Warbonnet

We know we say this every year, but 2024 has been our biggest yet. Our 2023 has been a year of growth, rivalry, intrigue, charity, taking on the great work of others and delivery. Indeed, so much has happened it's likely that we have missed something! However, there is plenty to reflect on as we build towards 2025 as we aim to grow even more! So, pour yourself a beverage of your choosing, crack open a selection box or the biscuit tin, and join us as we look back on 2024! Hattons Originals Join The Accurascale Range 2024 began in a rather negative mood for the hobby in general as one of the biggest names in the industry, Hattons, announced that they were to close. The news sent shockwaves throughout the hobby and industry, transcending into the mainstream news media who howled that it was the death of the hobby, along with the cancellation of the annual Warley show. Thankfully, us enthusiasts knew that this simply was not the case, but losing Hattons has been a sad loss with many fine people losing their jobs. Thankfully, many have found roles elsewhere in the industry since the closure, giving other businesses the benefit of their experience and expertise. Primarily known as a retailer, Hattons had also designed and produced a significant amount of models themselves in the years prior to their closure which had been very well received. Possibly the most famous was the Class 66, which had previously joined our range (more on that later!), but what of the other models? Following weeks of negotiations, and having built upon our already strong relationship with Hattons as a supplier and purchaser of their Class 66, a deal was struck between us to take on a significant portion of the "Hattons Originals" tooling. Already delivered are the OO gauge Warwells and Andrew Barclay tank locomotives, with the P Class about to commence delivery to modellers in January and the Beilhack snow ploughs due in 2025, along with the ICI hopper wagons. Further announcements from the old Hattons range will continue throughout 2025, so keep an eye out for those. You never know what might still be in our tooling bucket from Hattons! We Raise £35,000 For Two Wonderful Charities 2024 saw the delivery of our first production run of Class 66 locomotives in OO gauge, and with it our two charity special fundraisers for Prostate Cancer UK and Samaritans UK. We were delighted to work with both charities along with GBRf and Freightliner UK to raise these much needed funs for two brilliant causes. We were honoured that the CEO of Freightliner UK CEO, Tim Shoveller, could join us for the handing over of the cheque for £10,000 to Samaritans UK too, and very thankful to Freightliner UK for having 66415 present for the handover! Our first announced fundraiser was for Prostate Cancer UK with a model of 66769 in its unique livery. Modellers got behind both models, but one customer who wishes to remain anonymous was so inspired by our initiative that they donated £15,000 to Prostate Cancer UK by themselves. A huge thank you to them and all modellers who both both models! 2025 will see the delivery of our next charity locomotive, as we work with DB Cargo UK this time to deliver 66190 "Martin House" with the aim once again to raise £10,000. We will have an announcement of a further charity fundraiser or two in 2025, so make sure you keep an eye out for those! We Help Raise Funds For Railway Preservation Samaritans and Prostate Cancer UK weren't the only charities we worked with in 2024. Naturally, we work close with and support a number of railway preservation groups to ensure the wheels of our railway heritage keep rolling, and 2024 was no different. This year saw the delivery of our limited edition model of 37714 for the Heavy Tractor Group, as well as Deltics for our friends at the Deltic Preservation Society and Locomotion. These models help raise vital funds to keep these English Electric greats rolling, and benefit greatly from your purchases. You win by doing your bit to keep these amazing machines rolling, and you get a beautiful model for your collection. Everyone wins! In 2025 we will have further preservation fundraisers, including our special edition model of 37403 for our friends at the Scottish Railway Preservation Society to celebrate 60th birthday of the locomotive in 2025! We Introduce "AccuraCare" And Open Our Warranty Repair Facility We started 2024 with something that may well revolutionise the model railway industry, the introduction of our lifetime limited warranty! Not only did we announce it for new models, but also backdated it to cover previously released models too, including all locomotives, coaches, wagons and accessories. It certainly struck a chord with the public, as it picked up the "Innovation of The Year" award from Hornby Magazine, as voted for by the public! The introduction of our lifetime warranty coincided with the opening of our dedicated repair facility based in Darlington, which handles repairs for our growing range with our UK based customers. So, if you ever have a problem with your Accurascale model, hit that chat icon on the bottom right of the screen and you will go through to our warranty repair and customer service team! Speaking of awards.... Accurascale Wins Again, Thanks To YOUR Votes! We dont know quite how we manage it, but once again we retained the "Manufacturer of The Year" and "00 Wagon of The Year" across all the major industry awards this year. Simply amazing! We were especially delighted to see our Class 66 take the 00 Locomotive of The Year" crown in the recent Hornby Magazine Awards. It was a brilliant recognition of the improvements we made to the model to make it the model it always could be, and bring it into line with the rest of our range. Once again, a big thank you to everybody who voted for us. We're working harder than ever to try secure your vote for 2025 with the models that are on the way! We Take A Class 37 To A Show As mentioned earlier, the discontinuation of the annual Warley show at the NEC had even the mainstream media bemoaning the demise of the hobby along with the closure of Hattons. "Hogwash!" was our response. Not satisfied with taking on the Hattons toolings, we decided to throw our weight behind the TWO new NEC shows that took place this year. For Model World Live, we went big for the first edition of this new event, and teamed up with our mates at the Heavy Tractor Group and bring 37108 to NEC as the centrepiece. It certainly made an impact, and even ended up on the news! We also attended and sponsored the replacement event at the NEC for the Warley show in November. We brought along a smaller train for that show, but it was able to move under its own power and operate throughout the weekend! 2024 was our biggest year for shows, doing 5 of the biggest shows around the country, beginning with Glasgow in February and ending with the NEC in November, with specialist and regional shows such as the Darlington show, DEMU Showcase and Irish shows such as Dublin and Wexford thrown in for good measure. We'll see you at a show in 2025! We Hit The Road And Visit Our Retailers Supporting our retail network and meeting our customers who purchase our models via their local model shop. This year we paid a visit to our friends at Rails of Sheffield, Malcs Models, among others! Thank you to all the model shops who hosted us this year, and to everyone who came out to see us when we were in your local area. We plan to visit more retailers in 2025, so if you want us at your local model shop, let them and us know! New Models Announced Class 60 Back in June we caused quite a stir when we announced our latest diesel locomotive project; the Class 60. Why the Class 60? It fits our range beautifully and we explain more in our launch video! These will roll onto your layouts in 2025, with sound recordings including doing what the Class 60s do best; hauling heavy loads (in this case 2500 tons) at 60mph on the mainline... A big thank you to the folks at DCR and DB Cargo for their assistance with our Class 60s! Pre-Order Your Class 60 Here! Hunslet Austerity Saddle Tanks Our final locomotive announcement of 2024 was another essential part of our "Powering Britain" range along with the Class 60, the Hunslet Austerity tank engines in OO. We have just received the decorated samples of these over the Christmas holidays, so keep an eye out for some rather lovely images of those in January when we return to work! Also, it was not the only Hunslet locomotive we announced in 2024... Pre-Order Your Hunslet Austerity Here NIR Hunslets October saw the latest diesel locomotive announced, and one that is both a bit niche and a bit quirky; The NIR Hunslet locomotives. Announced under our IRM brand which covers models of the Emerald Isle, they will