Great Northern Railway (Ireland) 4-4-0 No. 171 'Slieve Gullion'
Whitehead, Northern Ireland 		Location: Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
Status: Operational
Posted: Nov 29, 2025 @ 09:11:25 by Russell Newman
The ex Great Northern Railway (Ireland) S Class 4-4-0 No. 171 "Slieve Gullion", the flagship locomotive for the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, has made a welcome return to the broad gauge mainline network on Northern Ireland for the first time since completion of its overhaul, hauling the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s Santa Specials between Dublin and Maynooth.
Posted: Jan 2, 2025 @ 12:01:21 by Russell Newman
The ex Great Northern Railway (Ireland) S Class 4-4-0 No. 171 "Slieve Gullion", the flagship locomotive for the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, has been moved to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland for running-in trials and testing on the mainline network of the Republic. The reason for this move is due to the lack of suitiable mainline steam crews to operate the locomotive on the mainlines of Northern Ireland. Its planned for No. 171 to operate the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s mainline railtours around Dublin.
Posted: Oct 4, 2024 @ 01:10:54 by Martin Baumann
There is no prospect of any mainline running in the nesr future. The RPSI safety case expired on April 30 2023 and so far has not been renewed. The competency of all the NIR staff who were passed on steam has lapsed so they will need to be re-trained.
Posted: Jul 29, 2024 @ 12:07:56 by Russell Newman
The overhaul on former Great Northern Railway (Ireland) S Class 4-4-0 No. 171 "Slieve Gullion", has now been completed as the locomotive was steamed for the first time in over 20 years and is now operational again. No. 171 will soon start mainline testing when a number of small but expensive jobs are completed, after which No. 171 will resume being the flagship locomotive for the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.
Posted: Nov 3, 2023 @ 10:11:44 by Martin Baumann
Not Beyer Peacock 5629 of 1913 but Dundalk 42 of 1938. For accounting purposes 171 was "rebuilt" but in fact Dundalk built a completely new loco with new works number.