Editing Northern Counties Committee (section)

====The Holden train====
The Holden train was a new concept in Irish tourism. In 1902, A. W. Holden, a Larne hotelier who had hired trains from the {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}} for his summer tours, approached the railway to provide him with a special train. York Road works built the all first class four-car train. Three of the coaches were saloons and the fourth was a restaurant car, all being furnished to a high standard. They were bogie vehicles with corridor connections; the lower body panels were finished in match boarding and the end doors were recessed in the manner of [[Pullman train (UK)|Pullman cars]]. Two six-wheel vans were fitted with [[corridor connection]]s to work with the train.

The train entered service in 1903 shortly before the end of the {{abbr|BNCR|Belfast and Northern Counties Railway}}'s independent career. Based at the Laharna Hotel, Larne, Holden's tour visited most of the popular tourist attractions in north-eastern Ireland over a six-day period. During this time, it covered some {{convert|400|mi|km}} of railway travel and a further {{convert|40|mi|km}} by road. The tours ran until the outbreak of World War I.