IRM Latest! The High Queens of Ireland - IRM Celebrates 10th Birthday With GSR 800s

[Warbonnet]

2025 marks the 10th birthday of IRM! 

That's right, it's been 10 years since we first made a public appearance at the Dublin show in Blackrock with some CAD drawings of a ballast wagon and some leaflets on a school table.

We've come on a bit since then! 

It's a major milestone for any business, and we've had some interesting challenges thrown our way over the years, but a lot of success too. That's down to you, and your support for us and what we want to do.

So, with that in mind, we really wanted to mark our first decade with a truly special model. An icon of the Irish rails. We also wanted to produce the first highly detailed, ready-to-run, authentic Irish steam locomotive. There was only one place we could go to; the GSR B1A Class, or the 800s/The Queens as they are better known!

Despite the high profile of the three B1a locomotives, and even with 800 Maeḋḃ, being preserved since the 1960s, we found ourselves in the position of having very few dimensioned drawings to work from, with just Rod and Pipe side elevation and front elevation official drawings being sourced. Thanks to the late Ken McElhinney, a few more drawings were shared which at least gave a starting point, but to really get to grips with the subject, it was decided to 3D scan the loco.

Fortunately, we’d already decided to make a start on the Hunslet 101 project and so we found ourselves at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum in Cultra one April morning in 2022 with two locomotives to scan; our British based scanning company partners having made the trip across the Irish Sea for the occasion. A full photographic and measurement survey was also undertaken at the same time, which gave us the necessary information to begin the CAD process.

As ever, a master drawing needed to be completed from the cloud point data and from there, using as many archive photos as could be sourced, the variations across the three locomotives were also drawn up, allowing the factory to complete the process by adding in the requested 5-pole, fly-wheel motor and the gearing, prior to tooling.

There were two particular areas that we particularly wanted to address in the model; the realism of the sound and the connection of the tender to the locomotive. Steam tenders in the modern era of railway modelling tend to be connected to the locomotive by a fixed coupling, with a loose wiring loom connecting to the PCB via a ‘devil’s plug’ connection. We wanted to avoid this, and so tender and locomotive will be connected by a multi-pin connector integrated into a kinetic coupling, which will allow push fit/pull apart connection and, hopefully, a better tender to locomotive close coupling distance, with the cab fall plate covering the gap prototypically. Early testing has proved positive in this respect, and the full DCC fitted deco samples should refine this further.

We also wanted to improve the sound ‘experience’ for customers, so in addition to the new ‘megabass’ main speaker that has been fitted into the tender (with suitable outlets for the sound to ‘escape’), a secondary sugar cube speaker has been mounted in the smokebox, directly beneath the chimney, and this should replicate the distinctive exhaust ‘bark’ of the B1a locomotives.

The sound project has been built from the ground up, using a combination of newly recorded 4-6-0 3-cylinder sounds, which our sound engineer has then married to the sound curves taken from archive recordings of 802 Táilte. This should provide for a complete authentic sound file, with great drivability.

With assessment of the first EP now completed, and very few issues, the artwork files are currently being finished off and passed to the factory to produce the deco samples. The PCB schematics have been completed by ESU as well, which means that the deco samples should also be fully sound functional, an exciting development in the project.

Once the decorated samples arrive with us we will continue to test ahead of production of this very limited run. Like our NIR Hunslet locomotives, this is planned to be a very exclusive production run due to the nature of there being three class members in various guises during their all too short careers. We cannot guarantee that there will be a future production run of these locomotives, so we would advise anyone who wants a museum quality 800 Class locomotive in OO gauge to get ordering ASAP from this production run.

With a large amount of diecast construction, a wealth of detail, separately applied parts, a museum quality finish, a vast tooling suite to cater for detail variations and a high quality drive and sound system, we feel that we will do the first ever, authentic highly detailed Irish outline steam locomotive justice! 

Due to the highly limited nature and quality level of this model, it is priced at €349.00 DC/DCC Ready and €449.00 DCC sound fitted. This is in line, and in some cases cheaper, than large British outline steam locomotives of similar or poorer quality, despite them benefiting from larger production runs and sales.  

