Last Saturday, 5th April, for the first time in over 20 years, an Irish Rail 2600 Class adorned in an “Arrow” livery was used on a rail tour to Galway in the province of Connaught in the far west of Ireland.

Heritage 2600 Class Nos. 2601 and 2602 were used on Táilte Tours’ Eyre Lee Bird rail tour from Cork to Galway.

In 2024, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 2600 class, the units were repainted at Irish Rail’s Inchicore Works into a variant of the original orange and black “Arrow” livery that used to adorn the class.

2600 Class units were sometimes used on Sunday Only workings to Galway in the 1990s and early 2000s, but since the late 2000s have been used mainly on suburban services in the Cork area.

As well as Nos. 2601 and 2602, the Eyre Lee Bird rail tour featured a pairing of Nos. 2610 and 2613, although they sported the more familiar Irish Rail livery of silver and turquoise.

Starting from Cork, the rail tour travelled to Galway via Limerick and the Western Rail Corridor, which reopened in 2010. That route is mainly served by more modern 2800 class sets, with 2600 class units being rare visitors to the west of Ireland.

One of the tour’s highlights was being able to travel through the brand-new platform 6 at Cork. However, as the new platform has not yet opened to passengers, rail tour participants had to use platform 3.

Many of Ireland’s heritage railway groups benefit from rail tours organised by Táilte Tours of Ireland. One way is through the donation of enamel badges that are sold to raise funds, such as ones depicting the original County Donegal Railway steam locomotive No.2 Blanche donated to Donegal Railway Heritage Centre, and to the Downpatrick & County Down Railway and the Cavan & Leitrim Railway.