connollystn

Very clean looking 181s, look as if they're just fresh out of the box.

That looks like the A36r as it appeared in 1974.

@BosKonay - Listen here Sam's Trains, how long is this unboxing going to take?

At least they got to see the finish article.

murphaph - that's a great suggestion. Might get you to organise my surprise 70th Birthday but no Dutch Gold, that's poor peoples' drink.

I doubt that locomotive hauled passenger services will ever return so I'd say that if the Belmont Grand Hibernian ever stops operating, the Mark IIIs will be scrapped. I'm not sure what IÉ's logic was for scrapping locomotive hauled services nationwide but operating railcars of upto 8 vehicles is effectively running 8 individual locomotives. The most annoying thing about intercity services being operated using diesel railcars is noise intrusion into the cabin.

I think that IRM should book a venue in Dublin to launch the A class. Most of us railway modellers will be fully vaccinated and there won't be any annoying young people in attendance. Brilliant or what?

Wonder how many days we'll have to wait to see a picture of the other side of the box? There's a feeling of Sam's Trains about it.

@BosKonay - Is there a prize for guessing what's in the box? I'm thinking it's a bottle of Midleton Whiskey. I know it's quite expensive but at least it's a lot easier for me to get my hands on than the IRM As.

Very impressive looking locomotives, certainly much better than the 201s [new].

It'd be more "Very interesting" if the guys at IRM posted more up-to-date pics of the As. Anyway, I'm off to watch France beat Portugal - it should be a very interesting match.

It's not the worst disguise I've seen - the Lima 33 was disguised as an A class, a tad less convincing than that A16 in it's luggage van outfit. Wonder if it got invited to many Hallowe'en parties?

I like your optimism. You should print off some of the pics of the IRM As that are on this thread an place them in the cabinet and replace them with the actual models when they arrive before Christmas 20........

How did you manage to find that treasure trove? Will head down on Saturday morning to take a look - have never been to Wicklow Town. The railway station is miles from the town so I'll get the bus.

That won't be filled anytime soon.

@Wrenneire - If the vultures on here get a sniff that you might have to get rid of your stuff they'll start circulating your house. Where exactly do you live?

The wait continues...........

Just having a rough guess but I've a feeling that today isn't one of those days also!

@Warbonnet - Yesterday you said; Look out for more pics in the coming days... [sic] - is today not one of those days? PS. Not being impatient or anything like that but I am in the twilight years of my life and I've little else to get up for.

Remember the good old days when you could walk into your local model railway shop and couldn't find what you were looking for? That's the reason many of us resorted to purchasing on-line and, it certainly has it's pitfalls. Has it's advantages also.

The buffers are separately applied (I think).

The one good thing about my Lima 'A' class is that you can drop kick it from here to eternity and none of the separately applied parts will fall off.

I think Sam will be delighted that each of the locomotives come with a 'Very good box'

@wrenneire - Thanks very much for those Fleischmann container wagons - really delighted with my purchases. They've saved a few of my locomotives from being culled. If you ever come across similar or other Fleischmann items which you think might be of interest to me just let me know. Thanks again.

Don't forget to add postage and customs duty.