Irish Royalty - Park Royal Coach Next For IRM

[west_clare_wanderer]

As a dedicated 'goods only' fella, I've not been drawn into these, but they do look wonderful. However, I must admit the temptation is growing to'just order one' for my rural branch line project...... 

[jhb171achill]

On 13/4/2026 at 6:36 PM, mphoey said:

Just thinking re ambulance park royals order of malta did most of the knock runs and they may have pictures

Worth looking into, as if so, they are less likely to have been published where railway enthusiasts might see them - if at all.

[jhb171achill]

9 hours ago, west_clare_wanderer said:

As a dedicated 'goods only' fella, I've not been drawn into these, but they do look wonderful. However, I must admit the temptation is growing to'just order one' for my rural branch line project...... 

There were many lines in the past that had extremely sparse passenger services - one or two a day - but carried heavy and varied goods traffic. Twenty or thirty years ago, ballina hasd heavy goods traffic, but the passenger service was one Park Royal and a van wandering down to Claremorris only a couple of times a day. West Cork and Limerick - Claremorris (the latter in the 1970s) had lots of gopods going up and down - more in the beet season - and little passenger traffic beyond Limerick - Ennis, and a look at that timetable pre-1976 shows but a single daily passenger each way, but lots of goods. So, a prototype for everything!

Going back further, the North Kerry and Mallow - Waterford in their later days had one goods and one passenger each way per day. And guess what - the goods was a lot busier than the passenger! 

[Horsetan]

10 hours ago, west_clare_wanderer said:

...I must admit the temptation is growing to'just order one' for my rural branch line project...... 

I took the same approach. Twice.

[Mol_PMB]

And on those sparse branch passenger services, Park Royals were surprisingly common, right from the mid 1950s through to the 1990s. 

There are plenty of photos of them running in AEC railcar sets in the late 1950s and 1960s, on the West Cork, Western Rail Corridor, and other secondary/branch lines. The summer Sunday excursions to Fenit in the 1960s and 1970 (otherwise a freight-only branch) often included a Park Royal or two in the set. And of course they were a staple of the local services around Limerick in the 1980s and 1990s.

So you can surely justify one, two, or more...

Edited Friday at 12:01 by Mol_PMB
typo

[chris]

email request today to pay the invoice for these coaches but the order detail makes it seem like they're still a LONG way away...

where are we actually at?

[Mol_PMB]

My understanding (not the official line) is that they are on the ship from China, due to arrive in the UK late May, and probably distributed in early June. 

Given that there's a short grace period after they arrive before you have to pay, I don't think you need to rush to pay this month.

[WRENNEIRE]

Current Order Status: In Transit

Status Description: This item is now in transit to our warehouse.

Latest ETA: May 29, 2026
* Please note this date is for arrival / packing in the warehouse, we will send you Tracking details with your expected delivery date once the order is paid and processed and dispatched.

[DJ Dangerous]

1 hour ago, chris said:

email request today to pay the invoice for these coaches but the order detail makes it seem like they're still a LONG way away...

where are we actually at?

@Warbonnet posted on April 9th that the Park Royals were about eight weeks away:

 

On 9/4/2026 at 6:04 PM, Warbonnet said:

These are now departing China, and will be with us in circa 8 weeks time!

Mail-out on Monday 13th saying that they’re estimated in the warehouse on May 29th.

So it would be fair to assume that if nothing goes awry, they’ll start shipping orders in June.

The real question is what order the orders get shipped in?

First paid, first shipped?

If so, and you haven’t yet paid, get to the end of the queue!

[MOGUL]

49 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

@Warbonnet posted on April 9th that the Park Royals were about eight weeks away:

 

Mail-out on Monday 13th saying that they’re estimated in the warehouse on May 29th.

So it would be fair to assume that if nothing goes awry, they’ll start shipping orders in June.

The real question is what order the orders get shipped in?

First paid, first shipped?

If so, and you haven’t yet paid, get to the end of the queue!

Not really an issue any more, as our new warehouse is a whopper that can pump out in the hundreds orders a day when in campaign mode.. So the difference between the start of the queue, and the bottom, is in hours not days

[DJ Dangerous]

7 minutes ago, MOGUL said:

Not really an issue any more, as our new warehouse is a whopper that can pump out in the hundreds orders a day when in campaign mode.. So the difference between the start of the queue, and the bottom, is in hours not days

I’m sure a brown envelope could rectify that. I’ll get working on a list of members who grind my gears.

[Mol_PMB]

Any chance of some photos of the models that arrived undamaged? To whet our appetite for the goodies to come in about 6 weeks time.

 

When do you anticipate making the next new Irish model announcement? Something at Wexford?

