Warley is back! And as is known, we like to make a bit of a splash ahead of the big Brum show. It's also been a bit of an EE theme for us, having previously announced the Deltic and the 37 around the biggest show on the calendar. So, let's complete the set; welcome to the Class 50, from Accurascale.

The Class 50 is the third and final member of our iconic English Electric (EE) six-axle trio that began with the Class 55 in 2018 and the Class 37 in 2019. With our award-winning ‘Deltic’ now in customers’ hands and the first of the much anticipated Type 3s due to leave our factory in the coming weeks, it is now time to reveal the full details of the next classic main line locomotive to join our growing roster.

It's also the most requested loco we've had for the last three years, so it's about time we obliged!

Browse the range and pre-order yours direct by clicking right here!

Why the 50? Check out our video with Hornby Magazine!

Prototype History

The class developed a huge following towards the end of the 1980s as older locomotives fell by the wayside and the ‘Hoovers’ were lined up to be the next major victim of ‘Sprinterisation’. With just 50 examples built and all – initially – wearing evocative names drawn from Royal Navy warships that were applied from the late 1970s, many enthusiasts developed intense bonds with individual Class 50s that rivalled even the last days of the ‘Deltics’. Although the final withdrawals came in 1994, this passion for the class was happily translated into preservation and 18 examples are still extant with five currently main line registered.

Delivered from Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, between September 1967 and December 1968, the new 100mph diesel-electrics were developed from EE’s successful DP2 prototype with the intention of speeding up services north of Crewe to complement the accelerated electric timetable on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line. They were numbered D400-449, later 50001-50050 under TOPS, and were initially allocated to Crewe, albeit leased to British Rail as part of an innovative deal that made their approval much more palatable to government officials.

The 2,700hp locomotives were the first class to be entirely delivered in BR corporate blue and later gained the ‘Hoover’ nickname due to the intense sucking sound created by the twin inertial filters at the No.2 end. The fleet was initially deployed on passenger and parcels services between Crewe and Glasgow, with forays north as far as Inverness, as well as trains to Blackpool, Liverpool and Manchester. Notably they were also fitted with rheostatic braking – already common on electric locos – that was particularly useful on the long down grades from the summits at Beattock and Shap. As the wires began to march north again from 1970, multiple working equipment was installed fleet wide while freight work became a greater part of their remit, their slow speed control kit proving particularly useful for MGR coal operations to Ironbridge and other power stations.

Although EE had hoped to deliver what would have essentially been a fleet of ultra-reliable DP2s in a restyled carbody – courtesy of the Design Panel – BR eventually settled on a substantially revised specification that was packed with electronics and would prove to be the Achilles heel of the class, especially when they began to move to the Western Region from October 1972, initially just 400 (the ‘D’ prefix having been dropped from the late 1960s) spending seven months at Bristol Bath Road for training purposes.

In 1973, the lease deal ended with the fleet becoming BR property and by the end of the following year – which had seen the introduction of the full Euston-Glasgow electric timetable as well as the new TOPS numbers – almost three quarters of the class had transferred south, with Bath Road, Old Oak Common and Plymouth Laira taking over maintenance. They replaced the ‘Westerns’ on Paddington-Bristol and Penzance workings, as well as other West of England services and parcels duties.

The whole fleet was reunited on the WR by the end of 1976, which also saw a nadir in performance; just 38% of the class being active, a far cry from the 84% that EE had promised in its original availability guarantee, or the 75% achieved during their last year of LMR service. The problems were not easily solved. While routine maintenance issues could be mostly overcome as the former diesel hydraulic depots became used to their new charges, their complicated mixed traffic design was susceptible to spares shortages and frustrated WR bosses that were looking for a more thoroughbred passenger loco, while the internal electrical equipment was plagued by the ingress of dirt and oil via the inertial filters.

