On this day 150 years ago, 30th of August 1875, our preserved steam locomotive No. 90 entered service on the Castleisland & Gortatlea Railway in County Kerry. Since then, No. 90 has had an eventful life – from working on humble branchlines to hauling mainline steam railtours in the 1990s, the engine has become an icon of Irish railway heritage.
Instead of investing money in expensive carriages, the Castleisland line ordered a “railmotor” from Inchicore Works, Dublin, which is now Iarnród Éireann’s main workshops. This combined locomotive and carriage had accommodation for eight first-class passengers and a guard’s compartment for luggage and parcels. As railway traffic increased, 90 was moved to the new Fermoy-Mitchelstown branch in the 1890s, and later to the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Railway. Poor visibility going backwards and poor coal capacity meant that the carriage portion was removed in 1915.
When most of the railways in Cork closed in the early 1960s, 90 seemed destined for the scrapheap – but our friends at the Irish Railway Record Society lobbied CIÉ to preserve it for future generations, making it one of very few CIÉ steam locomotives to be preserved. It was put on display at Fermoy and later Mallow stations, but exposure to the elements meant that it soon suffered from severe corrosion. This didn’t stop the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society from taking 90 under its wing, who later passed it on to Westrail. Westrail undertook an extensive overhaul of 90 at their Tuam base, and by the early 1990s it hauled mainline steam railtours from locations such as Galway, Claremorris, and even Cobh in Co. Cork.
90 arrived at Downpatrick in 2007, where it worked for several years before being put on display in our Carriage Gallery. In summer 2023, it was moved to our Magehra Shed for overhaul – after most of the pipework was removed, unfortunately the project was stalled by 2023’s floods and storm damage to the Maghera Shed roof. Although this has been a major setback, we hope to have repaired the shed and restarted work on the loco again at some point next year.
