IRM Latest! The Hunslets Enter The Final Frontier - Delivery Update December 2025

[Darius43]

Perfect, thanks.

Cheers

Darius

Edited June 18 by Darius43

[Jonathan Allen]

50 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

My Hunslet 101 blue with red chevron has arrived with additional etched bits in the detailing bag.

I’ve fitted the hosiery etc. but the instructions don’t mentioned the black and yellow etched panels or the ITG roundels.

Can anyone provide enlightenment as to what they are and where they go?

Cheers

Darius

You may want to check photo references before adding anything - I only photographed 101 on the sprayer and she did not carry warning boards: 101 Bangor | Some use could still be found for NIR's 101 cla… | Flickr

104 did, but you will have to wait for a B201 model!

 

[MOGUL]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Allen said:

You may want to check photo references before adding anything - I only photographed 101 on the sprayer and she did not carry warning boards: 101 Bangor | Some use could still be found for NIR's 101 cla… | Flickr

104 did, but you will have to wait for a B201 model!

 

The yellow and black boards would only be added when the weedspray was actually spraying.

So maybe the coverage on the trip out to Bangor was considered satisfactory and there was no need to spray on the return, or the tanks were empty! 

 

[Jonathan Allen]

3 hours ago, MOGUL said:

The yellow and black boards would only be added when the weedspray was actually spraying.

So maybe the coverage on the trip out to Bangor was considered satisfactory and there was no need to spray on the return, or the tanks were empty! 

 

Very probably - but if you enlarge this shot at Seagoe: 101 approaching Seagoe | No sooner had the cement cleared th… | Flickr there appears to be spray coming from the end vehicle and the boards are not fitted.

Likely the crew just forgot. At the end of the day, Rule 1 applies.

 

[Galteemore]

Might also be a practical reason. I don’t think the 101s had lamp irons

[Darius43]

There’s one on the model.

Cheers

Darius

[Galteemore]

6 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

There’s one on the model.

Cheers

Darius

So there is! Only seems to have been one - presumably to satisfy statutory requirement for tail lamp when propelling 

[Darius43]

That’s probably why there are a couple of red tail lamps in the goody bag

Cheers

Darius

[Jonathan Allen]

2 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Might also be a practical reason. I don’t think the 101s had lamp irons

They did: 103 Connolly | 103 "Merlin" sits in Dublin Connolly station … | Flickr Just one, on the right hand or "second mans" side. 102 Dublin Connolly | 102 "Falcon" awaits departure from Dub… | Flickr 101 - Belfast Central station | The IRRS tour then moved to … | Flickr

 

 

 

[Davenport]

Hi Lads,

Did the Hunslets ever visit Cork does anyone know? if so anyone have a photo? I seen a photo of a NIR 071 in Cork before on the lower Glanmire road but never a Hunslet.

Thanks

[Blaine]

On 18/6/2026 at 8:22 PM, Davenport said:

Hi Lads,

Did the Hunslets ever visit Cork does anyone know? if so anyone have a photo? I seen a photo of a NIR 071 in Cork before on the lower Glanmire road but never a Hunslet.

Thanks

Never South of Inchicore or Lansdowne Road. Thats as far as they got

On 18/6/2026 at 7:07 PM, Darius43 said:

There’s one on the model.

Cheers

Darius

Thats the only lamp iron they had, and way out of gauge at that

If Hunslets were regular visitors south of Dundalk after the Mid 1980's they would have had a second lamp iron fitted - this was down to the rulebook change after the Cherryville Junction crash - every Irish Rail train had to have 2 lamps fitted and not just one

Edited June 19 by Blaine

[Jonathan Allen]

14 hours ago, Blaine said:

If Hunslets were regular visitors south of Dundalk after the Mid 1980's they would have had a second lamp iron fitted - this was down to the rulebook change after the Cherryville Junction crash - every Irish Rail train had to have 2 lamps fitted and not just one

Didn't know that Blaine - I only photographed the things.

