C226 eventually entered traffic with CIE on 21st August 1957. When built, these locomotives were originally fitted with a Crossley ESTV8 engine of 550 hp. However, the Crossley engines proved to be extremely troublesome and unreliable.  In 1969, the decision was taken to re-engine the whole class with General Motors 8-B645E engines of 1100 hp. C226 itself was re-engined on 10th June 1972, and subsequently re-numbered B226 to reflect its higher power classification. Eventually, the letter prefix “B” was dropped, and the locomotive became 226. Locomotive 226 continued in service with CIE until it was stored unserviceable with an engine defect on 5th May 1984. The locomotive was officially withdrawn on 25th September 1986.

Following several years stored outside Diesel No. 1 Shop at Iarnród Éireann’s Inchicore Works in Dublin, 226 was purchased by the Irish Traction Group (ITG) on 23rd October 1992 for I£ 500 plus VAT. This locomotive had the distinction of being the first main line diesel locomotive to be preserved in Ireland. It was moved from Inchicore Works to Carrick-On-Suir for storage in December 1992. Over the next couple of years good progress was then made on stripping down the locomotive ready for overhaul and restoration.

However, in early 1996, work on restoring 226 virtually ground to a halt. At around this time,  three of the Group’s other locomotives, 231, G601 and G611, had all been moved from Carrick-On-Suir to Inchicore Works in readiness for display at the open weekend to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Works in June 1996. Unfortunately, the extra work required to prepare these locomotives for eventual display diverted attention away from 226 for several months.

Between 1996 and 1999, faced with the constant attack from vandals at the Carrick-On-Suir site, coupled with other increasing family commitments of the handful of volunteers who worked there, little work was done on 226. The subsequent main line operation of our two 001 (A) class locomotives in 1999/2000 also kept our small band of volunteers away from Carrick-On-Suir and 226. In addition, at around the same time, the ITG’s other 201 (C) class locomotive 231 had just been moved back to the UK for restoration, which meant that restoration work on 226 was now low down on the list of priorities. Eventually, in 2003, one of our most active and enthusiastic members, Aidan Brosnan, moved to Clonmel and resumed work on 226. To date, significant progress has been made on the restoration of this locomotive. Detailed below is a summary of the restoration work done to date on this locomotive:

Cab No. 2

This cab was completely stripped out to enable the rotten cab floor to be replaced. The areas under the driver’s and secondman’s desks were the worst affected, having completely rotted through in several places. Corrosion had also affected the supports for the desks themselves. New sections of flooring were welded into position and the desks repaired. In addition, new cab side panels have been welded into position to replace the original panels which were also badly corroded. A new headlamp box was welded to the cab roof, as the original box had almost completely rusted away. New felt lined channels and “jumping-jack” springs have been fitted to the cab droplight windows. All the timber frames that surround the cab doors and windows have been replaced and repainted. The underside of the cab floor has also been repainted. Mastic has been applied under the floor of the cab to prevent water lodging between the floor and the main girders and also inside the cab behind the desks to stop corrosion between the cab outer panels and the supporting frame.

Once all the bodywork repairs had been completed, work commenced on re-assembling the cab and installing a new wooden floor. Every single component that was removed from this cab has been cleaned up and repainted. The wooden supports for the cab floor were replaced or renewed, and new trunking to carry the electrical control cables under the cab floor was welded into position. All of the control air pipes have been re-fitted into the cab, along with the windscreen wiper valves and a horn valves. Two new vacuum hoses to connect the vacuum brake valve to the train pipe were also fitted. The driver’s and secondman’s desks, together with the central control console, have been completely rebuilt, and new desk tops fitted. The five electrical terminal boards that fit inside the centre section of the driver’s desk have been replaced, along with the cab hotplate. Replacement de-mister elements have also been fitted and tested.

All the electrical conduits have been cleaned up, repainted and replaced. All air pipes have been pressure tested to check for leaks. The air and vacuum brake valves inside the central control console have been overhauled and tested. The power controllers have been cleaned up, together with all the electrical finger contacts, and refitted back into the desks. The cab heaters have been overhauled and refitted. Both cab seats were completely stripped down, cleaned up and rebuilt. The cab and engine room doors have also been repainted internally and their locking mechanisms repaired. New neoprene sponge seals have also been fitted around the cab doors.

A set of marker light switches have been re-fitted to the bulkhead above the engine room door and wired in. The two deadmans’ pedals have been cleaned out and repainted. The foot heating elements have also been tested and refitted back under the desks. The vigilance box has been replaced on the bulkhead. The “Low Oil Pressure” and “Vigilance” lamps have been refitted to their plate and their labels have been repainted. The two baggage racks have been repainted and refitted. The ammeters have also been cleaned up, tested and re-fitted.

