MD220

055, Tuam, 13th May 1989. My photo.

146, Holyhead yard, North Wall, Dublin on the 28th of May 1990. My photo.

I presume they were downgraded to 25mph due to E421's attempt to climb on to a road bridge outside Newbridge, but in the 4 or 5 years prior to this were the 401s permitted to run at higher speeds, I wonder?

Tickets are now available for this summer's ITG gala at the DCDR. https://www.downrail.co.uk/event/diesel-gala/

Photo taken personally. I think we are known to each other!

I think @GSWR 90's posts should be taken as a little tongue in cheek. Refer to previous posts by @Mike Beckett

That I don't know. That's my understanding of the situation anyway, I stand to be corrected.

121 class no. 124, 141 class no. 152, 181 class no. 190 and A class nos 003 and 015. All but 015 belong to the Irish Traction Group.

A masterpiece, indeed. Top job!

That looks fantastic. Great job, and has already been said, in such a short time too! A 421 class next, perhaps...??!

Traditionally, while shunting, a loco will show a white light and a red light at both ends. Otherwise, if travelling between two places it will show 2 white lights at the front end and one red at the rear. While the lights on the 401s are relatively large I don't believe they are any more than marker lights and wouldn't project like a headlight would.

Merlin is a GNRi V class loco.

The Ballynahinch Junction gate is still there, I pass it regularly!

Lovely job!

E428 was based in Limerick for quite a while and I've seen photos and film footage (on the IRRS YouTube channel I believe) of 429 shunting oil wagons in Cork.

This is looking fantastic. Great job!

The 421 class had lifting eyes which pivoted out from recesses behind the buffer beams, perhaps this was a lesson learned from difficulties in lifting the 401s !

One small point worth noting in this photo is that the silver handle fitted centrally on the control desk was not a standard feature. This is only to be found on E428 and was a control handle for the vigilance system which was added in preservation to allow for main line use. The rest of the class were never equipped with vigilance.

039 is Sinead, although she doesn't carry that name currently!

That is exquisite. Mind blown!

Lord Dunleath also provided the land required for the fledgling DCDR to begin construction in the mid '80s.

As a Downpatrick man born and raised I've spent all my 49 years living in and around the town and I have never seen anything like this. Shops and businesses in the town centre are under several feet of water. This is a devastating time for business owners along with the the DCDR, not only an important local attraction but a railway heritage centre of national importance. Truly awful.

These are lovely looking models. Does anyone know if any examples of these vans survived into preservation? I know that Westrail had one (2213N) but I have a suspicion that it might have been cut up, though I can't be sure.

The idea of using hydrogen as a clean fuel in internal combustion engines is great in theory as the only emission, as it burns, is water; however the problem lies in the creation of the hydrogen in the first place. Manufacturing hydrogen (by electrolysis of water) is hugely inefficient, requiring a lot of electrical energy. This can be accomplished using renewable energy sources, so called Green Hydrogen, but the amount of green hydrogen available currently is minimal. I still think its important to explore this idea of using clean fuels to run old technology but until an efficient method of creating hydrogen is developed I don't think we're really any better off.