Following on from the arrival of 124 and 190 the previous weekend, Sunday 8th June saw the safe arrival of our 'Christmas Tree' loco 152 at the Downpatrick & County Down Railway after a long and torturous adventure on its way from Moyasta, Co Clare.
"It must be one of the worst locos you’ve transported", said our Mike to the lorry driver. The understated reply from him was: "It’s up there!".
‘Christmas Tree’ is what some people call locos that are kept as a source of spare parts, and that was always the intention when we purchased 152. In fact, some parts had been taken off in Iarnród Éireann days, including part of the compressor exhauster and various bits and pieces off the engine.
So, you might ask, why not just dismantle the locomotive and remove all the spares?
Offloading was uneventful, again using DCDR's 80 class power car 69 to do the shunting. 152 was removed down the line for a while for ex-NIR railbus RB3 (which is leaving DCDR for pastures new) to be shunted to the truck. 152 was then shunted back into the shed to have its traction motor bearings inspected and the oil topped up. Our Christmas Tree loco may be a non-runner, we still want to keep everything in good nick.
Moving several locos across Ireland is a fairly expensive feat. As a small voluntary organisation, we greatly appreciate any donations we receive, large or small. If you would like to contribute, please click the link below, thank you.
