Warbonnet

Full details here, folks! Many thanks for the guesses! Cheers! Fran

We love a good collaboration here at IRM, and we are delighted to team up with our Danish friends at Heljan to bring you a run of the former BR Oil tankers bought by CIE in the late 1960s and modified for Irish operations. Synonymous on the "Sligo Oil" trains, these B Class tank wagons were modified with additional bracing between the tank barrel and chassis which we have tooled up to make these authentic for the Irish variants of these distinct wagons. Operating in block trains until 2003, and as part of the Sligo liner for a couple more years, the Sligo oil train operated from North Wall to Sligo at a steady pace of just 35 miles per hour. To replicate these workings, we have commissioned Heljan to produce 3 packs of four wagons for the Esso train in block formation. Using photos and other historical data, we have developed a block train formation of these characterful wagons, so you can replicate these iconic workings that were very much an everyday scene of Irish railfreight for many, many years. Coming in 3 packs of 4 wagons, there are 12 differently numbered tankers available in this strictly limited, one off run. Each pack is priced at €169.99 per 4 wagons with 10% off when you buy two or more. As these are a commission from Heljan, they are only available direct via the IRM and Accurascale website. The tank wagons are now manufactured and will be in stock with us in Q1 2025. Pre-order yours today via the link below! Pre-order Your Esso Tank Wagons Here! View the full article

We love a good collaboration here at IRM, and we are delighted to team up with our Danish friends at Heljan to bring you a run of the former BR Oil tankers bought by CIE in the late 1960s and modified for Irish operations. Synonymous on the "Sligo Oil" trains, these B Class tank wagons were modified with additional bracing between the tank barrel and chassis which we have tooled up to make these authentic for the Irish variants of these distinct wagons. Operating in block trains until 2003, and as part of the Sligo liner for a couple more years, the Sligo oil train operated from North Wall to Sligo at a steady pace of just 35 miles per hour. To replicate these workings, we have commissioned Heljan to produce 3 packs of four wagons for the Esso train in block formation. Using photos and other historical data, we have developed a block train formation of these characterful wagons, so you can replicate these iconic workings that were very much an everyday scene of Irish railfreight for many, many years. Coming in 3 packs of 4 wagons, there are 12 differently numbered tankers available in this strictly limited, one off run. Each pack is priced at €169.99 per 4 wagons with 10% off when you buy two or more. As these are a commission from Heljan, they are only available direct via the IRM and Accurascale website. The tank wagons are now manufactured and will be in stock with us in Q1 2025. Pre-order yours today via the link below! Pre-order Your Esso Tank Wagons Here! View the full article

Hi everyone, We have one more IRM announcement to round off 2024 in famous fashion! Tomorrow at 11am we will announce and all new wagon that will be added to the range. The most exciting part is that it is produced and about to ship from the factory, so due in stock in the new year. What will it be? Feel free to speculate below, and check back here tomorrow morning to find out! Cheers Fran

Who doesn't love a bargain? And in these times of uncertainty in the wider world we need to consider value for money. We've always worked tirelessly to bring you the very best models for the best possible value for money. However, in this case we have really gone above and beyond. Exceptional value, you might say! How about a brand new, never run model at a whopping 75% off the RRP? This is available with 5 different packs with 10 different running numbers. It's Irish outline, fully detailed, and works perfectly. Let's welcome to our 'Dicky Taras', our Tara Mines twin pack wagons for just €20 a box! "Listen, there is a catch right? That's crazy value!" you are probably muttering to yourself. Don't be so suspicious! Well, yes. A slight one. Gather around and we'll tell you a story... Okay. Fádo, fádo, we were working on our first run of Tara Mines wagons. During development it was noted that the pre-production model was incorrect. The bodyside strakes did not extend down the full length of the wagons. Now, here's what it should look like... Exquisite! What our sample looked like... Right! As you can see, they stop too short of the wagon. In other words, our first run of wagons was manufactured both correctly and incorrectly. Initially the factory used the incorrect tooling, and we ended up with a batch of Taras with the incorrect bodysides. This was then corrected with the correct tooling and customers received a truly excellent model that was spot on. Corrected and delivered, they sold out in no time. But, what about these 'dicky' Taras as we christened them? Well, they have sat in a dark corner of a warehouse for many, many years, guarded by 'Top Men'. However, it seems silly keeping them locked away, when they too could be enjoyed by modellers who are not overly bothered with this blemish. So, we will be offering them for sale, strictly 'sold as seen' at the Dublin show this weekend for a mere €20 a twin pack. That's just €10 per wagon. A highly detailed, beautifully finished wagon that is Irish outline. Yes, the strakes are not long enough, but you cant argue that it's an incredible bargain. Insane bargain, right!?! Limited stock will be available at the Dublin Show this weekend only. But, if you cant make the show and can only shop online, then don't worry! We will have them listed on our website for the same price for our Black Friday sale in November. If we have any after that they will be sold at shows and the odd flash sale only till they're gone. Each box will be stamped 'Reject' so they can not be passed off as original stock either as they have the same running number and barcode as our first run of Tara mines wagons in red oxide livery. Strike while the iron is hot this weekend and bag yours as IRM brings you the true bargain of the model railway world. View the full article

Black Friday is here and our remaining stock of "Dicky Taras" are on sale. But that's not all, we have a very nice deal on their newer, prettier and better blue counterparts too. Sale runs until 5pm on Cyber Monday (November 28th), or whenever stock runs out! Deal 1: Dicky Taras Each pack will be €25 euro each, with FREE POSTAGE to Ireland and 3% rewards points earned! 10% Rake Deal applies when you buy two packs or more! Due to limited amount of stock and high demand, each customer is limited to a max of 2 packs per running number (10 packs total) Deal 2: Blue Tara Sale They're pretty, flawless and come with brass bearings, but we still have an amazing deal on them. 20% off each pack with Free Irish postage A further 10% off when you buy two packs or more 3% cashback on each pack through our loyalty points. SHOP FOR YOUR BLACK FRIDAY TARA DEALS RIGHT HERE View the full article

Time for another project update, and this time we turn our attentions to our lovely Mark 2 NIR Enterprise coaches; a subject that has been crying out for a high fidelity, up to date model of this classic, crossborder service. So, where are we at? We announced our Mark 2Bs to an amazing reception in late August of 2021, with the models of all variations already tooled in both Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) BR and guise for our sister brand, Accurascale. While overall they looked very impressive, we were unhappy with several areas, mainly around the bogies and some aspects where tooling could be improved. We then completed this work, but getting it spot on took longer than we liked. Another area that needed improving was the internal lighting, which while very effective looking was causing an odd issue. We noted that with extensive testing that the lighting board was causing heat issues which could distort the detail, so these had to be redesigned and further tested. We're delighted that the boards now do not suffer from excessive heat and perform excellently. Production was scheduled to be completed by now with the models arriving in stock. However, the longer time than envisaged to complete the Accurascale Mark 5 coaches has also impacted this schedule. The good news is that production is now well underway. Delivery of the Mark 2B coaches will now be in Q2 2023, with Chinese New Year close down impacting on our delivery timeline. We apologise for this delay, but we want these coaches to operate and function correctly, as well as looking the very best they can. We're confident that they will set a whole new standard when it comes to Mark 2 coaches in model form. We are completely sold out on our Enterprise and RPSI coaches on pre-order. However, you can pre-order the next chapter of our Mark 2 odyssey, the IR and IE Mark 2C coaches, due in stock in Q3 2023 right here. View the full article