mark a closer synergy between IRM and Accurascale which will become clearer to modellers in 2025. Exciting times! Pre-order Your NIR Hunslet Here Class 37/9 Although the Class 37 has been a part of our range for a couple of years now, the Class 37/9s are such different beasts to the mainstream tractors we felt they deserved a mention all of their own. We are covering the Mirrlees variants in our first production run of these interesting machines, with their much modified roof sections and detail differences between each other, not to mention the other Class 37s. A variant of the iconic EE Type 3 story that has been on our radar since day one, we are delighted to bring these to you (along with the original 37/4s of course!) in 2025! Pre-Order Your Class 37 Here BR 21 Ton Hoppers HTO HTV As you probably know, we love our wagons here at Accurascale, and 2024 saw us announce some much needed "missing links" in OO wagons. First up was the humble BR 21 hopper and their rebodied stablemates, TOPS codes HTO and HTV, along with engineering ZDVs! We still don't quite know how these stalwarts of BR coal operations have never been produced in model form before, and were a must on our large list of projects from day one. Fitting perfectly into our "Powering Britain" range and complimenting our 16 tonners, 21 ton MDO and MDVs and of course our HUOs, these will be a large slice of our 2025 wagon range and currently are in production. Pre-order Your 21 Ton Hoppers Here! FCA Family of Container Wagons Another large "missing link" in the 00 gauge wagon world are the FCA container flats and their variants. Again, we're a bit astonished that there has not been a "Binliner" or MOD traffic train offered in ready-to-run model form to date, so we set out to rectify that with our first run consisting of MOD containers and 20ft waste containers. Perfect for our Class 60 and 66 too, these are due in 2025 with decorated samples to be revealed in the new year. Pre-order Your FCAs Here! IRM H Vans, Grain Wagons and Bulleid Tankers All new wagon announcements weren't just confined to Accurascale, as IRM announced and delivered some rather tasty models on the common Bulleid triangulated chassis. These included the announcement and delivery of some rather smart fuel oil tankers, which sold out in a blink of an eye. We have also announced grain wagons converted from H Vans and the fitted H Vans which will arrive with us in early 2025! Keep an eye out for them. Speaking of IRM and tank wagons... IRM Teams Up With Heljan To Cover The Esso Tank Wagons We're delighted to have been approached by our friends at Heljan to collaborate on a wagon project covering the BR A and B tanks as they were sold and repurposed for use in Ireland in the late 1960s. With the distinctive additional bracing tooled and added, these quad packs allow modellers to build an authentic "Sligo Oil" train. These are on the high seas and due in stock in early 2025! Pre-order Your Esso Tankers Here So, that's what we announced. But what matters most is what we delivered. Let's have a look at what we landed in 2024! Delivered Models Class 66 It has been very much a "Type 5" sort of year for us as our first run of Class 66s arrived in the summer just ahead of our Class 60 launch. Our sheds have gone down very well indeed and are already winning awards, picking up the "OO Gauge Locomotive of The Year" gong in the Hornby Magazine awards. Indeed, our first run proved so popular that they virtually sold out just after arrival direct and with retailers so we announced batch 2 which is now in production. Batch two includes "Euro" Class 66 for the first time, featuring machines built for use on the Continent which have since been brought to the UK and modified for UK operations. Look out for their delivery next year! Pre-Order Your Class 66 Here! Class 37 Run 2 Autumn saw the arrival of our second production run of our beloved Class 37s! We offered a variety of eras from BR Green through to current day operations and once again they sold out rather quickly indeed direct, and are becoming scarce on retailers shelves too. Following on from delivery of this batch we announced run 3, which consists of the classic Class 37/4s and the Class 37/9s as mentioned earlier. Look forward to these in 2025! Pre-order Your Class 37 Here! Class 31 Autumn was really busy for us as it saw the long awaited arrival of the first batch of our Class 31s! Our BR Blue locos arrived to much fanfare and positive feedback, with favourable feedback on the performance, shape, sound and decoration. Once again they have become scarce, but never fear! The second batch from the first run in BR Green and our 80S/90s era liveries such as Dutch and Railfreight land in about 2 weeks' time! We will also see the announcement of an all-new production run after the final deliveries of our Exclusives and Retailer/Magazine limited editions in 2025. Andrew Barclay Tank Locomotives With the Andrew Barclay tanks already in production when we took on the project, we were able to deliver this production run in 2025. It has come to our attention that the pre-existing inner packaging design was not adequate enough to protect some of these models, particularly the open-backed cab variants. We have also noted that there was a design flaw with the clip that holds the motor in place which can become dislodged if jolted in shipping. We can now confirm that all the packaging clamshell casings and motor clips have been re-engineered and replaced on the remaining stock to rectify these issues and we will have replacements for both available to existing customers should they want them in the new year. Watch out for further updates. Order Your Andrew Barclay Here! Class 55 Deltics Our final loco delivery of 2025 (not accounting for our P Class tank engines, which have arrived too!) was the second production run of our mighty Class 55 Deltics. They arrived just in time for Christmas and have been finding favour with modellers around the world. Usually the first production run of any new model is the biggest, with subsequent deliveries always a bit smaller, but due to the popularity of Vulcan Foundry's favourite beasts, our second production was actually larger than the first. We are sold out direct, but you may still find the locos you desire with your local retailer. We must do another run of these soon.... SR Banana Vans Our major wagon arrival for 2024 was the SR D1478 and D1479 Diagram Banana Vans in OO/4mm. These distinctive vans were very much another "missing link" in the OO gauge ready-to-run wagon market so we are delighted to plug yet another gap! We still have some available direct and via retailers, with all eras covered including departmental "Tadpole" variants. Another award winner for "Best OO wagon" in the wagon of the year voting with Hornby magazine! Thank you to everyone who voted for them. Order Your Banana Vans Here! Mark 2b Coaches It was very much the year of the coach for us as we delivered our long awaited and highly anticipated Mark 2b coaches. From our exclusive RTC pack above to the bog standard Blue Grey and NSE variants, along with West Coast and Provincial, they have gone down a treat with modellers and plugged a much needed gap in the Mark 2 story. Sold out on arrival, we will be looking to do another production run soon, so keep an eye out for that. Mark 1 Suburban Coaches It's been a bit of an Eastern Region flavour to our arrivals in 2024, with Deltics and of course our Class 31s in Blue and the matching Mark 1 suburban coaches arriving in stock together. Although a humdrum prototype, we have gone to town on the detail, with the interiors being a particular highlight, along with a fully diecast chassis to provide the smoothest running and of course, full interior lighting! Some of our blue coaches have no sold out, and the others are shifting fast. The carmine variants have just arrived with us too, and will begin shipping out to customers in the new year. Order Your Mark 1 Subs Here! OO Warwells Our first arrival of 2024 was a surprise to many as we delivered the production run of Hattons warwell wagons in OO. These were finished production when we agreed to take on the production costs and tooling for these superb wagons and we then delivered them to Hattons pre-order customers. They sold out rather quickly, so perhaps we need to consider another production run of them in the near future? Let us know! IRM Bulleid Open Wagons IRM saw delivery of a plethora of new wagon models built on the famously versatile Bulleid triangulated underframe. The first arrival was the iconic corrugated open wagons, which are a must for anyone modelling from the 1950s to the 1980s, particularly on beet traffic. Order Your Bulleid Opens Here! IRM Bulleid Flat Wagons Hot on the