This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2008) |
NIR 1 Class | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() NIR’s 1 class were prone to overheating. The driver is topping up No. 1’s radiator from an emergency supply of water carried on board. | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
|
The Northern Ireland Railways DH class was a class of three diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives obtained in 1969. All three have now been withdrawn, and two have since been rebuilt for work in Sri Lanka.
The DH class of Northern Ireland Railways consisted of three diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives numbered 1, 2 & 3. They were built by the English Electric Company at their Vulcan Foundry works in Newton-le-Willows in 1969. The works numbers 3954–3956 in the EE list, and D1266–D1268 in the VF list. They were of 0-6-0 wheel arrangement and fitted with Dorman 12QTV engines of 620 hp (460 kW), connected to an EE Twin Disc torque converter and a Wiseman final drive. They weighed 42.5 tonnes (41.83 long tons; 46.85 short tons) and had a maximum speed of 29 mph (47 km/h). They are often referred to with their, "DH," prefix.
The locomotives were of EE's standard 'Stephenson' class, and were obtained primarily for shunting work, trip freights and engineer's trains. Locomotive No. 1 was the first to enter service on 31 July 1969, with No. 2 following on 27 September and No. 3 on 4 October. [1] However, the locomotives were not particularly successful due to problems with the engines overheating regularly while in service.
All three were put into store during the late 1980s, the first in 1986 and the last two in May 1989. The Irish Traction group had approached NIR in August 1989 hoping to run a farewell excursion with No. 2 in September 1989, but this plan failed after No. 2 suffered a catastrophic engine failure on Saturday 9 September 1989 (the day before the excursion), [2] despite having been overhauled by NIR at York Road Works. Both Nos. 2 and 3 ended up in secure storage at Larne Harbour, where the Diesel engines, torque converters and final drives were removed in 1991.
It was originally intended to put the locomotives on display at Lisburn, Belfast Central, and Londonderry to celebrate the 150th anniversary of railways in Northern Ireland, and in mid-1989, locomotive No. 1 had its engine, torque converter and final drive removed at York Road works before being repainted in NIR red and moved to the Lisburn Engineer's yard; unfortunately, difficulties in placing the engine meant it was shunted to the back of the yard.
In September 1994, the Irish Traction Group purchased the three locomotives from NIR and moved them south to their restoration base at Carrick-on-Suir. Although Nos 2 and 3 were moved to Lisburn on Sunday 11 September 1994 to be reunited with No. 1, paperwork issues with Iarnród Éireann regarding the transport of the engines from Lisburn to Carrick-on-Suir meant that the locomotives did not move until Monday 7 January 1995 to Inchicore Works at Dublin, where they spent a week parked outside the running shed at Dublin Heuston. The move was completed on 14 January when the locomotives were towed from Dublin to Carrick-on-Suir.
When they moved to Carrick-on-Suir by rail, they formed the last recorded un-braked train in Ireland and were regarded as an "Engineers Special". Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the ITG to prevent the locomotives from being vandalised while at Carrick-on-Suir, they were repeatedly attacked during their ten years of outside storage. This has prompted the ITG in recent times to construct large metal covers to protect any engines stored out of doors at Carrick-on-Suir, both from vandals and deterioration caused by the Irish weather. [3]
During this period, it became clear that the ITG could not restore even one of the locomotives to running condition. The major cost was to replace the engine, torque converter and final drive, with prices in the area of £70,000 sterling to replace these components. Several engineering companies also queried whether the locomotives would be made available for sale, though the cost of replacing the engines and related drive components meant that these inquiries did not amount to much more than that. Since, two have been rebuilt for work in Sri Lanka; one is in storage in Wales.
In 2005, the ITG was approached by Beaver Power Ltd, who wanted to buy the three locomotives for re-use in Sri Lanka. After much deliberation, the ITG sold Nos. 2 and 3 to Beaver for export to Sri Lanka, and moved to Merthyr Tydfil for overhaul and regauging to allow them to run on the 5 ft 6 in broad gauge tracks in Sri Lanka. [4] Locomotive No. 1 was also sent to Merthyr Tydfil for parts recovery to enable the other two to be rebuilt to running condition. At the time, No. 1 was still owned by the ITG, and was not offered for sale until five years later.
In May 2006, Nos. 2 and 3 departed for Sri Lanka to work at a Holcim cement plant in the Puttalam area. The work included regauging to 5 ft 6 in (1676 mm), fitting of a Rolls-Royce CV12 750 hp Diesel engine coupled to a Twin Disc 13800 MS230 torque converter (both engines had lost their Diesel engines, torque converter and final drives in 1991), and repainting in Holcim livery.
In November 2010, the decision was made by the ITG to sell the stripped remains of No. 1 to Beaver, the sale being concluded on 28 November. This locomotive had lost its engine, torque converter and final drive in 1989, and was heavily stripped due to its use by Beaver as a spare parts unit. It is understood that the locomotive will be rebuilt for industrial service, whether in the UK or overseas. [5]
It is understood that, as of 2010, locomotive No. 3 has been withdrawn and heavily stripped for parts. The locomotive still carries the white Holcim livery that it was painted in when first exported to Sri Lanka, while No. 2 was repainted into a blue and white livery: it is still in service. No. 2 has been named, "Shakhti", and No. 3, "Prince Vijaya" - nameplates adorn the cabsides of each locomotive. No. 2 has received a further repaint and now sports a red and white livery with yellow band.