Delivery of our Celtic Queens is slated for Q3 2026. You can reserve your loco below with a €40 reservation fee via the link below. 

Pre-Order Your GSR/CIE 800s Here!

MODEL SPECIFICATION:

Die-cast metal locomotive chassis and footplate, with ABS plastic body.
Locomotive/Tender weight of 498g.
Centrally mounted, high quality 5-pole skew-wound motor, with single flywheel.
Helical gear box for maximum performance and slow speed running.
Gearing arranged so locomotive can achieve a scale maximum top speed of 100 mph (128.75 km/h).
Scale lengths:
Locomotive: 163.917mm over buffers.
Tender: 104.916mm over buffers.
Operation over a minimum radius of 438mm (2nd radius set-track).
Blackened 00 Gauge RP25-110 standard 11.3mm bogie wheels, 25.8mm driving wheels and 14.8mm tender wheels, set in blackened brass bearings or contact strips and conforming to Accurascale standards of 14.4mm back-to-back, on 2mm axles.
Fully fitted brake rigging, aligned to wheel centres for 00 Gauge.
Fully detailed die-cast underframes with all cylinders, linkages and piping applied separately.
Eroded metal, plastic and wire detail parts, including (but not limited to) handrails, lamp brackets, running gear, brake gear, draw gear, nameplates, cab side plates.
Prism free flush cab glazing.
Duel-LED flickering firebox.
Locomotive/Tender connection by multi-pin custom designed male/female connector.
Designed to work with the ESU LOKSOUND V5 21-PIN Decoder.
Decoder and main speaker located in the tender, for easy access.
Supplied as DC Sound Ready, or DCC Sound fitted (based on archive recordings).
Fitted 25mm x 25mm x 7.50mm rectangular 8Ω ‘Megabass’ speaker in tender, with separate ‘Sugarcube’ speaker fitted in smokebox.

View the full article

[Patrick Davey]

Gulp

[Galteemore]

Not my scale, not my scene, but am hiding my credit card! Fabulous. What will really make these models pop, I think,  over the excellent Scot conversions around will be the factory-applied GSR blue-green finish. Fabulous product - well done. 

Edited Monday at 20:22 by Galteemore

[enniscorthyman]

Holy God,will someone please stop me.Amazing though.

[GSR 800]

What was once only a dream has become a glorious reality!

I will be completely bankrupt!

 

[Patrick Davey]

I had asked earlier how the sound files might be created - a comprehensive answer to that indeed!

Jaw dropping in every way and a very reasonable price too.

And for once, I was right 

[Basil]

Wrong era and end of the island for me but it's Maeḋḃ so had to order! 

Great loco selection, hope it does well for IRM.

Edited Monday at 20:31 by Basil

[Westcorkrailway]

3 minutes ago, Basil said:

Wrong era and end of the island for me but it's Maeḋḃ so had to order! 

Think this logic is what will help shift them!

Edited Monday at 20:35 by Westcorkrailway

[GSWR 90]

The video and the prototypes both look amazing. These will definitely fly off the shelves

[murphaph]

Brilliant. Can we get a breakdown of what years each loco wore each livery please?

[BosKonay]

1 minute ago, murphaph said:

Brilliant. Can we get a breakdown of what years each loco wore each livery please?

 

[Darius43]

GS sound version duly ordered.

I remember admiring the locomotive in the museum in Witham Street when I visited many years ago with my Grandad.

Cheers

Darius

Edited Monday at 20:50 by Darius43

[Wexford70]

What coaches would they have pulled and which configuration?

[scahalane]

Wow! Great stuff guys!

[Westcorkrailway]

801 Maca pulled sugar beet trains to mallow! A rake which included IRM bullied and GSR plank wagons. Also the rake I have on cine film has @leslie10646’s GSWR van (thank god I have one pre ordered!)

[Mol_PMB]

6 minutes ago, Wexford70 said:

What coaches would they have pulled and which configuration?

