CIE 10' Uniload Containers

[Mol_PMB]

The topic of CIE's 10' containers came up in another thread, so I thought I would scan and share some of my photos of these, in a variety of paint and lettering schemes.

We'll start with this childhood memory of the container terminal at Ennis in the late 1980s, sorry for the damaged print:

On the 47'6" flat, the end two containers are in the classic 'UNILOAD' livery (tan container, white band with black roundel and red UNILOAD). One of the middle two is in grey with a tan roundel (as used on traditional goods vans) while the other is plain tan with a small black roundel.

 

In the 1968-69 edition of 'Jane's Freight Containers', the section on Ireland includes the following:

Cranage: Heavy gantry cranes at Tolka Quay, Cork and Rathkeale were erected in 1968 to facilitate the use of containers.

Irish Ferryways is the largest and most experienced container company in Ireland. Irish Ferryways is formed by Coras Iompair Eireann and Containerway and Roadferry Ltd, the British-based unit-load operator in Europe. Irish Ferryways handle container freight from Ireland (Dublin, Drogheda or New Ross) to Britain, and onwards to all European countries. Their new terminal at Tolka Quay, Dublin, is the most modern in Ireland. It has advanced equipment for handling all types of containers - general, refigerated, flats and bulk liquid.

CIE owns 598 containers and have a few regular container trains. They also act as hauliers for large companies, like Guinness who own their own containers.

 

Here's one of Ernie's photos showing a couple of early ISO containers at Limerick in 1969, a BR Freightliner stacked on top of what

Also in 1969 at Ballybrophy, a Freightliner container visible in the background:

By the 1970-71 edition, the Eire section of 'Jane's Freight Containers' filled six large pages, with B+I line and Bellferry featuring alongside Irish Ferryways and CIE. CIE now owned more than 1500 containers.

The following year, the 1971-72 edition mentioned the introduction of bogie container flats in 1970, and gave a fleet list of CIE ISO containers as follows:

• Dry cargo 20x8x8: 200
• Insulated 20x8x8: 100
• Refrigerated 20x8x8: 3
• Flats 20x8: 335

There were also non-ISO containers of various types, and some prototype ISO hopper containers are pictured, but no 10' containers were listed.

The following year, 100 20x8x8.5 Tiltainers (i.e. curtain-sided) had been added to the fleet, but there were still no 10' boxes listed.

Here's one of the Tiltainers at Limerick Junction in 1974:

I then have a gap in my Janes collection until 1982. That edition does picture a pair of Uniload 10' containers on a flat wagon, and the total CIE container fleet is given as 2035 (not itemised).

I was hoping that a trawl through my copies of Janes would give me an introduction date for the 10' containers and a total quantity, but sadly not!

 

Anyway, to the photos...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

The nearest container is in plain tan with a very small black roundel. The one beyond that is in the UNILOAD scheme. Beyond that, a rusty grey one:

The same row of containers seen from the other side:

A closer view of the rusty grey one:

This one is tan, with a medium size black roundel, and a TRANSTRACK logo vertically down the middle:

The end doors of a grey one:

A pair of UNILOAD:

Another pair of UNILOAD, with a plain tan one behind:

Closeup of the stencilled number on the end of the tan one with a small roundel:

Not the best photo, but you don't see many pictures of the door end. When loaded on wagons they tended to place the doors facing each other to reduce the risk of pilferage:

Latterly these ended up being used as stores all over the place:

This one with its doors missing gives us a view of the interior:

That's my own photos done. I'll have a search on Flickr and see if I can find some more from other people.

Can anyone confirm when these were first introduced and how many there were?

The number series is CIEU 160#### and nationality/type code IRL 1000.

[leslie10646]

One I took earlier (in Cork, I think?

The flat is a later 27301-27767 series one with a 14ft wheelbase.

These containers were introduced in August 1978 (I'm quoting the iRRS Journal), so well after my period!