Although HSTs were starting to take over on the principle expresses in 1976, retiring the Class 50s was not a serious option. The result was an extensive refurbishment that would strip superfluous kit to a minimum and resolve contamination issues, as well as introduce several cosmetic improvements and bring forward various upgrades that would have typically come due during half-life overhauls a few years later. No. 50006 was the first to enter BREL Doncaster in September 1977, but it would be November 1979 before it would be released. By the time No. 50014 – the last to be refurbished – arrived in South Yorkshire in May 1983, the time had been slashed to just over six months, and Warspite returned to traffic in December of the same year. Notably, all but the first six locos in the programme were released in the new ‘large logo’ livery.

By the early 1980s class was mostly employed on secondary services, such as Paddington to Birmingham, Cheltenham, Hereford, Gloucester, Oxford, Worcester and South Wales destinations, Waterloo-Exeter, inter-regionals (South West to Gloucester or Birmingham, and Bournemouth or Poole to Reading) and South West locals, like Penzance to Plymouth.

The run-up to the Great Western 150 celebrations in 1985 included No. 50007, which was repainted in lined brunswick green with cast numbers and double arrow in February 1984, controversially losing its Hercules name to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the composer Sir Edward Elgar, who had no connection with the GWR. Rumoured to be the first of a series of locomotives renamed after famous people, the intense backlash put paid to any future rededications! The implementation of sectorisation in 1986 co-incided with the colourful launch of Network SouthEast – the blue, white and red scheme eventually being rolled out on around half the class – and the fleet found itself split between passenger, parcels and departmental work.

Several years on from refurbishment and the extensive rebuild was not the panacea that had been hoped. While reliability was improved, generator issues continued to hamper the class, an earlier plan to replace this with an alternator having been shelved due to cost. A lack of spares and a reduced workload meant the first withdrawals took place in 1987, Nos. 50006, 50011 and 50014 all being switched off, the latter pair scandalously having only been refurbished four years earlier! The same year, Laira out-shopped Defiance in the stunning new Railfreight General livery with re-geared CP7 bogies and new 50149 number heralding a potential freight future for the class. After just under two years of use, the project was cancelled partially due to poor wheelslip protection and lack of sanding equipment, both ironically removed during refurbishment.

It was the arrival of ex-Great Eastern Class 47/4s between 1987-90 and Class 47/7s from Edinburgh-Glasgow services from 1989 that really sounded the death knell. Taking over on Paddington semi-fasts, the Class 50s were down to half strength by the end of 1990. Faltering reliability saw further inroads as the ‘Brush 4s’ began to encroach on the ‘Mule’ during 1991, the arrival of the new NSE ‘Turbo’ DMUs in 1992 releasing enough Class 47s to almost finish the job by June 1992. This wasn’t entirely the end as Nos. 50050 (running as D400), 50007 and 50033 were retained until March 1994 for railtours and open days, all three subsequently passing into preservation along with numerous other favourites.

While many locomotives have enjoyed long preservation careers, seven of the class have returned to the main line, with an eighth expected to head back out in due course. Incredibly five are still active on Network Rail metals, the Class 50 Alliance’s Nos. 50007 Hercules (running as 50034 Furious on one side) and 50049 that both wear GBRf livery along with No. 50044 Exeter (cosmetically backdated to pre-refurbished condition), Hanson & Hall’s No. 50008 Thunderer and Boden Rail’s No. 50050 Fearless.

Our Model

Our Class 50 is the culmination of over three years of development that began with a 3D laser scan of No. 50017 at the Great Central Railway in 2019. Building on our growing range of diesel and electric locomotives, the EE Type 4 features their most impressive specification yet, with our ground shaking twin-speaker set up, working radiator fan, flange squeal sensor, full lighting package that includes preservation era oddballs, engine room and cab lighting with auto off feature and eight cab configurations with illuminated driver’s control desk.

The Class 50 Alliance also graciously allowed us to visit their fleet based at Kidderminster Diesel Depot on the Severn Valley Railway on several occasions, even raising No. 50044 on jacks to allow the our research team unprecedented access to the underframe!