Generally they were used on the heavy trains on the Dublin-Cork main line, such as the day mails. They would be formed mostly of bogie stock but a variety of types and styles including GSWR, GSR and CIE types according to date.

Here's 801 in CIE days with a rake of 1950s CIE stock:

 

But in 1946 it was a right old mix of stock:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511573460/

This is a reasonably modern rake apart from the mail van, but includes some GSR passenger coaches as well as CIE:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511881435/

 

Edited Monday at 20:56 by Mol_PMB

[Darrman]

County Cork? Well, there goes my bank account. I've seen the real thing in Cultra, so I'll gladly add this to my collection.

[murphaph]

Which livery did 800 carry at withdrawal in 1962? The dark green flying snail one?

[Westcorkrailway]

Just now, murphaph said:

Which livery did 800 carry at withdrawal in 1962? The dark green flying snail one?

Yes

[Georgeconna]

Excellent, Looking forward to the Cork tunnel construction pack next!

Never a fan of double Chimneys (except 9F's) and those buffers do look puny and should not be there but yep I love it! 

I'll Defo add a least one to the collection. Well done on taking the plunge. This looks to be a flagship model, the Cab back head detail is amazing, Those rivets made me gasp.

Cheered when I heard that a speaker will be under the chimney!! About time that happened too.

Ok the price is a bit of a pill but tbh if the production run is small then these will only go up in Value. A better investment than the bank 

All around a stunner. 

 

Edited Monday at 21:16 by Georgeconna

[Mol_PMB]

As yet, I haven't found a photo of an 800 hauling a Park Royal, but I'm sure it happened.

I'll say it again, the triangulated underframe under the Park Royals would form a perfect basis for some of the other CIE 1950s carriages, like the first one in the photo at Mallow in the post above.

 

 

With tongue firmly in cheek, there's only one thing missing from this train now:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511409908/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511409843/

 

And with tongue even more firmly in cheek, are you sure you've made number 800 the right shape?

 

7 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Which livery did 800 carry at withdrawal in 1962? The dark green flying snail one?

I'm no expert on these locos, I'm just looking at photos:

Thurles 1961, no snail:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53453950801/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53468545416/

Inchicore 1963, no snail:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53505733957

Amiens St 1964, no snail:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251716485

 

Edited Monday at 21:15 by Mol_PMB
added more links

[Mayner]

16 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

What was once only a dream has become a glorious reality!

I will be completely bankrupt!

 

Poor Harry, IRM an announce a rtr version almost as soon as you have completed your beautifully finished 3D printed version combining Killian's 3D prints and a rtr chassis, perhaps IRM are poised waiting for you and Killian to complete your MGWR Celtic Class 4-4-0 .

I was in much the same situation when I modeled the BR steam era about 20 years ago when I assembled a series of large locos from DJH kits including several Austerity 2-8-0s, an 8F, Black 5 and Rebuilt West Country Pacific, Bachmann or Hornby released a highly detailed rtr version soon after I completed each kit, but each kept me occupied for 3-6 months. My West Country was mistaken for a Hornby pre-production sample during a Milton Keynes MRC club night, the give away that it was built from a kit was that it was EM gauge.

An 800 makes perfect commercial sense from IRM/Accurascale perspective, although only 3 existed and were restricted to the Dublin-Cork route, just like the Hornby Dublo pacifics of the 50s a lot of people hanker after and will buy a prestigious Express Passenger locomotive.

I'd probably change scale and change to some obscure prototype in order to model something different, Irish 4mm is becoming over-run with high quality rtr models, but too heavily invested in 4mm to change, I guess I still have my Irish narrow gauge IRM are unlikely to release a C&L 4-4-0 or T&D 2-6-0T maybe 

 

[Georgeconna]

Oh by the way just wondering was there 'Only' two locos scanned in Cultra........

Do visit Culta as well to see these locos, we are lucky to have a small selection of interesting railway locos.

54 minutes ago, enniscorthyman said:

Holy God,will someone please stop me.Amazing though.

