Railer

The first Mk2 is the restaurant coach.

Pics on Facebook of 073 in the paint shop, Looks like it will re enter traffic in the IR livery. The IR livery launched 30 years ago this year.

It depends, in later years they were all nearly turned to be on the same side. Ideally half rake one side and half the other for even distribution of ballast.

A rare shot too. 081 was only supposed to haul the train from Dundalk to Connolly then 216 to take it on from there. 216 and 081 got mixed up in Dundalk on Saturday night which lead to this strange situation.

Got mine over the weekend (thanks again very much Rich) and they are amazing wagons. The detail is top tier and the small wagons have a nice weight to them too with the ballast loaded. Well worth the wait and the price without question for anyone still on the fence about these. I'm even more excited to get my hands on the bubbles and the Taras look like they will raise the bar even higher.

That's the one I was on about. I think that would look great if IE rolled out one like that and give the 071 the A designation they missed out on.

Looks even shorter than that Dave. It's a proper cut and shut botch job from what I can tell. You can see the split join on the roof profile pic.

An 071 in Black n Tan 141 livery would be sweet.

Yeah, I have 10 packs paid for so that's a few discounts I'll have left over. I do fully intend on getting at least 12 tara wagons upfront and more later though.

And a nice discount for the Taras included with the ballast packs.

There's customer service for you. Opting for the finished article to be flown in instead of spending few weeks on the high seas at no extra expense to the customer.... can't ask for more really.

I know the 071s got Tloc event recorders fitted at some stage, don't know if they got more modern ones fitted in the current rebuild or the freight livery repaint project.

As far as I know, it was a weight/ track maintenance ware reason. Like how IE still have a rule where a loco can only tow a maximum of 2 dead locos at a time. It was 071 had to make two trips with the RPSI locos to bring them to Connolly. There was no reason why 134,141 and 175 could not have made the trip as one train. 141 and 175 were brought over together and then 071 had to go back to Inchicore to collect 134.

201 double heading only ever happened once and it was NIR's 208 and 209 on the NIR network only as part of the ITG Yankee rail tour. A few Cravens screw couplings were damaged alright due to the acceleration forces involved, they just about held together though.

071 and 111 did work in multiple on an ITG tour back in the '90s. And another time 111 and 113 worked in multiple on another tour, again on NIR rails only. IE don't allow double heading of 071 and 201 class locos. Wonder how the RPSI got permission from Irish Rail to double head 071s for a full rail tour.

Was hoping for at least a 3 piece 80 to be kept. Can't believe a 450 made it to preservation and not an 80. The 80 class is iconic and that sound...

Noel, you have Railtec making up the Belmond symbols applied to 216 yet?

Didn't you guys say that you will announce what project 4 is once the ballasts land, or was that the bubbles we have to wait for?

I love that NIR set. Would really like to have an early/mid 90s mixed NIR Mk2 set with all the accurate markings and numbers, big project I know. NIR's Mk2s always really interested me.

Will these get delayed by customs when they land here? Hopefully they pass through quick enough.

7161, after being withdrawn from service was used as a livery test coach for the current green goddess livery on the 29ks. It was preserved by the RPSI to act as a rest area for RPSI staff/members working on site at Inchicore. It is not intended to ever see mainline use again.

Only just noticed the back end of a MiG-25 in that after the shock of the wallpaper.

Glanderg posted a pic a long while back of a 201 in Inchicore photoshopped by him into the 071 slate livery and it looked really good. It really suits them.

Yeah you could see the rust on 077 coming through the yellow warning panels and the cab side where the new logos are stuck on. That was when 071 and 077 got their large font running numbers put on too when they went back in. 084 and 088 still don't have them.

Just looking back at this post and laughing to myself. Little over a year on and 072 is still going round in an even worse state, in the mean time other 071s have been rebuilt that are not in as bad external condition. In saying that its 4 years next month since the first slate grey 071, 077 was release to traffic. IE are taking their time rebuilding the 18 locos. 081 was the last one done some months back. 072,073,074,075,079,082,083 and 086 are still to be done. 082 has spent over a year in Inchicore at this stage waiting on bogies for about 6 months, on jacks most of the time and was last see outside with the RPSI Cravens on refurb grey bogies with temp yellow fixings in place. Recently all active 071s have got new silver buffers and refurb brake hoses fitted, even recently rebuilt locos.