(All photographs copyright of The Wanderer. Do Not Use Without Prior Permission) In 2003, with commuter traffic into Dublin increasing rapidly on the roads and the growth of the intercity commuter sector on the rail network, it was clear that the existing fleet of locomotive hauled Mk2 and Mk3 coach stock in operation with Iarnród Éireann at that point would be unable to provide the capacity for growth, or to provide additional services, and so Iarnród Éireann looked to replace this rolling stock with either Diesel, or Diesel Electric, multiple units. Under the National Development Plan, funding was available under the transport sector, or Transport 21 and Iarnród Éireann’s business case called for an anticipated total of 120 vehicles; to serve routes into Dublin from Limerick, Waterford, Tralee, Galway and Westport. An invitation to tender was processed in 2004, with six companies meeting the criteria and in December that year, the contract was awarded to Mitsui & Co. of Japan, with Hyundai Rotem of Korea designing, constructing and assembling the vehicles which, by the time of delivery, had risen to 234 vehicles over four separate orders. Initially, the Class 22000 Inter City Railcar (ICR) was supplied in four distinct set variants: Units 22001-22006 as 3-car Standard Class, equipped for Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) operations. Units 22007-22030 and 22046-22063 as 3-car Standard Class. Units 22031-22040 as 6-car Premier Class (with catering vehicle). Units 22041-22045 as 6-car Standard Class (high density seating). Emphasis was placed on passenger comfort and so the 2+2 seats were designed in ‘airline style’ and were matched to window bays, with a completely revised InterCity silver and green livery marking the stock as vastly different from the preceding Orange and Black era. Disabled and limited mobility access was given priority, along with toilet facilities, and space was given over to wheelchairs, bicycles and limited parcels carriage. Traction was supplied via MTU units. Delivery into Ireland commenced from March 2007, initially into Dublin for loading onto the Alexandra Road railhead and then from early 2008 at Waterford’s deep water port, due to disruption caused by unloading at Dublin. Once unloaded, vehicles were formed into trains and moved to Limerick Works for commissioning and testing by Hyundai and Iarnród Éireann teams, followed by final acceptance trials at Inchicore, with sets typically taking 12 weeks from unloading to entry into passenger service. The only major glitch in the supply chain came during the summer of 2007, when 3-car sets 10 and 11 were found to be riddled through with electrolyte corrosion of the piping and electrical systems, probably due to exposure to phosphorous gas in transit, and were rejected by Iarnród Éireann’s engineers and returned to Korea for replacement. Deliveries of the 234 vehicles was fully completed by 2012; the first units having entered service in December 2007 on the Sligo line and initially the sets were each covering over 200,000km per annum, with reliability exceeding anything on the UK network at that time. As traffic patterns changed, from 2013 over half the fleet were reformed into 4-car and 5-car sets to better match passenger demand on some routes, with cars being removed from some 6-car sets and added to some of the 3-car sets. These transfers were marked by a renumbering programme to the UIC format (although some vehicles still retain their original numbers) and typically, the transferred vehicles carry numbers in the 228xx range. In 2019, an additional 41 vehicles were ordered to increase capacity at peak periods and the first of these new B2 MSO vehicles have now been delivered, arriving on September 7 2022. These new MSOs are intended to be integrated into new 6-car sets, with fleet formations changing again to consist of 21 x 3-car, 20 x 4-car and 22 6-car sets, against the current formations of 3-car, 4-car, 6-car or 7-car sets. The key routes set to benefit from the new sets, due to enter service in the first half of 2023, will be those trains into Dublin from Kildare, Maynooth/M3 Parkway and Dundalk/Drogheda, as well as the longer haul Intercity services. The ICR fleet, being so new at introduction in 2007, required a purpose built maintenance facility and the new €69.5 million state-of-the-art Traincare Depot was constructed at Portlaoise, opening on July 25, 2008. As well as the purpose-built servicing and maintenance roads, fuelling depots and train cleaning facilities, the Depot also houses its own wheel-turning lathe, with vehicles being positioned in the lathe by a remotely controlled battery locomotive. An integral part of the wheel lathe equipment supplied by Sculfort, the company has created the RBL-020-400 Locotractor to position the train above the underfloor wheel lathes; operated from a control panel next to the lathe or from a mobile remote-control set. Portlaoise’s Sculfort RBL-020-400 remote controlled battery locotractor is one of two units supplied by the company, the other being in place at SouthEastern’s Traincare Depot in the United Kingdom at Ashford, in Kent. With a top speed of just 3mph, the Locotractors are ideal vehicles for accurately positioning rolling stock and Portlaoise’s example is named after Tom Lynam, a former driver based at Portlaoise and carries the number 621, a tribute to the former G-Class locomotives that were used for shunting. FACTFILE There are four vehicle types currently available within the 22000 Class: A1 Driving Cars in the 221xx range (designated as DRBFO), with 36 First Class seats, Buffet Counter and Accessibility toilet. A2 Driving Cars in the 222xx range (designated as DMSO), with 66 Standard Class seats and standard toilet. A3 Driving Cars in the 223xx range (designated as DMSO), with 52 Standard Class seats and Accessibility toilet (The A3 DMSO is the only one of the three driving cars to be present in all sets formed). B/B1 Intermediate Cars in the 224xx/225xx/226xx/227xx/228xx range (designated as MSO), with 72 Standard Class seats and standard toilets. The new B2 Intermediate Cars (MSO) have 60 Standard Class seats, with an additional 8 Priority seats and 9 flip-up seats in the cycle storage area, but will lack any toilet facilities. View the full article

Well then, who could've predicted that? Our second powered model for IRM is an everyday sight, stalwart of the passenger services across the country for the last 15 years and our very first railcar model. It is of course, the 220000 Class Rotem ICR railcars! Prototype History The ICRs have reached all corners of the rail network in Ireland, and also operated on cross-border 'Enterprise' duties to Belfast in their 15 years on our network to date. Originally delivered in 3 and 6 car formats, there has been numerous reshufflings of the fleet since then, with 3, 4, 5 and 6 car sets common sights. Additional cars are even being delivered currently, with the fleet proving to be totally reliable and completely dependable. Check out our history file here to learn more about the interesting lives the ICRs have lived to date. The Model Following on from the success of our A Class, we have been looking to make a pretty big statement in our second powered model. While locomotives, especially diesels, have become well served on the Irish scene, railcars have been a poor relation. So, we felt it was time to take up the mantle and provide a model of the most numerous train which can be seen around the country today. Doing the Rotems justice requires doing it 'the IRM Way', so a wonderful mix of the variations, formation lengths and high quality detail and finish has been built into the models which will find their homes on your layout. As you can see from these images, the detail itself is going to be exquisite. Our friends in Irish Rail have played a pivotal part in this model, giving us access to the fleet at their HQ at Portlaoise Traincare Depot on a number of occasions as we measured up an surveyed the real deals. This has allowed us to create probably the most detailed ever railcar model in OO gauge, with a whole host of features, including: Detail Highly detailed 3, 4 and 6 car railcar sets depicting the life to date of the 220000 class railcars The Driving Cars (DRBFO and DMSO) are supplied with optional extended magnetic front mounted Voith couplings, to allow for authentic multiple set working. The Driving Cars (DRBFO and DMSO) are fitted with poseable front fairings at the front. Fully detailed die-cast underframe with all cylinders, battery boxes, cabinets and piping applied separately Eroded metal, plastic and wire detail parts, including (but not limited to) roof detail, handrails, door handles, lamp brackets, brake gear, brake discs, draw gear, vents and louvres Prism free flush glazing Fully directional lighting, with full range of lighting options for day/night running and shunting/yard configurations. Full passenger interior lighting in all vehicles, set at correct colour temperature, with hidden stay-alive capacitors, pick up from one bogie and a reed switch to control on/off via a magnetic wand Separate cab lighting configurations Close coupled gangways, that will be maintained over curves via kinetic couplings Performance Driven car will feature 5-pole skew wound motor with twin flywheels for optimum performance while also maintaining passenger saloon detail, with no blocking of windows by unsightly motor enclosure. Die-cast metal chassis with plastic body. Target weight of 650g for the motorised driving car Wheelbase of 209.97mm, for all vehicles, allowing operation over a minimum radius of 438mm (2nd radius set-track) Metal helical gears fitted for maximum performance and slow speed running. Gearing arranged so drive car can achieve a scale maximum top speed of 100 mph (161 kmh), as a 6-car unit. DCC ready with PowerPack capacitor for uninterrupted power. Un-motored (or dummy) cars, but retain full lighting features, being DCC ready with PowerPack capacitor for uninterrupted power. Fully directional lighting, with full range of lighting options for day/night running and shunting/yard configurations. Full passenger interior lighting in all vehicles, set at correct colour temperature, with hidden stay-alive capacitors, pick up from one bogie and a reed switch to control on/off via a magnetic wand. Separate cab lighting configurations. Operable Central Door Locking (CDL) lights on bodyside. DCC factory fitted sound option available on all variants with ESU Loksound 5 sound decoder Permanently fitted speakers mounted in both types of DMSO and DRBFO. All sounds recorded exclusively for Irish Model Railways by our in-house sound engineer. Delivery and Payment Options So, we know these are going to be a bit special, and laden with features and detail to really give it that 'wow' factor. A model in Irish outline that would be the envy of any continental modeller. The big questions now are; when and how much? Well, one helps with the other. As you can see, we have published CAD renders for the launch. This means that all the CAD design is complete and now tooling is under way. We expect first samples by the Bangor and Wexford shows in April/May 2023, decorated samples this time next year, and modellers will take delivery of these railcars in Q2 2024. We also are aware that the costs of living has gone up in recent times, so we have fought to keep the prices as keen as possible. Remember, this is a price for a complete train, basically a high specification locomotive and some coaches. DC/DCC Ready Sound 3 Car - €349.99 4 Car - €429.99 6 Car - €579.99 DCC Factory Fitted Sound Models 3 Car - €472.99 4 Car - €552.99 6 Car - €702.99 Six car packs also get a free bonus model of the Sculfort locotractor used to shunt the real ICRs around the Portlaoise works (unmotorised). It was cute, so we decided to tool that up too! So, plenty of time to plan our your purchases and it also allows you to make use of our partial.ly and clearpay options, that allow you to spread the cost over easier monthly payments at no extra cost! Just simply add the models to your cart, click on the cart and you will see the options to either spread the cost over 6 months, pay a deposit with the balance when the models came into stock, or up front now to get it out of the way. The partial.ly system can be used on any model that is 6 months or more away from arrival, so perfect for the ICRs. Railcars can be costly, but they are also complete trains bought in one go. So, you need not buy more rolling stock to build a train, they're the full train in one go. To keep the models cost effective, we are unable to offer these to trade as their margin increases the price. Therefore, they will only be available to buy direct via IRM. They will also be made in extremely limited quantities (must less than the A Class) so early ordering is advised. Click here to place your pre-order today View the full article

