Jump to content
 

NIR 80 Class DEMU


33lima
 Share

Recommended Posts

According to the June 1992 issue of the Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society magazine, the first 3 car set to be refurbished was 93, the trailer cars are not listed.  Another snippet of information; railcar 69 was fitted with a reconditioned Hampshire power unit purchased from British Rail.

K9-70

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for posting! When I made my own 80 Class sets back in the early 1990s, I was aware of Shane mcQuillan's build but it was only recently that I tracked down an actual copy of this magazine, on eBay, and even then I didn't manage to get part 2 of the article!

 

Here's another model, nearing completion; this time in suburban sector livery. As with my 1990s version, this is finished in cary spray, except I couldn't find the original Triumph Honeysickle (cream) and ended up using Ford Ivory. While the suburban cream can look different in different lighting, I think this paler cream is a much better shade than my original choice, which looks rather yellow by comparison. As before, NIR logos are hand-painted, lining is Trimline vinyl and 'Suburban' branding is 5mm Helvetica Letraset rub-down lettering. Still to do is a coat of varnish to protect the transfers, painting the roofs, numbering, re-fitting and painting the grab handles & power car jumper cables and then flush glazing. Power is a Hornby SWB motor bogie, fitted in a lengthened HST chassis. Seating is modified RTR for the trailers and plasticard scratchbuilt for the power car. All three vehicles are from 'cut & shut' Tri-ang Hornby Mk2 coaches.

 

post-15566-0-48085000-1428155969_thumb.jpg

 

post-15566-0-22098300-1428155966_thumb.jpg

 

post-15566-0-28718500-1428155971_thumb.jpg

 

post-15566-0-09732100-1428155973_thumb.jpg

Edited by 33lima
  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

A few more pics, with bodies lightly varnished and a coat of grey on the roofs. All cars were numbered prior to varnishing. Driving trailer 744 and intermediate 763 definitely ran together in this livery with power car 87 - I snapped this set in Bangor about 1991, pic at bottom of this post - but I have numbered the power car 85 because 87 is my original model and she had frames across the three LH side motor compartment windows, which I decided not to have on this model as that was quite rare. Photos confirm that 85 definitely carried suburban livery about this time. There seem to have been several subtle variations in the arractive 'suburban' sector livery - different markings on the corridor connection cover, power cab front hi-vis diamonds flatter or squarer etc.

 

post-15566-0-37484000-1428345581_thumb.jpg

 

Handrails (but not yet jumper cables) have been added to the power car only, so far. Major job now is flush-glazing, then a final coat of paint on the roofs and fitting the remaining handrails.

 

post-15566-0-61862700-1428343351_thumb.jpg

post-15566-0-83245600-1428343358_thumb.jpg

post-15566-0-57880000-1428343361_thumb.jpg

post-15566-0-34996300-1428343356_thumb.jpg

post-15566-0-80549100-1428343353_thumb.jpg

 

We can but hope that the welcome preservation of a 450 Class set in Downpatrick doesn't mean that the prospects have worsened for the survival of an 80 Class, once NIR retire their Sandite set. Having served NIR well since the mid-1970s, the class is definitely a worthy candidate, if ever there was one!

 

post-15566-0-50890900-1428344032_thumb.jpg

 

 

Edited by 33lima
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Some final pics of the model, basically finished, barring any touching up needed. Next to her is my original model, made in the very early 1990s when they still carried this attractive suburban sector livery, but hacked from Lima Mk2b coaches rather than the Tri-ang Hornby Mk2a's used for the newer model. The latter also has the benefit of flush glazing, separate handrails and some buffer beam detail.

 

post-15566-0-40511400-1429465496_thumb.jpg

 

post-15566-0-97562900-1429465506_thumb.jpg

 

post-15566-0-13381200-1429465537_thumb.jpg

 

post-15566-0-68371700-1429465637_thumb.jpg

 

Some additional pics are in the gallery:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/2410-uta-nir-00-conversions/

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Some final pics of the model, basically finished, barring any touching up needed. Next to her is my original model, made in the very early 1990s when they still carried this attractive suburban sector livery, but hacked from Lima Mk2b coaches rather than the Tri-ang Hornby Mk2a's used for the newer model. The latter also has the benefit of flush glazing, separate handrails and some buffer beam detail.

 

Some additional pics are in the gallery:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/2410-uta-nir-00-conversions/

 

 

Wow - 33lima they are absolutely superb models.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

 

We can but hope that the welcome preservation of a 450 Class set in Downpatrick doesn't mean that the prospects have worsened for the survival of an 80 Class, once NIR retire their Sandite set. Having served NIR well since the mid-1970s, the class is definitely a worthy candidate, if ever there was one!

 

 

 

Hi there,

 

Just to let you know that the project is well under way - check out www.downrail.co.uk/80class and www.facebook.com/downrail for update. 

 

Donations towards the preservation of the set very welcome!  And if anyone wants to take a photo of the appeal leaflet with their models, drop us a line! ;)

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

I've always been fascinated with these units ever since there was an article in an 80s magazine about converting some Lima Mk2s into a unit. The fact that each end looks so radically different makes them look pretty unique, but I do wonder how often were they actually multiplied up using the corridor connection end?

 

740 Belfast York Road station

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2020 at 17:14, Colin_McLeod said:

They had five and six car sets running daily.

 

Specials of nine or twelve coaches ran from time to time.

I only ever saw 12 once, but nine a couple of times.

 

A 12-car set of these things made you wonder what else was operating the rest of the railway that day! It was quite a spectacular sight......

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...