BELMOND’S latest luxury train, the Grand Hibernian, began its maiden voyage around Ireland on Tuesday August 30 with a celebratory departure from Dublin’s Heuston station.
The train of newly converted Mk.3 vehicles departed at 14.20 for Cork, after which it was due to visit Killarney, Galway, Westport, Waterford and Belfast over the course of seven days. Regular trips are then planned to depart Dublin on subsequent Tuesdays, returning the following Monday.
Passengers for the first trip were part of The Society of International Railway Travellers, a group formed in 1983 by Owen and Eleanor Hardy from Louisville, Kentucky in the United States. They were led into the station by a piper and then greeted with some traditional Irish dancing and music.
Read more in the latest edition of Rail Express