heels of the Bulleid opens was their flat wagon counterparts. Perfect for mixed goods trains carrying anything from rails to cars, these wagons again were part of the Irish scene for decades. Probably the quickest selling Irish wagons since we did our Bell Liner container wagon sets, these CIE tanks went in record time. Looking at them though, it's easy to see why as they turned out rather cute! NIR "Enterprise" Mark 2 Coaches Rolled in as part of our Mark 2 project, our Enterprise Mark 2 coaches did feature unique tooling to cover the generator, grille and driving cars which were ordered by NIR to form the premier train to Dublin. We did put the "cart before the horse" with these a little bit, releasing them before the NIR Hunslet locomotives in two liveries, but they proved so successful it made our Hunslet project a "no brainer". We now must get on with that iconic maroon and blue livery to match the early Hunslet liveries... IR and IE Mark 2C Coaches Our final arrival for 2024 for IRM was the first lot of our Mark 2c tooling in the iconic orange and black livery with IR and IE markings. Capturing the refurbished coaches bought from Vic Berry's scrap yard in exchange for withdrawn C Class locos. Once again, the exquisite detail and package of full interior detail, decoration and lighting, coupled to a museum quality finish, set the tone for 2025 arrivals such as the Park Royals and ICRs! New Team Member We made a further addition to our growing team in 2024 with Andrew Faulkner joining us as Operations and Logistics Manager. Andrew brings a wealth of experience with him and is familiar with him, having been our account manager in his previous job, and was tasked with bringing our models from the far east to the UK and Ireland. We have now brought that role in house, while Andrew also works to streamline and improve our warehousing and dispatching operations to customers. And A Fond Farewell... The end of 2024 sees the retirement of Graham Hubbard, who has been a Development Consultant to us for a number of years now. Graham's wealth of experience from building the Bachmann brand in the UK for over 25 years, and of course revitalising Graham Farish. Graham is now taking a well earned rest as he retires from the industry, but will still be present in the railway preservation scene as a member of the Heavy Tractor Group. We wish Graham all the very best for the future and thank him for all his help in our growth and development into the business we are today. It's been invaluable! We're sure he will still keep in touch with ideas and assistance when we need it too! And Finally... If you've made it this far, then well done! We had a lot to pack in this year, and there is plenty we left out too! It's been our busiest yet, but 2025 is already shaping up to be even bigger for us. In the coming weeks alone we will see the arrival of our first O gauge loco, the Ruston 88DS (and our first loco delivered on time. See? We're learning!) the Mark 2c coaches, the Mark 1 subs in carmine livery, the second batch of the Class 31s, the 16 ton mineral wagons, the Wainwright P Class locos and the CDA wagons. Just behind that little lot we have the Class 50s, the Class 89, The 3rd part of the Class 31 deliveries, The Class 60, The Buckjumpers, The Panniers and Class 66 run 2, NER hoppers and not to mention the blue HYAs and the grain wagons and H vans for IRM. In fact, we are about to deliver so much stuff in the next few weeks and couple of months, that we wont have many outstanding announcements left to fulfil and our backlog will be cleared. With that in mind, expect to see some rather juicy announcements in 2025 as our record investment in new toolings made in 2023 and again this year begin to come on stream. We will be kicking off with a brand new wagon announcement in early January. Exciting times! We will sign off by thanking you all so very much for your continued support and custom, as well as votes in awards and well wishes via social media, RMWeb or in person at shows. We could never do all this without your support, so thank you! We would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful new year and here's to a mega 2025 for us all. View the full article

We know we say this every year, but 2024 has been our biggest yet. Our 2023 has been a year of growth, rivalry, intrigue, charity, taking on the great work of others and delivery. Indeed, so much has happened it's likely that we have missed something! However, there is plenty to reflect on as we build towards 2025 as we aim to grow even more! So, pour yourself a beverage of your choosing, crack open a selection box or the biscuit tin, and join us as we look back on 2024! Hattons Originals Join The Accurascale Range 2024 began in a rather negative mood for the hobby in general as one of the biggest names in the industry, Hattons, announced that they were to close. The news sent shockwaves throughout the hobby and industry, transcending into the mainstream news media who howled that it was the death of the hobby, along with the cancellation of the annual Warley show. Thankfully, us enthusiasts knew that this simply was not the case, but losing Hattons has been a sad loss with many fine people losing their jobs. Thankfully, many have found roles elsewhere in the industry since the closure, giving other businesses the benefit of their experience and expertise. Primarily known as a retailer, Hattons had also designed and produced a significant amount of models themselves in the years prior to their closure which had been very well received. Possibly the most famous was the Class 66, which had previously joined our range (more on that later!), but what of the other models? Following weeks of negotiations, and having built upon our already strong relationship with Hattons as a supplier and purchaser of their Class 66, a deal was struck between us to take on a significant portion of the "Hattons Originals" tooling. Already delivered are the OO gauge Warwells and Andrew Barclay tank locomotives, with the P Class about to commence delivery to modellers in January and the Beilhack snow ploughs due in 2025, along with the ICI hopper wagons. Further announcements from the old Hattons range will continue throughout 2025, so keep an eye out for those. You never know what might still be in our tooling bucket from Hattons! We Raise £35,000 For Two Wonderful Charities 2024 saw the delivery of our first production run of Class 66 locomotives in OO gauge, and with it our two charity special fundraisers for Prostate Cancer UK and Samaritans UK. We were delighted to work with both charities along with GBRf and Freightliner UK to raise these much needed funs for two brilliant causes. We were honoured that the CEO of Freightliner UK CEO, Tim Shoveller, could join us for the handing over of the cheque for £10,000 to Samaritans UK too, and very thankful to Freightliner UK for having 66415 present for the handover! Our first announced fundraiser was for Prostate Cancer UK with a model of 66769 in its unique livery. Modellers got behind both models, but one customer who wishes to remain anonymous was so inspired by our initiative that they donated £15,000 to Prostate Cancer UK by themselves. A huge thank you to them and all modellers who both both models! 2025 will see the delivery of our next charity locomotive, as we work with DB Cargo UK this time to deliver 66190 "Martin House" with the aim once again to raise £10,000. We will have an announcement of a further charity fundraiser or two in 2025, so make sure you keep an eye out for those! We Help Raise Funds For Railway Preservation Samaritans and Prostate Cancer UK weren't the only charities we worked with in 2024. Naturally, we work close with and support a number of railway preservation groups to ensure the wheels of our railway heritage keep rolling, and 2024 was no different. This year saw the delivery of our limited edition model of 37714 for the Heavy Tractor Group, as well as Deltics for our friends at the Deltic Preservation Society and Locomotion. These models help raise vital funds to keep these English Electric greats rolling, and benefit greatly from your purchases. You win by doing your bit to keep these amazing machines rolling, and you get a beautiful model for your collection. Everyone wins! In 2025 we will have further preservation fundraisers, including our special edition model of 37403 for our friends at the Scottish Railway Preservation Society to celebrate 60th birthday of the locomotive in 2025! We Introduce "AccuraCare" And Open Our Warranty Repair Facility We started 2024 with something that may well revolutionise the model railway industry, the introduction of our lifetime limited warranty! Not only did we announce it for new models, but also backdated