Is there anything more iconic on Ireland's railways than passenger coaches in orange and black livery? We certainly struggle to think of one, so it was high time we offer a model in such a condition. After much demand, here is our beautiful Mark 2B coaches in orange and black, with IR and IE liveries offered and say hello to our Mark 2C too, following on from our Accurascale BR and NIR Mark 2 line of coaches. History (All prototype photos copyright Mark Hodge. Do not use without express prior permission) Desperate for additional coaching stock, Irish Rail made a deal with scrapper Vic Berry of Leicester in 1990 to swap a number of withdrawn C 201 Class locomotives for ex-British Rail Mk.2s. While CIÉ had famously acquired BREL-built air-conditioned and vacuum-braked Mk.2d vehicles in the early 1970s, the 16 secondhand coaches were a mix of open vehicles and corridor stock and were taken from the earlier batches that were pressure ventilated, while all but the earliest BR-specification coaches were air-brake only. They also operated to a different electrical voltage to the rest of the IR roster, which made them completely incompatible and required the use of three specially modified ‘Dutch’ generator vans, Nos. 4601-4603. Nine members of the fleet were put into service with little modification other than a repaint, including a single Mk.2 SO, three Mk.2a SO and five declassified Mk.2c SO (ex-FO). A further five declassified Corridor Seconds vehicles (ex-FK), two Mk.2a, a Mk.2b and two Mk.2c, were rebuilt at Inchicore Works as Open Seconds (SO) with 2+2 seating, while another pair of Mk.2b SK were even more heavily modified as Buffet Open Seconds. The former were numbered 4101-4114 and the mini-buffets as 4401/4402. They were usually formed in two rakes of between five and eight coaches and could only work with air-braked locomotives, which meant GM Classes 071, 121, 141, 181 and 201. They were initially repainted Intercity livery with orange roofs and put into service on secondary services to Drogheda, Galway, Limerick, Tralee, Westport and Waterford. They could also be found deputising on cross-border workings between Dublin and Belfast, sometimes even with NIR motive power. By the late 1990s the classic points logo had been replaced with the later IE branding on each of the four corner doors, while further tweaks included black roofs and the overpainting of the aluminium finish window frames in black as well. Retirement eventually came in the early 2000s as new 29000 Class railcars were delivered. Six vehicles initially made it into preservation, but only four grounded bodies now remain: Nos. 4108, 4110 and 4402 at Moyasta Junction and No. 4106 at Kilmeadean. The Model Building on the tooling platform we first developed for our NIR Mark 2 Enterprise coaches and our BR Mark 2B coaches, the new IRM Mark 2 models imitate reality in repurposing ex BR stock for Irish operations. Naturally, our gauge correct wider B4 bogies will be employed, along with full interior lighting, fully detailed interiors, a wealth of separately applied detail, sprung buffers and bespoke tooling for mini buffets 4401 and 4402. Common Features: Highly-detailed OO Gauge / 1:76.2 Scale Models on 16.5mm track Extremely fine exterior rivet detail on roof and coach ends Separately-applied etched metal and high-fidelity plastic parts, including handrails, brake/steam heat pipes, ETH cabling and sockets, footsteps, dummy drophead knuckle coupler, and roof vents Prism Free Glazing Pre-painted/printed Western Region destination boards and holders plus water filler covers provided for customer to install Fully-detailed underframe with numerous separate parts, pipe runs and accurate differences between versions The most accurate B4 bogie ever produced, with provision for re-gauging to EM or P4 (British 18.83mm or Irish 21mm) gauges Blackened RP25.110 profile wheel-sets with 14.4mm back-to-back measurements, and 26mm over pinpoints Different buffers for retracted and non-retracted positions Accurate interiors with characteristic 'winged' headrests, separate metal interior handrails on the brake and corridor vehicles and fully-detailed guard's compartment Correct height NEM standard coupling sockets with mini tension lock couplers and kinematic close-coupling Easy conversion to Kadee-compatiable knuckle couplers Full lighting package, including; magnet 'wand' controlled interior lighting 'Stay-Alive' capacitor in all coaches directional lighting with DC or DCC control (Driving Trailer only) Minimum Radius 438mm (2nd Radius Set-track) Coach Length: 269mm Price And Delivery As can be seen, these coaches are already tooled up and have been part of our plans from the outset of our Mark II coach project. With delivery of the NIR coaches due later this year (and completely sold out on pre-order!) it is time to implement the first phase of run 2 with these coaches. A total of eight coaches will be offered in IR livery and eight in later IE livery, sold in sets of four coach "rake builder" packs allowing us to give you greater value per coach. Each pack will be priced at €269.99 each. Delivery is slated for Q4 2023 and as ever, demand is expected to be high! So, plenty of time to plan our your purchases and it also allows you to make use of our partial.ly and clearpay options, that allow you to spread the cost over easier monthly payments at no extra cost! Just simply add the models to your cart, click on the cart and you will see the options to either spread the cost over 6 months, pay a deposit with the balance when the models came into stock, or up front now to get it out of the way. The partial.ly system can be used on any model that is 6 months or more away from arrival, so perfect for the Mark 2s. Pre-order yours by clicking here! View the full article

Exciting news! Our Rotem 22000 class railcars have been a big hit since we announced them at the MRSI show last October with 25% of the production run already sold on pre-order. Our first ever railcar, and the first prototypically accurate Irish railcar ever made in Ready to Run format, the ICRs are now in tooling with excellent progress being made so far as these photos from the factory demonstrate: The first tooling sample will be with us over the summer, and we may look to organise an event to premiere it for the first time, so watch this space! In the meantime pre-orders have been coming thick and fast for what promises to be an exquisite model, the very first bespoke Irish Railcar in high quality, ready-to-run format. So, don't hang about. Delivery is on schedule for summer 2024 and a 3D print of the model will be on show at the Wexford Model Railway show on April 30th and May 1st 2023, so make sure you drop by to check it out. Remember, you can spread the costs across monthly installments at no extra cost using the the partial.ly system on our website to make it kinder to your wallet! Get your pre-order in today! CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER YOUR 22000 ICR! View the full article

Merry Christmas from the IRM team! It's been another exciting year for us (which we will detail in our review of the year next week) and we hope you are all settling down to have an excellent and relaxing festive season with your family, friends, and of course playing trains too! However, we couldn't let Christmas pass without bringing some more cheer, so we are offering a first look at decorated samples of our lovely IR and IE Mark 2C coaches. These beauties were announced at the Dublin show in October and decorated samples arrived with us last week for inspection. As you can see, they're shaping up very nicely indeed. With an amazing spec of highly detailed interiors, interior lighting, correctly gauged bogies, a wealth of separately applied parts, realistic close coupling and more, these will be the perfect passenger stock for your layout. They have also been hugely popular on pre-order, so if you fancy some, make sure you get your order in soon. Delivery is slated for Q3 2023 and you can pre-order right here! View the full article

