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If you have an Irish connection and value seeing our wonderful railways heritage, consider joining me as a proud member of the #RPSI — I added a little extra to my membership in recent years to support the restoration of No. 171 Slieve Gullion so she looked just that little bit nicer in my eyes 🙂

https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/get-involved/joinrenew

All my photos from the 2025 #RPSI Dublin - #Maynooth Santa Special steam trains. This was the first big outing for newly restored No. 171 Slieve Gullion, and she performed as well as she looks — great! Thanks to the amazing RPSI volunteers and #IrishRail.

https://glass.photo/bbusschots/series/4Arwj506lHLfsaTwD5g4ao-the-2025-santa-specials

My last shot of former #GNRi 4-4-0 steam loco No. 171 Slieve Gullion working the last of the steam-hauled #RPSI Santa Specials of 2025. She performed wonderfully, and sped past the Duke’s Harbour on the #RoyalCanal at #CartonHouse near #Maynooth. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! 🎄

A wide-screen wide view of a blue steam loco pulling a rake of blue and cream carriages past a canal harbour. The loco is running ‘backwards’ with its coal tender leading, and frames the left edge of the view. The right side of an old canal barge frames the right edge. The sky above is grey and overcast, but the clean steam from the chimney still stands out nicely.

A peek at former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion through Pike Bridge at the Duke’s Harbour on the #RoyalCanal at the entrance to #CartonHouse pulling the last steam-hauled #RPSI Santa Special of the 2025 season out of #Maynooth.

A telephoto view looking through the arch of a stone bridge over a canal at a blue steam train approaching in the distance. The edges of canal barges moored in front of the bridge frame the right of the scene.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion passing the Duke’s Harbour on the #RoyalCanal at the gates to #CartonHouse as seen from Pike Bridge with the last steam-hauled #RPSI Santa Special of the 2025 seanson. No steam as she’s coasting towards the #Maynooth approach signal.

A wide landscape shot looking out over a canal as it cuts through a rural scene from an elevated point-of-view. On the left side of the canal it widens into a quay with three barges tied up, and a two-track railway line runs along the right bank. A blue steam locomotive approaches on the track furthest from the water pulling a burgundy brake van and a rake of blue and cream carriages. The sky above is overcast with light grey clouds.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion working an #RPSI Santa Special tender-first along a beautiful rural stretch of the #RoyalCanal east of #Maynooth.

A wide landscape view looking down a long straight section of a rural canal with a paved towpath on the near bank and a railway line on the far bank. The canal appears from a vanishing point in the right background and exits the frame in the bottom left corner. A blue steam loco is approaching with a rake of cream and blue carriages. The loco is running ‘backwards’ with its coal tender leading and chimney trailing. A cloud of clean white steam trails behind over the carriages. Bare tree branches frame both and the edges of the top of the scene, and the sky overhead is light grey and overcast.

As the wind picks up the steam from former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion swirls down and onto the #RoyalCanal towpath east of #Maynooth as she pulls an #RPSI Santa Special back towards Dublin tender-fist. Thankfully she was running clean, smelled like an open fire when it hit me 🙂

A telephoto view of a blue steam loco pulling a rake of cream and blue carriages along the banks of a rural canal lined with big bare trees. The line runs parallel to the canal along the far bank, and there is a paved greenway also running parallel in the near bank, all three have their vanishing point in the right background and cross diagonally to the left foreground. There is a cloud of clean white steam swirling from the chimney and blowing across the canal onto the towpath. The sky above is light grey and overcast.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion with it’s clean white steam contrasting against the December clouds as she works hard accelerating an #RPSI Santa Special away from the sharp turn in the line and #RoyalCanal at #Leixlip Louisa Bridge.

A square view of a back-lit blue steam locomotive with red running boards reflected in the water of a canal as a big head of steam issues from the chimney and stands out against a clouded sky.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion pulling an #RPSI Santa Special around the sharp turn in the line and the #RoyalCanal at #Leixlip Louisa Bridge station. #blackAndWhite #momochrome

A black and white square telephoto view of a steak locomotive with a nice head of steam pulling vintage carriages around a sharp turn curving from the left mid-ground to the right foreground. The line is on the fade bank of a canal, with the left foreground dominated by a paved towpath. The sky above is overcast with parallel lines of clouds.

I chose to this sharp turn in the railway line and #RoyalCanal at #Leixlip Louisa Bridge station because it’s only usable when the weather is overcast or you’ll have the sun against you, and the forecast was overcast. When #RPSI #steamLoco No.171 arrived, so did the sun, so I chose a silhouette!

A shot of a paved towpath, a canal, and a railway line curving from the right foreground to the left background with the silhouette of a steam locomotive and train approaching on the far bank set against a mostly clouded hazy sky with lots of fine detail in the clouds, and a hint of blue in the least hazy parts.