 

Edited November 12 by leslie10646

[Mol_PMB]

Here's a photo from Jonathan Allen showing 4 of them in June 1979. 3 UNILOAD and a grey one only partly visible:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/52048734512/

 

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

From Jason on Flickr, this is a long way from the rails!

 

From Steve Rabone:

https://www.steverabone.com/RailwayPhotographs/ireland_1984.htm

There are some other nice container pics in that album, including 4 different types of brew!

[Past-Avenue]

Thanks Mol_PMB for all your research. 

It would be nice to find out the quantity of them and duration etc they were used by cie . 

Lastly I can supply both Grey and Tan versions in plain to detaled and weathered. Just pm me if you have any questions please or would like anything that I'm printing.

Enda

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, Past-Avenue said:

Thanks Mol_PMB for all your research. 

It would be nice to find out the quantity of them and duration etc they were used by cie . 

Lastly I can supply both Grey and Tan versions in plain to detaled and weathered. Just pm me if you have any questions please or would like anything that I'm printing.

Enda

Many thanks! It seems they were first introduced in August 1978 and they were certainly in use through the 1980s. My gut feel is that they fell out of use in the early 1990s?

The number series is CIEU 160####, and normally the last digit would be a check digit, so we may be able to estimate how many there were based on the known numbers.

 

 

I do intend to buy a few, although I don't presently have any flat wagons to put them on! Would you consider printing an alternative door design with vertical ribs? Not too much of an issue though, the doors are normally hidden when they're loaded onto wagons, which is why it's hard to find good photos of the doors!

 

They actually seem quite camera-shy, or perhaps not many people are container nerds like me...

Plenty here at North Wall in 1985 (Andrew Pullar photo):

 One on the left here, pic dated 1982 from Brian Flannigan:

I don't think any were blue in service, here's a 2016 pic from Kieran Marshall:

 

A fair number here in 1991, photo from Adrian Nicholls:

 

[Mol_PMB]

I have photos of several other CIE container types, including 20' boxes, tanks and half-height open top variants. Would people be interested in seeing them too? Also I have a detail drawing of the BELL containers built in Derby.

[Mol_PMB]

From Jeremy Chapter on Flickr, a busy scene at Mallow in 1979, including several Uniload containers, one on the back of a CIE Bedford truck in tan livery:

The book 'Rails Through Wexford' (Beaumont & Carse) includes two photos (pages 37, 40) of the Dublin-Wexford liner in the early 1980s with plenty of these containers, in UNILOAD tan livery and in grey. Though I must confess the most impressive container photo in that book is from an earlier era, with about 40 pre-ISO containers full of bacon ready for export from Rosslare in 1959!

Similarly, 'Rails Through Tipperary' (Beaumont & Carse) includes three photos (pages 26, 28, 32) of short liner trains on the Nenagh route, with UNILOAD containers.

But it's interesting that these two books, ostensibly covering exactly the right era and location for the UNILOAD containers, contain so few views of them!

They were introduced in 1978 to finally get rid of the unfitted goods vans, but that small-volume sundries traffic was probably dying already.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13 by Mol_PMB
posted before I had finished

[Signal Post]

I've a feeling that @jhb171achill will be along shortly with an explanation for that...........!

[Past-Avenue]

8 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Many thanks! It seems they were first introduced in August 1978 and they were certainly in use through the 1980s. My gut feel is that they fell out of use in the early 1990s?

The number series is CIEU 160####, and normally the last digit would be a check digit, so we may be able to estimate how many there were based on the known numbers.

 

 

I do intend to buy a few, although I don't presently have any flat wagons to put them on! Would you consider printing an alternative door design with vertical ribs? Not too much of an issue though, the doors are normally hidden when they're loaded onto wagons, which is why it's hard to find good photos of the doors!

 

They actually seem quite camera-shy, or perhaps not many people are container nerds like me...