Commodious. Comfortable. Quirky and quintessentially Irish, the Park Royal coaches represent the maximum use of our generous loading gauge and an iconic piece of Irish coaching stock. It was about time it was represented faithfully in OO/4mm. A project that has been in-hand for a while now, we're delighted to bring you the news of the IRM CIE Park Royal coaches, representing these icons from the 1950s which served CIE and later Irish Rail well into the 1990s. Check out our extensive history of these unique coaches over a tipple below... HISTORY On July 1, 1948 the Irish Government asked Sir James Milne, last General Manager of the United Kingdom’s Great Western Railway, to investigate the state of internal transport in Ireland and his report, published later that year, suggested that diesel traction alone would not be the answer to Córas Iompair Éireann’s problems. Deemed inadequate to meet the needs of the population, Milne’s report highlighted that the average age of CIÉ’s coaching stock was 47 years old, with 155 vehicles being over 60 years old and that a large proportion of the vehicles had not had a general repair for over 10 years, with some not being overhauled since 1929. Milne noted that, as at January 1, 1948, coaching stock (exclusive of the Drumm Battery trains), amounted to 1325 vehicles and of these, 1251 were broad gauge, with 369 bogie passenger carriages and 394 non-bogie passenger carriages, while other coaching vehicles amounted to 29 bogie vehicles and 459 non-bogie vehicles. Six-wheel stock was prevalent and of the 763 passenger vehicles, 155 still had no heating, and two even had no form of artificial lighting. There were only 34 coaches of what could be considered as modern design and all these vehicles were at least 11 years old. Something needed to change. On January 1, 1950, Córas Iompair Éireann was nationalised and within a couple of years the board of CIÉ had approved a capital expenditure programme of almost £1 million on new coaching stock under the direction of Oliver Bulleid. In September 1949 Bulleid had retired from his role as Chief Mechanical Engineer of British Railways Southern Region and was well placed to assist with the CIÉ’s move towards modernisation, having been one of three further technical assessors to Sir James Milne during his reporting phase. Bullied became a consulting mechanical engineer to CIÉ at the invitation of T. C. Courtney, the new chairman of CIE, and succeeded to the post of Chief Mechanical Engineer in February 1950, becoming the architect of the major construction programme that saw almost 500 new coaching stock vehicles entering service over the following 14 year period. The bulk of these new vehicles were constructed of a steel-clad, wooden framed body, mounted on a steel underframe, but there were notable exceptions to this method of construction; the first of these being two sets of coaches that were supplied by Park Royal during 1955 and 1956, in which the timber framing of the body was replaced by a metal frame, and was mounted on an all-welded triangulated 61’ 6” underframe, running on Commonwealth bogies. These underframes were made in the United Kingdom, by the Wolverhampton firm of John Thompson Pressings Ltd. Supplied in component form, the use of prefabricated components supplied by Park Royal allowed for volume construction using a semi-skilled workforce and a single bodyshell type was used for both suburban and main line use, to diagrams 176 and 177 respectively, but with different interior layouts. The body was built integral with the frame and bus pillars (unsurprisingly, given Park Royals coach building credentials) gave support, with the roof being carried on closely spaced hoopsticks, three to a bay. The bodyside was only as thick as it needed to be to carry the window frames and was sealed inside, before plywood lining panels were fitted direct to the frames. Lateral support came from two channel sectioned, externally fitted waist rails on each side, giving the Park Royals their distinctive external appearance. The coaches made full use of the Irish loading gauge, being 61’ 6” inches long and 10’ 2” wide, this width reducing by 8” at each end, necessary to maintain gauging on curves. Due to their aluminium and steel construction, they only weighed 26 tons tare for the D176 suburban and 27¼ tons tare for the D177 main line type. Initially, two seating layouts were offered; the D176 suburban seating 82 passengers in a 2+3 arrangement, with 6 seats in each vestibule area, and the D177 main line seating 70 passengers in a similar 2+3 arrangement, but with toilet facilities at each vestibule end. Initially both diagrams were supplied with inward opening ‘bus’ type doors, however these proved unpopular and confusing to the passengers and so the coaches were fitted with conventional outside opening doors as they next passed through Inchicore, the door window position being lowered in the process. This work was carried out by 1958 and there were no more changes to the coaches until the Train Lighting conversions during 1972, the Park Royal’s lighting initially being generated on-board via dynamo and battery. There were, eventually, several variants in service, with two main conversions giving rise to ‘Snack Cars’, and then Brake Standards. Six main line vehicles were converted to ‘Snack Cars’ in 1968, with one vestibule end incorporating a small counter and serving area and the seating reduced to 56, before being either reconverted to main line standards or Brake Standards in 1984. In all, eight vehicles were converted to Brake Standards at this time, being drawn from Snack Car, suburban and Ambulance vehicles; the latter conversions being the creation of two Ambulance vehicles from existing suburban coaches, to convey invalided pilgrims to Knock Shrine in County Mayo. Two suburban vehicles also found use on the Waterford & Tramore Railway, one having bus seating installed to act as a 93 seat trailer, the other (No. 1408), being converted for use as a Driving Vehicle Trailer on the branch until 1960. During the 1980s, appearances began to change, and the distinction between suburban and main line versions became blurred in some instances. Many of the coaches lost the circular window at the vestibule ends, with the remaining windows sometimes being reduced in size. On other vehicles, the water pipes on toilet equipped coaches were sometimes arranged in different configurations as pipes were renewed, and passenger communication gear was adapted, or removed entirely from the vehicle ends. The Park Royal coaches continued in service until the early-1990s, before being barred from certain routes due to their construction, with the last few Park Royal carriages being withdrawn following the delivery of the first Japanese 2600 Class DMUs in 1994. During their period in traffic, Bulleid’s coaches carried a full gamut of liveries; the 40 D176 suburbans carrying the lighter standard overall mid-green livery, with the thinner eau-de-nil stripe carried below the windows, on the waist channelling. Vehicle ends were observed as being the same colour but were prone to extreme discolouration by weathering, and so it is difficult to ascertain whether, in the later years of mid-green application, the body ends were green, repainted black, or just merely filthy. The ten D177 mainline vehicles initially appeared in unpainted Aluminium, with red class designations and running numbers between 1955 and 1958, before this impractical arrangement was covered with the application of mid-green, with lined Eau-de-Nil class designations. In 1962 the mid-green scheme was replaced with black upper panels, roof and body ends, and deep orange (or golden brown/tan) lower panels with a 6” white band between the windows and the roof. In 1987, under Iarnród Éireann, the 6” band was dropped and replaced with two 3” white bands, either side of the black panel, although it was possible that some Park Royals carried a single white band, reduced to 3”. The Model This first run of Park Royal coaches concentrates on the D.176 suburban variants throughout their service life, but also includes a couple of ex-D.177 Snack Car vehicles. We will, in time, also add the D.177 mainline versions to the range, along with BSO conversions and the two Knock Ambulance cars; AM14 and AM15. With an unrivalled specification list such as a wealth of separately applied parts, both plastic and etched metal, with also fully detailed Irish commonwealth bogies for the first time in ready-to-run format, detail variations, wire handrails, bespoke detailed interiors depending on coach type, full interior lighting with stay alive powerpack for flicker free lighting and a die cast underframe to ensure smooth running, they offer unbeatable value at just €69.99 per coach, with our usual 10% off when you buy two coaches or more! We are delighted to time the announcement of these beautiful coaches with the Wexford Model Railway Show this weekend, where we will have a 3D print of the final CAD on view. In the meantime, you can place your pre-order with no money down now via our website for a delivery date of Q2 2024. Expect to see a fully finished sample over the summer too! Pre-order here below: PRE-ORDER YOUR PARK ROYAL COACHES HERE (Despite their widespread service, and longevity of service, good clear photographs of individual Park Royal coaches are rare, and so Irish Railway Models are grateful for the photographic contributions from the Irish Rail Record Society, Jonathan Allen, Colin ‘Ernie’ Brack, Neil Smith and Noel Dodd. Thanks must also go to John Beaumont for his valuable knowledge on livery issues, as well as Peter Rigney, but the final mention must go to Robert Gardiner and the volunteers at the Downpatrick and County Down Railway, who accommodated us on several survey visits.) Key Statistics Highly-detailed 00 gauge model, 1:76.2 scale on 16.5mm track Scale length of 246mm over body, width of 40.67mm across body Operation over a minimum radius of 438mm (2nd radius set-track) Die-cast metal chassis with plastic body. Accurate CIÉ Commonwealth bogies, with separate detailing where appropriate, that allows for the option of re-gauging to Irish Broad Gauge (21mm). Brake blocks aligned with wheels, allowing for the option of moving outwards for Irish Broad Gauge. 12mm wheels are blackened RP25-110 profile for 00 gauge, set on 2mm axles, 28mm over pin-points and with 14.4mm back-to-back measurement. NEM standard coupling sockets, with mini-tension lock couplers with a kinematic close-coupling system. Scale width wire handrails, water pipes, passenger communication gear. Headstock pipes and cabling included in accessory polybag for customer fitting, along with Kosan Gas Tank for the Snack Car. Fully detailed die-cast underframe with vacuum cylinders, battery boxes, dynamo and piping applied separately. Accurate interior layouts, with detailed seating and decorated where appropriate. Full guard’s compartment and kitchen/snack bar area detailing where appropriate, including use of etched metal detailing. Prism free flush glazing. Interior coach lighting with stay-alive capacitor, pick up from both bogies and a reed switch to control on/off via magnetic wand. Separate roof vent types, set in correct locations. View the full article

