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The DBSO coupled to 450 class railcar 458 at Inch Abbey.
The DBSO coupled to 450 class railcar 458 at Inch Abbey.

Operational

Vehicle status: Operational

NIR DBSO 8918

The DBSO coupled to 450 class railcar 458 at Inch Abbey.

8918 was built by British Rail at their Derby Works in June 1974, as a Mk2F brake standard open (BSO) No. M9534. It was transferred to the Scottish region in June 1984, becoming SC9534. It had seating for 32, with a toilet, guard’s compartment, and luggage space. In March 1985 it became one of 14 […]

CIÉ 3223

Generator carriage 3223 running as part of a passenger train.

Coach 3223 was one of hundreds of new steel-clad carriages built at Inchicore during the 1950s to replace CIÉ’s existing fleet, the average age of which was over 40 years old. It was a composite ‘side-corridor’ carriage that sat both first and second-class passengers in individual old-fashioned compartments, all of which were connected by a […]

UTA Festival Coach 728

Carriage 728 as part of a passenger train.

728 was built at the UTA’s Duncrue Street Works in 1951 as a brake second, originally numbered 306. It was part of the ‘Festival Set’, built specially for the Festival of Britain to work fast trains between Derry and Belfast. It was constructed on the underframe of an older NCC vehicle dating from 1933 (and […]

CIÉ Park Royal 1944

Carriage 1944 fresh from overhaul.

1944 was assembled in Inchicore by Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) after being delivered in kit form by English manufacturer Park Royal. Entering service in the summer of 1955 as a high-density seating Suburban open, it originally carried the number 1381. 50 of these ‘Park Royal’ carriages (as they came to be known) were built to […]

NIR 458 ‘Antrim Castle’

Railcar 458 siting in the loop at Downpatrick station, with 80 class driving trailer 749 in the platform beside it.

458 is the sole survivor of NIR’s nine-strong 450 Class, built by BREL between 1985 and 1987. The bodies were constructed at York and the rest of the fitting was carried out at Derby. As with many railway vehicles in Ireland, they were a quick and cheap fix to rolling stock shortages – they were […]

CIÉ G617

Diesel shunter G617 hauling a permanent way train.

G617 is one of the five diesel locomotives at Downpatrick owned by our good friends, the Irish Traction Group. Built by Deutz of Cologne, West Germany in 1962 for CIÉ, the G Class to which G617 belongs was intended for light branch line work and shunting- with that in mind it isn’t hard to work […]

CIÉ A39R

A class diesel locomotive A39R hauling a passenger train on a sunny day.

.. A39R is a CIÉ A Class locomotive and one of the seven diesel locomotives at Downpatrick owned by our friends the Irish Traction Group. It is one of just four survivors of the 60-strong A Class built for CIÉ in the 1950s by Metropolitan Vickers. The A Class locomotives, along with the 34 members […]

CIÉ 146

Diesel locomotive 146 hauling a passenger train across the River Quoile Bridge

146 is one of a number of diesels at Downpatrick which belong to our friends at the Irish Traction Group. It was built in 1962 by General Motors of Chicago as part of an order of 37 locomotives for CIÉ designated the B141 Class (later simply 141 Class), and entered into service on the 14th […]

CSET No. 3

Steam locomotive O&K 3 crossing the River Quoile Bridge at dusk

CSET No. 3 is a mainstay of our steam train services. Cómhlucht Siúicre Eireann, Teoranta (Irish Sugar Company, Ltd.) ordered nine such engines in the 1930s.  O&K built the locos at the their Berlin factory, and this particular engine emerged in 1935 as one of the last batch of three. There were three factories, at […]