New Murphy Models 201 Classes

[WRENNEIRE]

Just been talking to a strand little man with a grey beard and a load of trains...........

 

 

 

[Noel]

They should be of great interest to NIR and Enterprise fans. Personally prototype 201's never interested me, but I may buy one of the Intercity grey/green liveried Irish rail 201s (i.e. Mk4/CAF livery). Its a nice livery, but the early orange, yellow and black 201s must have been the ugliest loco liveries ever run in Ireland, second only to the silver of the 1950s C class. There is just something boring about the look of 201s compared to the earlier GMs that had such character.

 

Each on to their own taste. Post 071 class Irish railways and vanilla DMUs hold no interest for this 1960/70s era fan. Mind you I never liked the 'super train' coach livery of the early 70s Mk2's either. It was much improved with the two white bands either side of the black in the IR/IE era, but personally I thought the original black against orange looked awful.

 

My personal wish list for possible MM future stock:

• 001 Class - Black CIE, B&T CIE Livery (i.e. black roof small orange band under black)
  
• 121 CIE/IR livery
  
• Park Royal mainline coaches (B&T IE/IR and snail green)
  
• Bredin/laminate mainline coaches (B&T CIE and snail green) Stanier lookalikes
  
• Open wagons corrigated panels - non braked
  
• Mk1 generator van + Dutch Van
  

 

PS: What a fantastic thread btw. It should be renamed 'History of Irish Model Railways'

[WRENNEIRE]

208 River Lagan

 

 

New Box description a bit easier to read

 

 

 

209 River Foyle

 

[WRENNEIRE]

230 River Bandon

 

 

Bandon Original Face

 

 

233 River Clare

 

 

Clare's Full Face

 

[Noel]

Thanks for posting those pics. The Enterprise livery looks superb.

[Railer]

Love the details on the Enterprise locos, 230 with it's iconic white fillets and 233 with it's black cab numbers, the yellow on 233 should be a few shades brighter though. Would have liked the exhausts picked out in silver on the NIR locos though, I'm sure they were not painted blue on delivery.

[rebelred]

I agree with Railer, i pre ordered 233 but there is something not right with it....was the purple more a maroon/wine shade on 233 or am i dreaming??? I'm hoping it's just the light but 230 looks way better, what do ye think lads- or is it just me????

[Warbonnet]

I agree with Railer, i pre ordered 233 but there is something not right with it....was the purple more a maroon/wine shade on 233 or am i dreaming??? I'm hoping it's just the light but 230 looks way better, what do ye think lads- or is it just me????

 

Could be the light. Always judge these things in person.

[Glenderg]

Needs a bit more red in it all right. Bit of dirt will hide it

 

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Did 208/209 not carry name plates in the blue livery?

[Riversuir226]

208 carried two english nameplates & 209 has never carried any plates.

[ttc0169]

I like the look of 230,not sure about 233,

Really like the NIR blue and will probably get 208 and 230,

There goes the wedding fund money!!!😜😜

[GM071]

Hi All,

 

Can anyone give us a bit of history on real life story of these particular models - are any still operational etc.,

 

Thanks

 

GM071

[Noel]

I like the look of 230,not sure about 233,

Really like the NIR blue and will probably get 208 and 230,

There goes the wedding fund money!!!

 

Nothing to do with the model as it is a replica of the real thing, but I always thought the NIR blue loco liveries were rather plain (i.e. fischer price like). Two or three tone colouring always looks better, especially with a little bit of lining for detail. The NIR marketing department could perhaps modernise the branding.

[leslie10646]

Nothing to do with the model as it is a replica of the real thing, but I always thought the NIR blue loco liveries were rather plain (i.e. fischer price like). Two or three tone colouring always looks better, especially with a little bit of lining for detail. The NIR marketing department could perhaps modernise the branding.

 

Noel

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but .......

 

NIR Blue is great - it's like GNR Blue - the World's greatest ever livery (mind you the Milwaukee's Hiawathas had a pretty amazing colour scheme);

Supertrain orange and black was simple but very effective - it did look good on an A Class with a rake of uniform Mark 2s

 

BUT, have to agree with you, the Black and Tan livery had a certain je ne sais quoi and really looked good on certain locos and stock.

 

For me, a silver A Class, please (although i've got one of John Silverfox's) and a grey / yellow single-ended Yankee.

 

A final point, the 201s are a bit characterless, but they really do look good in the two tone grey / green livery. Thanks Mr Graham, who supplied mine.

 

Leslie

[aclass007]

Nothing to do with the model as it is a replica of the real thing, but I always thought the NIR blue loco liveries were rather plain (i.e. fischer price like). Two or three tone colouring always looks better, especially with a little bit of lining for detail. The NIR marketing department could perhaps modernise the branding.

 

I have to agree with that. If ever a loco needed weathering, the NIR 201 does. Just to break up the continuous blue.....

[burnthebox]

A sure a bit of Green, White, & Orange did'nt do anybody any harm

[Noel]

Noel

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but .......

 

NIR Blue is great - it's like GNR Blue - the World's greatest ever livery (mind you the Milwaukee's Hiawathas had a pretty amazing colour scheme);

Supertrain orange and black was simple but very effective - it did look good on an A Class with a rake of uniform Mark 2s

 

BUT, have to agree with you, the Black and Tan livery had a certain je ne sais quoi and really looked good on certain locos and stock.

 

For me, a silver A Class, please (although i've got one of John Silverfox's) and a grey / yellow single-ended Yankee.