Announced at the 2022 Dublin show in Raheny, we're delighted to bring you the first tooled samples of our all new Rotem ICR 22000 Intercity Railcars at the 2023 show at Blackrock College this October Bank Holiday weekend! There is some improvements to be made to the tooling, such as fit and finish, particularly the removable roof sections. We are also looking at the fine tuning of the underframe equipment and improving the car-to-car connections. However, pictures tell a story of a thousand words, so feast your eyes below! As well as the ICR tooling, we also have the first samples of the Sculfort shunting tractor. This little loco is un-powered and comes free with each ICR 6 car pack, based of the shunting tractor in Portlaoise Depot. Our ICRs are on course for delivery in Summer of 2024! As you can see, the first high quality ready-to-run model of an Irish railcar that is prototypically accurate is shaping up rather well indeed! Due to the size of the sets, production is limited, so we advise any of you thinking of placing an order to do so very soon to avoid disappointment. Browse the range of 3, 4 and 6 car sets via the link below, and place your preorder, either no money down until they arrive in stock, or spread the payments over 6 months via our partial.ly service at no extra cost! Pre-Order Your 22000 ICR Here! View the full article

We've reached the end of 2022, and what a year it has been! While there has been all sorts of crazy things happening domestically and internationally, it's been our busiest year to date. This year saw us return to the big shows on the exhibition calendar, the arrival of some lovely wagons and some exciting announcements too! So, prepare that turkey sandwich, and that cup of tea and join us as we review IRM's 2022! NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS CIE Magnesite Wagons We kicked off 2022 with a wagon that was likely to shock many. It was certainly a wagon many modellers thought they would never see in RTR format. However, we had the chassis, so we said "why not?" The magnesite wagons are certainly the most interesting an unusual wagon we have done to date, and one that packs detail. A winner with Cork and south east modellers, not to mention collectors, we even went mad and did a single wagon pack to commemorate the last train in 1982. We still have a limited supply in stock, so make sure you don't miss out! ORDER YOUR MAGNESITE WAGONS HERE Coastal Tours Bus We have become known for our commissions of Britbus Irish themed buses in recent years and our fourth commission was a duo in the attractive cream and green "coastal tours" livery which adorned two Dublin Bus Volvo Olympians in the late 1990s. We have more bus commissions planned for 2023 and would love to hear what liveries you would love to see us do! ORDER COASTAL TOURS BUS HERE RPSI Mark 2 Coach Pack Our railway heritage would be nothing without preservation societies and groups. The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) was formed in 1964 to preserve Irish steam locomotives, carriages and rolling stock and to operate them on the Irish railway network for everyone to see, appreciate, enjoy and travel on. Due to COVID19 restrictions, the vital revenue resource of rail tours was cut off from the organisation following two years of postponed trips on the mainline. However in recent years, the RPSI has also received funding from a series of limited edition models which have provided a vital income stream. We have now teamed up with the RPSI to produce our first model in conjunction with them which will be a three car pack of their Mark 2 railtour rake of coaches. Sales since launch back in February were blistering and we soon sold out. Delivery will be in Q2 of 2023! CIE Forklift Pack Accessories have been hugely popular among modellers since we started IRM, as they looked to detail their layouts and yard scenes. We added a new accessory pack, the CIE forklift pack back in the summer, which made a cheap and simple addition to any yard or depot scene. They proved very popular indeed, and have since sold out. Would you like to see another production run? Perhaps in different colours or branding? Let us know! Return of the Ferts 2022 saw the return of some old favourites to the range, including one wagon we never made enough of in its first run. Our fertiliser wagons sold out in rapid fashion when first announced a couple of years ago, so it was time we brought these go anywhere stalwarts back into the range. Arriving in November, they have since sold out completely again! We guess the reduced price of €89.95 per twin pack saw to that! Yer Only Man - The Return of The Keg Liners Another much missed return to the range was our keg liner wagons. Arriving at the same time as the ferts, they were also not produced in enough numbers first time round, so we done another run. Thankfully we have managed to keep some of these in stock, but they have been massively popular with their reduced price too. ORDER YOUR KEG WAGONS HERE Quali-tea Liners Returned The final rerun of 2022 was our container wagons coming back for another run, featuring CIE containers marked out for Harp Larger trains and Lyons Tea twin packs, as well as another triple pack of empty wagons to add your existing containers to. Just like the first run of container liner wagons, these proved hugely popular and sold out almost instantly. We still have the CIE 20ft container packs for sale, which make a great item for yards and lorry loads, as well as for your IRM flats. ORDER YOUR CIE CONTAINERS HERE IR And IE Mark 2 Coaches Part one of our Dublin show mega announcement extravaganza was the unveiling of our Mark 2 coaches in IR and IE liveries. These coaches are based on our latest Mark 2C tooling and are available to pre-order in packs of four coaches. We recently received decorated samples which we revealed on Christmas Eve! With an amazing spec of highly detailed interiors, interior lighting, correctly gauged bogies, a wealth of separately applied parts, realistic close coupling and more, these will be the perfect passenger stock for your layout. They have also been hugely popular on pre-order, so if you fancy some, make sure you get your order in soon. Delivery is slated for Q3 2023! PRE-ORDER IRISH RAIL MARK 2 COACHES HERE The 22000 Intercity Railcars It had been a whole 12 months since our lovely A Class locomotives arrived in stock, and as we know, they sold out rapidly. So, it was about time we announced another powered model. It's our most ambitious announcement ever, but it was about time there was a proper, accurate Irish railcar offered to the model buying public and the ICRs are a massive gap. We have been working on the ICRs for almost a year before we announced, and tooling is underway. We expect to see samples ahead of the Bangor and Wexford shows in April/May 2023, so keep an eye out at those shows! Doing a railcar was a massive gamble, and a much bigger capital investment than any locomotive due to their multiple cars and complex nature, but the reaction and pre-orders have been very strong. So, thank you so much for supporting us so far. Oh, and don't forget the little Sculfort rail tractor from Portlaoise depot, free with every 6 car pack! PRE-ORDER YOUR ICRS HERE PROGRESS UPDATE Enterprise Mark 2s We announced our Mark 2Bs to an amazing reception in late August of 2021, with the models of all variations already tooled in both Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) BR and guise for our sister brand, Accurascale. While overall they looked very impressive, we were unhappy with several areas, mainly around the bogies and some aspects where tooling could be improved. We then completed this work, but getting it spot on took longer than we liked. Delivery of the Mark 2B coaches will now be in Q2 2023, with Chinese New Year close down impacting on our delivery timeline. We apologise for this delay, but we want these coaches to operate and function correctly, as well as looking the very best they can. We're confident that they will set a whole new standard when it comes to Mark 2 coaches in model form. We are fully sold out on pre-order, but some stock should free up when they arrive with us due to cancellations, so keep an eye on the website if you fancy some! 2022 Shows Bangor 2022 After a long COVID layoff, the exhibitions came back with a vengeance in 2022 and we were back in our favourite haunts! First up was Bangor in April, where we took the rather apt opportunity to debut the decorated samples of our NIR Enterprise coaches. They went down rather well! Inchicore Works Open Day In May we took our place alongside our good friends at the Model Railway Society of Ireland for the historic Inchicore Open Day, a very rare opening of the gates of the most historic site in Irish railways to the public. We were there with a display of our models, including our A Classes which were stabled and re-engineered on the site, along with our wagons which were designed and built there too! It was also pretty awesome to see the exhibits positioned into place ahead of opening. The even itself was a huge success and we hope that it will be repeated some time again in the future. Licking the locos is certainly not a good idea though! (Don't worry, he didn't actually lick the loco!) MRSI Dublin Show The biggest show of the year returned in October with the annual three day show taking place in Dublin. The show was hosted this year at the St. Paul's, Raheny as hosted by the Model Railway Society of Ireland. The show was clearly missed as the crowds were unbelievable. It was the setting for us to announce our ICRs and Mark 2 coaches, but it also lead to mass queues as we sold off our "Dicky Taras"; the reject wagons sitting in the corner of a storage unit for many, many years. They sold out rather rapidly and we saw further sales of them during Black Friday, when they were put on our website. Sponsorship Raising Money To Save Ballast Wagons Together During the month of August we asked you all to dig deep to help us raise funds for the Downpatrick and Co. Down Railway to save some ballast hoppers and a plough van. These vehicles obviously have a special place in our hearts, being where it all began for us here at IRM. However, they are the perfect vehicles to help the DCDR gang to maintain their infrastructure and will work for a living for many years to come. We pledged to donate €10 from every sale of ballast hopper and magnesite wagon for the month of August to the cause to cover transportation costs. You guys dug deep, and raised €2000 for the cause. Above is our Gareth with Mike Beckett of the DCDR after the wagons safely arrived in Co Down! Tailte Tours - We Sponsor Our First Railtour In August the newly formed Tailte Tours operated its first railtour and broke some historic ground! It saw a 201 and Mark 4 set operate from Connolly to Killarney and Tralee and back and we were delighted to both be on board and support this event through sponsorship including IRM goodies for the on board raffle. We enjoyed the day out immensely with proceeds going to various Irish preservation causes across the country. Another railtour is to operate in 2023, so keep an eye out for news on that one and we hope to see you on board it again! And Finally... A massive, sincere and special thank you to you, the Irish railway modellers across the globe, for supporting us with purchases, pre-orders and well wishes as well as constructive feedback this year. Our goal is to push the hobby forward in finesse, features, accuracy and innovations for a reasonable price, but none of that is possible without your support. You all make this possible, so thank you! 2022 was a quiet year for us in some respects as we recovered from the impact of COVID on our plans and production, but as you can see above, we still achieved a lot. With all this firmly behind us now though, you can expect A LOT more. 2023 is going to be our biggest ever, with some seriously impressive and tasty new items to be revealed. We're going to make your wallets howl in pain. Keep an eye on our website, our newsletter, our social media and the pages of magazines and of course the IRM forum to keep up to date on all the news as it comes. In the meantime we hope you have had a very Merry Christmas, have enjoyed playing with some IRM toys during 2022 and now have a peaceful and safe New Year, and we will see you again in 2023! View the full article

