Irish Railway Record Society

LOCOMOTIVES

121-Class No. 123 was scrapped in Inchicore on 1 May. The last remaining members of the class, 124 + 134, were used on Infrastructure Department trains during the spring (as noted later), but were both out of service in Inchicore on the week ending 4 April.

141/181-Class No. 170, which suffered engine fire damage last year, has been repaired in Inchicore and returned to service. It was on driver training duties in Mallow in March.

Scrapping continues in Inchicore. Locomotive 151 was cut up on 25 April, 189 on 29 April, with 168 expected to follow. Nos. 149, 166 and 184 were also out of service in Inchicore.

Duties for the class have declined significantly following the introduction of the 22000-class railcars. It is now very rare to see 141/181-class on freight workings or anything other than Infrastructure Department trains and station and works pilots. The Kilmastulla-Limerick cement factory shale train is their only regular freight working, but this did not run for most of April. However, they have re-appeared on a regular passenger working, the Limerick-Ennis portion of the Fridays Only 17:05 Dublin-Ennis. Locomotives used were: 141+142 on 4 April; 142+185 on 18 April, 162+171 on 25 April and 142+185 on 9 May.

It is expected that the entire 141/181 fleet will be withdrawn by the end of 2008.

071-class Introduction of 22000-class InterCity Railcars has seen a dramatic reduction in passenger workings by the class. In early May, only 4 trains were worked out of Heuston by the class in 10 days. However, they still work Infrastructure Department trains, freight trains and they also provide pilot (rescue) cover at Portlaoise, Limerick Junction and Athlone.

Overhauls continue in Inchicore, with 086 and 073 completed and 079 being overhauled in the Parlour in April.

DIESEL RAILCARS

3-car 22000-Class (Rotem) Delivery details of the 3-car sets are noted below. The receiving ports were Dublin Coastal Terminal (formerly the BR/Sealink Container terminal), Dublin Ocean Pier and Waterford Belview.

IÉ are very pleased with the new trains. Reliability has been excellent and passenger reaction has been very favourable. By mid May, the fleet had exceeded 2m kilometres in passenger service.

6-car 22000-Class (Rotem) The MV Jia Xing docked at berth 33, west side of Ocean Pier, Dublin Port, on Friday 15 February. Next day, the first six-car sets, 22031 and 22032, were offloaded from the ship onto a low loader lorry and put on rails on the Alexandra Rd ‘tramway’ using road cranes. Both sets were hauled to North Wall yard for storage over the weekend by 185. On Monday 18 February, 082 + 22031 departed North Wall for Portlaoise depot at 14:30. The locomotive returned light to Inchicore. At 18:30, 152 + 22032 departed North Wall for Portlaoise. These were the first sets delivered directly to Portlaoise.

The vehicle maker plates note they were manufactured by Hyundai-Rotem, instead of just Rotem on the 3-car sets already delivered.

A second delivery was made to Ocean Pier, by the MV Szymanowski on Saturday 15 March. Sets 22033 and 22034 were stored on the dock over the public holiday weekend and craned onto rails on Alexandra Rd on Tuesday 18 March. They were shunted on Alexandra Rd by 083 and brought to Heuston Goods by 141+185 where they stabled overnight. 175 brought set 22034 to Portlaoise depot next morning, departing at 11:15. On Thursday, 141 hauled set 22033 to Portlaoise.

The sets feature a driving first catering vehicle, type A1, numbered 221xx, where xx is the set number (See JOURNAL 163 for vehicle details). The catering facility features a waste disposal tank; previously kitchen waste dropped on to the track. There are four type B standard-class vehicles. These are numbered in sequence 227xx + 226xx + 225xx + 224xx. The sixth vehicle is a type A3 driving vehicle, as on the 3-car sets.

The 6-car sets will be numbered 22031-45. The full 22031 set contains vehicles 22131 + 22731 + 22631 + 22531 + 22431 + 22331.

2600-Class New seats are being fitted to the class, replacing the original bench seats. By April, set 2611/12 had been fitted.

2700-class The class is undergoing overhaul in Inchicore. Work also includes fitting of new wheelsets as required. Up to 11 vehicles, including 2753 receiving attention following collision damage, were in Inchicore in April. This resulted in some Mallow-Tralee services reverting to Mk III locomotive hauled trains.

The class is having its marker lights replaced by LEDs at Limerick Works.

Copyright © 2008 by Irish Railway Record Society Limited
Revised: March 04, 2010 .