The Eagle Has Landed - NIR Hunslets Next For Accurascale IRM

[Horsetan]

On 3/2/2025 at 4:52 PM, jhb171achill said:

And somewhere to tell lies......

He can do that anywhere....and frequently has

[Brunel273]

I ordered 101 and 103. I lived in Carrickfergus and travelled by train to school in Larne in the early 1970s, and although I now live in South Africa and model GWR, I am looking at a few Irish prototypes for nostalgia! I understand these pulled the Enterprise Express?. What coaches/livery/configuration did they pull? Did these work on the Belfast / Larne line in the early 1970s, and what coaches/ livery/configuration did they pull? Everything seemed maroon in those days!  I also have some recollection of them pulling stone trains to Kilroot. 

Is Accurascale likely to produce blue/maroon coaches for them?

 

 

[Galteemore]

1 hour ago, Brunel273 said:

I ordered 101 and 103. I lived in Carrickfergus and travelled by train to school in Larne in the early 1970s, and although I now live in South Africa and model GWR, I am looking at a few Irish prototypes for nostalgia! I understand these pulled the Enterprise Express?. What coaches/livery/configuration did they pull? Did these work on the Belfast / Larne line in the early 1970s, and what coaches/ livery/configuration did they pull? Everything seemed maroon in those days!  I also have some recollection of them pulling stone trains to Kilroot. 

Is Accurascale likely to produce blue/maroon coaches for them?

 

 

Pulled Mk2s in various liveries. All sold out now I believe but give it time and they will pop up occasionally. Livery changed from maroon to grey/blue c1980. Never worked on Larne line except for ballast. We probably lived in Carrick at same time: I spent the 70s living in Downshire Gardens.

[DJ Dangerous]

1 hour ago, Brunel273 said:

I ordered 101 and 103. I lived in Carrickfergus and travelled by train to school in Larne in the early 1970s, and although I now live in South Africa and model GWR, I am looking at a few Irish prototypes for nostalgia! I understand these pulled the Enterprise Express?. What coaches/livery/configuration did they pull? Did these work on the Belfast / Larne line in the early 1970s, and what coaches/ livery/configuration did they pull? Everything seemed maroon in those days!  I also have some recollection of them pulling stone trains to Kilroot. 

Is Accurascale likely to produce blue/maroon coaches for them?

 

 

Welcome to the forum!

A/S / IRM will definitely re-use the tooling to run more coaches in the future, and the Hunslet livery options are a large hint at seeing the maroon Mk2's at some stage.

With the Irish market, it's not always always, or often, feasable for a manufacturer to have several different models in stock at any one time, so it's a case of buying what you like, when it's available, and waiting a little for the rest.

[Louth]

[Mol_PMB]

If you search on ebay for Irish Railway Models there are 4 of the grey/blue NIR Mk2 coach packs for sale at present - which may be suitable for the Hunslets but some are slightly later types that ran with the 111s. 
Maroon/blue NIR Mk2s have been promised! 

[DJ Dangerous]

8 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

If you search on ebay for Irish Railway Models there are 4 of the grey/blue NIR Mk2 coach packs for sale at present - which may be suitable for the Hunslets but some are slightly later types that ran with the 111s. 
Maroon/blue NIR Mk2s have been promised! 

The eBay coaches are usually overpriced, and IRM re-runs are usually cheaper than the first run - presumably because they have covered start-up costs for the model.

With that in mind, I’d wait for the next run of coaches.

[Brunel273]

Thank you for the very informative replies. I am conscious of the fact that I know so little about the Irish Prototype. Are there any key books on Irish railways- 1950 to present that one ought to add to the Railway library? 

[Galteemore]

7 hours ago, Brunel273 said:

Thank you for the very informative replies. I am conscious of the fact that I know so little about the Irish Prototype. Are there any key books on Irish railways- 1950 to present that one ought to add to the Railway library? 

Lots! Depends on what you’re interested in. Most recent books are effectively albums of photographs, with some commentary atttached- the era of text-heavy historical books really peaked in the 1970s. If you tell us what interests you most we can use the ‘hive mind’ of the forum to help. Michael McMahon’s intelligent photo books are probably a definite for you.

[Mol_PMB]

As well as the picture albums, and noting your memories of the Larne line, then if your main interest is NIR I would suggest:

Jonathan Allen’s book ‘35 years of NIR’ is excellent for a wordy history with illustrations. 
Edwin McMillan’s ‘Dark Days and Brighter Days’ is a very readable, more personal history of NIR. 
‘Diesel Dawn’ is an excellent more technical book about the development of diesel railcars of Ireland, particularly those north of the border. 
 

They should all be available secondhand.