NIR 80 class

[Liverbird81]

New to model railways and am at present trying to base my layouts on Ireland and was just wondering how to come by 80s class or how to make one

[Warbonnet]

New to model railways and am at present trying to base my layouts on Ireland and was just wondering how to come by 80s class or how to make one

 

Welcome to the site Liverbird. Guessing you're an LFC fan? Good man!

 

MIR did a conversion kit for the Class 80 railcars which involved a Lima Class 73 power bogie and some Mark IIs. As MIR are no longer producing kits these could be hard to come by. Anthony might be along and he could give you a better idea on possible availability.

[Liverbird81]

Thanks for quick response warbonnet wud love to have one in current livery I could buy a kit but it's costing me £100 is it worth it

[jhb171achill]

Liverbird; accurate models of Irish stuff will indeed set you back. But if you want authenticity, I always take the view that it's like "getting what you pay for" - thus, certainly, it's worth it.

 

(I remember the 80's being delivered... and I was able to take a pic of one alongside an old BCDR wagon at the old Great Victoria Street....! Showing me age....)

[Warbonnet]

Thanks for quick response warbonnet wud love to have one in current livery I could buy a kit but it's costing me £100 is it worth it

 

It's your best route to one. Check out this one made by Anthony. Looks fantastic and made up with the MIR kit http://www.irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/37-Anthony-s-Workbench?p=263&viewfull=1#post263

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Thanks for quick response warbonnet wud love to have one in current livery I could buy a kit but it's costing me £100 is it worth it

 

 

If you can get an MIR 3 car brass kit for £100 I would take the guys arm and all. These kits are like hens teeth just make sure that all the bits are in the kit. One of the last runs MIR did was the class 80 with just 20X3 car kits been made.

[Hunslet 102]

Liver bird,if you can pick up a 3 car 80 class kit for £100 I would go for it,to keep the cost down,secondhand Lima mk2s could be used as donor coaches,or if you prefer the dearer Bachmann coaches are suitable also.

 

JHB,would love to see a pick of the old BCDR wagon beside the 80 class at GVSt,just my era for modelling,any chance of posting it up?

[Liverbird81]

Thanks very much guys appreciate the advice think il go for the kit for £100

[jhb171achill]

I'll have a look for it, Hunslet. The BCDR van was parked for years in the old siding beside Murray's tobacco factory, and around it MEDs, 80s, 70s and Hunslet push-pull Enterprises buzzed...

[Hunslet 102]

I'll have a look for it, Hunslet. The BCDR van was parked for years in the old siding beside Murray's tobacco factory, and around it MEDs, 80s, 70s and Hunslet push-pull Enterprises buzzed...

 

Thanks jhb,hope you can find it and post it up.I have another query for you,but I will pm it to you as I dont want to take this thread off topic.

[33lima]

The Spring 1993 issue of 'Irish Lines' is available here :https://www.dropbox.com/s/ci3elrw2itkh88t/Irish%20Lines%20-%20Issue%203%20-%201993%20Spring.pdf In it I described my efforts at making an 80 Class set from Lima Mk2 coaches. I ended up making two sets this way.

 

Edited July 20, 2013 by 33lima

[Northman]

Excellent work 33Lima:tumbsup:

[heirflick]

beautiful sets - really stunning:tumbsup:

[Warbonnet]

Works of art. Fantastic and welcome to the site!

[Train model]

Well can or will you make 2 more sets one of each as I am not greedy just tell me what you want

[33lima]

Thanks for the kind comments folks (and have PM'ed Train Model). They are really fairly basic conversions of Lima Mk 2 coaches, with only the blue & grey set being flushglazed, and using Tri-ang Hornby Hymek power bogies, which was about all I could get cheaply back in the early 1990s. Hope actually to have a layout to run them on later this year, basically a bigger version of my last layout, a double track trainset loop my dad built us and sold back in 1974; except this time it should bear a passing reference to Carrickfergus rather than a quick Airfix model railways accessory catalogue shot.

