Der Rechtsanwalt

I spoke to Paddy Murphy at the MRSI Show last month. He said the following: The 071 class would go into production mid-2025 The MkIII coaches would enter production around the same time The 071 class would come in the same range of liveries as the initial run except in different numbers The 071 class would have various electronic upgrades similar to the recent run of 141/181s. In addition, the 071 would have a modification to the manual parking brake wheel Irish Rail removed the grab handles on the front of the 071 cabs when they were repurposed for freight (current slate grey livery). In order to reflect this deletion on the models, the cabs for the current freight livery had to be retooled otherwise holes would be left in the plastic. This retooling translated into delay. No unit price has been decided yet owing to inflation in the €Euro.

Hi Derek, I'm not certain about Carey's Road bridge. I think it's unlikely though. The Foynes branch line will join the main Limerick line east of Limerick Station, by passing the station altogether. It appears to be a re-instatement of the later branch line closed in 2013 rather than the one closed to passenger traffic in 1963. Apologies about the misidentification of Ardnacrusha. I just re-post the videos from the original source on YouTube. I don't think he's a Limerick man either. Glad you are enjoying the thread. It's not often we get to see a reversal of the rationalization of our rail network.

I went to school in the 1980's on freezing cold, drafty Cravens with leaking steam from broken radiators fogging up the windows, while passengers all around me put out their cigarettes on the floor. I remember having to open the door of the coach by pulling down the window and opening it using the handle on the outside. That was the extent of passenger safety back in those days. I also remember having to run the gauntlet coming out of Heuston when kids along Landen Road in Ballyfermot used to hurl rocks at the train to try and break the windows and fellow passengers ducking when they were successful. I remember the comparative luxury of refurbished Mk2's, they had heating that worked, and the novelty of Mk3's with automatic doors and airline style seating. Whatever about the discomfort of travelling by rail in the past, at least you could get a seat back then. I bought two sets of ICR's during the original pre-order; a 3 car and 4 car set. A 4 car set takes me to work everyday and a 7 car set brings me home. For me, I can't imagine a model set more relevant than these ICR's. However, each to his own. Sales have tanked not because of a lack of interest or desire by the community, it's because the people are struggling to put food on the table. In my view, it's not IRM's fault or that of a fickle or capricious customer, its the fault of the central banks and the inflation they have created.

I'm very grateful to IRM for their honest and transparent update. IRM are more like a co-operative than a manufacturer/retailer and we are more like members of that co-operative than consumers. It was a brave move by IRM to set out the facts. I couldn't see Hornby doing such a thing. It looks like it worked as the community's support has become evermore galvanised behind IRM. However, I don't think this project is out of the woods yet. At present we are facing into a very serious diminution of the Western currencies. Today we are paying 26% more for petrol and diesel than we were three years ago, 18% more for clothing and 17% more for food than three years ago. This is a clear indication that the Euro is losing purchasing power. In addition, precious metals are increasing in value relative to the currency they are purchased in. In most cases precious metals have hit all time highs. Again this is an indication of Western currencies losing purchasing power. The Chinese have been accumulating gold for the last 15 years. Some estimate that they have in the region of 17,000 metric tons of gold. To put this in perspective, officially the largest deposit of gold in the world is in the US, which is just 8,320 metric tons. It's not for nothing that Germany repatriated all of its gold from the US with the last shipment arriving in March 2020; nor it is any surprise that the Bundesbank, for the first time in it's history did not buy anymore US Dollars to top up its foreign exchange reserves. In short, countries around the world are getting rid of the dollar, the world's reserve currency since 1945. Two years ago, the Chinese government changed the law allowing Chinese citizens to buy gold. Many Chinese citizens have opened gold accounts. It might be worth exploring the possibility if the Chinese factory would accept payment in gold rather than GBP or Euro. This might safeguard the project from the worst vagaries of a massive exchange difference which I fear is on the horizon. Finally, paying in gold as a medium of exchange might ensure the project not only survives but may be quite profitable. In addition, accumulating the gold now would make the project much cheaper in the long term particularly if we are looking down the barrel of a late 2025 delivery. These savings could be passed on, making the ICR project a lot more affordable.

Many thanks Hexagon789 for your very comprehensive answer. It was really informative. The 22000 class isn't as complex as I thought.