The full gamut of changes experienced by this class have been included on our extensive tooling suite to create the definitive Class 50. This includes optional multiple working equipment, missing handrails on D400, original headcode or plated with marker lights or sealed beam lights, no headlight, blanked headlight and headlight, wind deflectors, sandbox fillers, ‘grilled’ windows on refurbished locomotives (including the first pair which retained the window grommet for several years), early or late cast bogies, dynamic brakes, roof scavenger port, NRN or GSM-R radio equipment/fittings, seven- or 12-blade radiator fan and roof walkways.

Tooling is almost complete but due to a local COVID shutdown in China the first sample has been delayed in arriving in time for the 2022 Warley show. This first sample will follow early in the new year. Six locomotives make up the first announcement, with some Accurascale Exclusives to follow soon. Prices range from £189.99 for the DC/DCC ready examples to £299.99 for the DCC Accurathrash sound fitted models. Delivery is slated for late Q4 2023.

Locomotives can now be pre-ordered via your local stockist, or direct via the Accurascale website, where you can spread the cost using our flexible payment terms over 6 months or less, depending on your requirements. Just click on the basket at checkout and follow the simple steps.

Browse the range and pre-order yours direct by clicking right here!

Specification

• Highly-detailed OO scale model, 1:76.2 scale
• Minimum Radius 438mm (2nd Radius Set-track) in OO
• Die-cast metal chassis
• RP25-110 profile OO wheels with provision for re-gauging with scale-sized wheels for P4/EM gauges – with simple ride height adjustment – and ability to set brake blocks in line with wheels
• Separately-applied etched metal/plastic detail parts, including grab handles, steps, wipers, etc.
• Scale width wire handrails
• Etched metal pre-painted nameplates and crests (where applicable) provided for customer to install
• Interchangeable printed headcodes with full description covering the first nine years of the class plus preservation era
• Scale-sized and mounted snowploughs provided for customer to install, with one-piece NEM mounted option
• Full underframe tank, battery box and full-formed compressor detail with extensive pipework and other separate parts
• Fully sprung buffers, super-fine pipework and screw couplings (for display)
• Kinetic NEM coupler mounts at correct height and mini-tension-lock couplers
• Separately powered working radiator fan with different speed settings
• DCC ready [21-Pin MTX Socket] or Factory-Fitted DCC Sound options

• Five-Pole motor with two flywheels
• Metal Helical Gear box for maximum performance and slow speed running
• Gearing arranged so locomotive can achieve minimum scale top speed of 125 mph (200 km/h)
• DCC ready with PowerPack capacitor for uninterrupted power
• All wheel drive (sprung centre axle) and all wheel pickup

Fully detailed Lighting Pack, including:

• Directional lighting, DC and DCC
• Switchable Red and white marker lights with correctly configured lights for preservation era oddballs 50008 and 50044
• Separately switched cab lighting and illuminated, driver’s desk, auto/off on movement
• Interior lighting with cast electrical compartment and engine bay detail on metal motor enclosure

• Customised Dual-Speaker Technology with large "Accurathrash" Bass Speaker and smaller ‘iphone’ style cube for higher frequencies (on DCC Sound-fitted models only)
• Hall sensor for flange squeal effect (on DCC Sound-fitted models only)

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Hi everyone,

Black Friday is only a few days away, and many of you are dying for our incredible sale of our Dicky Taras. These are the wagons which have a slight cosmetic design flaw, but otherwise are perfectly functioning, highly detailed models, going for an absolute, never to be repeated, bargain price!

So, here is how it will go down:

• 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)
• Unfortunately it is not economically viable to ship these to our UK warehouse for onward orders to comply with UK post Brexit customs arrangements, so sadly we cannot offer this deal to UK customers.
• Sale begins at 9am GMT this Friday and runs all weekend or when we sell out. Whichever comes first!
• We cannot reserve any packs ahead of the sale and all packs are sold as seen, factory seconds.

They will be for sale from Friday right here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/tara-mines

Cheers!