it to cover previously released models too, including all locomotives, coaches, wagons and accessories. It certainly struck a chord with the public, as it picked up the "Innovation of The Year" award from Hornby Magazine, as voted for by the public! The introduction of our lifetime warranty coincided with the opening of our dedicated repair facility based in Darlington, which handles repairs for our growing range with our UK based customers. So, if you ever have a problem with your Accurascale model, hit that chat icon on the bottom right of the screen and you will go through to our warranty repair and customer service team! Speaking of awards.... Accurascale Wins Again, Thanks To YOUR Votes! We dont know quite how we manage it, but once again we retained the "Manufacturer of The Year" and "00 Wagon of The Year" across all the major industry awards this year. Simply amazing! We were especially delighted to see our Class 66 take the 00 Locomotive of The Year" crown in the recent Hornby Magazine Awards. It was a brilliant recognition of the improvements we made to the model to make it the model it always could be, and bring it into line with the rest of our range. Once again, a big thank you to everybody who voted for us. We're working harder than ever to try secure your vote for 2025 with the models that are on the way! We Take A Class 37 To A Show As mentioned earlier, the discontinuation of the annual Warley show at the NEC had even the mainstream media bemoaning the demise of the hobby along with the closure of Hattons. "Hogwash!" was our response. Not satisfied with taking on the Hattons toolings, we decided to throw our weight behind the TWO new NEC shows that took place this year. For Model World Live, we went big for the first edition of this new event, and teamed up with our mates at the Heavy Tractor Group and bring 37108 to NEC as the centrepiece. It certainly made an impact, and even ended up on the news! We also attended and sponsored the replacement event at the NEC for the Warley show in November. We brought along a smaller train for that show, but it was able to move under its own power and operate throughout the weekend! 2024 was our biggest year for shows, doing 5 of the biggest shows around the country, beginning with Glasgow in February and ending with the NEC in November, with specialist and regional shows such as the Darlington show, DEMU Showcase and Irish shows such as Dublin and Wexford thrown in for good measure. We'll see you at a show in 2025! We Hit The Road And Visit Our Retailers Supporting our retail network and meeting our customers who purchase our models via their local model shop. This year we paid a visit to our friends at Rails of Sheffield, Malcs Models, among others! Thank you to all the model shops who hosted us this year, and to everyone who came out to see us when we were in your local area. We plan to visit more retailers in 2025, so if you want us at your local model shop, let them and us know! New Models Announced Class 60 Back in June we caused quite a stir when we announced our latest diesel locomotive project; the Class 60. Why the Class 60? It fits our range beautifully and we explain more in our launch video! These will roll onto your layouts in 2025, with sound recordings including doing what the Class 60s do best; hauling heavy loads (in this case 2500 tons) at 60mph on the mainline... A big thank you to the folks at DCR and DB Cargo for their assistance with our Class 60s! Pre-Order Your Class 60 Here! Hunslet Austerity Saddle Tanks Our final locomotive announcement of 2024 was another essential part of our "Powering Britain" range along with the Class 60, the Hunslet Austerity tank engines in OO. We have just received the decorated samples of these over the Christmas holidays, so keep an eye out for some rather lovely images of those in January when we return to work! Also, it was not the only Hunslet locomotive we announced in 2024... Pre-Order Your Hunslet Austerity Here NIR Hunslets October saw the latest diesel locomotive announced, and one that is both a bit niche and a bit quirky; The NIR Hunslet locomotives. Announced under our IRM brand which covers models of the Emerald Isle, they will mark a closer synergy between IRM and Accurascale which will become clearer to modellers in 2025. Exciting times! Pre-order Your NIR Hunslet Here Class 37/9 Although the Class 37 has been a part of our range for a couple of years now, the Class 37/9s are such different beasts to the mainstream tractors we felt they deserved a mention all of their own. We are covering the Mirrlees variants in our first production run of these interesting machines, with their much modified roof sections and detail differences between each other, not to mention the other Class 37s. A variant of the iconic EE Type 3 story that has been on our radar since day one, we are delighted to bring these to you (along with the original 37/4s of course!) in 2025! Pre-Order Your Class 37 Here BR 21 Ton Hoppers HTO HTV As you probably know, we love our wagons here at Accurascale, and 2024 saw us announce some much needed "missing links" in OO wagons. First up was the humble BR 21 hopper and their rebodied stablemates, TOPS codes HTO and HTV, along with engineering ZDVs! We still don't quite know how these stalwarts of BR coal operations have never been produced in model form before, and were a must on our large list of projects from day one. Fitting perfectly into our "Powering Britain" range and complimenting our 16 tonners, 21 ton MDO and MDVs and of course our HUOs, these will be a large slice of our 2025 wagon range and currently are in production. Pre-order Your 21 Ton Hoppers Here! FCA Family of Container Wagons Another large "missing link" in the 00 gauge wagon world are the FCA container flats and their variants. Again, we're a bit astonished that there has not been a "Binliner" or MOD traffic train offered in ready-to-run model form to date, so we set out to rectify that with our first run consisting of MOD containers and 20ft waste containers. Perfect for our Class 60 and 66 too, these are due in 2025 with decorated samples to be revealed in the new year. Pre-order Your FCAs Here! IRM H Vans, Grain Wagons and Bulleid Tankers All new wagon announcements weren't just confined to Accurascale, as IRM announced and delivered some rather tasty models on the common Bulleid triangulated chassis. These included the announcement and delivery of some rather smart fuel oil tankers, which sold out in a blink of an eye. We have also announced grain wagons converted from H Vans and the fitted H Vans which will arrive with us in early 2025! Keep an eye out for them. Speaking of IRM and tank wagons... IRM Teams Up With Heljan To Cover The Esso Tank Wagons We're delighted to have been approached by our friends at Heljan to collaborate on a wagon project covering the BR A and B tanks as they were sold and repurposed for use in Ireland in the late 1960s. With the distinctive additional bracing tooled and added, these quad packs allow modellers to build an authentic "Sligo Oil" train. These are on the high seas and due in stock in early 2025! Pre-order Your Esso Tankers Here So, that's what we announced. But what matters most is what we delivered. Let's have a look at what we landed in 2024! Delivered Models Class 66 It has been very much a "Type 5" sort of year for us as our first run of Class 66s arrived in the summer just ahead of our Class 60 launch. Our sheds have gone down very well indeed and are already winning awards, picking up the "OO Gauge Locomotive of The Year" gong in the Hornby Magazine awards. Indeed, our first run proved so popular that they virtually sold out just after arrival direct and with retailers so we announced batch 2 which is now in production. Batch two includes "Euro" Class 66 for the first time, featuring machines built for use on the Continent which have since been brought to the UK and modified for UK operations. Look out for their delivery next year! Pre-Order Your Class 66 Here! Class 37 Run 2 Autumn saw the arrival of our second production run of our beloved Class 37s! We offered a variety of eras from BR Green through to current day operations and once again they sold out rather quickly indeed direct, and are becoming scarce on retailers shelves too. Following on from delivery of this batch we announced run 3, which consists of the classic Class 37/4s and the Class 37/9s as mentioned earlier. Look forward to these in 2025! Pre-order Your Class 37 Here! Class 31 Autumn was really busy for us as it saw the long awaited arrival of the first batch of our Class 31s! Our BR Blue locos arrived to much fanfare and positive feedback, with favourable feedback on the performance, shape, sound and decoration. Once again they have