It may not have been the Orient Express or the trans Siberian railway but whilst it ran, The Bundoran express was for generations of Irish people, its most loved and famous train.

Steam powered, it conveyed its passengers to the blissful if not blistering climate of summer time Bundoran departing Dublin calling at Dundalk before hurtling westward toward the Atlantic.

Stopping at Clones station where rail cars were added from Belfast and Cavan, the now complete Express powered
non stop through northern Ireland, avoiding customs, making one very special stop at Pettigo. Here one half of the Express’s passengers disembarked, the penitent on their way to the hardships of the Lough Derg pilgrimage.

So one contingent are on their merry way to 1950's Bundoran for all the excesses that it offered and the other contingent, with rosary beads knotted around fingers, are ready for atonement and penance.

All are ready for some bare feet action, but for one the rock is of the tooth-eroding variety, for the other it's the cold, sharp, purgatory redeeming kind.

In August 1957 the Express pulled out for the last time, but not only did the Bundoran Express cease to be, the actual Great Northern railway closed. The rails and sleepers lifted, the stations sold off, the end of 100 years of rail travel in counties Monaghan, Fermanagh, Donegal, Cavan, Tyrone, as well as Leitrim.

The effect was beyond profound on the communities the GNR served.

For the town of Clones where the Express, fully assembled, embarked on its way to Bundoran, the closure doomed a once thriving market town. 100 railway families left overnight,
the social fabric torn. The town never recovered.

For one last time, on the overgrown remains of the railway embankments and cuttings, producers Brian Murphy and Martin Lynn walk the 'Irish North' line from Clones to Bundoran, 80 odd miles and 53 years late for the last Bundoran Express.

This documentary is a physical and emotional journey back to another era, contrasting the Ireland of then and now, seeking out the former passengers and employees, their stories and the magic and excitement that was a steam powered summer time excursion on the Bundoran Express.

All aboard.

The Bundoran Express pulls out Saturday, August 7th, 6:05 pm RTE 1.

Compiled by Brian Murphy and Martin Lynn.

Narrated by Brian Murphy.

Production supervision by Ciaran Cassidy .

Sound supervision by Mark McGrath.

First broadcast 7th August 2010

An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries.