Rolling Stock 164

Irish Railway Record Society

Rolling Stock

DIESEL RAILCARS

22000-Class (Rotem) The MV Chong Ming delivered 3-car sets 22005-08 to Dublin Port on Friday 1 June. Locomotive 189 hauled the sets from Alexandra Rd to North Wall. Sets 22005 + 06 were hauled to Limerick by 146+149, while sets 22007+08 were hauled to Inchicore. They were subsequently hauled to Limerick on Friday 15 June by 175.

On Tuesday 14 August, sets 22012 and 22009 were unloaded at Ocean Pier in Dublin Port. They were put on the rails on Alexandra Rd where locomotive 173 coupled up and hauled them to North Wall. Next morning locomotive 173 + 22012 + 22009 departed North Wall at 10:35. Locomotive 173 was replaced by 166 at Platform 10, Heuston, and the train departed at 11:50 for Limerick Junction. It was looped for the 12:00 Heuston-Cork en route. It worked Limerick Junction-Limerick on the Thursday.

Two 3-car sets were delivered to Belview Port Waterford and were hauled to Limerick by 177on Friday 13 July.

Trial running of 3-car sets under their own power took place on the Dublin-Cork line. The sets were based in Limerick for the trials, which took place initially at night but later during daytime. By August two sets worked daytime trials simultaneously. The first worked Limerick-Charleville-Portlaoise-Limerick while the second worked Limerick-Portlaoise-Charleville-Limerick.

On Tuesday 12 June, a 3-car set operated to Connolly to conduct clearance trials before returning to Limerick. In July, trial running and driver training commenced on the Dublin-Sligo line. On 9 July, set 22004 worked 19:10 Inchicore-Mullingar and 23:45 Mullingar-Connolly. On Saturday 14 July, set 22005 was displayed to the public in Sligo station.

By August, they were cleared to operate between Connolly - Islandbridge Junction - Cork, Limerick - Waterford - Belview Port, Connolly - North Wall - Dundalk and Connolly-Sligo via GSWR. A 10-mph speed restriction applied through Sallins down platform.

2600 & 2700-classes The mixed set 2609+2716 re-entered traffic on Tuesday 17 July following a prolonged refurbishment and re-commissioning programme. The set worked Drogheda-Connolly and later worked to Inchicore and Cork where it was initially based. Both vehicles were out of service since 1994 and 2000 respectively and had been used as a source of parts for many years. It entered service on Sunday 22 July on Cork-Mallow services but was subsequently mainly used on Cobh trains.

Ballina branch railcars are exchanged with a new set from Drogheda every two weeks. The following have been used on branch trains to date: 2601/02, 2603/04, 2607/08 & 2611/12.

Mk III Mk III sets continue to work Dublin-Cork services to allow Mk IV sets undergo maintenance and where required following failures.

Mk IId The following were scrapped in Inchicore in May/June: 5105, 5157, 5210, 5217, 5229, 5406 and 5605. Generator van 5603 was in Inchicore in July following fire damage to one of the engine/generator areas.

Cravens The RPSI has secured 1505, 1506, 1508, 1514, 1522, 1523, 1529, 1532, 1539 and 1541 for preservation. All others except 1520 and 1526 have now been scrapped. The following were scrapped in June: 1507, 1510, 1516, 1518, 1521 and 1544.

Generator-Steam-heating-Vans All BR GSVs have now been cut up except those in Departmental service or preserved. The RPSI is preserving GSV 3173 and 3185.

Carriage Cleaning IÉ has awarded a €9m contract to ISS Ltd, Dublin.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 164, published October 2007.