[west_clare_wanderer]

On 17/4/2026 at 11:33 AM, jhb171achill said:

There were many lines in the past that had extremely sparse passenger services - one or two a day - but carried heavy and varied goods traffic. Twenty or thirty years ago, ballina hasd heavy goods traffic, but the passenger service was one Park Royal and a van wandering down to Claremorris only a couple of times a day. West Cork and Limerick - Claremorris (the latter in the 1970s) had lots of gopods going up and down - more in the beet season - and little passenger traffic beyond Limerick - Ennis, and a look at that timetable pre-1976 shows but a single daily passenger each way, but lots of goods. So, a prototype for everything!

Going back further, the North Kerry and Mallow - Waterford in their later days had one goods and one passenger each way per day. And guess what - the goods was a lot busier than the passenger! 

 

On 17/4/2026 at 11:45 AM, Mol_PMB said:

And on those sparse branch passenger services, Park Royals were surprisingly common, right from the mid 1950s through to the 1990s. 

There are plenty of photos of them running in AEC railcar sets in the late 1950s and 1960s, on the West Cork, Western Rail Corridor, and other secondary/branch lines. The summer Sunday excursions to Fenit in the 1960s and 1970 (otherwise a freight-only branch) often included a Park Royal or two in the set. And of course they were a staple of the local services around Limerick in the 1980s and 1990s.

So you can surely justify one, two, or more...

 

I might regret asking this, but which of the batch of IRM Park Royals would be suitable for an early/mid 1970s branch line? There's such a plethora to choose from!

[Mol_PMB]

9 minutes ago, west_clare_wanderer said:

 

 

I might regret asking this, but which of the batch of IRM Park Royals would be suitable for an early/mid 1970s branch line? There's such a plethora to choose from!

You need an orange and black one without a TL suffix on the number.

1387 or 1413 would fit the bill, and both are still in stock.

Let me know if I need to explain why!

[Colin R]

I have ordered a buffet Car in Orange and Black since I am not sure if they ran in the green livery, as the rest of the order is all green livery.

I was just wondering, can someone who has a lot more knowledge than I do, can you please:-

1 How many carriages would be used to make up a typical suburban train set?

2 How many carriages would be used on a typical City to City Express set? 

 

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, Colin R said:

I have ordered a buffet Car in Orange and Black since I am not sure if they ran in the green livery, as the rest of the order is all green livery.

I was just wondering, can someone who has a lot more knowledge than I do, can you please:-

1 How many carriages would be used to make up a typical suburban train set?

2 How many carriages would be used on a typical City to City Express set? 

 

The Park Royal Snack Cars were converted from some of the former 'main line' Park Royal coaches in 1968, after the green livery had been superseded. Most lasted into the early 1980s before being converted again; some became brake standards (a type not yet produced by IRM).

In the green era, Park Royals could be found in a wide range of trains but usually mixed with other types of coaches, and/or formed into railcar sets. Dublin Suburban and Dublin to city expresses were often around 8 coaches but it varied a lot.

In the green era (and later) Park Royals also worked services such as Cork-Tralee which were often 4 coaches. There are photos showing them in Sligo-Limerick trains too, of similar length.

 

[Mol_PMB]

Some Park Royals in green in Dublin suburban trains, thanks to Ernie:

Join the campaign for an IRM C class and AEC Railcar

 

[Colin R]

2 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

The Park Royal Snack Cars were converted from some of the former 'main line' Park Royal coaches in 1968, after the green livery had been superseded. Most lasted into the early 1980s before being converted again; some became brake standards (a type not yet produced by IRM).

In the green era, Park Royals could be found in a wide range of trains but usually mixed with other types of coaches, and/or formed into railcar sets. Dublin Suburban and Dublin to city expresses were often around 8 coaches but it varied a lot.

In the green era (and later) Park Royals also worked services such as Cork-Tralee which were often 4 coaches. There are photos showing them in Sligo-Limerick trains too, of similar length.

 

Ok, thanks for that. Hum, I might have ot see if I can swap it out for another green one before they land in that case.

I do hope that a second batch with different numbers will be done at some point in the future

The proposed layout is to be based on Downpatrick, back in the 1950s, before it was closed. At some point, when the modelling budget allows, I would like to buy one or two railcars from that period

[chris]

9 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

@Warbonnet posted on April 9th that the Park Royals were about eight weeks away:

 

Mail-out on Monday 13th saying that they’re estimated in the warehouse on May 29th.

So it would be fair to assume that if nothing goes awry, they’ll start shipping orders in June.

The real question is what order the orders get shipped in?

First paid, first shipped?

If so, and you haven’t yet paid, get to the end of the queue!

hmmm... never got that mail out. *goes to check email sub settings.

thanks

I wish I had paid for them 2 months ago... would have been at least 5-6% cheaper with the FX rates, easy in hindsight, right?

Edited 1 hour ago by chris