The re-assembly and rewiring of the cab has now been completed. All the various switches, earth fault and overload alarm and reset, the hot engine alarm, low oil pressure indicator and the starting contactor circuits have been successfully tested. A new plywood floor has now also been fitted into the cab. The only work required to complete the restoration of the cab is to replace the original windscreens with new laminated windscreens, replace the inspection covers on the control desk, and re-fit the cab seats and handbrake pedestal.

Cab No.1

Cab No.1 cab was originally kept intact as a reference of how to reassemble cab No. 2. However, once cab No. 2 cab had been reassembled, work commenced on stripping out cab No. 1. Just like cab No. 2, certain areas of the cab floor had rotted away, however the damage was found to be a lot less severe. In order to carry out the necessary repairs, both power controllers and desk corners have been removed to gain access to the affected areas. The rotten steelwork has been cut out, and the holes squared up ready for new steel plate to be welded into position. One cab side panel has so far been replaced. It is intended that this cab will be completely rebuilt to the same standard as cab No. 2.

Engine Room and Cooler Group

All of the steel framework that supports the roof panels and the cooling fan assembly have been cleaned up, repainted, and refitted back into the locomotive.

All the engine room cable trunking has been cleaned out and repainted. In addition, 40 years’ worth of accumulated thick oil, muck and grease has been scraped out from around the engine tray. The engine room floor itself has been completely cleaned of all oil and grease. The engine room walls have been completely repainted, and all of the internal air pipes and cable conduit have been replaced. The Duplex Check Valve and the Reducing Valve on the control air circuit have been set to their correct operating pressures. The traction motor blower housing, and the rear fan cover plate have been cleaned down and repainted. The traction motor blower motor has been fully overhauled by an outside contractor. The engine compartment lamps were rewired and successfully tested on 18th November 2006. This was the first time the lamps have worked in over 22 years.

The vertical supports for the cooler group header tanks were cleaned down and repainted. The cooler group header tanks themselves were sent away to a specialist engineering company in order to have their faces machined. This was done in order to ensure a water tight seal once the radiator elements were replaced. The faces were found to be generally straight, but some of them were badly pitted by rust. The machining operation obtained a “like new” surface finish along the faces of the header tanks. The 40 radiator elements were sent away to another specialist contractor for cleaning, pressure testing and flow testing.  120 new studs were obtained in order to re-attach the radiator elements to the header tanks. New cork gaskets were glued onto the edges of the header tanks where they touch the locomotive’s body.  Re-assembly of the two radiator banks was eventually completed in February 2009 Both radiator banks have also been successfully pressure tested. Meanwhile, all the surrounding ducting has been cleaned up, repainted and refitted. The cooling fan motor has now also been overhauled by an outside contractor, and is now ready for re-fitting.

As mentioned earlier, 226 was originally taken out of traffic after suffering an engine defect. A small section of the engine block, where the cam shaft was attached, had cracked and broken loose due to excessive vibration on the cam shaft. Replacement engine parts were obtained from former NIR locomotive No. 109 (ex. CIE 234) when it was being scrapped. An attempt was made to repair 226’s engine by welding the broken piece back into place. However, the effectiveness of this repair was always in doubt, particularly when the engine was to be operating under full load. As such, it was decided to try to obtain a replacement power unit from a 141/181 class locomotive, as several of this class were subsequently re-engined with engines recovered from withdrawn “C” class locomotives. During 2008, a replacement GM 8-B645E engine was successful obtained from Iarnród Éireann. This engine was recovered from 141 class locomotive No. 149 shortly before it was scrapped, and was known to be in good condition.

On Sunday 12th October 2008, the original engine and generator set from 226 were lifted out of the locomotive. The generator set was then sent away to Bandon Rewinds Limited for overhaul, together with the exhauster and cooling fan motors. Meanwhile, the original engine was put on the loading dock inside the Goods Shed, and will be retained as a source of spares. Following the removal of the engine and generator set, the engine bed-frame and general floor area was cleaned and repainted. The engine oil filter containers and all of the engine water and oil pipes were also cleaned and repainted.

Bandon Rewinds Limited finished the overhaul of the generator set in early January 2009. Six coats of varnish had to be applied to the com-poles before they would pass a 1000 volt insulation test. The generator set was then re-assembled with a new bearing. The cost of the overhaul of the generator set, the cooling fan motor, and the exhauster motor, came to just over € 6000.

On Sunday 8th February 2009, the replacement power unit for 226, together with the overhauled generator set, were lifted back into the locomotive. The engine was then bolted down on its mountings and the generator set bolted to the engine. However, before the generator casing can be fully bolted down and an attempt can be made to crank the engine, accurate measurements and adjustments will need to be made to the generator casing position to ensure that they are correctly aligned. Meanwhile, work commenced on connecting the water and oil pipes to the replacement engine.