become scarce, but never fear! The second batch from the first run in BR Green and our 80S/90s era liveries such as Dutch and Railfreight land in about 2 weeks' time! We will also see the announcement of an all-new production run after the final deliveries of our Exclusives and Retailer/Magazine limited editions in 2025. Andrew Barclay Tank Locomotives With the Andrew Barclay tanks already in production when we took on the project, we were able to deliver this production run in 2025. It has come to our attention that the pre-existing inner packaging design was not adequate enough to protect some of these models, particularly the open-backed cab variants. We have also noted that there was a design flaw with the clip that holds the motor in place which can become dislodged if jolted in shipping. We can now confirm that all the packaging clamshell casings and motor clips have been re-engineered and replaced on the remaining stock to rectify these issues and we will have replacements for both available to existing customers should they want them in the new year. Watch out for further updates. Order Your Andrew Barclay Here! Class 55 Deltics Our final loco delivery of 2025 (not accounting for our P Class tank engines, which have arrived too!) was the second production run of our mighty Class 55 Deltics. They arrived just in time for Christmas and have been finding favour with modellers around the world. Usually the first production run of any new model is the biggest, with subsequent deliveries always a bit smaller, but due to the popularity of Vulcan Foundry's favourite beasts, our second production was actually larger than the first. We are sold out direct, but you may still find the locos you desire with your local retailer. We must do another run of these soon.... SR Banana Vans Our major wagon arrival for 2024 was the SR D1478 and D1479 Diagram Banana Vans in OO/4mm. These distinctive vans were very much another "missing link" in the OO gauge ready-to-run wagon market so we are delighted to plug yet another gap! We still have some available direct and via retailers, with all eras covered including departmental "Tadpole" variants. Another award winner for "Best OO wagon" in the wagon of the year voting with Hornby magazine! Thank you to everyone who voted for them. Order Your Banana Vans Here! Mark 2b Coaches It was very much the year of the coach for us as we delivered our long awaited and highly anticipated Mark 2b coaches. From our exclusive RTC pack above to the bog standard Blue Grey and NSE variants, along with West Coast and Provincial, they have gone down a treat with modellers and plugged a much needed gap in the Mark 2 story. Sold out on arrival, we will be looking to do another production run soon, so keep an eye out for that. Mark 1 Suburban Coaches It's been a bit of an Eastern Region flavour to our arrivals in 2024, with Deltics and of course our Class 31s in Blue and the matching Mark 1 suburban coaches arriving in stock together. Although a humdrum prototype, we have gone to town on the detail, with the interiors being a particular highlight, along with a fully diecast chassis to provide the smoothest running and of course, full interior lighting! Some of our blue coaches have no sold out, and the others are shifting fast. The carmine variants have just arrived with us too, and will begin shipping out to customers in the new year. Order Your Mark 1 Subs Here! OO Warwells Our first arrival of 2024 was a surprise to many as we delivered the production run of Hattons warwell wagons in OO. These were finished production when we agreed to take on the production costs and tooling for these superb wagons and we then delivered them to Hattons pre-order customers. They sold out rather quickly, so perhaps we need to consider another production run of them in the near future? Let us know! IRM Bulleid Open Wagons IRM saw delivery of a plethora of new wagon models built on the famously versatile Bulleid triangulated underframe. The first arrival was the iconic corrugated open wagons, which are a must for anyone modelling from the 1950s to the 1980s, particularly on beet traffic. Order Your Bulleid Opens Here! IRM Bulleid Flat Wagons Hot on the heels of the Bulleid opens was their flat wagon counterparts. Perfect for mixed goods trains carrying anything from rails to cars, these wagons again were part of the Irish scene for decades. Probably the quickest selling Irish wagons since we did our Bell Liner container wagon sets, these CIE tanks went in record time. Looking at them though, it's easy to see why as they turned out rather cute! NIR "Enterprise" Mark 2 Coaches Rolled in as part of our Mark 2 project, our Enterprise Mark 2 coaches did feature unique tooling to cover the generator, grille and driving cars which were ordered by NIR to form the premier train to Dublin. We did put the "cart before the horse" with these a little bit, releasing them before the NIR Hunslet locomotives in two liveries, but they proved so successful it made our Hunslet project a "no brainer". We now must get on with that iconic maroon and blue livery to match the early Hunslet liveries... IR and IE Mark 2C Coaches Our final arrival for 2024 for IRM was the first lot of our Mark 2c tooling in the iconic orange and black livery with IR and IE markings. Capturing the refurbished coaches bought from Vic Berry's scrap yard in exchange for withdrawn C Class locos. Once again, the exquisite detail and package of full interior detail, decoration and lighting, coupled to a museum quality finish, set the tone for 2025 arrivals such as the Park Royals and ICRs! New Team Member We made a further addition to our growing team in 2024 with Andrew Faulkner joining us as Operations and Logistics Manager. Andrew brings a wealth of experience with him and is familiar with him, having been our account manager in his previous job, and was tasked with bringing our models from the far east to the UK and Ireland. We have now brought that role in house, while Andrew also works to streamline and improve our warehousing and dispatching operations to customers. And A Fond Farewell... The end of 2024 sees the retirement of Graham Hubbard, who has been a Development Consultant to us for a number of years now. Graham's wealth of experience from building the Bachmann brand in the UK for over 25 years, and of course revitalising Graham Farish. Graham is now taking a well earned rest as he retires from the industry, but will still be present in the railway preservation scene as a member of the Heavy Tractor Group. We wish Graham all the very best for the future and thank him for all his help in our growth and development into the business we are today. It's been invaluable! We're sure he will still keep in touch with ideas and assistance when we need it too! And Finally... If you've made it this far, then well done! We had a lot to pack in this year, and there is plenty we left out too! It's been our busiest yet, but 2025 is already shaping up to be even bigger for us. In the coming weeks alone we will see the arrival of our first O gauge loco, the Ruston 88DS (and our first loco delivered on time. See? We're learning!) the Mark 2c coaches, the Mark 1 subs in carmine livery, the second batch of the Class 31s, the 16 ton mineral wagons, the Wainwright P Class locos and the CDA wagons. Just behind that little lot we have the Class 50s, the Class 89, The 3rd part of the Class 31 deliveries, The Class 60, The Buckjumpers, The Panniers and Class 66 run 2, NER hoppers and not to mention the blue HYAs and the grain wagons and H vans for IRM. In fact, we are about to deliver so much stuff in the next few weeks and couple of months, that we wont have many outstanding announcements left to fulfil and our backlog will be cleared. With that in mind, expect to see some rather juicy announcements in 2025 as our record investment in new toolings made in 2023 and again this year begin to come on stream. We will be kicking off with a brand new wagon announcement in early January. Exciting times! We will sign off by thanking you all so very much for your continued support and custom, as well as votes in awards and well wishes via social media, RMWeb or in person at shows. We could never do all this without your support, so thank you! We would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful new year and here's to a mega 2025 for us all. View the full article