These locos defo went down the Bog road Eamon!!   LOL!

[Westcorkrailway]

Just now, Georgeconna said:

Oh by the way just wondering was there 'Only' two locos scanned in Cultra........

2026 CDR Phoenix announcment

[Irishrailwayman]

Happy Birthday IRM - a great way to celebrate!

[GSR 800]

4 minutes ago, Mayner said:

Poor Harry, IRM an announce a rtr version almost as soon as you have completed your beautifully finished 3D printed version combining Killian's 3D prints and a rtr chassis, perhaps IRM are poised waiting for you and Killian to complete your MGWR Celtic Class 4-4-0 .

I was in much the same situation when I modeled the BR steam era about 20 years ago when I assembled a series of large locos from DJH kits including several Austerity 2-8-0s, an 8F, Black 5 and Rebuilt West Country Pacific, Bachmann or Hornby released a highly detailed rtr version soon after I completed each kit, but each kept me occupied for 3-6 months. My West Country was mistaken for a Hornby pre-production sample during a Milton Keynes MRC club night, the give away that it was built from a kit was that it was EM gauge.

An 800 makes perfect commercial sense from IRM/Accurascale perspective, although only 3 existed and were restricted to the Dublin-Cork route, just like the Hornby Dublo pacifics of the 50s a lot of people hanker after and will buy a prestigious Express Passenger locomotive.

I'd probably change scale and change to some obscure prototype in order to model something different, Irish 4mm is becoming over-run with high quality rtr models, but too heavily invested in 4mm to change, I guess I still have my Irish narrow gauge IRM are unlikely to release a C&L 4-4-0 or T&D 2-6-0T maybe 

 

I was sure they would announce them back when the beet was announced! Once IRM announced the Hunslets, it showed the 800s would come down the tracks sooner or later.

Sure if they are in the mood for a MGWR 4-4-0, I won't stand in their way! 

 

 

[Westcorkrailway]

2 minutes ago, GSR 800 said:

 

Sure if they are in the mood for a MGWR 4-4-0, I won't stand in their way! 

 

 

@BosKonay can you confirm or deny a  MGWR 4-4-0 in the next day 10 years to save GSR 800 some time! 

[Killian Keane]

1 minute ago, Westcorkrailway said:

@BosKonay can you confirm or deny a  MGWR 4-4-0 in the next day 10 years to save GSR 800 some time! 

As long as there isnt a WLWR 0-6-0 being made I'm laughing!

[Mol_PMB]

Just now, Westcorkrailway said:

2026 CDR Phoenix announcment

2 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

Oh by the way just wondering was there 'Only' two locos scanned in Cultra........

In the Hunslet video there was a teaser about the Peckett...

But there are 40 major railway exhibits at Cultra, lots to choose from, including some nice small and medium-sized tank engines.

[Westcorkrailway]

1 minute ago, Mol_PMB said:

In the Hunslet video there was a teaser about the Peckett...

But there are 40 major railway exhibits at Cultra, lots to choose from, including some nice small and medium-sized tank engines.

By far the most likely being the GNR class JT. Perhaps the sulzer as well. BCDR 30 an outside shout perhaps 

[GSWR 90]

17 types of broad gauge Irish steam locos preserved – one down, 16 to go...

[GSR 800]

7 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

In the Hunslet video there was a teaser about the Peckett...

But there are 40 major railway exhibits at Cultra, lots to choose from, including some nice small and medium-sized tank engines.

The Peckett would be a wonderful little model. 

IRM could make hay with them similar to Bachmann and the Quarry Hunslets

 

[Killian Keane]

2 minutes ago, GSWR 90 said:

17 types of broad gauge Irish steam locos preserved – one down, 16 to go...

Waiting on Bury Curtis & Kennedy no.36 personally!

[Westcorkrailway]

I’ll take GSWR 90 to go with my maebh. 2 extremes of size next to eachother 

[Mol_PMB]

I found this quite useful summary of the survivors, for anyone trying to list the intervening types:

https://trainstobeyond.com/irish-preservation/