IRM announce NIR Enterprise Mark 2 Coaches

[flange lubricator]

10 hours ago, Robert Shrives said:

Hi, 

perhaps missed somewhere but spotted on web shop spare B4 bogies available- bought 4 packs for other projects given how well they run.  

fun if B5s got on the shop as well as ideal for EGVs.

Robert 

Hopefully 

[DJ Dangerous]

10 hours ago, Robert Shrives said:

Hi, 

perhaps missed somewhere but spotted on web shop spare B4 bogies available- bought 4 packs for other projects given how well they run.  

fun if B5s got on the shop as well as ideal for EGVs.

Robert 

 

I believe that the generator coach in each of the three NIR liveries shipped with two B5's instead of a B5 and a B4.

Hands up, I'm open to correction on that, I'm basing that evaluation solely on my own packs, and I apologise in advance if I'm wrong!

If I am correct, anybody who has requested replacement B4 bogies from IRM is likely to have one spare B5 bogie after swapping theirs, so there should be people out there with unwanted B5's once replacements start landing.

I've seen several pictures and videos of generators here on the forum. Maybe dropping PM's to those particular posters, and putting a "Wanted" post in the "For Sale or Wanted" area, might be a good idea.

[DJ Dangerous]

Bit of a long shot, but following on from THIS post on RMWeb, does anybody here know which of the UK Mk2B/C coaches ended up with Irish bogies?

Was it only Mk2B BFK's and only a specific livery?

My replacement Irish gauge bogies have arrived - IRM were super fast at getting them sent out once I got my backside in gear and gave them a tally.

But, I'm going to end up with a few UK gauge B4 bogies to spare, and would like to know which UK coaches would be suitable for swapsies!

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[DiveController]

I believe that the issue with the Irish coaches was systemic rather than sporadic based on the many examples I purchased myself. IRM would know how many bogies would need replacement for every customer based on their own order books. I presumed that they would eventually issue replacements rather than everyone having to make warranty requests which is a very inefficient process even for them.

I have none of the UK coaches in question but surprised Accurascale didn’t already clarify your question. Again they should be able to issue the correct bogies in due course I would say.  

[DJ Dangerous]

Dual-posting here in both of the current IRM NIR Mk2BC threads, so apologies in advance for that, but it's the only way to get around the thread-duplication right now.

My replacement Irish gauge bogies arrived with @murphaph last week.

@Garfield was incredibly fast at getting them shipped, like, I think they shipped within a day of us speaking to confirm the quantity.

Long story, but my coaches had to ship to @murphaph rather than me, so it made sense to send the bogies there - plus nobody knows how the dreaded pencil pushers in Madrid would react to a zero-value shipment, dun dun duuuuunnnnn!

While fitting the bogies to the coaches for me, @murphaph sat one of the older Bachmann coaches on top of two, just for fun.

Note, these aren't fitted to the coach, they're just sitting loosely underneath, but give an idea as to how the coaches would look when retro-fitted.

The Irish gauge bogies are available to buy from IRM at €20 per pair for retro-fitting, here:

https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/accessories/products/53-b4-bogie-pack-black

Have to say, they look absolutely savage sitting under that coach!

 

 

[DJ Dangerous]

Just had a closer look at three coaches.

These could really pass for O Gauge, the level of detail is so high.

 

 

[flange lubricator]

yes they certainly have that chunkier look about them I have bought some too and am contemplating changing them

[Colin_McLeod]

The shape colour of things to come.

Having ended up with a duplicate of IRM NIR coach 902, I decided to repaint it in NIR 1970s maroon and blue.

This is what it looks like.  I'm sure IRM's livery application will be far superior but this does give an idea of what to look forward to.

(I know this coach was numbered in the 800 series when in this livery, but I had no number 801!)

 

 

 

[jhb171achill]

The gentleman who designed this livery in real life (and several others) is a member on here - ye know who ye are! I have no doubt he will be HIGHLY impressed!

Edited Thursday at 22:16 by jhb171achill

[Horsetan]

On 8/7/2024 at 8:33 PM, DJ Dangerous said:

.....While fitting the bogies to the coaches for me, @murphaph sat one of the older Bachmann coaches on top of two, just for fun.

Note, these aren't fitted to the coach, they're just sitting loosely underneath, but give an idea as to how the coaches would look when retro-fitted....