No sooner had we announced that our next locomotives for IRM would be the utterly distinctive and characterful NIR 101 Class "Hunslets", that we already had progressed to decorated samples and they have now landed with us for assessment! We have some minor amendments to make which we will go through below. But first, let's feast our eyes on some proper Hunnys! Quite tasty, right? We're so thankful to the Ulster Folk And Transport Museum for allowing us access to the Hunslet so we could scan and measure it up to bring you this model. If you haven't been to Cultra, make sure you put it in your diary. It's a great day out as explained by Clare Ablett, the Transport Curator at the museum. Of course, this is just the next step in the development process as we work toward creating the finished models you will receive. We have improvements to make at this point too, which include the following: Improve paint application on GSM aerials. Improve operation and alignment of sprung buffers. Factory fit drawhook, and separate couplings into accessory bag. Allocate accessory items to each SKU. Improve manufacturing process to eliminate ejection pin marks. Improve casting process on chassis block to eliminate odd areas of rough casting. Improve paint coverage on MU fittings. Want to know more about the project? Check out our video with Hunslet Project Manager, Paul Isles, below! Overall, we are very pleased with progress so far, and the above has been fed back to the factory already with these amendments now well under way. Production is due to begin just after the Chinese New Year break in spring 2025 with us still on course for a delivery date Q4 2025. Order Your NIR Hunslet Here! View the full article

No sooner had we announced that our next locomotives for IRM would be the utterly distinctive and characterful NIR 101 Class "Hunslets", that we already had progressed to decorated samples and they have now landed with us for assessment! We have some minor amendments to make which we will go through below. But first, let's feast our eyes on some proper Hunnys! Quite tasty, right? We're so thankful to the Ulster Folk And Transport Museum for allowing us access to the Hunslet so we could scan and measure it up to bring you this model. If you haven't been to Cultra, make sure you put it in your diary. It's a great day out as explained by Clare Ablett, the Transport Curator at the museum. Of course, this is just the next step in the development process as we work toward creating the finished models you will receive. We have improvements to make at this point too, which include the following: Improve paint application on GSM aerials. Improve operation and alignment of sprung buffers. Factory fit drawhook, and separate couplings into accessory bag. Allocate accessory items to each SKU. Improve manufacturing process to eliminate ejection pin marks. Improve casting process on chassis block to eliminate odd areas of rough casting. Improve paint coverage on MU fittings. Want to know more about the project? Check out our video with Hunslet Project Manager, Paul Isles, below! Overall, we are very pleased with progress so far, and the above has been fed back to the factory already with these amendments now well under way. Production is due to begin just after the Chinese New Year break in spring 2025 with us still on course for a delivery date Q4 2025. Order Your NIR Hunslet Here! View the full article

We have a colossal amount of new models arriving in our warehouse, floating on the high seas and nearing completion in our factories. It is by far the largest amount of models we have been in the process of delivering ever as we grow bigger and stronger. In fact, there is so much happening right now that we have decided to put it in one larger mini update instead of several smaller batches. If we haven't got it on here, then the previous update is still valid. So, here we go! (Please note that these ETAs are given in good faith based on the latest information from our factories and logistics partners. There are therefore subject to change which we will communicate to you should a change arise.) Class 55 Deltics Our second run of Deltics are now in our warehouse and are currently being readied for dispatch. We envisage shipping to begin tomorrow and (busy Christmas period permitting) will begin landing with modellers and retailers from early next week. Please note that the second run of Deltics have been hugely popular, so it's going to take us at least a week to work through all orders. Andrew Barclay Tanks Our Andrew Barclay tanks are currently in stock but we are using a secondary warehouse to fulfil the volume of orders, coupled with Black Friday/Cyber Monday orders along with the usual Christmas rush is causing delays in the delivery system to modellers. We are currently seeing delivery times of 10-14 days. We apologise for this delay currently and are working to improve it significantly in the coming days and weeks. P Class Like the Andrew Barclay tanks, our P Class locomotives were already underway with Hattons before their closure. This means that clamshell internal packaging was already designed from the previous run and we saw no need to update it. However, there has been some damage caused by the packaging of the ABs and as a result we tested the Ps packaging. We were unhappy with the results of the packaging being adequate enough, so we have had it all recycled and remade. This has unfortunately delayed delivery, but they are due to be repackaged next week. We are confident that the new packaging will remove the disappointment of a broken model reaching you, but we can now not guarantee them arriving before Christmas to you, more likely between Christmas and new year and into early January. Crimson Mark 1 Suburban Coaches Following on from the success and love for our BR Blue Mark 1 suburban coaches, the next batch in the rather attractive BR crimson livery arrive at our Warehouse on December 19th and dispatch will begin after the Deltics. Once again, dispatch will take several days so may spill into that period between Christmas and new year, along with early January. 16 Ton Minerals Also due with the Crimson Mark 1s are our first production run of 16 ton mineral wagons! These will ship out after the Mark 1s in early January to direct customers and retailers. Mark 2c Coaches Our hotly anticipated Mark 2c coaches near the end of their journey and will land in stock with us in the first week of January and dispatch will begin after our usual QC checks and stock counting. Expect them to arrive with you from the second week in January and allow about 7-10 days for dispatch to all direct and trade customers. The love for these has been strong! Ruston 88DS In O Gauge Also due in the first week in January at our warehouse is our first O gauge locomotive, and indeed our first locomotive delivered on time! Our wonderful Ruston 88ds locos arrive in the second week of January and dispatch begins after the Mark 2c dispatch is complete. Class 30/31/Brush Type 2 Batch 2 and Batch 3 Following on from our hugely successful first batch (all in BR Blue!), our second batch of Class 31s consists of all main range locomotives in BR Green, Dutch, Railfreight grey, Regional Railways and Intercity Mainline liveries. These will land with us in mid January 2025. Our batch 3 which consists of our Accurascale Exclusives in Network Rail livery, Mainline Freight and EWS, along with special edition models for Rails of Sheffield, Key Model World, Model Rail Magazine and the National Railway Museum arrive in March! Class 89 As per our very recent update, the Class 89s will land with us in late February 2025! Expect to see production samples around new year. Class 50 Production of the Class 50s is now in its last leg and final assembly is well underway. We expect our production samples for sign off before the end of this year to sign off ahead of delivery. Delivery will be early March 2025. J67/J68/J69 Buckjumper Our gorgeous little Buckjumpers are progressing through production as we speak, but they will not be finished ahead of the Chinese New Year factory close down. They will now arrive in Q2 2025. CDA Wagons Accompanying the Class 31s are the CDA wagons, which will also arrive in stock with us in mid January 2025 and be dispatched to direct and retail customers following the second batch of Class 31s. Remember, you can pre-order any of these models (subject to availability, the Class 89 only direct or via Rails of Sheffield) from our retail partners, or direct via the link below! NER 20T Hopper Wagons Another project that is now in production are or rather lovely NER 20T hopper wagons. The completion date for these rather interesting entry into our "Powering Britain" range of coal wagons is March, which means they will arrive in stock with us in May of 2025. Pre-Order Your Accurascale Goodies Here! View the full article

