A closer look at our A Classes!

[Warbonnet]

Hi everyone,

As the IRM A Class project progresses we are going to update this thread with certain milestones and in time show all the work that goes into producing a loco. Firstly, we are going to go through each loco we are doing day by day, giving a little history on each and showing what livery the IRM model will carry. 

So, first one first, A1 The class leader in Silver Livery (as delivered)

As you may know, we are doing a highly collectible edition of A1 with a certificate and wooden presentation case in its as delivered livery of silver with sandboxes. This will only be available through IRM. It is also the best selling IRM A so far, jointly with A39r.

A1 arrived at North Wall on July 4th, 1955 and would remain in its striking livery for only a few years as it rapidly deteriorated in service! The loco entered service in September of that year and was rebuilt with a GM power unit in June 1971. It would continue in service until August 1994, giving a service life of 39 years.

There is a fantastic film of A1 in action in original silver on YouTube on the Southern Yard channel brimming with nostalgia. This is the condition our model will be in. 

 

Of course, you know where to order it, but here's a link to make life a tad bit easier: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/a-class-locomotive/products/a1-a-class-locomotive

Cheers!

Fran

[WRENNEIRE]

I'll take 2 of the washing units as well please.

[108]

Lol. Throw water at it. It'll be grand

[Warbonnet]

A closer look at our A Classes - A39r in black and tan with high waistband livery.

 

 

Our second most popular A Class so far is preserved A39r. It was delivered to CIE in 1956, entering traffic on May 14th of that year, before being re-engined on July 23rd 1969 and being outshopped in the now famous black and tan livery as our model will depict.

 

Eventually renumbered 039, the loco went on to have a long career with CIE, being one of the last A's in service. It was also one of the locos selected by The Irish Traction Group for preservation. Through the hard work of their volunteers, the locomotive has conducted mainline railtours in preservation and is currently operational on the Downpatrick and County Down Railway.

 

A39r is also the locomotive we surveyed to create our model of the A Class, with special thanks to both groups for facilitating us.

 

You can place your order for A39r here and you can read more about the history of the loco itself on the superb ITG website.

[Robert Shrives]

Great film and a look at futures past ! The picture of A39r in the sun is great too. I did wonder about the practicality of the OLE, the bain of so many pics !!   

 

Looking forward to Warley show and hope to say hello 

Robert 

[Warbonnet]

A look at our A Class - 054 IR Livery with Dayglo Panels

 

The mighty A class carried the distinctive IR 'Tippex' livery with points logo in their final years in service, as will be depicted by our model of 054, which will feature dayglo panels, toughened windscreens and CAWS protective guards.

 

054 was one of the last A's to be delivered to CIE, entering traffic in June 1956. It was re-engineered in November 1971, being the third last A Class to receive rebuilding treatment. It would go on to provide sterling service for Irish Rail until July 1993 and was one of a few A's to receive an uprated engine, which produced 1,650hp in order to work the Cork - Heuston and return fast goods.

 

054 will resemble the livery of 012 below (with lovely 42ft flat liners, somebody should make them too!), thank you to Jonathan Allen for permission to use this photograph. You can place your order for 054 here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/a-class-locomotive/products/051-a-class-locomotive

 

 

 

 

 

[Tarabuses]

Have you changed the numbers for the IR Dayglo locos?  I have them listed as 051 and 024.

[chris]

3 minutes ago, Tarabuses said:

Have you changed the numbers for the IR Dayglo locos?  I have them listed as 051 and 024.

looks like a mis type, the link still has 51 in it.

EDIT: The url has 51 but everything else is 54

Edited November 14, 2018 by chris

[Railer]

024 has changed to 036 too

[Garfield]

Hi folks,

In the hustle and bustle leading up to the launch at the MRSI's October show, a couple of the IR loco numbers got mixed up. They couldn't be left as they were, as 024 was withdrawn while still in Supertrain livery, while 051 had non-standard detailing which would not be economical to tool. Apologies for the confusion!

[BosKonay]

11 hours ago, chris said:

looks like a mis type, the link still has 51 in it.

EDIT: The url has 51 but everything else is 54

I’ve cleaned up the site and URLs to match up now to avoid confusion. 

We hope to have the decorated livery samples ready soon after Warley!

[irishthump]

8 hours ago, Garfield said:

Hi folks,

In the hustle and bustle leading up to the launch at the MRSI's October show, a couple of the IR loco numbers got mixed up. They couldn't be left as they were, as 024 was withdrawn while still in Supertrain livery, while 051 had non-standard detailing which would not be economical to tool. Apologies for the confusion!

I've pre ordered 051 do I need to change the order?

[Warbonnet]

20 minutes ago, irishthump said:

I've pre ordered 051 do I need to change the order?

No Graham, you’ll just get 054 instead. If you don’t want that one we can switch the order to another one for you though if you like?

[irishthump]

28 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

No Graham, you’ll just get 054 instead. If you don’t want that one we can switch the order to another one for you though if you like?

Thanks, Fran. 054 is fine!

[irishthump]

Guys,

Just looking at the CAD renderings on the IRM page. The CAWS guard seems to obstruct the NEM pocket, is the CAWS guard removable or is there further tweaking to be done?

 

[Warbonnet]

1 hour ago, irishthump said:

Guys,

Just looking at the CAD renderings on the IRM page. The CAWS guard seems to obstruct the NEM pocket, is the CAWS guard removable or is there further tweaking to be done?