Former GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion at full steam as she accelerates an #RPSI Santa Special out of #Maynooth along the banks of the #RoyalCanal tender-first.

A wide landscape view of a blue steam locomotive pulling a rake of cream and blue vintage carriages across the scene from the vanishing point in the right background towards the left foreground. The engine is running ‘backwards’ with its coal tender leading and chimney trailing. A big cloud of mostly white steam is billowing high into the sky from the chimney and trailing behind. The line runs parallel to a canal with a paved towpath which dominate the foreground, and the sky overhead is overcast and grey.

This is the best side-view I was able to get of former #GNRi 4-4-0 steam loco No. 171 Slieve Gullion working the 2025 #RPSI Santa Specials. This shows the engine’s defining features nicely:

1. Two sets of small leading wheels, two sets of big driving wheels, and no trialing wheels, hence 4-4-0!
2. An un-tapered boiler (cylindrical)
3. A separate coal and water tender (so not a tank engine despite the Thomas-blue colour)

A side-view of a blue steam locomotive with red running boards. The loco has a pair of small leading wheels and two big driving wheels as well as a separate tender laden with coal. The boiler is long and cylindrical, and you can see ‘through’ the loco between the running boards and boiler between the black smokebox at the front of the loco and the boiler just in front of the cab. The driving wheels are half enclosed in big fenders. A small cloud of clean steam is trialing behind the chimney.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 steam loco No. 171 Slieve Gullion gently steams into #Maynooth along the banks of the #RoyalCanal with an #RPSI Santa Special on a particularly dull December afternoon.

A landscape view looking down the paved towpath of rural canal with a blue steam train approaching along the far bank. The path, canal, railway, and a pair of bare hedge lines framing both ends of the scene run perfectly parallel from the right foreground towards a vanishing point in the left background. There is a small cloud of clean white steam from the steam locomotive which is pilling a burgundy brake van and a rake of cream and blue vintage carriages. The sky above is overcast and greyb

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion appears around the last corner as it approaches #Maynooth with an #RPSI Santa Special along the banks of the #RoyalCanal.

A telephoto view of the front of a steam locomotive appearing from behind a line of bare trees as it rounds a distant bend. The foreground shows a strip of water, and the sky is overcast and grey.

Having run around its train in Maynooth, former #GNRi 4-4-0 steam loco No. 171 Slieve Gullion steams around the sharp bend in the line and the #RoyalCanal at Intel in #Leixlip as it pulls an #RPSI Santa Special back to Dublin.

A landscape view of a blue steam locomotive running ‘backwards’ with it’s tender leading and smoke stack behind pulling a rake of vintage cream and blue carriages around a turn in the railway line and the canal running right next to it between the camera and the rails. The right of the frame is dominated by the paved towpath following the near-bank of the canal. A dull grey sky hangs overhead with a cloud of clean white steam from the chimney contrasting nicely against it. Both edges are framed by bare trees.

A closer look at former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion as it steams past Intel in #Leixlip with an #RPSI Santa Special.

A telephoto view of a blue steam loco with tender pulling a burgundy brake van and a rake of blue and cream vintage coaches, only the first half of the first of which is visible. There is a clean white cloud of steam streaming back from the front of the loco. The edge of a field with round hay bales is visible in the foreground, and a line of big bare trees dominates the background.

It turns out just one of the twelve 2025 #RPSI Santa Specials would be blessed with some winter sun, but former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion sure looked great rounding the corner at Intel in #Leixlip yesterday morning!

A landscape shot looking out across a field with round hay bales with a bright blue steam loco pulling a burgundy brake van and a rake of cream and blue vintage coaches behind the bales in front of a line of large bare trees under a blue sky. The loco is trailing a cloud of clean white steam over the carriages.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion in #Maynooth having disconnected from an #RPSI Santa Special to run around it for the return leg while Santa entertains the kids on the platform.

A diagonal side view from a high point of view of a powder blue steam locomotive with red running boards, two small leading wheels, two big driving wheels and a tender well filled with coal.

Former #GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion approaching #Maynooth with an #RPSI Santa Special as the Irish December rain buckets down!

A portrait-oriented telephoto front-on view of a steam train with a big head of steam and a red name board framed between bare trees covered in green ivy leaves with a sliver of water in the foreground speckled with big raindrops. The line runs straight at the camera and then turns right in front of the train.

Former GNRi 4-4-0 #steamLoco No. 171 Slieve Gullion at full steam as it accelerates out of #Maynooth along the banks of the #RoyalCanal tender-first on the return leg of an #RPSI Santa Special.

#RPSI

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