Following on from the arrival of cement ‘bubble’ wagon No. 25199 at Downpatrick last October, the ITG loco fleet has become further reacquainted with traditional Irish freight stock over the past few weeks.
Early July saw the arrival of two 1970s-vintage 22ft flat liner wagons, Nos.27350 and 27427, at Downpatrick. These had lain at Enfield on the Dublin-Sligo line for over 20 years. Our GM fleet would have been no strangers to these wagons. They were used on liner trains across the Irish railway network from the 1970s up until their withdrawal in the mid-2000s. Traffic included shipping containers and brewery products. Our Metrovick locos no doubt hauled them too, and it’s quite possible our Gs may have shunted them at Limerick Wagon Works.
On 18th July, ‘Palvan’, No.26405 arrived at Downpatrick. It had been in Mullingar since 1978. As an unbraked (but through-piped) vehicle, these would have been withdrawn over the course of the 1970s and 1980s. CIÉ built total of 499 such vans at Inchicore in 1964/65 using O.V.S Bulleid’s triangulated chassis design.
ITG locomotives Nos.G617 and 124 assisted with shunting the new arrivals. No.124 hauled the wagons out to the Downpatrick Loop Platform. It left them there for storage pending restoration.
A cement ‘bubble’ wagon and 1950s vintage ‘H Van’ are already at the railway. There is now the tantalising thought of being able to recreate classic diesel-hauled freight trains from across the decades. Now there’s an idea for a future gala…
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