No.25199 is the last of 150 bulk cement bubble wagons constructed at CIÉ’s Inchicore Works, Dublin, between 1964 and 1972, incorporating a ‘bubble’ shaped tank body imported from Sweden. These carried cement from the Irish Cement factories in Platin, near Drogheda, and Castlemungret, in Limerick. Cement traffic travelled all over the CIÉ network and indeed parts of the Northern Ireland Railways system, such as Derry-Londonderry and Belfast. They ran both in block trains (i.e. just cement wagons) and also as part of mixed freight trains. In their early days, they would have often run mixed with  ‘H-Vans’, one of which also part of our collection, along with Guinness flats such as our own No.27756. Virtually all of our ex-CIÉ/IÉ mainline diesel fleet would have hauled them, while our E class shunters would have marshalled them in locations such as North Wall and even G class locomotive G611 would have encountered them n its days as Limerick Works pilot.

Cement traffic ceased to be carried by rail in the late 2000s, and all of the cement bubbles were withdrawn from traffic in 2009, with No.25199 being the only one to escape scrap. No.25199, which was actually the last wagon to be built, was preserved by an private individual and stored in a secret location in the south west for over a decade before being donated to our railway museum in 2025, arriving at Downpatrick on 4th October of that year.

The transport costs to get the cement bubble wagon to Downpatrick were covered thanks to a generous response to a fundraising appeal, including a very generous sponsorship arrangement with Accurascale/Irish Railway Models, who produce these wagons in model form.