NIRCLASS80

On 3/5/2026 at 12:02 PM, IrishTrainScenes said:

0929 ex Drogheda 54 late 

Late departure from Belfast due to buses in Belfast being delayed due to the marathon. 

10 hours ago, airfixfan said:

233 managed about 400 yards before collapsing outside GC! Farce

Nothing wrong with 233.  But what most people on this forum don’t understand is that when a safety system fault occurs, it’s a service failure, end of. Safety is paramount. 
I wish all the experts would join the railway!

8 hours ago, IrishTrainScenes said:

Yesterday 1650 failed at Clongriffin and was towed back to Dublin and pax transferred to the 1850 DD set. 8208 (1400) was taken off in Dublin and replaced with 8209 but appears it wasn't the fault. The 1650 ex Dublin ran with the 1600 set (9004/233) departing at 1845 (115 mins late) arriving Belfast at 2056. The 1850 (8209/9001) departed at 1915 (25 mins late) arriving Belfast at 2127.

Dublin to Belfast train cancelled: Disruption and delay info | Belfast Telegraph https://share.google/ti3JSE2fW27IMaT4i

It also made Belfast Telegraph!

Regarding 'additional service' it is unclear if this ran.

@jhb171achillThere had been talk of putting 1650 Pax on the 1640 Dun Laoghaire Dundalk train (29000)!!

208 wasn’t removed in Dublin initially.  208 was sent north on the 16.50 which was duly failed at Clongriffin.  Eventually returning back to Connolly where 208 was then removed and replaced with 209. 

3 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

At least the Escort and the Fiesta aren’t abandoned there!

I would imagine there’s more bubbles of rust below their paintwork than cement bubbles behind 183!

39 minutes ago, JasonB said:

Brilliant stuff. I like the look of 183. Have you removed some of the factory weathering, or is it a renumbered loco? 

I cleaned of a fair bit of the original factory weathering very carefully with IPA. 
Then from memory just a little airbrushing to blend everything together. 

183 and 209 through Ballyercall

It would have been interesting if one of the large box shifters had acquired Heljan would the same concerns been expressed by them!

The simple fact is people are purchasing more carefully. 
 

Put a Murphy Models 071 online at £159 direct sale or from the local model shop at £239 and I have a funny feeling who will sell out first!

161 is replaced by a couple of 121's on the ballast turn.

A Class 017 at Ballyercall

Some of my favourite Murphy Models

So much here is thanks to Paddy Murphy.  
We have so many excellent models thanks to this man. 

Sorry to hear this. I will never forget the one and only time I met him. After a long day walking round the Warley show at the NEC I met this small man walking the other direction. I said to him “are you Paddy Murphy?”  
Well as they say the rest is history.  He dragged me in to Starbucks and out of this small bag came undecorated samples of the 121’s. For the next 3/4 of an hour I got a run down on the challenges the 121 represented to get right. 
A marvellous insight. 
Condolences to all the family at this difficult time.

084 passes through Ballyercall with a goods

Stop the teasing and get it on my layout now!  Love it. What about a MV and a 80 to go with it!

Some Irish Action

Up and running again!

I would have thought even with the limited Irish market the A class that had a service life of basically 40 years would have out sold the 89. After all if memory serves me correctly there were about 17 different running numbers manufactured. 
Class 89 in reality would have had a service life of little over 10 years in total at best on the east coast main line corridor. 
It really shows how limited the Irish market is, and the spike in demand during the Covid pandemic is well and truly over. 
 

Even the activity and model forums like this one or RMWeb is a lot slower these days. 

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

And I’m the other way round!

No interest in Hunslets but despite the fact that an 800 would never have gone anywhere near a 1955-65 remote west Kerry branch line (which is the basis of my layout), and that an ICR is way, way out of that time zone - they’re the ones I’d be going for!

Of course, an AEC railcar and a  few “C” class would have me fumbling for my wallet and seeking coins behind settee cushions in pretty short order!

NIR 80 Class and NIR MV’s would be my balance busters!

It’s one of those moments for IRM, disappointment for not producing enough, dissatisfaction for producing too much!

 I would image there’s a lot of people just getting things slightly more difficult at the present time with the costs of day to day essentials going up, plus many modellers having enough to satisfy. 
Plus the constant scare mongers on the main stream and social media platforms making some people reluctant to splash out on their hobbies. 
In North America there seems to be a lot of recent releases by the model railroad manufacturers ending up in bargain sections of shop websites relatively quickly, a process that usually took about 18 months to 2 years to happen. 
I am already buying too many Hunslets and I will purchase some coach packs but I will be sitting out the 800’s and ICR’s. 

2 hours ago, IrishTrainScenes said:

There is an unconfirmed report the 0800/1050/1400/1650 will now be a C3K full time.

I can confirm, nonsense. 

Traverser storage in place 

Thanks that helps with the purchases. 

On 28/10/2025 at 9:54 PM, NIRCLASS80 said:

Bump this. Can anyone answer this before I place an order to lengthen my current sets?

Can someone please help with this question from the IRM team?