Model Rail gauge interest in C class

[Killian Keane]

 

[DJ Dangerous]

I wonder if they'll commission one through IRM...

[jhb171achill]

Answer: yes!

To include black’n’tan B209 which hauled the last train out of Loughrea….

[Newtoncork]

Saw that yesterday. Never thought I'd see the day when a British magazine is putting forward a case for an Irish locomotive!  It certainly raises the profile of Irish modelling. 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Yes please, it's on my bucket list.

[skinner75]

It's a no-brainer really

[Westcorkrailway]

Ah I wouldn’t stress…one will come at one stage or another, as the A class did eventually…

 

And now with suitible rolling stock ready for it (NIR mark 2s, bullied triangulated chassis wagons, Park Royal’s, 6 wheel coaches and so on) compared to when the B121 and A class locos were launched when every early 60s bit of rolling stock had to be kitbuilt, scratchbuilt, converted or those Bachmann coaches from years ago!

[Robert Shrives]

An interesting  bit of fun, several I guess have been helped over the "line" because of this  . Model Rail I do not think have done one as a result but this if the first would be fun. 

Robert 

[Horsetan]

On 20/2/2024 at 12:38 PM, DJ Dangerous said:

I wonder if they'll commission one through IRM...

Has anyone dared to shorten the IRM "A" into an approximation of a "C"?

[Noel]

Yes in B&T livery, or black & yellow

[Westcorkrailway]

32 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

Has anyone dared to shorten the IRM "A" into an approximation of a "C"?

Few people would have the money and the liathróidí to cut up a perfectly good model for something as sure as a C class

Edited February 21 by Westcorkrailway

[minister_for_hardship]

1 hour ago, Horsetan said:

Has anyone dared to shorten the IRM "A" into an approximation of a "C"?

You can pick up a Silver Fox A for buttons and butcher that instead.

[Mike 84C]

Why not just buy a Silver fox "C" instead?  saves all that sawing and mess on the workbench.

[minister_for_hardship]

At a guess, I'd say there's more As than Cs in circulation and with the new A, lads more likely to move their SF A on.

[Galteemore]

With the added fun of shrinking a 3 axle bogie to a 2 axle one…..

[Noel]

3 hours ago, Horsetan said:

Has anyone dared to shorten the IRM "A" into an approximation of a "C"?

[BosKonay]

Honestly kinda moot. It’s not like we’ve said we’d not do a C as soon as feasible  

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Mike 84C said:

Why not just buy a Silver fox "C" instead?  saves all that sawing and mess on the workbench.

I've two of those and they look OK. An IRM one, or equivalent, would be on a different plane altogether, if we dare hope!

[Noel]

[jhb171achill]

24 minutes ago, Noel said:

That’s a B-and-a-half class….

[David Holman]

One in 7mm would be nice. 3D printed body, plus bogie side frames?

[Mike 84C]

Here's mine, I believe I've posted it before. Those vac; formed windows are awful but at distance are just tolerable.

.

[Westcorkrailway]

6 hours ago, David Holman said:

One in 7mm would be nice. 3D printed body, plus bogie side frames?

Possibly already being developed…..

1 hour ago, Mike 84C said:

Here's mine, I believe I've posted it before. Those vac; formed windows are awful but at distance are just tolerable.

.

Very nice

[Noel]

Kitbash from an SF resin kit some years ago. She's regularly seen pushing AEC stock around the commuter end of the layout, or hauling a two coach branch train.

[WRENNEIRE]

I was always fond of the "C" Class. Fits in on nearly any layout

[jhb171achill]

Perfect locos for a wide range of prototypical uses.

For late 1950s, they were to be found on branch lines and all over the Wisht Caark system. They made it to places like Cavan on goods via the MGWR route, Ballina branch train, Loughrea after 1964-ish.

All through the 1960s, they had been displaced from branches (bar Loughrea and Ballina) by closures, and displaced from passenger services by unreliability and 121s / 141s, but were to be found snuffling round goods yards, shunting, and keeping in their practice on passengers at Loughrea when the G's were out of action, or requisitioned in the autumn to shunt Tuam beet factory sidings. I remember them on ballast trains too - I got a cab run in a ballast from Clonsilla to the North Wall in one in the mid-70s.

Then in the 1970s and 80s, until withdrawal, as we know, they graduated to Dublin to be used on push-pulls. Add to that the several that went to NIR in the 1980s, and worked into the 1990s on ballasts on that network.

So they were very versatile and to be seen in a wide variety of locations and uses, over almost four decades. Thus, WELL worth a model.

Eleven potential livery variations, too, although two of these only applied to one locomotive that I'm aware of. Good for collectors as well as operating layouts.

Edited February 22 by jhb171achill

[Westcorkrailway]

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

Perfect locos for a wide range of prototypical uses.

For late 1950s, they were to be found on branch lines and all over the Wisht Caark system. They made it to places like Cavan on goods via the MGWR route, Ballina branch train, Loughrea after 1964-ish.