Fran 

Great news! Production of our first steam locomotive, the GWR 78xx Manor Class, is well underway at the factory. As can be seen in the photos below, production has been underway for some time now, with the parts cast and moulded, and decoration now under way.

the tampo printing process is now beginning as can be seen with the lining on the cab side in the above photo documenting the process. This begun late last week. It's been great progress since production commenced early last month.

While production progress by the factory has been excellent, swift and efficient, our hopes of having them in stock by the end of this year has proven to be a smidge ambitious. However, delivery is really not to far away, with completion of production expected just after Chinese New Year, which commences in early January and then testing and shipping which will see delivery in late Q1, March 2023. We apologise for this further slight delay, but as you can see, we are really on the home straight now and these will arrive just after our first batch of Class 37s.

Our first steam locomotive has been a learning curve for us, but a very enjoyable one. The response from modellers has been hugely positive too, so expect more steam from us in 2023! With several Manors already sold out on pre-order we expect the remaining stock to do the same in the coming weeks ahead of delivery. Don't miss out on this next level of steam locomotive, pre-order via your local stockist or direct by clicking here.

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Fantastic news! Our Class 92 electric locomotives are on the final leg of their journey, and are arriving at our warehouse W/C Nov 28th 2022!

We will follow this epic news with some equally exciting delivery news about our Mark 5 coaches next week!

Our Class 92s promise to be a whole new level in RTR British outline locomotives, with quality seen in the highest end continental locomotives at a more realistic price point.

When you see the twin motorised pantographs, the illuminated cab control desk, the wealth of detail on the roof and bogies, the stunning performance which will include our signature powerbank stay alive features, the various light modes, twin speaker set up and etched components, you will conclude the same.

These have been very popular indeed and will be a talking point on any layout, so make sure you grab what remaining stock there is while you can. Who knows when we will produce them again.

Check out Rails of Sheffield and Kernow Model centre for limited editions, our retailer network for main range and below for Accurascale Exclusives and remaining stock.

SHOP HERE

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It's been about 20 minutes since we announced a new model for our highly regarded "Powering Britain" range of coal wagons, so let's fill in a huge missing link in ready-to-run format.

Today we're announcing the family of NER 4 wheeled hoppers as the latest addition to our lovely wagon range. Of course we could've just announced one type to satisfy the market with. But no, that's not the Accurascale way! 

This family is made up of the P6, P7, P8 and Q3 variants of these distinctive 20 ton hopper wagons. Four different types, with differences within the range, based on period! 

Check out our announcement video with our friends at Hornby Magazine below!

I Don't Need Any Further Convincing, Take Me To The Range Now! 

The Prototypes

Having been influenced by witnessing coal haulage operations in the United States, where tradition did not hinder working practices and facilities, the Board of the NER decided to improve the ratio between capacity and tare weight of their waggons by building larger capacity rolling stock. Ideally, this would have meant moving to steel bodied bogie hopper wagons, with a 40 to 60 ton capacity, but the restrictions placed upon wagon stock by the cramped rail layouts of many of the collieries, the height of the loading screens and the investment required in modernising the shipping staithes and coal depots under its control meant that the NER needed to standardise on wooden bodied 20/23 ton 4-wheel hopper types.

Still mindful that colliery owners would resist investing in new facilities, the first of the new enlarged vehicles to be ordered was the Diagram P6 hopper in April 1902, with a capacity of 15 tons, a wheelbase of 10’ 6”, a length of 20’ 0” and 8’ 3” in height. 1,800 vehicles of this type were produced with both side and end brakes, but they were essentially an interim design, created to make the new approach palatable to the colliery owners. Within a month, in May 1902, a 20 ton prototype version was created, fitted with higher sides at 9’ 10” and better suited to incline operations.

The Diagram P7 hopper was built in huge quantities, the majority by Shildon; the original order for 550 vehicles increasing to over 12,000 by Grouping in 1923 and again, both side and end braked versions were built, as well as with modifications to the end panels that made for safer operation on curved inclines in the Central and Northern Divisions.