Right to the end, the Hunslets had only one lamp iron - on the second man's side (left if looking at the locomotive, right if sitting in the cab). I last photographed a push-pull set south of Dundalk on 19 July 1982 101 leaving Drogheda | With arrival of the two 111 class loc… | Flickr but they probably worked south after that. The coming of 113 in August 1984 likely saw the end of push-pull working on the cross-border links, but if anybody knows different, I'll be glad to hear from you.

Last photographed top & tail push-pull on 17 December 1988 102 & 101 Lisburn | A poor shot on a bad day, but this is be… | Flickr but that only got to Newry. Again, I'll be glad to know of any later workings.

When it comes to lamp irons, the DTSOs are a different matter. I seldom photographed the a&s* end of a train (no imagination when it comes to photography), but this shot suggests there was a lamp iron on the left (looking at the unit) above the light and another just below the cab window. Those positions did not change during the service life of the DTSOs 101 Bangor | 101 "Eagle" propells the 15.00 Bangor - Portado… | Flickr as far as I can tell.

My last photograph of a pair of Hunslets on a Dublin was 24 June 1989: 103 & 102 leaving Lisburn | To have had one 101 working by J… | Flickr - a when 101 also worked the sprayer and there must have been several blue moons in the sky. No issue with the lamp irons as 102 & 103 would have run-round in Connolly.

If anybody can fill-in the gaps in my knowledge, it will be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[Darius43]

Some maroon ones…

…and some blue ones.

Cheers

Darius

[Darius43]

Cheers

Darius

[derek]

Pardon my total ignorance on such matters, but why are there multiple locos with the number 102? This looks absolutely beautiful by the way @Darius43

Edited Saturday at 19:21 by derek

[Darius43]

There were only three of these locos built, 101, 102 and 103.  They were originally delivered in maroon livery with yellow chevrons and then repainted into blue with orange/dayglo chevrons, with 102 only repainted later in blue with yellow panel.

Thus on my layout there are two 101s, three 102s and (so far) only one 103.

Cheers

Darius

[derek]

Thanks Darius. That explains a lot. I actually meant to say 102.  (edited above now)

[jhb171achill]

The final livery of 102 with black round the windows and the darker blue was short-lived, and she only wore it in her last days shunting Adelaide yard. Many of the fittings had been removed from the front by then, as well as the nameplates. So no trains were ever hauled by that livery, which was designed by the then loco engineer in York Road.

I saw it daily at that time. At this stage, two trains came in from Dundalk each morning, with "pairs" up front usually, sometimes a single 141. One was cement, the other Guinness. I think the fert stopped in the latter days. As far as I recall, but I'd need to check, one of the "pair" shunted the yard at least to some extent, while newly-painted 102 sat forlorn at the back; while the other went back to Dundalk. I recall a pair of 121s struggling there with what for those days was an uncharcteristically heavy load one day.

Mind you, I also recall steam locos shunting in that general area too! (GVS, Lisburn)...

Edited Saturday at 20:18 by jhb171achill

[Jonathan Allen]

10 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

The final livery of 102 with black round the windows and the darker blue was short-lived, and she only wore it in her last days shunting Adelaide yard. Many of the fittings had been removed from the front by then, as well as the nameplates. So no trains were ever hauled by that livery, which was designed by the then loco engineer in York Road.

I saw it daily at that time. At this stage, two trains came in from Dundalk each morning, with "pairs" up front usually, sometimes a single 141. One was cement, the other Guinness. I think the fert stopped in the latter days. As far as I recall, but I'd need to check, one of the "pair" shunted the yard at least to some extent, while newly-painted 102 sat forlorn at the back; while the other went back to Dundalk. I recall a pair of 121s struggling there with what for those days was an uncharcteristically heavy load one day.

Mind you, I also recall steam locos shunting in that general area too! (GVS, Lisburn)...

 

10 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

So no trains were ever hauled by that livery,

Excepting this one: 102 leaving Great Victoria Street - ITG "Yankee Explorer" | Flickr which, being a special, probably does not count.