Hi everyone, The team here at IRM/Accurascale was very sorry to hear of the untimely passing of Chris Dyer over the weekend. As anyone familiar with the Irish modelling scene would know, Chris ran toy fairs, commissioned reworked models and sold model trains, both new and secondhand at various shows across the island of Ireland for many years. He also ran a brilliant toy fair in Stillorgan with his good buddy, Dave Bracken for many years before COVID lockdowns and Brexit put a spanner in the works. He was also an early supporter of IRM and what we set out to do, with him being only one of our very select few trade partners. He also gave us space at the Stillorgan fair to promote and sell our models and meet the public. He will be greatly missed by those in the hobby, but not as much as he will be by his wonderful family and friends. Thanks very much for all your help and support, Chris, and the odd bargain too. Ar Dheis De go Raibh aHainm Dhilis. Thanks, Fran

Our Class 60 launch certainly took many modellers by surprise when we unveiled our latest diesel project back in the summer. It signified our switch to announcing later in the development process too, so waiting times for modellers could be reduced from announcement to delivery (see also our NIR Hunslet and Hunslet Austerity locos decorated samples due very soon, and 37/9s!) However, we still allow a little room for improvements based on customer feedback, and indeed our own input. While the decorated samples looked splendid, and many modellers were most impressed with how they look, there were some tweaks we wanted to implement. We were starting from a very strong position thankfully, as can be seen with the beautifully weathered and renumbered example by James Makin running on "Loftus Road". He really took one of our decorated samples to the next level. Look out for a full "step-by-step" guide on our website when the models arrive in stock. We have received much constructive feedback on our Tugs at shows, on RMWeb and of course Social Media, as well as our own review processes as we progress throughout the development process. Once such area that drew feedback and debate was the addition of the bolt heads visible on the window frames on the front windscreens of the real locomotives. We had initially elected to leave this feature off on the model (as had been done on previous renditions of the OO gauge model) for one simple reason; the recess of the bolt heads is max 2mm, but mostly flush M6 inner frame, M8 outer frame flat head bolts (we measured!). This scales down to a max 0.026mm in 4mm scale for 00 gauge locomotives. This is impossible to tool to scale, and we did not want the front of the loco looking like overscale swiss cheese! However, we thought we would have a go at trying to replicate it again and came up with the below... Beautifully subtle, just like the real locomotives and pleasing to the eye, we printed the bolt heads to the correct scale size to give that subtle representation which can be caught by the light and it really sets the "face" of the loco off rather nicely! Another area we were not overly happy with when the decoration samples were delivered was some of the piping on the bogies, with the hydraulic pipes being a little ill defined and lacking relief. It ended up looking like one big pipe, instead of two smaller ones run side-by-side. Thankfully, this was a rather easy fix! Before: After (EXTREME CLOSE-UP!): Much better! One outstanding element in the creation of our Class 60 was recording of the sound file. We felt it was of vital importance to record a Tug at what it does best; hauling heavy trains on the mainline. It has taken months of planning and signing off, but thanks to those brilliant people at DCR we were able to record 6Z60 1034 Willesden DC Rail Sidings to Merehead Quarry empties and return loaded 6M18 1613 Merehead Quarry (Fhh) to Willesden DC Rail Sidings. They even facilitated us by turning the locomotive to have it at the right end for optimum sound recording when working loaded. We had to work very hard to respect all the rules and safety considerations of recording a locomotive working hard at its day job, and all recording was done with trained railwaymen who are trained to operate in such areas with full safety training. Having such folk as part of our team allows us to go that extra mile to secure the very best sound recordings for our locomotives. The hard work has paid off though, as nothing can really capture the powerful sound of a locomotive working hard, at speed, on the mainline. (Our sound man Jamie and trusty microphone safely tucked into the loading gauge in the rear cab of 60 029 as she blasts through Twyford on loaded 6M18 1613 Merehead Quarry (Fhh) to Willesden DC Rail Sidings, hauling a 2,500 ton trailing load and working hard!) With a trailing load of 2500 tons at speeds of up to 60mph, the resulting sound file will portray our Class 60 doing what they were designed for; moving mountains. We look forward to previewing the sound file for you on the production samples when they land with us! We would like extend our sincere thanks to Danny Sladdin and the team at DCR for making this possible! With production in full swing we have a very limited amount of Class 60s remaining on pre-order. We advise getting your no money down pre-order in today direct or via your local Accurascale stockist to avoid disappointment. Pre-order for just £169.99 DC/DCC Ready and £269.99 DCC sound fitted with our mainline sound recording and full "Accurathrash" speaker package. Pre-Order Your Class 60 Here! View the full article

Since we unveiled our line up of 37/4s in classic BR era condition and liveries, there has been much call to know what the other part of our Class 37 run 3 line up would look like? Of course, while it's easy to shout "duplication" because we did a Class 37, it did miss the point that we pride ourselves on; we did the variants that had never been done before. Okay, so the original Class 37/4s were done before, but market demands dictated that we go there. The calls for us to do them were huge, so we obliged. However, the other side of this run is us sticking true to our principles of breaking new Class 37 ground, and we go somewhere that no manufacturer has been before; The Mirrlees powered Class 37/9s! History Introduced in 1986-7, the repowered Class 37/9s were an off-shoot of the ill-fated ‘Class 38’ project, a proposed 1,800-2,250hp Class 31/33/37 replacement with the haulage capability of a Class 56 or 58. As many as 500 units were planned, which attracted significant interest from locomotive builders and engine manufacturers from the UK, Europe and the USA. Two British manufacturers quickly established themselves among the front runners with engine designs that boasted incredible fuel efficiency. The Mirrlees Blackstone MB275T from Hawker Siddeley and the Ruston RK270T from GEC Transportation, could both develop over 2,000hp from a straight six cylinder layout, providing a significant reduction in maintenance costs. Having both passed BR’s punishing approval process, a further further two-year trial was undertaken using six Class 37 donors that were undergoing ‘refurbishment’ at BREL Crewe Works. As the Mirrlees unit was slightly heavier than the English Electric 12CSVT they were replacing, they were included in the 120-tonne ballasted group, otherwise known as ‘heavyweights’. Hawker Siddeley offered four engines for Nos. 37901-4 and these were mated to a Brush BA1005A alternator, while the Ruston in Nos. 37905/6 was partnered with GEC G546AZ electrical equipment. Both engines were set to deliver just 1,800hp to avoid overloading the existing EE traction motors. There were external modifications too. The Mirrlees unit with silencer was longer and taller than unit it replaced, resulting in a new ‘peaked’ roof, while the Ruston, which tipped the scales at just 13.75 tons, also featured a revised roof to accommodate a new silencer layout. The first pair, Nos. 37901/2 (ex-37150 and 37148), left Crewe at the end of October 1986, while the two Rustons (ex-37136 and 37206) were completed by mid-December. Nos. 37903 (ex-37249) and 37904 (ex-37125) followed in February and April 1987 respectively. Cardiff Canton was chosen to look after the small fleet and these were allocated to the Metals sub-sector for local steel operations, although they were also fitted with slow-speed control for coal duties. All were delivered in Railfreight grey, with No. 37901 quickly being named Mirrlees Pioneer and No. 37905 Vulcan Enterprise. The Class 37/9s quickly found their feet, despite being intensively diagrammed, and working in pairs had no problem taking over from the double-headed Class 56s on the 3,060-tonne Port Talbot-Llanwern iron ore trains. However, they were found to load much more slowly leading to the ‘slug’ nickname for the class. Their reliability was also impressive, although some issues were experienced with both the turbochargers and the silencer configurations on both