24852 is a ballast plough van. CIÉ built five of these ballast plough vans in 1978. They constructed these to replace older vans (such as our own 8452 – yes, the numbers are confusingly similar). Unlike the older wooden types, these vans were fully metal-clad. 24852 and her sisters travelled on ballast trains all over the CIÉ/Iarnród Éireann network. A plough van is basically a brake van with a plough underneath (to sweep ballast on top of the sleepers), vans often ran as a pair, with one at each end of a rake of ballast hoppers, though trains with just one van were not unknown. Generally, they ran with the verandah facing the ballast wagons rather than the locomotive.
The plough van includes a crew area inside. Indeed, the vans were known to be quite noisy (and dusty) places as stones were dropped on the line. This van took part in many major relaying projects throughout its life, not only on existing routes but also in reopening projects. Indeed, it came to us sporting stickers for East Coast FM, suggesting its involvement with the Dublin-Rosslare line relay in the early 2000s.
Iarnród Éireann began to phase the plough vans and their associated hopper wagons out of service in the early 2010s. By this time, they had acquired larger, bogie ‘Autoballaster’ hoppers entered service. 24852 languished in North Wall for around ten years. DCDR purchased the wagon in 2022, and moved it to the railway that August. A DCDR volunteer paid for its purchase, and funding for the move was provided by Irish Railway Models, who launched a model of 24852 in 2018.
Our volunteers affectionately dubbed the van ‘Mr. Plough’, it has already proven popular on brake van rides at our diesel gala. It will be vital for future ballasting and extension projects on our heritage railway in the years ahead.
In May 2025 the van helped to ballast the Cathedral siding in Downpatrick yard. This marked the first use of the plough van in preservation for its intended purpose.