 

A final point, the 201s are a bit characterless, but they really do look good in the two tone grey / green livery. Thanks Mr Graham, who supplied mine.

 

Leslie

 

Hi Leslie, fair comment. However I always thought the original 1972 CIE supertrain livery was truly awful. The later IR/IE livery with the two white strips separating the black from the orange greatly improved it, and the later black roof finally put the icing on the cake. The enterprise livery is nice. Years ago I had some mk2b coaches in the old CIE super train livery, and they annoyed me so much I repainted them BR blue & grey.

 

Noel

[rebelred]

I'd like to see 208 & 209 all weathered up to see how they look. When IE first launched 228 in the green & silver livery i felt that they should have painted the bottom black (where the bogies, fuel tank are) I Think it would have been way nicer then

[Railer]

.208 and 209 never really got dirty in NIR blue, just everything from the soul bar down got brown and the roof a little black at each end but the blue stayed clean until they were painted in Enterprise livery.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Railer

[Railer]

Hi All,

 

Can anyone give us a bit of history on real life story of these particular models - are any still operational etc.,

 

Thanks

 

GM071

 

230 suffered a fire June 2013 while working an Enterprise set. The crew managed to uncouple the loco and move it away from the set while the fire brigade put out the fire but had to cut holes in the loco for access. The loco was stored in York Road till August while the investigation was carried out. 112 then hauled it to Connolly and a week or so later 072 hauled it to Inchicore where it has been for the past 14 months and is unlikely to ever run again.

 

233 suffered a massive engine failure September 2012 at Clongriffin while working a North bound Enterprise. 082 came to haul the whole set back to Connolly. 233 went to Inchicore for a full engine rebuild that took 6 months before it was back in service.

 

208 and 209 did and iconic run for I think was an ITG rail tour back when both locos were still in NIR blue. The locos double headded a rake of Cravens from Belfast to Lisburn as far as I can remember. It was the only time 201s have ever double headded a train. It was reported after that some for the Craven couplings were strained and damaged from the acceleration of having 6,400hp up front, and one very eager driver.

[heirflick]

[quote name=Railer;56951

 

 

 

208 and 209 did and iconic run for I think was an ITG rail tour back when both locos were still in NIR blue. The locos double headded a rake of Cravens from Belfast to Lisburn as far as I can remember. It was the only time 201s have ever double headded a train. It was reported after that some for the Craven couplings were strained and damaged from the acceleration of having 6' date='400hp up front, and one very eager driver.[/quote]

 

any pics of that?

[Railer]

any pics of that?

 

They are hard to find online, I had on on my laptop somewhere. It was in 1996 and I think afterwards IE said never again to 201s double heading after the damage to the Cravens. 111 and 112 double headed another part of the same tour I believe.

[Railer]

Just looking at the pictures of the models of 208/9. I couldn't place what looked wrong about them but now it hit me. The blue comes down too low, the soul bar should be black all the way along to the builders plate and drop down to the skirting. Also the cab side numbers are too low. The should be mid way between the should and the the window, not sitting just above the soul bar. Hope they are pre production models.

[aclass007]

.208 and 209 never really got dirty in NIR blue, just everything from the soul bar down got brown and the roof a little black at each end but the blue stayed clean until they were painted in Enterprise livery.

 

Even that much weathering to the model would make a huge difference, I think. Small things like a rusty exhaust and dirty grills would break up the blue a bit.....

[Riversuir226]

They are hard to find online, I had on on my laptop somewhere. It was in 1996 and I think afterwards IE said never again to 201s double heading after the damage to the Cravens. 111 and 112 double headed another part of the same tour I believe.

 

Ah yes the yankee railtour of 3/96

[Blaine]

Just looking at the pictures of the models of 208/9. I couldn't place what looked wrong about them but now it hit me. The blue comes down too low, the soul bar should be black all the way along to the builders plate and drop down to the skirting. Also the cab side numbers are too low. The should be mid way between the should and the the window, not sitting just above the soul bar. Hope they are pre production models.

 

These are the production models - The font of the numbers is wrong too and the worksplates are missing, ie not printed. Also the silencer is the same colour as the body. 208 only gained its nameplates after a repaint into Enterprise livery, 209 has never had its ones fitted. I really really want to like these models as they come but they will need a bit of fettling to please me - but at the same time its good to make a good thing better.... The shape is spot on, the mechanism, detail etc is great, but the decoration lets them down

[Warbonnet]

Do the NIR duo have the original lights?

[Blaine]

Do the NIR duo have the original lights?

 

No - but unless the model is 2 inches from your face you wouldnt notice - only 2 liveries had the original lights, the leds have had 5....

[heirflick]

Ah yes the yankee railtour of 3/96

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15452[/ATTACH]

 

lovely pic Tom - thanks a mil!

[skinner75]

Enough with the 201s - get the 121 class into production!

[Warbonnet]

Enough with the 201s - get the 121 class into production!

 

Buy this batch of 201s and we may see them....

[skinner75]

Buy this batch of 201s and we may see them....

 

I've bought plenty of 201s, and anyway, these colours don't float my boat

[DiveController]

Enough with the 201s - get the 121 class into production!

 

[WRENNEIRE]

Troops

The 121 is a basic math problem

P Murphy has stumped up his own money for everything we now can buy under the Murphy Models flag

Before he can stump up any more money he has to get what he has paid out back

When he gets this money back he will go into production of the 121

The 201's in whatever livery have to sell before this happens

So you know what you have to do, simples