Joe MCMLXI Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Hi, whilst over in Drogheda last week with work, I had a walk one evening up to the road bridge, just south of the station. When there, a Dublin - Belfast intercity train passed through. I am not familiar with the 'Irish' scene, so I am a little confused by the train formation. It appeared to be Loco hauled, with several coaches and then possibly a Driving trailer. What was interesting to me was the 'coach' behind the loco, it 'appeared' to be a power car? Is that correct? I got a good view of the roofs, and it definitely seemed to have exhaust ports in the roof? I took a couple of photo's of one of these trains passing over the Boyne rail bridge and looking at the formation later, can see that the 'coach' behind the lead loco is definitely 'different'..... can anyone tell me what this unusual set up is? regards Joe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted June 18, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 18, 2016 Hi, whilst over in Drogheda last week with work, I had a walk one evening up to the road bridge, just south of the station. When there, a Dublin - Belfast intercity train passed through. I am not familiar with the 'Irish' scene, so I am a little confused by the train formation. It appeared to be Loco hauled, with several coaches and then possibly a Driving trailer. What was interesting to me was the 'coach' behind the loco, it 'appeared' to be a power car? Is that correct? I got a good view of the roofs, and it definitely seemed to have exhaust ports in the roof? I took a couple of photo's of one of these trains passing over the Boyne rail bridge and looking at the formation later, can see that the 'coach' behind the lead loco is definitely 'different'..... can anyone tell me what this unusual set up is? regards Joe What you saw was probably a generator coach. Its a curious feature of most Irish diesel locomotives (with one notable exception), every class lacks the ability to provide an Electric Train Supply (ETS) to the coaches for heating, lighting, catering and air conditioning purposes. The way the Irish Railway organisation did things was to have generator cars built to supply said power. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/IE_MK3_Gen.jpg/200px-IE_MK3_Gen.jpg http://flickrhivemind.net/blackmagic.cgi?id=27139913886&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflickrhivemind.net%2FTags%2Fenterprise%252Cnir%3Fsearch_type%3DTags%3Btextinput%3Denterprise%252Cnir%3Bphoto_type%3D250%3Bmethod%3DGET%3Bnoform%3Dt%3Bsort%3DInterestingness%23pic27139913886&user=&flickrurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/75682382@N06/27139913886 http://flickrhivemind.net/blackmagic.cgi?id=26077279722&url=http%3A%2F%2Fflickrhivemind.net%2FTags%2Fenterprise%252Cnir%3Fsearch_type%3DTags%3Btextinput%3Denterprise%252Cnir%3Bphoto_type%3D250%3Bmethod%3DGET%3Bnoform%3Dt%3Bsort%3DInterestingness%23pic26077279722&user=&flickrurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/127859692@N08/26077279722 https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_uaI7OW3dTZw%2FS0yKQzXmL6I%2FAAAAAAAAAOk%2FnzGtMGjLshQ%2Fs320%2F004.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fgeorgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.com%2F2010_01_01_archive.html&docid=-DL54VcE_FmrjM&tbnid=wuFA9BPkQcnROM%3A&w=320&h=212&client=firefox-b&bih=971&biw=1920&ved=0ahUKEwjlkpKjobHNAhWKKcAKHROxDCkQxiAIBCgC&iact=c&ictx=1#h=212&imgdii=wuFA9BPkQcnROM%3A%3BwuFA9BPkQcnROM%3A%3BCiNv1fzLKGSwWM%3A&w=320 http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20P/Portarlington/slides/Portarlington_20100820_002_CC_JA.jpg https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.yuku.com%2Fimage%2Fpjpeg%2Faec16813a5cbd21f76e4de655154d1bc0fbb4ac7.pjpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fgaraiste.yuku.com%2Ftopic%2F8633%2Firish-rail-test-train-of-mk34-carraiges&docid=OCGWMVUSDe337M&tbnid=T9-PPtNWOQIrtM%3A&w=760&h=570&client=firefox-b&bih=971&biw=1920&ved=0ahUKEwjSkpy4orHNAhVLLcAKHb4gDasQMwhlKEAwQA&iact=mrc&uact=8 https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.yuku.com%2Fimage%2Fpjpeg%2F67d3687e249e423fb76f13a2351e94f5fe798301.JPG&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Firnirishrailwaynews.yuku.com%2Ftopic%2F912%2FMK3-News&docid=z8Ne2_QNlE3wWM&tbnid=hAGFWvlHTvu35M%3A&w=760&h=505&client=firefox-b&bih=971&biw=1920&ved=0ahUKEwjSkpy4orHNAhVLLcAKHb4gDasQMwhmKEEwQQ&iact=mrc&uact=8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 It's probably one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(train_service)#/media/File:Belfast_Central_(3).JPG They are different looking from the rest of coaches used in the Dublin-Belfest sets being a BR design Mk3. Apparently there were problems with the 201 class locomotives supplying ETS to the trains, so some spare Mk3 generator vans were refurbished to provide ETS. I'm not sure why the 201s struggled. The class 67s have the same engine and they don't seem to have similar issues working faster services than the Enterprise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
33lima Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 IR Mk3 Electric Generator Van behind 201 Class 227 at Belfast Central, 5 July 2015: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomag Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Apparently there were problems with the 201 class locomotives supplying ETS to the trains, so some spare Mk3 generator vans were refurbished to provide ETS. I'm not sure why the 201s struggled. The class 67s have the same engine and they don't seem to have similar issues working faster services than the Enterprise. I was informed by somebody who worked for NIR was that due to the differences in the 'design' of the ETH the 201s would have to keep a constant high revs - not only did this use more fuel that a MK3 Generator it reduced the reliability of the engine/electricals in the 201. Allowing the loco to idle or be switched off while stationary at either end reduced failures and extended times between their equivalent of an 'A' exam. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe MCMLXI Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 Thanks for the info, very much appreciated joe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 I was informed by somebody who worked for NIR was that due to the differences in the 'design' of the ETH the 201s would have to keep a constant high revs - not only did this use more fuel that a MK3 Generator it reduced the reliability of the engine/electricals in the 201. Allowing the loco to idle or be switched off while stationary at either end reduced failures and extended times between their equivalent of an 'A' exam.Sounds like they are related to the MBTA F40PH 'screamers' known as such because of their constant high revs due to providing HEP http://youtu.be/Ia6h5AKIoXk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
divibandit Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Joe, Those Generator cars use the same bodyshell as the brake vehicle in the middle of the Wessex Electrics/442s. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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