After a period of locomotives, coaches and railcars, we are going back to our roots and will now bring you a whole new range of beautifully detailed, uniquely Irish wagons. We have been famed with making use of common chassis for wagon ranges since our inception, and it is a number of years since our last mammoth wagon project, the hugely successful "Project 42". So, where do we go this time? Well, we wanted a range of wagons that would be widely useful to modellers, widespread across the network and eras, and uniquely Irish. So, we decided there was only one place to go, the Bulleid triangulated chassis, starting with the CIE corrugated open wagons. History In 1950 the board of Corás Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) appointed Oliver Bulleid as its Chief Mechanical Engineer. Bulleid, renowned as designer of the distinctive Merchant Navy and Light Pacific locomotives during his tenure with the Southern Railway in England, did not have an opportunity to pursue his legendary innovativeness to the same extent in Ireland, but his arrival nonetheless heralded a period of modernisation and standardisation. Apart from implementing the complete transition to diesel motive power, he also set about standardising CIÉ’s fleet of rolling stock with his patented triangulated underframe providing the basis. Perhaps the most recognisable of the goods vehicles was the humble open wagon with its galvanised pressed metal body. More than 2,500 were constructed at Inchicore between 1956 and 1969, with up to twelve being outshopped each week at the height of production. They quickly replaced older wooden-built equivalents, many of which had entered service with CIÉ’s predecessor, the Great Southern Railways, or its constituent companies. The welded construction of the underframe provided excellent strength despite being relatively light and the pressed metal panels used to create the bodywork were both durable and easily replaceable, resulting in a hard-wearing wagon which could cope with rough treatment in unfitted trains and less-than-careful handling during loading and unloading. The wagons were a common sight across the entire CIÉ network, from major yards in Dublin and Cork to the most rural of branch lines, carrying a wide variety of loads ranging from peat briquettes to gypsum, pre-ISO shipping containers and farm machinery. However, their most famous duty was the conveyance of sugar beet during the annual autumn-winter harvest season, when trainloads of the crop would be transferred from loading points across the country to plants at Carlow, Mallow, Thurles and Tuam. Even as more modern continuously-braked goods stock was introduced in the 1970s, rakes of these open wagons were retained for beet season, persevering in traffic until replaced by vacuum-braked wagons in the 1980s. Wagons were initially outshopped with ‘Flying Snail’ totems before giving way to the CIE ‘Broken Wheel’ logo during the 1960s. Typically for Irish Rail, the wagons were rarely, if ever, repainted, with many of the wagons ending their careers with the earlier Flying Snail logos in the 1980s! The Model With an abundance of recent locomotive releases, particularly in the CIE era of the 1950s-1980s timeframe in recent years, we felt it necessary to provide the most numerous and important wagons from this golden era to help the modeller to build accurate trains. The Bulleid triangulated underframe was a standard unit that gave birth to a whole host of wagons, which will be reflected in our range in the months and years to come. We kicked off this adventure with the Bulleid open, oft our most requested wagon model for IRM and one that reached every corner of the network from the mid 1950s all the way to the 1980s when they made up the now legendary sugar beet trains. An essential wagon for any Irish modeller with Silver, green, grey, black, black and tan and supertrain locos, these are a must and the first step in our CIE unfitted wagon range, which will feature other wagons yet to be announced. We took a trip to Dunsandle over the summer of 2021 to survey their excellent open wagon undergoing restoration. A big thanks to Maurice Mitchell at Dunsandle for facilitating our visit and survey. The open wagon may seem like a fairly simple wagon to produce, and for the most part it is. However, there is one tricky piece to the puzzle, and something that is essential to capture the essence of these characterful wagons; the interior. Due to their corrugated construction, the inside of the wagon required extra tooling to capture the distinctive ribbing inside. Our factory came to the rescue here, with intelligent toolmaking to ensure this was achieved. We also wanted to get some weight into the wagon, but not compromise with a false floor to spoil the look of the wagon interior, so we have a fully diecast floor as part of the underframe structure. A wealth of separate plastic detail consisting of all the braking and underframe gear, door bangers, sprung buffers and brass bearing cups to allow the smoothest of running complete the make up of these beautifully detailed wagons as you come to expect from IRM. Available in our typical triple packs, our first production run covers a variety of eras, from original flying snail, to CIE roundel and then both beet and permanent way packs. Priced at €89.95 per triple pack, and 10% off when you buy two packs or more, they are due to arrive in stock in Q3 of 2024. Click the link below to place your pre-order. Pre-ordering early is recommended to avoid disappointment as production slots will be limited. Pre-Order Your Bulleid Open Wagons Here! View the full article

Our latest Britbus Irish bus commission takes a break from the Olympian tooling and looks at a rather attractive liveried alternative in the funky (well, for the 1980s!) MCW Metrorider. This time we focus on the only Metrorider ever to work for Bus Éireann, MB8. Former Dublin Bus MCW Metrorider MB8 was the only such bus to enter the Bus Éireann fleet. After beginning its life as a Dublin Bus "Local Link" bus, it transferred to Bus Éireann in the mid 1990s. It first operated a "Hotel Shuttle" service in Galway, before moving to Cork and operating the Cork City "Shuttle Service" before being withdrawn and sold onto private operator Barry's of Cork and finally leaving the road in 2005. Our model represents it in both Galway and Cork condition. Our model recreates the specific branding as worn in Cork and Galway, and includes flush glazing, diecast construction with a fully detailed interior and a wealth of separately applied plastic detail. Working from photographs of the real bus, we were able to include unique details such as the use of euro and original registration plates on each end of the bus, and the various lettering panels from the real thing. Scaled at 1/76, it is the perfect size for OO layouts, and belongs in any Irish model bus collection. Each model comes in special presentation packaging, with mounted display case and a limited edition certificate. Two options are available, the "Hotel Shuttle" for Galway and the "Shuttle Bus" for Cork, both limited to just 252 pieces each with limited edition certificates. If there are any left we will have some for sale at the Wexford Model Railway Show this weekend. And no, this is not the Wexford show announcement, that comes on Sunday! See you there. Priced at just €39.95 each, these buses are now in stock and we can be ordered for immediate dispatch by clicking the link below: ORDER YOUR BUS RIGHT HERE! (We would like to thank Derek Farrelly and Darren Hall for their invaluable assistance in the making of this model) View the full article

