The Santa Special

From the collection of

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive
Launched in 2000, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive spans from 1897 to the present day and currently contains an ever-expanding catalogue of 13,000 items. It comprises material from a variety of depositors including feature films, sport, documentaries, animation, amateur footage, light entertainment, and a significant proportion of broadcast material from the UTV Archive.

The Santa Special


This little engine was built in 1928 and withdrawn from service in 1959. The No. 3 “R.H. Smyth” was destined for the scrapyard until rescued by Reverend L.H. Campbell and given over to the RPSI who restored it to working order by the summer of 1977. This second career began by taking visitors at Whitehead, like the people seen in this film by Sam Bell, on short steam journeys including the early Santa trains and Easter Bunny Eggspress.


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