Railer

Most of those stored 201s cannot come back unless they buy alot of new parts for them. 233 is going around with 211's engine after it's massive failure at Clongriffin on the Enterprise in 2012, it could not be repaired economically so they did a transplant. 223 is going around on 210s bogies as 223's were life expired. That's just a few. I reckon there are/will be enough 201s to cover as I can see the Enterprise and Mk4 stock gone in 8-10 years so there will be a surplus of active 201s. 4 axle versions of the 201 would exceed the Irish axle loading gauge by quite a bit. Fr example, a re-bogied class 67 cannot run over here.

I can't see the 071s going anywhere for a while. Why would IE bother with the overhauls, body and cab rebuilds of all 18 locos only to retire them in a few years. 3 years ago was a different story, 087 was being used for parts and was destined for the scrap heap along with 077 and 078. IE had plans to keep just 12 071s in operation and scrap 6 as when they were due major overhauls or had big failures. If they would allow for a tara train to be reversed on the tramway with a flag man leading they would not need to modify the traverser for a 201 as the loco would not need to run around.

The Cravens actually hold up better outdoors than the Mk2s. The Mk2Ds were in worse condition than the older Cravens when they were withdrawn. Some Mk2Ds were send to Scotland over the years for body rebuilds at the gangway ends because of corrosion problems.

Yeah true but even now the modern books don't even feature the taras, CPWs or autoballasters. God forbid an LX flat.

Must get myself a copy of that somewhere. Looks like a great reference source to have and far better than the modern books that have little to no freight in them.

It's in Whitehead a good while now, it got there in the end took a long time to sort out.

Think that's more down to emissions and fuel economy than anything else. To get more power you need different gearing ratios and traction motors. A 3,200hp class 66 in the UK can haul way more than out 3,200hp 201s but the 66 can't go as fast. Then there is the 66/5 sub class, they have a lower top speed than the standard 66 but they can haul even heavier trains. The class 59s, again 3,200hp can haul more than another other loco in the family. It's probably safe to say it would be 201s only on a 1300 ton train seeing as 071s are already struggling with 700-800 ton trains in poor conditions and were only allowed to haul 1000 ton trains to Cork when they were really needed.

Another question is have they enough wagons to start running 54 TEU trains at the same frequency as the 36 TEUs or will it be a case of capacity over frequency.

Yard space will be an issue with longer trains. As it is Ballina yard can holdabout a 40 TEU train in each loading line without fouling the other roads. In Northwall yard IWT liners are regularly split in half to store them if loading or unloading is delayed to free up space for other movements. I'd love to see them coping with 54 TEU trains. Another fun point will be in locos getting loaded liners up Ossary road in poor rail conditions. 084 had an incident about 18 months ago where it stalled with a IWT liner out of Northwall. Another 071 was sent as a banking loco to help push it, even with 2 071s it was a struggle with a 36 TEU train with the wet rails and leaves on the line.

The heaviest trains to run were 1,000 ton cement trains between Northwall and Cork, they were hauled by either a 071 or 201. They were specials, the max limits are currently 36TEU with 740 tons. There was talk last year of going to 40TEU on the IWT liners but there is at least passing loop that can only take a 201 and a 36TEU 18 47ft flats maximum and thats were IWTs regularly pass each other. That loop would no longer be an option. Great to see if they do increase the limits to make freight more economic assuming they can fill a 40+TEU train every time. Axle loading is another issue, with a loaded tanktainer, only one can be placed on a flat wagon because the axle load limited would be exceeded with two. That's why you see only single tanktainers loaded leaving Dublin but the return empty have them doubled up. As it is an autoballaster loaded to it's max will exceed the Irish axle load limit, they are never fully filled and have a load gauge on the side of each wagon to make sure they stay in the limit.

He'd be doing well as I have not seen that Mk2 in stock in Marks for a very long time. That's a very rare Mk2.

072 has at least one orange door. 071 has that single orange wiper, 083 has orange roof fan covers. That's about all the orange left.

That's actually odd, usually the MU cable is connected over the vaccuum hoses or pipe to keep it up out of the way. They had to do that with the 201s until they modified the position of the MU socket higher up to stop the cable disconnecting from Mk3 pushpull stock while running over sharp points and turns.

We had to get our orders in work sent in two weeks ago to China as in our experience the country basically shuts down for a month again things get moving again production and shipping wise. Done when it's done as they say.

Any news guys, did you's manage to get word on a production slot before the year of the Monkey kicks in?

I do, 3 locos needed daily. Then they all need their weekly exam, monthly, 6 month exam and so on. Then you have to allow for maintenance failures, locos off for bogie changes. They were all due a major overhaul anyway as all the 201s are suffering from big rust problems. The quick patch job on 232 is clear proof of that.

233 was on IWT liners up till last week anyway. Itself and 231 have yet to be overhauled, it's only a matter of time. So far only 206, 8208 and 228 have worked the refurbed sets in service.

216 can't work Enterprise, it won't have the MMI screen and new jumper connections fitted. It will have TPWS and NIR radio however.

Just noticed 072 this evening with it. 3 liveries on one loco at the same time to boot.

They are the only two with it from what I can see and they were only fitted very recently. 076,077,078,085 and 088 do not have it yet as I have spotted all them over the past 3 weeks.

084 has been outside Connolly shed road 2 for 3 weeks now. I have noted that 084 and 071 have a new handbrake wheel fitted to them also. It much larger than the regular one.

In fairness the numbers and logos being applied lately leave alot to be desired. The new DART logos are fading and falling off, the new new 29k numbers are black on some sets and white on others, some of the numbers on the green sets are already falling off. The numbers being added to the grey 071s are all different fonts and different spacing depending on the loco. There is just no standard and they are not last like they did years ago. All this outsourcing at Inchicore is not good. To me the green on 216 looks exactly like the primer coasting on new aircraft as the leave the factory before painting, never seen it on a loco though.

Not with the way the sets were upgraded recently, no.

She is going to have to make it up to Belfast at some point to test out the TPWS systems and possibly collect the Mk3 stock while it's at it.

Hopefully she gets out to stretch her legs after 6 years of storage. A few IWT runs should do nicely.