Irish Railway Record Society

Journal 168 - LOCOMOTIVES  

141/181-Class There is now very little work for the class and by end of year only eleven 141-class and two 181-class were available for service. These were 141, 142, 144, 146, 147, 152, 162, 167, 171, 175, 177, 187 and 190.

Duties are now generally confined to Departmental trains, pilot duties and Kilmastulla-Mungert (Limerick) shale trains. Class involvement on regular passenger services ceased on 26 September when the Fridays-Only Limerick-Ennis portion of the 17:05 Dublin-Ennis and 20:20 Ennis-Limerick were worked by 142+146. The following week they were worked by 076 and thereafter by 2700-class railcars.

A pilot locomotive was retained in Limerick to shunt locomotive hauled stock. No pilot locomotives work North Wall yard, one is based in Connolly but is little used. From early December, Heuston station pilots were reduced from two to one, with the second locomotive used as a crew transfer ‘taxi’ between Heuston and Inchicore. This was to avoid stopping Cork-Dublin services at Inchicore for driver changes. On Friday 07 November, 144 and 167 were Heuston pilots. On Tuesday 16 December, Heuston locomotives were 146 and 187.

On Tuesday 23 September, 177 passed through Connolly at 11:59 hauling Alstom DARTs 8201 + 8202 from Pearse to Inchicore on a ‘DART transfer’. On Thursday 20 November, 171 worked the 09:00 Inchicore-Fairview DART transfer with 4-car set 8607/08.

On Wednesday 3 December, 146 worked light from Athlone to Claremorris to haul failed 227 back to Inchicore. This is reported to be the first working of a 141/181-class to Claremorris since August 2007. On Thursday 18 December, 175 hauled failed 076 from Ballina to Inchicore.

Scrapping continues at Inchicore; 192 was scrapped on 10 November, 173 on 13 November, 185 on 27 November and 163 on 17 December.

No. 173’s last working was on 28 August when it hauled refurbished LHB DART sets 8122 + 8116 from Alexandra Road to Fairview Depot. These were the last two LHB sets to return from overhaul, completing the refurbishment programme. Two days later it was shut down/failed at Connolly, coupled to 078, which subsequently hauled it to Inchicore.

163, scrapped on Wednesday 17 December, had been in service on the previous Friday.

071-class Major overhaul and fitting of Teloc event recorders continues at Inchicore. In November, 083 was in the Parlour (adjacent to the Ramps) for major refurbishment.

201-Class Overhauls continue at Inchicore. In November, 206 was in ‘The Ramps’ for major overhaul including main generator work. 229 received a new pilot (cow catcher) to replace that damaged in the derailment in Portarlington in August. With the decline in locomotive requirements, non push-pull fitted 201 and 202 were drained and stored in serviceable condition in Inchicore in December.

The class is now not permitted to operate between Longford and Sligo under any circumstances. This due to restrictions on UB500 Shannon Bridge at Drumsna, due to be renewed in Autumn 2009.

Copyright © 2009 by Irish Railway Record Society Limited
Revised: February 27, 2009 .