A further development by the NER saw the fitting of anti-friction rollers to the type, resulting in an increase in capacity to 23 tons, creating the Diagram P8 hopper. The friction rollers decreased the starting resistance of a train and from 1906 around 6,400 wagons were fitted in this manner, before having the friction gear removed around the time of Grouping, when they reverted to the classification of diagram P7 and a reduction in capacity to 20 tons.

As with the haulage of commercial coal, the transportation of locomotive coal was transformed at the beginning of the 20th century by the development of the Diagram Q3 loco coal waggon, based on the P7 type. The Q3 was introduced in 1902 and featured a flat floor and a single set of doors on each side for the unloading of the coal, although the NER required them to be convertible for use with ordinary coal trade traffic and so hinged sloping floor panels were fitted, along with two latitudinal bracing struts to maintain the wooden body’s integrity. Like the P8 hoppers, the Q3 hoppers were originally built with friction rollers and a 23 ton capacity, but by Grouping the friction gear had been removed and the capacity reduced to 20 tons.

8 plank, 15 ton Diagram P6.

• Two types of end stanchion tooled: NER wooden or LNER metal ‘T’ bar type from 1925 onwards. After 1926, the bottom sections of any remaining wooden stanchions were removed.
• Side chains were fitted to NER Northern Division examples until 1916 and have been catered for.
• Five types of axle-box: 3A Grease, Iron-Oil S1 (9” x 4.25”), Iron-Oil S2 (9.5” x 4.25”), No.3 (10” x 5”) & S4 single (10” x 5”), all of which have been tooled.
• Differing brake arrangements tooled: Morton single shoe per wheel pattern brakes and Morton Cam pattern (diagonally opposed).
• Handbrakes can be end, or side fitted, with two types of side handbrake arrangement catered for.
• Body ends will feature the removed central section of bottom plank for Northern and Central Division incline hauled hoppers, as well as the Southern Division solid end.

8 plank, 20 ton Diagram P7.

• Two types of end stanchion tooled: NER wooden or LNER metal ‘T’ bar type from 1925 onwards. After 1926, the bottom sections of any remaining wooden stanchions were removed.
• Side chains were fitted to NER Northern Division examples until 1916 and have been catered for.
• Two type types of axle-box tooled: S4 double axleguard (10” x 5”) covering 1909 to 1912 and No.3 (10” x 5”) covering 1912 to 1930.
• Double axle-guards, as fitted to new wagons between 1904 until circa 1916, have been tooled for.
• Differing brake arrangements tooled: Morton single shoe per wheel pattern brakes and Morton Cam pattern (diagonally opposed), as well as 4-shoe clasp on one side of wagon.
• Handbrakes can be end, or side fitted, with two types of side handbrake arrangement catered for.
• Body ends will feature the removed central section of bottom plank for Northern and Central Division incline hauled hoppers, as well as the Southern Division solid end.
• Different corner step arrangements: Left hand opposed corner steps fitted from the end of 1903 onwards, but if Morton Duplex brakes were fitted, steps were put at opposite end. If end handbrake fitted, steps fitted to all corners.

8 plank, 23 ton Diagram P8.

• Two types of end stanchion tooled: NER wooden or LNER metal ‘T’ bar type from 1925 onwards. After 1926, the bottom sections of any remaining wooden stanchions were removed.
• Side chains were fitted to NER Northern Division examples until 1916 and have been catered for.
• Tooling for anti-friction gear, with double axle-guards, as fitted to new wagons between 1904 until circa 1916 and retained when anti-friction gear removed.
• Differing brake arrangements tooled: Morton single shoe per wheel pattern brakes and Morton Cam pattern (diagonally opposed), as well as 4-shoe clasp on one side of wagon.
• Handbrakes can be end, or side fitted, with two types of side handbrake arrangement catered for.
• Body ends will feature the removed central section of bottom plank for Northern and Central Division incline hauled hoppers, as well as the Southern Division solid end.
• Two types of axle-box tooled: S4 double axleguard (10” x 5”) and No.3 (10” x 5”) when ant-friction gear removed.

8 plank, 23 ton Diagram Q3.

