GSR 800

Yes should be possible, though the prints 'as is' are usually designed just being the tender body, attached to the donor locos tender chassis. I'm sure @Killian Keane could do a full tender if commissioned. Was it confirmed that 186 been hauling around a 400 tender? I often heard it said but never knew the truth of it!

I've considered the 500s also, they're certainly something I'd like to commission sometime in the future. Was a bit of a toss up between the 400s and 500s when considering this. Main advantages the 400s have was their numbers and longevity.

233 sitting spare on the slab

12.50 today was DD

It's a high-quality respray; livery-wise, it's bang on. The transfers are excellent. The lack of buffer stocks and one of the cars is the biggest letdown. Pretty much impossible to model the current era without these things roaring around, polluting the place!

does weathering and billboards count?

Silverfox, Provincial, IFM

For Irish Rail, passenger numbers are booming. https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/06/24/cie-passenger-numbers-climbed-to-pre-covid-high-during-2024/ https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/belfast-to-dublin-train-numbers-jump-50-since-introduction-of-hourly-services-LIBSFAPPKBAIHFTKNONSBJYPPU/ Public transport as a whole has increased quite significantly: https://www.transportforireland.ie/news/its-thanks-a-million-from-nta-as-passenger-numbers-surge-to-a-new-high/ Every intercity train I've been on, no matter what the hour, has been near or at capacity, often crammed with people standing. IR has been trying to keep up with demand but the infrastructure bottlenecks are leading to delays. I think someone suggested terminating Sligo services at docklands, honestly may have to happen to relieve Connolly at some point to allow for improvement works. The question of 'will this last' economically is always a wise one to consider, but despite 'work from home' commuting continues to rise and rise. Many in my generation would not want to work from home full time (I certainly would not!) Ultimately even if it all went tits up, the Belfast line will still need significant works as is. My experience is not in infrastructure projects, but Irish Rail does a lot of refurbishment and improvement work in-house, with the assistance or inclusion of contractors. Other projects are left to contractors entirely. Like all things it comes down to finding good people to do the job. I am far more optimistic about continued strong demand for rail transport across the nation than anything else. I am more pessimistic that infrastructure will be built to accommodate. A no-brainer would be double-tracking to Mullingar or even Longford. Delays at Maynooth and Killucan 'waiting in the loop' add an extra 10-15 minutes to every journey at least. Every bridge is built to accommodate it, though many of the rail bridges (over roads) were singled and would have to be replaced. No need for expensive land acquisitions. With Dart+ West this will become even more necessary; you'll be stuck behind a Dart out as far as Maynooth, time will have to be made up thereafter. Perhaps someday the long-suffering Midland will get the love it deserves!

A big problem you have is that the state has lost a lot of the wherewithal to build public infrastructure, having privatised everything during the neoliberal revolution of the 80s. You can see this here in Ireland. We're pretty good at building roads; there are always roads being built. But we haven't built big infrastructure projects like hospitals or railways, and so they often end up being expensive disasters with a great degree of rent seeking going on. Interestingly, Madrid built a metro system very successfully by effectively designing the construction around the election cycle so politicians could 'cash in' on various tranches of the metro being completed (say a section built every 5 years, lined up with election cycles). A pragmatic solution! I'd argue the tide has shifted, at least in Britain (and many other European countries), toward the state having a more significant role in the ownership of public goods. The slow beginnings of this can be seen in the UK with renationalisation (the clunkily named Great British Railways) along with the constant backlash against private water, utility companies etc. Britain suffers the pioneers curse. First to do it, stuck with ancient infrastructure (Same as ourselves!) and thus restricted by it. It comes with advantages of course, they have an enormous expanse of underground tunnels since the 1860s, whereas some 50 years after proposal, all we have to show for our metro is part of the airport designed to accommodate and 500 million euro spent on nothing. Onto the Enterprise. The Belfast main line is one of, if not the busiest line in the country, with its southern terminus being the most busy station in the country. With major improvement works comes major delays, so on and so forth. Ultimately, I think they may have to just bite the bullet and go either quad track or with a separate HSR running in parallel. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but it certainly cannot continue as is. Widening the viaduct up towards Clontarf and onward would be a 19th century slightly suspect railway developers job! The US is a different kettle of fish of course.

Tbh don't really understand the idea of an hourly Enterprise before gettin new sets in. Purely from a promo pov, you're offering the customer a very varied experience on a DD/ICR/CAF. The DDs and locos ain't getting any younger. Doubt we'll see them until 2030 though. Perhaps a better alternative would be make the Enterprise non stop to say, Drogheda or Dundalk, and from there have a connecting ICR or CAF making the more regular stops. The morning Enteprise is used as a de facto commuter up and down the Belfast main line. Nothing can be done about the DART problem until there's extra tracks to avoid them altogether.

Glory to the 29s!

3003+3002 on 14.50 ex Connolly

Maedbh has had her wheels painted. Needs a little bit of weathering! Might make up some brake cylinders for her at some point.

Excellent work Killian, as always! Really is transformative.

14.50 was NIR CAF 3003+3002 206 still on shed.