As 226’s replacement engine came from a 141 class locomotive, some of the engine fittings specific to a 141 class locomotive have had to been changed to suit 226. Some of the parts removed or exchanged include the exhaust silencers (“C” class ones are smaller), cooling fan drive shaft, auxiliary generator drive shaft, air filter box, and a water pipe. The fuel pipe connections were also found to be different on the new engine. Suitable connections were swapped from the old engine and the fuel pipes were successfully reconnected.

The degreasing of the new engine is now complete. The oil filter housing has also now been cleaned out and new elements fitted. In addition, the sump of the new engine was cleared of all its old oil. The engine oil filters, air filters, and all of the engine water and oil pipes have also been cleaned and painted. 

The triple valve, together with its associated control and expansion reservoirs, has now been replaced at the base of the cooler group. Two of the main air valves, namely the selector valve and the relay valve, have been replaced. Furthermore, the end to end vacuum and air pipes have also been repainted.The cables to control the engine speed valves, and the cables from the cooler fan thermostat, were replaced. The speed valve circuits have also been tested from each of the two power controllers in cab No.2. The traction motor blower motor has been overhauled and repainted.

Low and High Tension Cubicles

Both electrical control cubicles were completely stripped out to enable the electrical control equipment to be overhauled, and for the insides of the cubicles to be cleaned out and repainted.

The interlock contacts for the main generator field contactor and all seven of the auxiliary contactors have been completely reconditioned, tested and refitted. All of the thick cables and copper connecting straps have been replaced. Both starting contactors and traction motor overload panels have been reconditioned and refitted. The starting relay, traction motor isolator and traction motor field divert switch unit have all been overhauled and replaced. All of the circuit breakers have been tested and refitted to the fuse and circuit breaker panel. In addition, the battery isolating switch and voltage regulator have been cleaned up and refitted back into the low tension cubicle.

The reverser was stripped down, cleaned up, checked over, re-assembled and then refitted back into the high tension cubicle. The air valves on the reverser had to be replaced as the original ones were found to be leaking. Following this, an air supply and 110 volt DC supply were connected to 226. The reverser was then checked using the forward/reverse handles in No. 2 cab and was found to be working correctly. All of the cables for the traction motors have been fed into the high tension cubicle and connected to the reverser whilst the other ends have been laid out down the trunking in the engine room floor.

A replacement bracket to support the main ammeter shunt resistor was fitted, followed by the main ammeter shunt resistor and the main generator cables. All of the control cables were fitted and wired to the main terminal board. The four traction motor switches were inspected and repaired where necessary. The insulating bars were touched up with anti-tracking paint and the contact tips were cleaned up and replaced with new ones where necessary. Following the replacement of the four motor switches, the control cables were connected and the air pipes were attached. The motor switches were then successfully open and closed as forward and reverse were selected. In addition, a more permanent connection for a 110 volt shore supply to power the engine room lamps was fitted to the low tension cubicle. Finally, all the inspection panels that fit on the engine room side of the electrical control cubicles have been repainted and new neoprene foam seals applied to the edges of the panels.

The rewire and replacement of components in both the high tension cubicle and low tension cubicle has now been completed.

General

Both battery boxes have been cleaned out and the paintwork touched up. A set of good quality second hand batteries has now been obtained and is expected to be fitted shortly. The battery cable conduit was replaced between the two battery boxes. The cable between the two boxes was also replaced, with some difficulty, through the conduit. Both battery charging socket and interlock units have been replaced and wired into the low tension cubicle.

Both engine compartment bulkhead doors have been fully repainted and their handles and locking mechanisms refitted. Two lamp irons for the No. 1 end buffer beam have been repaired. Four marker lamp boxes have been fully reconditioned and reassembled. New cables have also been fitted, as well as the rubber gaskets that fit between the lamp boxes and the locomotive body.

The main reservoir equaliser and the independent equaliser pipes, which go through the buffer beam at the No. 2 end, have been refitted on the secondman’s side. A section of control air pipe that goes through the buffer beam at No. 2 end has also been re-fitted. New rubber seals and gaskets for the air brake valves have been purchased from Metcalfe’s, who originally manufactured the brake valves for the locomotive. These will be used to overhaul the brake valve for No. 1 end, and also to refurbish a spare valve.

A spare fuel pump motor was overhauled by a specialist contractor. A good fuel pump was fitted to it upon its return and the complete unit was then painted and refitted underneath the locomotive.

226’s roof panels, roof cowls and inspection hatches were all sent away for shot blasting, weld repairs and initial repainting on 23^rd May 2009. These were returned to Carrick-On-Suir on 24^th July 2009. Most of the roof sections have now been undercoated and gloss painted. Some of the areas around the top of the locomotive’s body where the roof sections fit have been wire wheeled, filled, rubbed down and repainted, as they had become pitted with rust.

A second-hand set of batteries has been obtained for 226, which are periodically recharged in order to keep them in good condition.