The good news keeps coming in waves here at IRM, and hot on the tail of the Mark 2 coaches and ICR, our Park Royal coaches are also progressing nicely. Announced at the Wexford Model Railway show over the May Bank Holiday, we have just received the first tooling samples which we can now share with you all. As you can see, they look very tasty indeed. We've been on a mission to do these distinctive coaches justice, and are delighted to report that these samples only need minimal tweaking before we proceed to decorated samples ahead of production. Therefore, they're on track for our envisaged delivery date of Q2 2024. Revisions include tweaking the interior lighting and some fit and finish, which is completely normal at this stage. Anyway, enough words, more pictures! The Park Royals have been extremely popular on pre-order, and it's easy to see why. The real coaches were eye-catching and iconic from the golden age of CIE, and the models are shaping up nicely to catch the essence of these carriages as they were in service. Limited numbers are remaining and we are unlikely to be able to increase production volume at this late stage, so pre-ordering is advised to avoid disappointment. Browse the range via the link below, and place your preorder, either no money down until they arrive in stock, or spread the payments over 6 months via our partial.ly service at no extra cost! Pre-Order Your Park Royal Coaches Here! View the full article

Our next all new model due to arrive in stock is our massive Mark 2 coach project, beginning with the NIR and RPSI coach packs, and finishing with our IR and IE orange and black Mark 2c coach packs. We reported recently that the NIR coaches are complete and are winging their way to us. We had previously reported that we had hoped to have them in hand a few weeks ago. The NIR Mark 2 production completion has coincided with the busiest shipping period of the year, with the demand for shipping from China to Europe at its zenith. Therefore, it took longer than expected to secure their passage to our warehouse. They are well on the way now and will land with us at the end of December, and will be dispatched to customers from early January. These coach packs are currently sold out on pre-order, but keep an eye on our website when they stock arrives as some will likely be made available for sale once again. IR/IE Mark 2b and 2c Coach Packs Hot on the heels of our NIR Mark 2 coaches will be our quad packs of IR and IE Mark 2c coaches (with the odd Mark 2b thrown in for good measure!) As you can see below, they're currently at the printing stage at the factory, and heading towards final assembly. Our factory has confirmed with us that these coaches will be complete ahead of Chinese New Year in late January 2024, and will arrive in stock with us in March 2024. We still have a limited supply of these available for sale on the website, so if you fancy them, we recommend you get your name down ASAP to ensure you get your hands on them. PRE-ORDER YOUR IRM MARK 2 COACHES HERE View the full article

Great news! Hot on the heels of our Dublin Show announcement of the Bulleid Open wagons, our next wagon on the iconic triangulated underframe is the LB flat wagons, and the Permanent Way Department variants! We have some exciting updates coming on the Bulleid opens before Christmas, but for now let's turn our attentions to the second wagon on this platform. LB Flats As Corás Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) continued its programme of rolling stock renewal under the tenure of Oliver Bulleid as its Chief Mechanical Engineer, Inchicore Works turned its attention to the construction of a humble but useful flat wagon with a 12-ton capacity. Utilising a version of Bulleid’s patented triangulated chassis developed as the basis for a variety of CIÉ wagons, a total of 79 were turned out between March and April 1958. Given the designation ‘LB’, these diminutive vehicles soon found their way into mixed goods trains the length and breadth of the Irish railway network. Featuring removable stanchions and anchor points for tethering chains, the wagons could be quickly adapted to carry a variety of large single-unit loads, and they were commonly spotted at yards and goods sheds with items such as cars, tractors and pre-ISO containers on board. They were also pressed into service on permanent way trains to carry equipment and even small amounts of ballast and spoil. The winding-down of wagonload goods traffic in favour of more lucrative and efficient trainload ‘liner’ operations in the 1970s meant that the LB flat wagons became a rare sight as the decade wore on, but they could still occasionally be found in maintenance trains until the early 1980s. PWD Flats The last development in the series of two-axle wagons produced by Corás Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) to feature Oliver Bulleid’s triangulated underframe design is one the company’s then Chief Mechanical Engineer likely did not envisage while overseeing design and production of ‘H Vans’ during the 1950s. The rise of continuously-braked ‘liner’ trains in the 1970s heralded the demise of the quaint and old-fashioned wagonload approach and CIÉ found itself with hundreds of redundant wagons. The scale of this transition necessitated the establishment of a scrapping facility at the old Midland Great Western Railway permanent way yard in Mullingar, where most of these vehicles were broken up. However, an opportunity was recognised to repurpose the chassis of some H Vans which were at that time awaiting their fate. By simply removing the wooden body and retaining portions of the brackets at either end to act as stanchions, CIÉ’s Permanent Way Department took charge of a small number of flat wagons to supplement and replace older types. Quite likely a stop-gap measure until funding for fleet upgrades could be secured, these wagons remained in service for a further decade and found use carrying machinery, ballast and spoil in maintenance trains around the network. The Model A fully diecast floor makes up part of the underframe structure to allow the wagon to get some much needed weight in and assist with delivering excellent running characteristics. A wealth of separate plastic detail consisting of all the braking and underframe gear, stanchions, sprung buffers and brass bearing cups to allow the smoothest of running complete the make up of these beautifully detailed wagons. Available in our typical triple packs, our first production run covers both the LB and PWD flats, Priced at €89.95 per triple pack, and 10% off when you buy two packs or more, they are due to arrive in stock in Q3 of 2024. Click the link below to place your pre-order. Pre-ordering early is recommended to avoid disappointment as production slots will be limited. PRE-ORDER YOUR FLATS HERE! View the full article

When it comes to newly announced models, you read delivery dates and sometimes take them with a pinch of salt. So often are the anticipated delivery dates missed it can be disappointing. Indeed, we have been guilty of it in the past. However, how about a new model arriving in stock AHEAD of schedule? Well, that's what our Bulleid open wagons are about to do, as production is now complete on these models, and very nice they look too! Check out the production models below, which we also showed at the recent Model Rail Scotland show last month. Originally launched at the last Dublin show back in October 2023, we had envisaged a delivery date of Q3 of 2024. However, progress has been swift and efficient, that they will now land in Q2 of 2024, likely late May. Fancy some? Make sure you get your order in by clicking the link below! riced at €89.95 per triple pack, and 10% off when you buy two packs or more and free postage and packaging in Ireland, the quintessential CIE open wagon is superb value for money too. PRE-ORDER YOU BULLEID OPEN WAGONS HERE View the full article

Following on from the news about the completed production of our Bulleid corrugated open wagons yesterday, we can now unveil he decorated samples of our flat wagons! Based around the same chassis as the corrugated opens, it's the second on a series of wagons which we will produce that featured this innovate style of triangulated chassis arrangement. As you can see, we have received samples of both the purpose built flats, and the Permanent Way Department (PWD) flat which was converted from redundant H Vans. These wagons are now in production and will follow the open wagons into stock, arriving on time in Q3 2024 as per our launch announcement. Priced at just €89.95 per triple pack, and with our usual great value of 10% off when you order two or more packs, and free postage and packaging around Ireland and 3% cashback with our loyalty points, they make perfect sense for your authentic mixed coupled goods trains of the CIE golden era. Place your pre-order below! Pre-Order Bulleid Flat Wagons View the full article

