REVIEW OF THE MONTH
Steam’s Last Challenge
Joe Cassells
Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, Whitehead Railway Museum, Castleview Road, Whitehead, Co. Antrim BT38 9NA.
Web: www.steamtrainsireland.com
Description: Soft cover, 298mm x 210mm, 232pp.
ISBN: 9780954 532215. Price £15 (plus £3 postage).
When was the final day of regular main line steam in the UK? It’s always been a trick question, because it wasn’t August 3 1968, but May 2 1970, and in Northern Ireland.
This was the day when the last of 7,600 trains fulfilled a three-and-a-half year contract for the Ulster Transport Authority to shift four million tons of quarry waste from Magheramorne to the shore of Belfast Lough. It was needed for the foundations for the new M2 motorway.
It was goodbye to the fleet of 18 modern and capable Ivatt-inspired, Derby-built, ‘Jeep’ 2-6-4Ts, topping and tailing 600-ton trains and managing decent speeds. The aggregate was
