Accurascale/IRM NIR Hunslet Sound Preview!

[DJ Dangerous]

On 12/12/2025 at 11:02 PM, BosKonay said:

Final production samples and a shipping update are due in the coming week. Not long now and they look and run amazingly. 

You’re cutting it fine for Q4!

[Mol_PMB]

11 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

You’re cutting it fine for Q4!

Depends which year…

[GSWR 90]

Whoops, wrong thread... Looking for 800s, not 101s. Too much excitement going on!

Edited December 14, 2025 by GSWR 90

[Mol_PMB]

13 minutes ago, GSWR 90 said:

Whoops, wrong thread... Looking for 101s, not 800s. Too much excitement going on!

No GSWR 0-6-0s, CIE Sulzers or indeed GNR MaKs to be found here. Yet…

[BosKonay]

3 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

You’re cutting it fine for Q4!

Planes are fierce quick yokes

[Mol_PMB]

29 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Planes are fierce quick yokes

102 'Falcon' is the fastest bird in the sky, and beats most trains too, though admittedly not IRM's air freighter. 242mph top speed recorded!

[Horsetan]

On 14/12/2025 at 1:28 PM, DJ Dangerous said:

You’re cutting it fine for Q4!

 

On 14/12/2025 at 1:40 PM, Mol_PMB said:

Depends which year…

I was about to say.....if it were Q4 in 2026, it would allow some of us more time to save money.....

[DJ Dangerous]

On 14/12/2025 at 5:18 PM, BosKonay said:

Planes are fierce quick yokes

As are parachute drops for speedy unloading!

 

9 hours ago, Horsetan said:

 

I was about to say.....if it were Q4 in 2026, it would allow some of us more time to save money.....

Last updates were here:

 

Quote

 

Hi @Brunel276,

 

Many thanks for the order. No change to our last update which you can read here: https://www.accurascale.com/blogs/irish-railway-news/what-a-hunny-decorated-nir-hunslets-revealed

 

If there is a change, then we publish a new update.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

 

And here:

 

Quote

Overall, we are very pleased with progress so far, and the above has been fed back to the factory already with these amendments now well under way. Production is due to begin just after the Chinese New Year break in spring 2025 with us still on course for a delivery date Q4 2025.

 

So a full year to save is probably not too likely!

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

Boskonay indicated that they're coming on a plane. I wonder if production volumes demand a big one...

 

[leslie10646]

23 hours ago, Horsetan said:

 

I was about to say.....if it were Q4 in 2026, it would allow some of us more time to save money.....

Obviously lawyers don't earn as much as I thought ........

[leslie10646]

On 14/12/2025 at 5:50 PM, Mol_PMB said:

102 'Falcon' is the fastest bird in the sky, and beats most trains too, though admittedly not IRM's air freighter. 242mph top speed recorded!

I get quite enough fun out of watching the Red Kites in our back garden in Caversham - four down to collect bits of fat within 15 seconds! We're very privileged to see these once rare birds - we see more than we do Blue Tits etc. It's great watching them scare off the seagulls ......

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

Very nice! I very occasionally see kites overhead, buzzards and kestrels are more common in the skies here in Manchester, and we have a local pair of falcons that I have watched catching pigeons around the M60 Barton viaduct.

In the garden I have very good numbers of small birds visiting (tits, finches, sparrows etc) and consequently sparrowhawks also visit my garden. They usually perch on the outbuildings or fences but one hid in the apple tree.

We also have parrots nesting locally. They’ll be at it again soon, they breed very early in the year. 

 

[Horsetan]

10 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

Obviously lawyers don't earn as much as I thought ........

We haven't had this year's bonus yet

[leslie10646]

14 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

We haven't had this year's bonus yet

Ah, so once you get yours, IRM will be marking things "Sold out"?

[Horsetan]

38 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Ah, so once you get yours, IRM will be marking things "Sold out"?

Let me get back to ye on that.

[DJ Dangerous]

Hunslets due end of March according to email from A/S just now!

[BosKonay]

https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/19706-irm-latest-the-hunslets-enter-the-final-frontier-delivery-update-december-2025/?do=findComment&comment=274238

[Mol_PMB]

22 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Hunslets due end of March according to email from A/S just now!

They'll miss my birthday too 

I'll have to muster all my patience, and get on with building the kit stash. I wonder how the Park Royals are doing?

[Horsetan]

21 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Hunslets due end of March according to email from A/S just now!

Dunno what route the container ships normally take, but as long as they don't get targeted by Houthi rebels, Somali pirates, Israeli jets, leftover Katyusha rockets or stray Russian-Iranian drones, March/April '26 will be grand. 

[DJ Dangerous]

25 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

They'll miss my birthday too 

I'll have to muster all my patience, and get on with building the kit stash. I wonder how the Park Royals are doing?

I’m sure these will be worth the wait!

 

24 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

Dunno what route the container ships normally take, but as long as they don't get targeted by Houthi rebels, Somali pirates, Israeli jets, leftover Katyusha rockets or stray Russian-Iranian drones, March/April '26 will be grand. 

Don’t jinx them!

 

Unlikely to be re-run for quite a long time, if ever, in our short lifetimes:

 

1 hour ago, Warbonnet said:

If you’re keeping an eye on our upcoming releases, then our NIR Hunslet locomotives are certainly in the minds of fans of all things 5ft 3'. Due to land around now, there has been a very slight delay, but the good news is that they're about to depart the factory in China.

We have Production Samples in hand but with our Christmas rush we've yet to take proper photographs of them, so look forward to seeing the final results in January! 

You might notice that the project took a little longer than expected. That’s because extra time was needed to refine the sound project. But trust us—it’s worth the wait. The attention to detail and the quality of the audio really make these models stand out, capturing that distinctive English Electric whistle which echoed along the Great Northern Main Line for so many years.

