T_Bois

That's brilliant John, many thanks. I have good memories of the late 80's post DART era and did indeed venture out to Greystones in late 1989 with the hope of travelling on a 121 with the last push pull set. Seems it was taken out of traffic earlier that year and I came back to Bray on a leased NIR DMU ! Looking at the public timetable I hold, the 3 sets that started at Dundalk each morning ran to Bray, Bray and Dun Laoghaire respectively. It does look as if the likely return workings worked back to Connolly and didn't mix them up with Howth workings, ditto the evening trains that ended up at Dundalk. So likely not push pull sets as you say. TB

Hello again folks, Many thanks for those who responded to my Q about the NIR Hunslett's ... I'd asked the very same Q on a Facebook group a week ago and had zero responses. I'd forgotten (from prior research into English railway topics) that the modelling community are often the most informed when it comes to past workings and details to make for realistic projects. The other area I'm looking at presently is as per the title of this message. I remember the old C class ploughing their trade around Dublin as a kid and even have an old photo of one departing Dundalk circa 1981 (hard to determine what rolling stock it is - as I almost chopped the locos cab out - file under rubbish kids photo). So a few Questions I have regarding these operations in the early 80's pre DART * Fairview Depot ... for me synonymous as the DART depot but Wiki shows it was opened in 1950. Was this used as the carriage sidings maintenance site for the Park Royal push pull stock? Or was the stock based at Connolly as a rule? * push pull operation ... as far as I understand the only locos fitted with push pull in this era were the C class and the 121's ... did 121's ever operate on the suburbans in the pre DART era in lieu of 201's on occasion ... I realise the C class were the mainstay ? * I have a 1980 public timetable for the Dublin Suburban, unfortunately not a WTT. Did the 201's in push pull mode operate to Dundalk on the half dozen or so trains that ran there or were the Dundalk trains non push pull operated? Similar question ... there were 2 workings to Wicklow each day ... would these have been push pull or not? * Final Q ... did the push pull stock stable outside of the centre of Dublin at night ? Looks like 3 sets based at Dundalk ... as per Q above ... push pull included is my guess. Anything stable overnight at Bray or did everything return empty to Dublin for servicing etc? Many thanks in advance once again for your sharing your knowledge. TB

All, Many thanks for the info so far, all useful stuff. I actually remember the farewell tour in the video clip, quite a few folks I knew in England were on it, I was probably 6 months or so too young for heading off on overnight trips etc on my own! Grateful for any more snippets. TB

Hello there, I'm doing some research into a couple of Irish railway related topics with a view to future modelling scenarios, one of which is as to what the old NIR 101 locomotives used to get up to after they were kicked off regular Enterprise duties by 111 and 112 in early 1981? Firstly during the period when there were only 2 x 111 class between Feb 1981 and Aug 1984 ... how often would the 101's deputise on the Enterprise. There were 2 x NIR diagrams so presume this would have been semi regular with failures and exams on 111 and 112 ? I recall seeing 101 on the Enterprise at Dundalk during one of my visits to my Grandparents in 1983. Other question on the NIR 101 class ... how often did they work on the Portadown - Bangor circuit along with the multiple units? I've seen a fair few photos but no idea if this was a daily or occasional occurrence in the 1980's. Also did they ever get to Derry, Portrush or Larne working amongst the DMU's or was it pretty solid Bangor only? Cheers in advance if anyone can shed any light. TB