• Two types of end stanchion tooled: NER wooden or LNER metal ‘T’ bar type from 1925 onwards. After 1926, the bottom sections of any remaining wooden stanchions were removed.
• Side chains were fitted to NER Northern Division examples until 1916 and have been catered for.
• Tooling for anti-friction gear, with double axle-guards, as fitted to new wagons between 1904 until circa 1916 and retained when anti-friction gear removed.
• Differing brake arrangements tooled: Built with Morton double shoe per wheel clasp brakes, then with Morton single shoe per wheel pattern brakes when anti-friction gear removed.
• Handbrakes can be end, or side fitted, with two types of side handbrake arrangement catered for.
• Two types of axle-box tooled: S4 double axleguard (10” x 5”) and No.3 (10” x 5”) when anti-friction gear removed.

The Models

A long-time missing link in ready-to-run models in 00/4mm, the NER 20t hoppers were identified as a pivotal chapter in our famous “Powering Britain” range, telling the story of the movement of coal by rail through the ages. Work began on these models with surveys by our team in mid-February 2021, at a time when the country was once more under severe Covid restrictions, and the only people on site at Beamish were contractors and skeleton operational staff.

Normally a bustling, vibrant location, the P7 wagons were surveyed at Rowley Station with just birdsong to interrupt the silence, while Buzzards circled above and Deer grazed on the Events Field and Parkfield. Certainly an experience that will surely (and hopefully) never be repeated, but one that was carried out adhering to all protocols and safety guidelines.

This range of NER Hopper wagons, completely new to the RTR 00 market, bridge the gap between the use of small Victorian, wooden planked waggons, like our lovely little Chaldron waggons, and the arrival of the much improved steel bodied hoppers for the transportation of coal and coke in Northern England and the Borders. As such, they represent an important period of modernisation for mineral wagons as the railway companies evolved their designs from the Victorian era, and fully deserve their place in our “Powering Britain” range of models depicting the coal wagons which fuelled a nation by rail.

While it would’ve been simple to just offer one type of NER hopper, these wagons will instead see a complete range of variety, as another worthy subject is done “The Accurascale Way”. With four variants (P6, P7, P8 and Q3) in the line up, modellers will enjoy a wide range of variation over these important wagons. This will include modifications across their careers from NER service, through LNER and BR careers and onto their final days plying their trade in NCB collieries. A fully die cast chassis, separately applied wire handrails, brake gear, chains and more are also included where appropriate.

A variety of liveries will be offered across our traditional triple packs, priced at £84.95 each with 10% off when you buy two packs or more via our website and participating retailers. Tooling is complete with improvements and tweaks fed back to the factory, with a delivery date of Q1 2024 slated for delivery.

We must thank David Williamson and the North Eastern Railway Association for their help in providing photographs, drawings and insights for the project, which made the task of wading through additional drawings at Search Engine a far less daunting task. Equally, we must also thank Paul Jarman and Beamish; The Living Museum of the North for allowing us unfettered access to the wagon collection at what was a very difficult time for the Museum.

Browse the range and place your pre-orders here

MODEL SPECIFICATION

• Die-cast metal chassis with plastic body. Target weight of 35g
• Scale length of 80mm over headstocks for all four types, 30.67 wide for P6 and 32mm for P7, P8 and Q3.
• Wheelbase of 42mm, allowing operation over a minimum radius of 371mm (1st radius set-track).
• Three different body designs, with tooling variations to cover the NER, LNER and Early BR periods, as well as NCB and Internal User patterns.
• Brake blocks fitted and aligned with wheels.
• Variety of axle journals catered for, depending on time period and usage pattern.
• Side and end handbrakes catered for.
• Split spoke wheels, to a blackened 00 Gauge RP25-110 profile, set in blackened brass bearings
• Eroded metal, plastic and wire detail parts, including (but not limited to) handrails, grab handles, side-door handles, lamp brackets, brake gear, draw gear and anti-friction gear.
• Accurate representation of internal body detail and hopper door detail.
• Turned metal sprung buffers.
• Wagons connected via small tension locks, set into small, self-centring NEM housings.
• Authentic livery, markings and numbers, accurate to time period modelled.