 

It'll be removable

[Warbonnet]

017 IR Livery

 

 

Our fourth most popular A Class is 017 in IR livery without CAWS guard and without dayglo panels.

 

017 entered traffic in January 1956 and was rebuilt in November 1970. It would soldier on in revenue service until September 1993 before withdrawal and scrapping.

 

Our model will feature its final condition on the network; IR 'tippex' livery without dayglo panels, with toughened windscreen and without CAWS protective grill as modelled by 019 here, snapped on another Bell liner by Jonathan Allen.

 

IR certainly seems to be a very popular livery for our models so far. Have you ordered yours yet? If you fancy a model of 017, you can place your order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/a-class-locomotive/products/017-a-class-locomotive

[Noel]

3 hours ago, Warbonnet said:

IR certainly seems to be a very popular livery for our models so far. Have you ordered yours yet? If you fancy a model of 017, you can place your order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/a-class-locomotive/products/017-a-class-locomotive

Glad I ordered an 017 then.  Livery is outside my era but I felt I should have one as due homage to the more modern livery.

PS: FYI, the loco photo on your website page for A39r actually depicts A23r with the lower stepped band livery. Will A39r be sold in its current restoration livery with the wide band, or as depicted on the A39r web page with the narrower stepped band?

[Noel]

PS2: . . . sorry, AND the photo on A23r web page depicts a photo of A42r with the wide orange band! 

[Warbonnet]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Glad I ordered an 017 then.  Livery is outside my era but I felt I should have one as due homage to the more modern livery.

PS: FYI, the loco photo on your website page for A39r actually depicts A23r with the lower stepped band livery. Will A39r be sold in its current restoration livery with the wide band, or as depicted on the A39r web page with the narrower stepped band?

Hi Noel,

As explained above A39r will have the high band.

thanks,

Fran

[patrick]

Does A23r have the high or low band?

Edited November 15, 2018 by patrick

[Garfield]

2 hours ago, patrick said:

Does A23r have the high or low band?

Hi Patrick,

A23R will have the low band.  

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Garfield said:

Hi Patrick,

A23R will have the low band.  

That's the beast for me, then!

[Noel]

17 hours ago, Garfield said:

Hi Patrick,

A23R will have the low band.  

Thanks Patrick. And will A15 be high or low band?

[Garfield]

8 minutes ago, Noel said:

Thanks Patrick. And will A15 be high or low band?

Hi Noel,

Only rebuilt locos received the low band, so A15 has the high band.

[Noel]

1 minute ago, Garfield said:

Hi Noel,

Only the rebuilt locos received the low band, so A15 has the high band.

Thanks Patrick. It was just the new photos on the IRM web site that caused a degree of confusion. So two high band B&Ts and one low band B&T.  

[Warbonnet]

027 Supertrain - No staff snatchers, CAWS without protective guards, toughened glass windscreens

One of the iconic A Class liveries is of course, Supertrain. Class leader 001 was used to launch the new future of Irish railways (briefly numbered A1 in the livery) with a rake of the then new Mark II coaches.

027 will represent the class later in the Supertrain era, with CAWS without protective guards, no staff snatchers and toughened windscreens as depicted by here:

 

027 entered traffic in March 1956, was rebuilt in June 1970 and soldiered on in service until witdrawal inin June 1992.

You can place your order for 027 here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/…/pro…/027-a-class-locomotive

 

 

[aclass007]

Does anyone know what year the staff snatchers began being removed, and likewise, the toughened windscreens fitted?

[flange lubricator]

I think the snatchers started being removed in the early eighties , snatching finished in 1979/80.

[WRENNEIRE]

Snatching hasn't finished where I live.....

[jhb171achill]

Nor here! A load of children's bikes pilfered recently!

[Broithe]

9 hours ago, WRENNEIRE said:

Snatching hasn't finished where I live.....

30 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Nor here! A load of children's bikes pilfered recently!

 

Stole the side door off a van by me last week - nothing else, just the door.

[flange lubricator]

Great to see all the various liveries represented will be getting supertrain and Black and tan liveries . The only A class missing is supertrain liveried  001 with highlighted front numbers and black roof covers as ran with the early supertrain Mk2's , wonder if this maybe added in the future .

[Warbonnet]

18 minutes ago, flange lubricator said:

Great to see all the various liveries represented will be getting supertrain and Black and tan liveries . The only A class missing is supertrain liveried  001 with highlighted front numbers and black roof covers as ran with the early supertrain Mk2's , wonder if this maybe added in the future .

We probably will do it in a future run if demand is there, we didn’t want to do A1 twice in the same rn as we’re already doing her in silver of course, but nothing to stop a future run!

[jhb171achill]

001 wasn't the only one to get this early shaded style. Several 141/181 class did too, as well as other As. It didn't last long.

I'm unaware of any 121s ever having it, though I could be wrong, and most certainly no 101 did.

28 minutes ago, flange lubricator said:

Great to see all the various liveries represented..........

 

The lighter green had variously lining and no lining; two varieties, not counting the rarer dark green.

There's something niggling the back of my mind regarding the dark green. It is easy, given lighting and dirt and different camera film, to occasionally mistake the darker bus green for the post-55 railway green. I'm pretty sure there was nothing like as much dark green on "A"s as seems to be assumed; I will search for concrete information if I get a chance today.