a true double-header.
The Northern Ireland Railways Class 111s worked in multiple on Irish Traction Group railtours in the 1990s, once even as an ‘071’/’111′ combination, but these were confined to north of the border.
Read more in the May issue of The RM – on sale now!