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1 hour ago, DJ Dangerous said:

 

LOL, IRM / Accurascale are the bad boys of the scene. Go sit in a corner for being disruptive!

Off topic, but have you murdered and buried warbonnet and Garfield? They're suspiciously absent lately... Or are they off enjoying some winter sun somewhere a few thousand km south? I hear that the weather's great up in Ireland lately.

No sleep till Warley! And in a few days @Garfield will have no sleep for the next 18 years or so... 

It's been suggested on Twitter that it is an old Douglas Tugmaster, and going off the script on the front grille I reckon they are correct.

Cheers!

Fran 

Hi everyone,

The Oxford Diecast Scania Iziar Coach is now complete, and our stock is currently in transit from our wholesaler to us. We expect the first batch to arrive in stock with us mid next week. Orders will then be processed by time and date order.

We have had a huge amount of pre-orders for these so dispatch will take a number of days to complete. Thank you for your patience!

Cheers!

Fran 

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say that we're delighted to be able to sponsor the Wexford show for the first time and we'll be there with wares for sale and by then we should have an all working ICR sample too! We may even have an small announcement for the show, but we shall see nearer the time!

Cheers!

Fran 

Hi everyone,

We're delighted with the reaction to these so far. They really went down well at the show and it seems on here too. At the show we had a resin print of the cab which we blew up to 8mm ft (I believe!) and painted it up. This acts as a guide for us to ensure the cab curves and contours are correct on the model, and it looks cool too!

In other news sales sailed past the 10% mark for the total envisaged run by Saturday night and have been steady ever since. Thank you to everyone who has ordered so far!

Cheers!

Fran 

9 hours ago, DiveController said:

Bump…. @BosKonay.  @Warbonnet

…. just coupling an ICR set

Hi Kevin,

Sincerest apologies, I took a couple of days off after the show, working 15 days on the bounce can be tiring...

As we are offering sound fitted models we do not plan to sell sound decoders separately at this time. The distribution of sound is to be finalised once we have a working sample.

Cheers!

Fran 

Still, we got our revenge! 

Hi everyone,

Thank you to everyone who came by to the stand today to say hello and make purchases. It was incredibly busy, probably the busiest we’ve ever been at the Dublin shows (I never thought the bubble arrival would ever be topped!) but our cheap taras and announcements really went down well.

I tried this evening to liberate more dicky Tara’s from the storage unit for tomorrow and Monday but due to the Bank holiday they are now closed till Tuesday. So, all the remaining stock will be on the website for the Black Friday sale. Sorry!

Looking forward to seeing more of you all tomorrow! 
 

Cheers!

Fran

(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!

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 - £299.99
• 4 Car - £379.99
• 6 Car - £397.99

DCC Factory Fitted Sound Models

• 3 Car - £399.99
• 4 Car - £479.99
• 6 Car - £599.99

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 pre-order your ICR 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

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

(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

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

• 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!

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Hi everyone,

Absolutely dreadful news as I was looking forward to catching up with Chris on a personal level too. If anyone is looking for some British outline goodies we will have some Accurascale items for sale over the weekend along with our IRM fare.

Cheers!

Fran 

Hi Flying Snail,

Many thanks for pointing this out. We must remind Hattons that they are not an IRM retailer. 

Cheers!

Fran 

23 minutes ago, WRENNEIRE said:

Hopefully something new!
Pain in me hole with reissues of existing models
"What do we want?"
"New Stuff!"
"When do we want it?"....................

2 completely new tooling announcements this weekend  

9 minutes ago, Robert Shrives said:

Hopefully a few left for those unable to get to Dublin 

Robert 

There will be, we're not bringing the lot to Raheny, just some. Rest go on sale on the website for Black Friday next month.

Cheers!

Fran 

Hi everyone,

Announcement no 2 (of 4!) 

Cheers!

Fran