The factory has been incredibly busy lately, handling multiple projects at once. If you’ve been following our activity, you’ve probably noticed how packed it is with new releases right now. This makes the extra care they are taking even more reassuring—you know they’re focused on quality rather than rushing things out.

After the Hunslets they will begin on the Mark 2 coaches too, so you can expect a lovely matching train with matching paint shades hammering around your layout.

When you finally get your hands on a NIR Hunslet, you’ll see why it’s such a must-have. It's highly unlikely a Ready-to-Run Hunslet will ever be available again, and we highly doubt a second run will ever happy, so now is your chance to grab one. Pre-order below for a Q1 2026 delivery.

Pre-order Your NIR Hunslet Here!

View the full article

 

[Colin_McLeod]

With the delivery of the IRM Hunslets getting closer, I thought it would be of interest to share this 1980 article from the Belfast Telegraph 45 years ago, about the kits by MIR and featuring a younger Yours Truly.

 

The MIR team consisted of Ian McNally, Edgar O'Donnell, Colin McLeod,  Brian Dorrian and Gerry Healey.

 

The availiblity of MIR kits encouraged an increasing interest in modelling Irish prototypes.  The growing base of Irish models encouraged Murphy Models and later Irish Railway Models, to produce high quality RTR locomotives and rolling stock.

 

Ian McNally still sells MIR transfers etc on ebay.

 

 

[Galteemore]

Excellent. Well informed journalist too. Would almost think he knew something about railways….

[Patrick Davey]

2 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Excellent. Well informed journalist too. Would almost think he knew something about railways….

Indeed - Mr. Morton might well be rather more informed than the typical journalist!

Great photo & article Colin - thanks for sharing and for being part of a groundbreaking group all those years ago.

[Mol_PMB]

A lovely Hunslet photo for sale on eBay at present, just in case you don't fancy putting Mk2 coaches behind them:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0dEAAeSwyqhpdxhC/s-l1600.jpg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/227189400223

The Courtaulds wagon and the bogie flat piled high with sleepers are also of interest.

[Warbonnet]

Hi everyone,

NIR HUNSLET SOUND PREVIEW

We have a big update on our funky NIR Hunslet locomotives coming later this week!

In the meantime, here's a demonstration of the DCC sound file in these pocket rockets! Warning - it's LOUD!

 

Making use of ESU LLC - LokSound 5 decoder, and their latest speaker technology, you really experience that English Electric whistle!

Pre-order yours here: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/nir-101-dl-class-hunslet

Cheers!

Fran 

[NIRCLASS80]

Stop the teasing and get it on my layout now!  Love it. What about a MV and a 80 to go with it!

[leslie10646]

Ye Gods - weren't they noisy. If I had one of those in my loft, the neighbours would be complaining!

Very impressive.

[Horsetan]

32 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Ye Gods - weren't they noisy...

The top end sounded like a bag of nails, reminiscent of the 1960s-1980s Simca / Talbot car engines.

[jhb171achill]

Sounds EXACTLY like I remember it!

I saw them throughout their lives, from an early trial run and their first week in service, to being in the very last service train hauled by one (an ailing 101)… about 1993. It was last-minute deputising for a failed railcar that evening.

[Patrick Davey]

One of the sounds of my early enthusiast years, and totally spot-on!!!!  

[Mayner]

13 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Sounds EXACTLY like I remember it!

I saw them throughout their lives, from an early trial run and their first week in service, to being in the very last service train hauled by one (an ailing 101)… about 1993. It was last-minute deputising for a failed railcar that evening.

Used to regularly hear a Hunslet on evening Dublin-Belfast Enterprise while waiting on the 54 bus home from work in Killester almost 50 years ago. The Hunslet's made quite a racket climbing the bank towards Killester and Harmonstown.

About 20 years ago found that mute (FO on American decoders) was the most important function on sound equipped locos during a running session in a club room with poor acoustics (low ceilings concrete block walls). At the time one of the senior club members was into collecting sound equipped UP SD70s and loved to run them in multiple on the club test track to everyone elses consternation!

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Mayner said:

Used to regularly hear a Hunslet on evening Dublin-Belfast Enterprise while waiting on the 54 bus home from work in Killester almost 50 years ago. The Hunslet's made quite a racket climbing the bank towards Killester and Harmonstown.

About 20 years ago found that mute (FO on American decoders) was the most important function on sound equipped locos during a running session in a club room with poor acoustics (low ceilings concrete block walls). At the time one of the senior club members was into collecting sound equipped UP SD70s and loved to run them in multiple on the club test track to everyone elses consternation!

Must say I’d quite like to hear that!

[Tractionman]

Brilliant, that brings a smile to my face hearing that and I don't even run DCC Sound  perhaps I should 

[jhb171achill]

On 26/1/2026 at 4:56 PM, Mol_PMB said:

A lovely Hunslet photo for sale on eBay at present, just in case you don't fancy putting Mk2 coaches behind them:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0dEAAeSwyqhpdxhC/s-l1600.jpg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/227189400223

The Courtaulds wagon and the bogie flat piled high with sleepers are also of interest.

I saw them on ballast trains in the 1971-4 period several times, and once in an excursion with nine coaches, a mixture of old steam-era wooden-bodied stock of ex-GNR and ex-NCC origin, and old GNR railcars with engines removed.

[jhb171achill]

On 17/1/2026 at 1:04 PM, Patrick Davey said:

Indeed - Mr. Morton might well be rather more informed than the typical journalist!

…..to be fair, that’s a low bar; the vast majority of them have as much understanding or knowledge of a railway as a dung beetle might!