More Bubble Fun with Original Slate Grey and Irish Cement Wagons

[Warbonnet]

The first of our 2019 announcements is a new run of our beautiful cement bubble wagons in new liveries and numbers after feedback from customers in our recent poll on the forum!

The iconic bubbles sold out in a record 9 days in Irish Cement livery when we produced our first run of them in 2017. Since then we have found three new running numbers for this iconic and much-loved livery, so have produced a new pack with the Irish Cement branding on ivory livery. We are also producing an additional set with CIE roundels with new numbers to push your ivory cement trains to further prototypical lengths as seen in their final years of service.

In addition to these, we will also be doing the bubbles in their as built 1960s livery of original slate grey. The bubbles wore this attractive livery from introduction in the mid-1960s until repainting into orange in the early 1970s.

The slate grey bubbles ran mixed with their then newly painted orange counterparts for a few years into the 1970s too, as well in mixed freight formations. They will make a perfect companion for our forthcoming A classes in green, black, black with yellow end and black and tan, as well as 141s, 181s and 121s of the era in black and tan and grey and yellow in the case of the 121s. Two sets are in line to be produced, with unique running numbers as you come to expect from IRM.

These bubbles are the first in several new announcements coming from IRM throughout the course of 2019, which will include items such as ballast hoppers later in the year. The price of the bubble packs is €125 for a pack of three wagons, with a bundle deal of €450 for all four packs. Pre-orders is now open for a delivery date in late May 2019. Pre-production models are on show at the North Down Model Railway Society show at Bangor this weekend and production is already underway.

Place your order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles

[Warbonnet]

Bump!

[NIR]

I think you have the descriptions and photos mixed up on your website so it is unclear what you are actually ordering

[Admin]

Hi Nir

can you clarify ?

[NIR]

CIE cement wagon shows Irish Cement photo

https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles/products/cie-cement-wagon-multi-pack-h

 

Irish Cement wagon shows CIE cement photo

https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles/products/irish-cement-wagon-multi-pack-g

Edited April 13, 2019 by NIR

[Admin]

Ah thanks ! Fixed that now. 

[heirflick]

Well burst my loins and strap me vitals!  The slate grey are absolutely stunning! First time to see this livery - in truth I never knew this colour existed as I never seen a pic of it anywhere!  These babies are a must have (sorry Mrs O' - holiday postponed for another while!!!}  Well done IRM...again!

[RedRich]

Nice one men, I'll have to Invest in an Irish Cement and CIE ivory livery pack.

Rich,

[NIRCLASS80]

Nice announcement. The grey look stunning but it's the Irish Cement set for me. 

[David Gaule]

Happiness is a bubble in mud?

Not when it is a bubble in cement!

Excellent news.Will be putting in an order for these.

[DiveController]

Grey for me but didn't the slate grey have a grey chassis or that's just for the mockup? They look nice thought, really crisp. Really happy to see these coming

Edited April 13, 2019 by DiveController

[Warbonnet]

43 minutes ago, DiveController said:

Grey for me but didn't the slate grey have a grey chassis or that's just for the mockup? They look nice thought, really crisp. Really happy to see these coming

Hi DiveController,

As you can see in these pictures posted by WarB the chassis are definitely black.

Cheers!

Fran

 

We also brightened up this image to further show the chassis in its correct color.

 

[DiveController]

Thanks for that, Fran. It's not easy to make out the chassis color in old photos and I had to brighten mine significantly also and came to the same conclusion. Thanks for that photo of the unloading though. I would have to say that the grey in all the photos seem to have a 'blue steel' (pardon the pun) appearance which I also see in the CADs on the IRModels site. Is the photo at the top of the thread the finished grey as this seems different to most photos I've seen (which are few)   

 

[Glenderg]

Kevin, 

I've had access to unpublishable photos to determine the actual grey, and it's tricky beyond belief. Early morning shots there's a gunsmoke hue off it, long shots it's almost creamy grey. 

We do a lot of work with white balancing of old film and photos of the era as it's generally untrustworthy. Once balanced, the photos are night and day different, and present a truer picture. 

The other thing you have to remember here is that we're talking CIE in the mid sixties. Gunsmoke grey or any other fancy shade is unlikely, borne out by study of the photos. 

Slate grey is what they were, and as soon as the lads get back from "counny doon", I'll throw some dirt on them, and hopefully they'll match the real and nostalgic colour. 

 

Rich 

[Noel]

On 4/12/2019 at 11:02 PM, Warbonnet said:

The first of our 2019 announcements is a new run of our beautiful cement bubble wagons in new liveries and numbers after feedback from customers in our recent poll on the forum!

In addition to these, we will also be doing the bubbles in their as built 1960s livery of original slate grey. The bubbles wore this attractive livery from introduction in the mid-1960s until repainting into orange in the early 1970s.

The slate grey bubbles ran mixed with their then newly painted orange counterparts for a few years into the 1970s too, as well in mixed freight formations. They will make a perfect companion for our forthcoming A classes in green, black, black with yellow end and black and tan, as well as 141s, 181s and 121s of the era in black and tan and grey and yellow in the case of the 121s. Two sets are in line to be produced, with unique running numbers as you come to expect from IRM.