Irish outline announcements have been coming thick and fast in recent months, and instead of slowing the pace down, we've decided to add another one to the pile with our latest all-new wagon announcement; the CIE fuel oil tanker on the Bulleid triangulated chassis. Prototype History With Corás Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) rolling out a series of freight stock throughout the 1950s-1960s based on a standardised triangulated underframe developed by its then-Chief Mechanical Engineer, Oliver Bulleid, attention turned to transportation requirements for the company’s own diesel fuel oil supplies. A total of 21 tank wagons were constructed at Inchicore during 1956 to augment and replace older types then in use. These tankers, with an 11-ton capacity, were a common sight throughout the network, conveying diesel from the importation point at Dublin Port to locomotive depots of all sizes, as well as occupying sidings at stations to supply CIE’s fleet of road vehicles in those localities. The wagons were frequently transported to and from these locations within mixed goods trains of the time. These tank wagons provided the backbone for this traffic across three decades, but the move to continuously-braked goods trains and the associated improvement they offered to the safe handling of flammable liquids resulted in them being displaced by vacuum-braked tankers towards the end of the 1970s. It was not quite the end of their story, however, with the tank bodies and main underframe sections going on to find further use installed upon newer vacuum-braked wagons to convey water as part of the CIÉ/Irish Rail weedspray train, remaining in use until the early 2020s. The Model Tooled as part of our Bulleid triangulated underframe project, our CIE fuel oil tanker wagon is the third model of our latest wagon series and an essential part of both mixed goods trains of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Perfect for both mixed goods trains, fuel transfer trains and also any Irish locomotive depot or CIE bus or road haulage depot sidings, our high quality tooling features a wealth of etched metal and high quality injection moulded plastic construction. Easily convertible into 21mm gauge and complete with separate brake gear, intricate fuel filler cap detail, brass bearing cups for excellent running capabilities and sprung buffers, these wagons will be some of our most detailed wagons to date. Priced at €89.95 for a single triple pack, production delivery is slated for Q3 of 2024 with decorated samples due in the coming months. Production quantities will be limited, so make sure you get your pre-order in soon to avoid disappointment. Pre-order via the link below. Pre-Order Your CIE Fuel Oil Triple Pack By Clicking Here! View the full article

Sometimes, things just don’t work out as well as we had hoped! When we first announced the ICR 22000 models back in October 2022, with eight variations covering 3-car, 4-car and 6-car sets from their initial delivery, to their most recent livery updates, we had very high hopes for the project; hopes that were backed up by the high initial sales. Emboldened by this, we moved through the project at good pace, with tooling underway by April 2023 and 25% of the anticipated run sold. By October we were proudly showing off the engineering samples and looking forward to getting the samples comprehensively tested and the complex electronic design finalised as we entered into 2024. And this is where things started to get complicated, on two fronts. At the beginning of February, Project Manager Paul Isles and Sound Engineer Jamie Goodman spent several days working on obtaining the audio recordings for the ICR project, with Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail kindly working closely with us to facilitate sound recording, both at the Portlaoise depot and during two test train diagrams between Heuston and Mallow. With such a range of awesome audio recorded, and standards in lighting design moving forward exponentially, it exceeded the scope of the electrical design created for the project back in 2022/23, and a rethink by the project team was required. We learned that the existing electrical design would require a DCC decoder in each car, and a significant increase of components in the DC/DCC Ready models. This would come at a huge cost to our customers. We have since worked with our friends at ESU to overcome this hurdle, and can now confirm that we will lead the way in functionality but only needing one decoder. This did mean that we would have to retool part of the model for new connectors and circuitry. At the same time, we were seeing some concerning sales trends emerging across the range of SKUs, and while certain variants were selling close to their potential, others were slowing down and, in some cases, were static. As a multi-vehicle railcar model, even without a huge degree of variation between prototypes (compared to other models), the tooling costs are huge and while we had taken every step we could to keep costs under control, to achieve the RRPs we have put in place we need to meet stringent Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) across the range of models offered. And, to be bluntly honest, four of the variations offered are not meeting the necessary sales figures to be commercially viable, by quite some margin. This means that the project has slowed. Behind the scenes, the project team, along with ESU and the factory technicians in China have been working on solving the complex electrical and audio demands. This has been made slightly easier in that the ICR project is being manufactured at the same factory (and by the same project team) that is producing a new high specification UK Multiple Unit project, and so the lessons learned with each project are being applied across both projects in tandem. And, if we’re honest, we’d hoped that with the extra time being spent on the project behind the scenes, the delay would allow ICR sales to meet the MOQ needed to keep the complete range financially viable. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. We’ve noted the growing number of requests for an ICR project update, and with the Dublin show at the weekend, we knew that we would have to take a decision as to how we are are to proceed and so we’ve decided to take some drastic action to keep the ICR project viable and move it towards production. Firstly, we will be cancelling the following running numbers in both DC/DCC ready and DCC sound fitted variants due to lack of interest; DC/DCC Ready IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 3-car in post-2013 IR livery, RTE Music Week vinyls IRM1177 IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 4-car in post-2013 IR livery IRM1181 IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 6-car in original 'Intercity' livery IRM1179 DCC Sound Fitted IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 3-car in post-2013 IR livery, RTE Music Week vinyls - DCC Sound Fitted IRM1185 IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 4-car in post-2013 IR livery - DCC Sound Fitted IRM1189-DCC IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 6-car in original 'Intercity' livery - DCC Sound Fitted IRM1187-DCC If you have ordered these models we will automatically transfer your order to the following 3, 4 and 6 car unit: DC/DCC Ready IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 3-car in original 'Intercity' branded livery IRM1175 IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 4-car in 2020 IR livery, with blue doors/cycle graphic IRM1182 IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 6-car in post-2013 IR livery IRM1180 DCC Sound Fitted IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 3-car in original 'Intercity' branded livery - DCC Sound Fitted IRM1183-DCC IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 4-car in 2020 IR livery, with blue doors/cycle graphic - DCC Sound Fitted IRM1190-DCC IE 22000 Class 'ICR' - 6-car in post-2013 IR livery - DCC Sound Fitted IRM1188-DCC If you wish to have an alternative ICR instead, or wish to cancel, please email us with your order number and we will sort you out! Updated Pricing As we have to face increased costings for the new electrical componentry, and as we have to dramatically cut the production run, we are forced to increase the RRP for these models. Now, before you panic; IF YOU HAVE AN EXISTING PREORDER FOR AN ICR WITH US, THEN WE WILL HONOUR THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE! However, the new purchase prices for each model are detailed below; DC/DCC Ready 3 Car - €439.99 4 Car - €549.99 6 Car - €799.99 DCC Sound Fitted 3 Car - €559.99 4 Car - €669.99 6 car - €919.99 These new prices are now in place on the website for pre-ordering. While the increase is regrettable, there is simply nothing we can do due to demand drying up on these units resulting in a cutting of production numbers. However, when compared to most UK or continental models, they still represent excellent value for money considering the technology that has been built into these units and the niche market that is Irish outline model railways. With the sound project, lighting options, operational functionality and finesse, our ICRs will absolutely be next level units. We are currently awaiting the tooling modifications to be completed by the factory for the new electronics system. Then we will receive a full decorated sample to sign off. Should the numbers of sold units improve we will be able to kick off production. So, if you really want to see the ultimate Irish unit on your layout, we encourage you to place an order today to support this model. Until then, we cannot give a firm date for delivery of the models, but we know it will be at least mid-late 2025. We will have a proper and full update on this before Christmas as the decorated development sample arrives. In the meantime we had the first painted bodyshell (above) and the first decorated sample of the sculfort shunter from Portlaoise Depot that is included in every 6 car pack! Finally, we would like to thank each and every one of you who has ordered one of our ICRs and supported this project to date. We fully understand the disappointment around the delays to date. We will endeavour to make it up to you with a first class model for the original price point to reward your support with us, and continue to bring more great Irish outline models to the market in the coming years. Pre-Order Your ICR Here! View the full article

Another long overdue project update is finally here, and thankfully it's much more positive as we get to reveal decorated samples of our hotly anticipated Park Royal coaches! Firstly, we shall let the images do the talking, as a splash of colour adorns these splendid vehicles. Arriving just in time for the MRSI October Bank Holiday Weekend show in Dublin, we have received decorated samples in green with silver underframe, CIE classic "Black and Tan" livery of orange and black, and IR Orange and Black livery of post 1987 with white pin stripes, the final livery they wore in squadron service with Irish rail. We are delighted to see colour on these models, so we can get a real feel for the coaches and the progression of the coaches. We still have work to do though! When the first engineering samples arrived, we noted that the bogies had been incorrectly moulded in the wrong type of plastic, which would cause significant operational issues and a high failure rate as it is difficult to glue. Thankfully, this has now been sorted, and the iconic commonwealth bogies, a signature of so many Irish coaches from this period, look and perform superbly. Paint coverage needs to be and will be improved and some of the colours will be tweaked before production, along with a general improvement in build quality, but that is typical of samples at this stage. Once this issues are resolved we will progress to production. The revised delivery date of these models is now mid-2025. Drop by our stand this weekend and take a closer look at these beauties. If you have experienced our Mark 2 coaches, then you know how special these are going to be! We still have a limited supply of Park Royals available for pre-order. To add some to your collection, place your pre-order below! Pre-Order Your Park Royal Coaches Here! View the full article