Plenty here at North Wall in 1985 (Andrew Pullar photo):

 One on the left here, pic dated 1982 from Brian Flannigan:

I don't think any were blue in service, here's a 2016 pic from Kieran Marshall:

 

A fair number here in 1991, photo from Adrian Nicholls:

 

Hi Mol_PMB

Thanks for pointing that out about the rear doors. I'll redraw it up and have it right for the next batch I print. 

Enda 

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, Past-Avenue said:

Hi Mol_PMB

Thanks for pointing that out about the rear doors. I'll redraw it up and have it right for the next batch I print. 

Enda 

Great, that would be wonderful. I'll definitely have 4 of the next batch, unpainted. I'll probably add a few other bits and pieces too as it looks like you have a good range of bits.

Cheers,

Mol

[Mol_PMB]

This photo from Brian Flannigan on Flickr shows the Wexford liner in 1982. Two 10' containers are in very clean, plain tan livery with black roundel, while the most of the rest are in grubby UNILOAD. That suggests that the plain tan livery came later than UNILOAD.

My impression of the earlier photos that show both gray and UNILOAD containers is that the grey ones are dirtier, so the grey livery probably came first.

There's no doubt that the majority carried UNILOAD

[murphaph]

7 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I have photos of several other CIE container types, including 20' boxes, tanks and half-height open top variants. Would people be interested in seeing them too? Also I have a detail drawing of the BELL containers built in Derby.

Absolutely! These are the things most people never photographed.

[Mol_PMB]

Ernie included some of the stacks at Ennis in his photos, this is where I got most of my closeup pics but from different angles.

Far right in this first photo is a grey one with UNILOAD branding - yet another variant!

 

[Mol_PMB]

23 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Absolutely! These are the things most people never photographed.

OK, here's a thread for the tank containers:

 

[Mayner]

IE phased out Sundries traffic and the use of 10' containers between 1987 and the mid 90s as it struggled to make a profit on its freight business.

IE closed its smaller depots to sundries, container and some to all freight traffic shortly after its formation in 87 concentrating traffic on a few major terminals. 

As far as I recall Ballinasloe, Roscommon, Castlebar, Boyle were stations/depots that were closed completely to freight traffic in 87, Tullamore remained open for Bulk Cement and Fertiliser, Westport Logs. Longford, Claremorris, Ballina, Sligo and Boyle remained open for Sundries until the traffic ceased. Galway was served by a trip working from Galway that connected into the Claremorris Liner at Athlone.

[murphaph]

On 13/11/2024 at 12:25 PM, Mol_PMB said:

 

 

I've never seen a 20' with a pair of double doors like that. 

[Mol_PMB]

Found elsewhere on the forum, a 10' container on a road vehicle, with mail being transferred to/from the train. The container is still quite new and clean in this 1970s photo by jhb171achill:

From the same source, a shiny new pair:

I must have a root through this thread for more!

 

[leslie10646]

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

I've never seen a 20' with a pair of double doors like that. 

When Michael and I were developing the PW version of a 20ft container (different to IRM one, by the way), we came across a similar photo and as we had the side door moulded, contemplated doing the double door version.

Then IRM brought their container out, my sales slumped, so no variant ......

That said, I still sell them from time to time. The single-casting version of the 20ft was a fine heavy job guaranteed to keep even a light flat on the track!

[Mol_PMB]

1 hour ago, leslie10646 said:

When Michael and I were developing the PW version of a 20ft container (different to IRM one, by the way), we came across a similar photo and as we had the side door moulded, contemplated doing the double door version.

Then IRM brought their container out, my sales slumped, so no variant ......

That said, I still sell them from time to time. The single-casting version of the 20ft was a fine heavy job guaranteed to keep even a light flat on the track!

Thanks for pointing out that they are different, so I definitely need one of yours!

The Provincial Wagons version is this type (Brian Flannigan photo on Flickr):

Whereas the IRM version is this type (Kieran Marshall photo on Flickr):

The same at first glance but when you look closely there are a whole host of differences in the doors, the ribs, the fork slots...