Although prototype diesel locomotives ran in Britain before World War II, the railways of both the Republic and Northern Ireland changed over much more rapidly from steam to diesel traction than those in Britain, due to the island's limited coal reserves and an ageing steam locomotive fleet.
The Córas Iompair Éireann 601 Class locomotives were built in 1956-1957, by Motorenfabrik Deutz at Cologne, Germany. They were 3 small shunting locomotives of B wheel arrangement and were fitted with a Deutz V8 F8L 614 engine of 130 hp, with Voith hydraulic transmission and chain final drive. They weighed only 18 tons and had a maximum speed of 32 kilometres per hour (20 mph). These locomotives were never fitted with train brakes, so had limited usefulness compared to their successors, the G611 class. The G601 locomotives were withdrawn from service between 1965 and 1972.
The Córas Iompair Éireann 201 Class was a class of 34 diesel electric locomotives manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester. They were a smaller, lighter and less powerful version of the 001 Class and were originally intended for branch line passenger and freight duties. They were introduced in 1956 and, although their duties changed over the years, were in regular service on the Irish railway network until the mid-1980s. Six were sold to Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) in 1986.
The 'NIR 101 Class ' is a class of diesel-electric locomotive formerly operated by Northern Ireland Railways (NIR). With the return to the working of the Enterprise service from Belfast to Dublin with coaching stock instead of augmented diesel railcar sets, NIR found itself with no suitable main line diesel locomotives. The 101 Class became the answer to the immediate problem working in conjunction with the newly acquired British Rail Mark 2 coaches.
The CIE 141 Class locomotives were built in 1962 by General Motors Electro Motive Division (EMD) in the United States. Numbered B141 to B177, they were an updated version of the 121 Class locomotives, mechanically very similar but with cabs at each end.
Locomotives of New Zealand is a complete list of all locomotive classes that operate or have operated in New Zealand's railway network. It does not include locomotives used on bush tramways.
The Ulster Transport Authority Multi-Purpose Diesel was a diesel powered railcar, used in Northern Ireland. It was developed by the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) as a progression of the earlier Multi-engined Diesel (MED). The MED concept, while suitable for short commuter links, was not considered so for the Northern Counties Committee section, with its main line from Belfast to Derry where speeds of up to 110 km/h (70 mph) were required. A new railcar development was needed, and the MED was superseded by the MPD.
The Indian locomotive class WDM-2 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in 1962 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Mixed traffic (M) engine, 2nd generation (2). They entered service in 1962. A total of more than 2,700 WDM-2 was built at ALCO and Banaras Locomotive Works, Varanasi between 1962 and 1998, which made them the most numerous class of mainline diesel locomotive until its successor the WDM-3A.
The New Zealand DA class locomotive were a class of diesel-electric mainline locomotives operated on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. Consisting of 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to ever operate in New Zealand, with five more than the AB class steam locomotive.
The Irish Traction Group is a railway preservation society dedicated to preserving diesel locomotives from Irish railways. It was founded on 4 June 1989 with the intention of attempting to preserve at least one example of every type of diesel locomotive to have operated on the Irish Rail system. The ITG's locomotives and work are spread across three sites: Carrick-on-Suir railway station, the Downpatrick and County Down Railway (DCDR), and the West Clare Railway.
The New Zealand DSC class locomotive is a heavy shunting locomotive used throughout New Zealand. The class was built in seven batches, the first 18 locomotives being built by British Thomson-Houston of the United Kingdom, with the remainder being built by New Zealand Railways (NZR).
The New Zealand TR class locomotive is a type of diesel shunting locomotives built by many different manufacturers. Defined as "shunting tractors" or "rail tractors" by KiwiRail and its predecessors, they are classified "TR" for tractor as a result. Many of these locomotives have been withdrawn, but some are still in service. The first locomotive of this class was built by NZR in 1924. The most powerful were Japanese-built Hitachi TRs, with 138 kW Cummins engines.
The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) Class X was a solitary diesel-hydraulic shunting (switcher) locomotive built by Harland and Wolff (H&W) for service in the NCC's yards and at Belfast docks. It was one of several pioneering designs of diesel locomotive produced by H&W under their Harlandic trademark during the 1930s and 1940s.
The 72 class was a class of diesel locomotive built by Chullora Railway Workshops for the New South Wales, Australia, Department of Railways in 1965.
Steam traction was the predominant form of motive power used by the Deutsche Reichsbahn on its narrow-gauge railways. For certain duties diesel locomotives were also used, albeit these were usually second-hand or rebuilt engines.
The China Railways DFH1 was a type of 4-axle B'B' single-cab diesel-hydraulic locomotive used on mainline passenger services; the DFH3 was a later development of a similar design but with two driving cabs.
The South African Railways Class 61-000 of 1959 was a diesel-hydraulic locomotive.
Locomotives and train sets of Sri Lanka Railways consist mostly of diesel locomotives and multiple units. Steam locomotives are no longer used, except on heritage trains, such as the Viceroy Special.
The NZR DSA class locomotive was a type of 0-6-0DM diesel-mechanical locomotives built by three different manufacturers: W. G. Bagnall, Hunslet, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Vulcan Foundry for the Drewry Car Co. They were built between 1953 and 1967.
DR class V 15 and DR class V 23 were diesel locomotives of Deutsche Reichsbahn in the GDR with side-rod drive for light shunting duties.