[Kirley]

Excellent work Ivor, for models over 10 years old they still look very fresh. If you were building a set today what you consider for the power unit looking at the improvement of model traction since the Lima days?

[Guest hidden-agenda]

1st class models very impressive result.

[Train model]

Sorry I did not get a pm

[33lima]

Sorry Train Model, tried again and this time I think it worked!

 

Re model power Kirley, I know modern can motors and such wonders only by repute and so don't much miss what I've never had. Perhaps when I get my layout up and running I will yearn for better slow-speed performance but I think not. I can see a certain amount of 'motor snobbery' online and frankly don't much care for it. Anyway I have had a bit of a soft spot for Tri-ang DMU bogies ever since I had to 'borrow' one from my kid brother's Blue Pullman to power my MED set made from maroon Playcraft mk 1 coaches with Plasticine cabs, before the Tri-ang DMU came back on the market about 1970 and I repainted that instead. I even liked the racket the original ribbed-tyre wheels made - never mind all this modern traction tyre, scale profile wheel rubbish Apparently people turn their noses up at traction tyres these days - sic transit gloria motor bogie, and all that. My current suburban MPD project will be powered by none other than a Tri-ang DMU power bogie. Most of my other stuff is Hymek-powered tho my green MED uses the Hornby Calder Valley DMU chassis and bogies.

 

The AEC and BUT sets I built for Leslie McAllister all those years back had Black Beetle power bogies if i recall right and although they had the advantage of better wheels, ability to accept any suitable bogie frame and IIRC didn't intrude into the body, I don't think they performed particularly better than their 30-year-older predecessors, on a test circuit anyway; their hauling power certainly seemed less, if anything.

 

My layout - ballasting, a horror unknown from childhood layout days, is under way - will be an expanded version of my childhood Tri-ang Super 4 layout (with Airfix trackside stuff) ie a double-track circuit, unashamedly train-set - except that it will be very broadly based on Carrickfergus, and a fair bit bigger and with System 6 track, steel rails throughout. Pic of bashed Hornby Signal box below, should have reduced the height of the base a bit and replaced the stock glazing units to reduce the horizontal bars to one etc etc but it's not too bad for the UTA-era appearance.

 

Edited July 24, 2013 by 33lima

[Train model]

Ivor check your pm

[Kirley]

Thanks Ivor for your follow up. I suppose if it works for you......

I've built some NIR railcars with Lima motors and it drives me mad having to continually clean the wheels to ensure a good pick up. I think I have a Tri-ang DMU in the roof space, must dig it out and see how it runs and whether it can be converted to DCC.

 

I would love to see your layout progress, perhaps you would start a 'Carrickfergus' thread in the Layout Section? Your UTA Signal box looks really well.

[colmflanagan]

Just a note about power bogies. I have used the Black Beetle ones for most of my MPDs and MEDs and they work well, they can be got with correct wheelbase which really helps the look of the underneath bits, though i think that the old tri-ang/Hornby DMU bogie was also too long for the class 101 it was representing, but correct for an MPD or MED!! The BBs are a bit pricey though, I find that one powr bogie wil haul two trailers (even three) on the flat, unless they are very stiff (which is pretty prototypical too) - but not up a gradient. On "Bleach green" we run a 5 car set which has two "actual" power cars and this goes well up the 1 in 50 grade. If you are doing a vehicle without a brake end then they are genuine "underfloor" units. i think maybe that had a bearing on my thinking when I started building - follow the UTA practice of taking a "steam" coach and shoving an engine underneath it. The modern Hornby bogies are nice (and often available for a good deal less thana BB) but often need extra pickups fitted to a trailing bogie and they are distinctly noticable behind windows. I don't see why an old Tri-ang power bogie couldn't be converted to DCC failry easily, though unlike Ivor I always disliked the racket the serrated wheels made and the older ones used to jump on almost any track "finer" than what was called "Super Four" in those days.

 

Colm