 

[irishthump]

12 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

The final livery of 102 with black round the windows and the darker blue was short-lived, and she only wore it in her last days shunting Adelaide yard. Many of the fittings had been removed from the front by then, as well as the nameplates. So no trains were ever hauled by that livery, which was designed by the then loco engineer in York Road.

I saw it daily at that time. At this stage, two trains came in from Dundalk each morning, with "pairs" up front usually, sometimes a single 141. One was cement, the other Guinness. I think the fert stopped in the latter days. As far as I recall, but I'd need to check, one of the "pair" shunted the yard at least to some extent, while newly-painted 102 sat forlorn at the back; while the other went back to Dundalk. I recall a pair of 121s struggling there with what for those days was an uncharcteristically heavy load one day.

Mind you, I also recall steam locos shunting in that general area too! (GVS, Lisburn)...

Seeing this video of 102 shunting cement wagons in Adelaide Yard gave me enough modeller's licence to buy a Hunslett, even  though I ended up buying a different livery version of Falcon!

Lots of videos on this guy's YT channel. Including this one of a wonderfully disheveled 102 shunting Guinness kegs...

 

[Brunel273]

Here's a link to my Maroon and Blue NIR 101 Hunslet expertly weathered by Steve Croucher of Neville Grove. The thrashing sound is exceptional!

 

 

[Brunel273]

Gangways will be fitted in due course. An exceptional model by Accurascale and expertly weathered by Steve.

[Darius43]

Gangways?

[jhb171achill]

12 hours ago, Jonathan Allen said:

 

Excepting this one: 102 leaving Great Victoria Street - ITG "Yankee Explorer" | Flickr which, being a special, probably does not count.

 

True!

10 hours ago, Brunel273 said:

Here's a link to my Maroon and Blue NIR 101 Hunslet expertly weathered by Steve Croucher of Neville Grove. The thrashing sound is exceptional!

 

 

That’s exactly as they looked in the weathered maroon!

Edited Sunday at 19:37 by jhb171achill

[NIRCLASS80]

101 on ballast duties

 

[murphaph]

Do the sound equipped Hunslets have the full throttle features like drive hold?

[NIRCLASS80]

58 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Do the sound equipped Hunslets have the full throttle features like drive hold?

Yes drive hold, but the heavy load and brake features now available on ESU Loksound decoders have almost made drive hold a feature used less by myself. 

[murphaph]

16 hours ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

Yes drive hold, but the heavy load and brake features now available on ESU Loksound decoders have almost made drive hold a feature used less by myself. 

I'm not familiar with the "European" style ESU projects as I have only ever used Loksounds on US diesel prototypes where Full Throttle features are still the default these days as far as I can tell. How do these Full Throttle features differ from the "European" style projects? Drive hold is one finger operation which is what I most like about it. Could you maybe compare the two styles in broad terms for me? Is there more button pressing with the "European" style projects?

[NIRCLASS80]

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

I'm not familiar with the "European" style ESU projects as I have only ever used Loksounds on US diesel prototypes where Full Throttle features are still the default these days as far as I can tell. How do these Full Throttle features differ from the "European" style projects? Drive hold is one finger operation which is what I most like about it. Could you maybe compare the two styles in broad terms for me? Is there more button pressing with the "European" style projects?

I used the drivehold function as well and it is very effective but the new functions give it a touch of more drivability. 
 

I tend to run with medium acceleration CV3 = 90

 Deceleration CV4=150

Now this means from full speed the Hunslet file would likely take over 2 minutes to coast to a stop!

So this is were the brake function comes in.

Using The Lokprogrammer I set the Brake1,2 & 3 on the file to simulate a light brake application, a service brake application and an emergency brake application!

The brake values on the file I set at 120, 160 and 200 accordingly.  I also modify the function list to include these.

I use the Z21 app and include a screenshot. 
Clear as mud!