That's what I bought four spare bogie pairs for (when they were on a discount offer): to go under the Murphy's RPSI Mk2 trio here. The bogie pivots are obviously not the same,  so a good deal of improvisation will be needed. Murphy Mk2s are difficult to dismantle and, despite a few goes at it, I haven't managed to prise the bodyshell off the underframe.

The other thing is the conversion to 21mm. The back-to-back for P4 profile wheels comes out at either 19.67 or 19.87mm depending on whether your flangeway gaps are dead scale or not.

IRM Mk2 bogie wheels are mounted the same way as is common in 2mm finescale: the wheels are "live" with pinpoint 1.5mm split axles held in an insulating muff so that they can conduct the electric needed for coach lighting.

Most P4 coach wheels have plastic centres on a solid 2mm axle. On the face of it, this won't work properly in an IRM bogie as the lighting circuit will be lost unless you can arrange extra pickups to "wipe" the tyres without touching the axle and a standard P4 axle is usually too short for 21mm gauge.

Having messed with the problem over many weeks, my thinking is that the IRM method has to be replicated, so:

- live P4 wheels and tyres (12mm diameter steel, available from Alan Gibson Workshop);

- wheel centres sleeved down from 2mm to 1.5mm (if I can get micro tube for it);

- IRM 1.5mm split pinpoint axles and muffs if, and it's a big "if", these parts are also available as spares. Yes they have been allocated part numbers in the IRM instruction diagrams but I need to find out if they can be supplied.

[Mol_PMB]

7 hours ago, Horsetan said:

That's what I bought four spare bogie pairs for (when they were on a discount offer): to go under the Murphy's RPSI Mk2 trio here. The bogie pivots are obviously not the same,  so a good deal of improvisation will be needed. Murphy Mk2s are difficult to dismantle and, despite a few goes at it, I haven't managed to prise the bodyshell off the underframe.

The other thing is the conversion to 21mm. The back-to-back for P4 profile wheels comes out at either 19.67 or 19.87mm depending on whether your flangeway gaps are dead scale or not.

IRM Mk2 bogie wheels are mounted the same way as is common in 2mm finescale: the wheels are "live" with pinpoint 1.5mm split axles held in an insulating muff so that they can conduct the electric needed for coach lighting.

Most P4 coach wheels have plastic centres on a solid 2mm axle. On the face of it, this won't work properly in an IRM bogie as the lighting circuit will be lost unless you can arrange extra pickups to "wipe" the tyres without touching the axle and a standard P4 axle is usually too short for 21mm gauge.

Having messed with the problem over many weeks, my thinking is that the IRM method has to be replicated, so:

- live P4 wheels and tyres (12mm diameter steel, available from Alan Gibson Workshop);

- wheel centres sleeved down from 2mm to 1.5mm (if I can get micro tube for it);

- IRM 1.5mm split pinpoint axles and muffs if, and it's a big "if", these parts are also available as spares. Yes they have been allocated part numbers in the IRM instruction diagrams but I need to find out if they can be supplied.

Good thinking. I may have to do the same on the Park Royals. 
I do hope IRM are able to offer spares to make our life a bit easier, or even sell finescale wheelsets as Accurascale do for their locos. 

[Horsetan]

10 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Good thinking. I may have to do the same on the Park Royals....

I have a Park Royal on order as well. Spare 8' Commonwealth bogies would be useful - they would go under an Irish Freight Models Laminate kit that I have. 

[Mol_PMB]

1 minute ago, Horsetan said:

I have a Park Royal on order as well. Spare 8' Commonwealth bogies would be useful - they would go under an Irish Freight Models Laminate kit that I have. 

Agreed. Spare triangulated coach underframes would also be useful, unless IRM plan to do ALL the coach types put on them.

Some even ended up as NIR PW flats, as shown in this photo by Jonathan Allen, linked on Flickr:

 

[Horsetan]

1 minute ago, Mol_PMB said:

Agreed. Spare triangulated coach underframes would also be useful, unless IRM plan to do ALL the coach types put on them.

Some even ended up as NIR PW flats, as shown in this photo by Jonathan Allen, linked on Flickr:

 

That's a bit like BR Mk1 underframes being used as car transporters for the Motorail service