All through the 1960s, they had been displaced from branches (bar Loughrea and Ballina) by closures, and displaced from passenger services by unreliability and 121s / 141s, but were to be found snuffling round goods yards, shunting, and keeping in their practice on passengers at Loughrea when the G's were out of action, or requisitioned in the autumn to shunt Tuam beet factory sidings. I remember them on ballast trains too - I got a cab run in a ballast from Clonsilla to the North Wall in one in the mid-70s.

Then in the 1970s and 80s, until withdrawal, as we know, they graduated to Dublin to be used on push-pulls. Add to that the several that went to NIR in the 1980s, and worked into the 1990s on ballasts on that network.

So they were very versatile and to be seen in a wide variety of locations and uses, over almost four decades. Thus, WELL worth a model.

Eleven potential livery variations, too, although two of these only applied to one locomotive that I'm aware of. Good for collectors as well as operating layouts.

Which 2 liveries are exclusive to one locomotive? 

[jhb171achill]

21 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Which 2 liveries are exclusive to one locomotive? 

Black with a yellow end was on quite a few (though not all) but one of them for a short time carried (as an experiment) a yellow buffer beam too. Also - I think there was just this one example - C231 received the dark green with a line round it, just as one "A" (or maybe two) did. All the others were the standard lighter green used after 1955 on rail vehicles. It seems, also, as an aside, that while the earlier "C"s were delivered in silver, the last few were green from the outset.

Edited February 22 by jhb171achill

[patrick]

C226 on a goods at Glen More and on a representation of a Loughrea mixed train on the South Waterford Line. The locomotive is a Silver Fox model. The coach is from Irish Freight Models. 

Edited February 22 by patrick

[derek]

22 hours ago, Noel said:

My brand new A class looked similar  to this after it plummeted 3 feet to the floor 10 seconds after I put it on the layout for the first time. An expensive lesson on ensuring all wheels are correctly on the rails before engaging power. First points it came to, off she flew. Luckily the lads at IRM could help  out with the repairs. Came back good as new. I think I may have mentioned this somewhere on here before. 

[Westcorkrailway]

31 minutes ago, derek said:

My brand new A class looked similar  to this after it plummeted 3 feet to the floor 10 seconds after I put it on the layout for the first time. An expensive lesson on ensuring all wheels are correctly on the rails before engaging power. First points it came to, off she flew. Luckily the lads at IRM could help  out with the repairs. Came back good as new. I think I may have mentioned this somewhere on here before. 

After a thorough investigation it was found that driver error was a major contributing factor in the accident and recomends the points be replaced 

1 hour ago, patrick said:

C226 on a goods at Glen More and on a representation of a Loughrea mixed train on the South Waterford Line. The locomotive is a Silver Fox model. The coach is from Irish Freight Models. 

The real 226 is not too far from south Waterford 

 

 

[Mayner]

Not quite a silk purse out of a sows ear 211s assemble using a Q Kits B201 and Athearn F7 Chassis. Still one of my most prized possessions bought second hand from the Belfast Caboose 20 over 20 odd years ago. It ended up a choice between a MIR 071 assembled to a similar level of detail and weathering. Ended up buying 211s which was more suitable for use on the MRSI Loughrea layout and I didn't have the money to buy the two locos at the time.

Although the B201 Class ended up mainly on Dublin Suburban services the Maybach and GM re-built locos were also held down mainline passenger and freight duties into the early 70s.

B233 & 234 the Maybach rebuilds carried out in the mid-60 were regular performers on Dublin-Limerick via Nenagh passenger services and Bulk Cement trains from Castlemunget to the silos at Cabra and the Athy Asbestos factor.  The Maybachs were fitted and did work in multiple with the B141s

The Maybach' rebuilds were a distinct variation of the C Class with one porthole window blanked out apparently introduced in the black with white eyebrow and small yellow warning panel livery both were re-painted in the Supertrain scheme but without the GM headlights before re-building with GM engines during 79/80.

The GM rebuilds appear to have been initially rostered on fast main line Passenger Links including Heuston-Tralee and return, Dublin-Cork Newspaper trains and slower heavier duties such as Galway Day Mail and Connoly-Sligo passenger trains.

B201s were used for a short while on Heuston-Cork trains during the 1973 timetable hauling 6-7 coach Supertrain Sets.

The B201 class would have had an advantage over the B141/181 Class on fast passenger trains in terms of higher power and steadier running with their Commonwealth Bogies.

CIE reduced frequency and slowed down trains in response to the 73 oil crisis, running slower and heavier trains hauled by 001 Class or pairs of Bo Bos.

The B201s continued to work goods/freight trains following their transfer to the Dublin area, I once watched a procession of B201 hauled southbound Bulk and Bagged (H Vans) Cement Trains from the lineside near Howth Junction in 1976-77. I was doing a Saturday afternoon surveying job in Baldoyle Industrial Estate and found it difficult to concentrate, happy days!