These bubbles are the first in several new announcements coming from IRM throughout the course of 2019, which will include items such as ballast hoppers later in the year. The price of the bubble packs is €125 for a pack of three wagons, with a bundle deal of €450 for all four packs. Pre-orders is now open for a delivery date in late May 2019. Pre-production models are on show at the North Down Model Railway Society show at Bangor this weekend and production is already underway.

The first 

Place your order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles

Grey livery looks fabulous. Oh those grey bubbles would fit in perfectly on a mixed goods train late 60s with some vans and open wagons behind a 121 or an A class in B&T livery. 

[DiveController]

 

9 hours ago, Glenderg said:

I've had access to unpublishable photos to determine the actual grey, and it's tricky beyond belief. Early morning shots there's a gunsmoke hue off it, long shots it's almost creamy grey. 

We do a lot of work with white balancing of old film and photos of the era as it's generally untrustworthy. Once balanced, the photos are night and day different, and present a truer picture.  

HI Richie,

Gunsmoke is the word I was searching for and I certainly remember getting old photos processed myself decades ago and varying degree of variability from reality as determined by the camera, film and processor.

[Warbonnet]

9 hours ago, Noel said:

Grey livery looks fabulous. Oh those grey bubbles would fit in perfectly on a mixed goods train late 60s with some vans and open wagons behind a 121 or an A class in B&T livery. 

Would have to agree Noel. I wasn’t sure about the slate grey until we got the samples and they really pop. I have to say now it’s the best livery they wore. Richie has done some job on the tampo set up. I will take better pics this coming week with better lighting conditions. They will go well with the green and black As, as well as the B&T ones and 141s, and same with forthcoming 121s.

Cheers for the orders so far folks, they seem popular!

 

[John-r]

I would also agree with above posts  from Fran and Noel,  the slate grey livery is fantastic looking.

Each livery release of the bubbles seems to slightly outdo the previous imo.  Great addition to the range lads,

and many thanks for making these wagons available for us.

[Wexford70]

The models look great in grey, have stretched the overdraft and ordered the 2 packs. Would love a third pack in new numbers to complete a longer rake. Any chance guys?

[BosKonay]

5 minutes ago, Wexford70 said:

The models look great in grey, have stretched the overdraft and ordered the 2 packs. Would love a third pack in new numbers to complete a longer rake. Any chance guys?

Always a chance

it was a risk to do the grey, so further runs (as always) will be based on sales

[Wexford70]

1 minute ago, BosKonay said:

Always a chance

it was a risk to do the grey, so further runs (as always) will be based on sales

How are sales currently going???? :-)

[BosKonay]

3 minutes ago, Wexford70 said:

How are sales currently going????

Exceedingly well, we're over 10% for this entire run already.. so that bodes rather well for your request

[Noel]

Order placed. Love the look of these grey liveries. The Tan/Orange CIE logo looks really well as crisp as a button. 

[mmie353]

For the bundle deal, how does one place the order for that? Man I was thinking nah on the slate Grey but man those pics of that livery, has me thinking..

[Admin]

27 minutes ago, mmie353 said:

For the bundle deal, how does one place the order for that? Man I was thinking nah on the slate Grey but man those pics of that livery, has me thinking..

 Just add any four of the bubbles to your cart and the discount will be automatic 

[Edo]

the slate grey looks fantastic - I did vote for it - but Im still blown away how great it looks.

Order for the 2 packs placed....along with the divorce level number  of A's I've already ordered......thats the "toy train" fund blown for this year!.................give us a bit more time before putting that much temptation in front us again lads !!

all in all - brilliant and for keeping us "60s" heads in mind...

 

Ed

 

 

[WaYSidE]

3 hours ago, BosKonay said:

Always a chance

it was a risk to do the grey, so further runs (as always) will be based on sales

You be glad to know, i just ordered a grey set,

to make a set, set me straight, i paint my white ones gray to weather and my grey ones white to weather?

Edited April 14, 2019 by WaYSidE
the weather

[jhb171achill]

From my own memory, when I saw these things daily passing my school, the shade of grey is correct.

The photos above appear to show a black chassis, though I have to say I can’t recall this. Every other CIE wagon of every type had, at that time, grey body and grey chassis, which makes me wonder why a black chassis for these yokes didn’t stick out in my mind as other one-offs did.

I recall them new, and the grey bubble  above is accurate. Naturally, they got dirty quickly, but in my recollection they kept them way cleaner than in later years.

[mphoey]

wow another excellent lot

 

[Railer]

As has already been said these look great in this new livery.

Me, being the picky type I am, have noticed on little thing: I pack G, the CIE pack you have wagon number 178 in there, 178 in CIE livery has already been done as part of pack D.

[BosKonay]

1 hour ago, Railer said:

As has already been said these look great in this new livery.

Me, being the picky type I am, have noticed on little thing: I pack G, the CIE pack you have wagon number 178 in there, 178 in CIE livery has already been done as part of pack D.

Hi Railer,

Well spotted, that should be 25127 - we'll update those plates!

[Warbonnet]

A few more pics now we are back near out wee layout. Enjoy!

 

[Railer]

My oh my, they look flipping great. 

[WaYSidE]

do i see ragwort growing beside he cement bubbles? its a noxious weed, the department of agriculture will be breathing down your next soon, youll loose the area aid payments

[DiveController]

On 4/17/2019 at 9:42 AM, Warbonnet said:

A few more pics now we are back near out wee layout

 

Now that's more like it!