designs. The latter resulted in both types receiving modified roof layouts. Unfortunately, the ‘Class 38’ project was cancelled in December 1987. Despite this setback, BR chose to purchase the engines rather than return them to standard condition. Happily, the incredible fuel efficiency and extended maintenance periodicity displayed by the Mirrlees design likely contributed to Brush winning the Class 60 contract in 1988, and this was specified with the eight-cylinder version of the power unit. By August 1988, Nos. 37903/6 had both been outshopped in the new triple-grey Metals scheme, with Nos. 37904/5 being similarly repainted in 1990 and Nos. 37901/2 in March 1991, by which point the fleet was beginning to wander much further afield. However, it wasn’t long before their non-standard nature began to count against them and nearly all spent periods in store during the 1990s. While all six passed to Trainload Freight South West / Transrail in 1994, with Nos. 37901/6 also receiving big ‘T’ logos, No. 37904 was the first to be permanently stopped at Canton in April 1996. The resurgence of freight in the early EWS era saw regular work return for the remaining quintet, but with Class 66s starting to arrive the inevitable was held off only until November and December 1998 when Nos. 37901 and 37903/5 were also sidelined. The final pair, Nos. 37902/6, were switched off in January 1999, although unofficially named No. 37906 Star of the East was reprieved as part of the EWS ‘heritage fleet’ for galas and open days and was even repainted back into Railfreight grey ahead of the Old Oak Common open day in August 2000. No. 37903 was scrapped at Crewe Diesel in October 2005, while No. 37904 suffered the same fate at CF Booth, Rotherham, in November 2004. No. 37902 was acquired by Direct Rail Services in 2002, which then disposed of it to Sims Metals, Beeston, in April 2005 after cancelling its overhaul. Happily, No. 37901 was saved in 2003 and was a regular performer in preservation before being acquired by Colas Rail and then Europhoenix in 2016 and gaining the operator’s house colours. It subsequently returned to main line operations in 2022 for the EP Rail ‘spot hire’ subsidiary and was recently repainted back into Railfreight Metals livery. The two Ruston locos also both worked in preservation at various points over the last 20 years, although they are now owned by UK Rail Leasing and are undergoing a slow return back to operational, albeit non main line, condition. WATCH: Learn The History And Take A Closer Look At The Model With Senior Project Manager Gareth Bayer The Model The first release of the Accurascale Class 37/9 covers three of the Mirrlees examples over the full life of the sub class, from original conversion, through their classic late sectorisation period right through to the present day. Let's look at the three locomotives on offer. 37901 Mirrlees Pioneer When the six-cylinder Mirrlees Blackstone MB275T power unit was first lowered into carbody of the former 37150 it is unlikely that anyone involved in the re-engineering project envisioned it would still be working 38 years later, especially as the Class 38 project for which the engines were intended would be cancelled only a few months later. Built as D6850 in 1963 and already 23 years old when it was plucked from obscurity to become 37901, the doyen of the Class 37/9s, the conversion at BREL Crewe Works was completed in October 1986. Finished in Railfreight grey and quickly named Mirrlees Pioneer, like all six members of the sub class it was allocated to Cardiff Canton, who intensively diagrammed their new charges on Railfreight Metals sector services. This included doubled up on the heavy iron ore trains between Port Talbot and Llanwern, a duty previously in the hands of Class 56s. The last to gain a full repaint into the Railfreight Metal scheme in March 1991, it swapped its sub sector decals for Transrail’s big ‘T’ branding in 1995. The fun couldn’t last and it was stored unserviceable by new owners EWS in November 1998 after being stopped with radiator issues a few weeks earlier. Fortunately, 37901 was acquired for preservation in September 2002 and moved to the Llangollen Railway in October 2003 where it was restored to working order. Always a popular presence at diesel galas, a sale to Colas Rail in 2016 and then Europhoenix in 2018, who quickly repainted it in their house colours prompting hopes for a speedy return to the main line. However, it wasn’t until June 2022 that it would achieve this goal, albeit flying under the flag of the EP Rail ‘spot hire’ subsidiary. Currently hired to Rail Operations Group to cover for overhauls to their existing fleet of Class 37s, 37901 was repainted back into Railfreight Metals livery in July 2024. 37902 British Steel Llanwern Released to traffic in repowered form at the same time as Mirrlees Pioneer in October 1986, 37902 was rebuilt from 37148/D6848 and other than niggling silencer and turbocharger issues quickly showed the impressive reliability and fuel efficiency of the MB275T and Brush BA1005A alternator combination. Like several members of the Class 37/9 sub class it was initially repainted in the unbranded version of the new Roundel-designed triple-grey Railfreight image, and retained this appearance until the first months of 1991 when Metals sub sector branding was applied. The livery was further enhanced the following July by its naming British Steel Llanwern and the addition of British Steel crests and Cardiff Canton depot plaques. The name lasted just 15 months before being removed during a period of store and swapped onto 56054. Returned to traffic in early 1993, the locomotive retained its plaques into 1997, and was a regular performer on steel trains into the Midlands into the early EWS era. One of the last pair to be retired in January 1999 along with No. 37906, there would be no EWS heritage fleet reprieve and preservation for 37902. While there was a brief burst of optimism in 2002 when it was purchased by Direct Rail Services as an engine test bed, plans for a return to service were quashed and it was despatched to Sims Metals at Beeston in March 2005 for disposal. 37903 Flying the flag for their as-converted condition in Railfreight grey is 37903, the former 37249/D6949. Outshopped from BREL Crewe in February 1987, the former Eastern Regional machine quickly readjusted to its return to South Wales, having been delivered to Cardiff Canton in December 1964. Dedicated to Railfreight Metals duties, albeit with the odd coal turn, it was one of the first pair of Class 37/9s to gain the Roundel triple-grey livery in August 1988, although curiously with BR arrow decals rather than the aluminium castings afforded to most other repaints. Happily this was rectified by 1989, although Canton never did go so far as to apply depot plaques at the other end. Despite joining the Trainload Freight West fleet, later Transrail, in 1994, it retained its Metals brandings right to the final curtain in December 1998, EWS deciding not to authorise a required ‘C’ exam required for it to remain in traffic. Another victim of the non-standard nature of the Class 37/9s combined with accelerating Class 66 deliveries. 37903 hung on until April 2005 and was the last to be scrapped, cutting being undertaken by a Harry Needle team at Crewe Diesel Depot. Each of the three versions is unique with different silencer configurations and nose side grilles depending on period, and they also feature the whole host of upgrades afforded to the other models in the third run which includes working roof fan on both DCC ready and DCC sound versions, switchable tail lights (right on, left on, both on), revised bonnet top doors, see-through radiator shutters with radiators behind, and engine room detail visible through the windows. Saving the best to last, a comprehensive new sound project has been recorded with assistance from Europhoenix and UK Rail Leasing. Both BR versions will be available both direct and through Accurascale's network of stockists, while 37901 in Europhoenix livery will be an "Accurascale Exclusive", coming with special presentation packaging, a limited edition certificate and available only direct via the Accurascale website. DC/DCC Ready locomotives are priced at £189.99 and the DCC Sound Fitted locomotives are priced at £289.99, in line with our recent launch of the other batch 3 locomotives and delivery is Q4 2025! Pre-order your Class 37/9s below, or via your local stockist! Pre-order Your Class 37/9 Locos Here! View the full article

Hi Phil, Underside of the model: Well Joe, if these sell well we can look to other runs in the future. The power is in the hands of the Irish model railway buying public! Cheers! Fran

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