The Córas Iompair Éireann 601 Class

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s were built in 1956-1957, by Motorenfabrik Deutz at

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. They were 3 small shunting locomotives (601, 602 & 603) of B wheel arrangement and were fitted with a Deutz V8 F8L 614 engine of 130 hp, with Voith hydraulic transmission and chain final drive. They weighed only 18 tons and had a maximum speed of . These locomotives were never fitted with train brakes, so had limited usefulness compared to their successors, the G611 class. The G601 locomotives were withdrawn from service between 1965 and 1972.

Preservation

One of these locomotives, number G601, has been preserved by the

Irish Traction Group The Irish Traction Group is a railway preservation society dedicated to preserving diesel locomotives from Irish Railways. It was formed in 1989, with the intention of attempting to preserve at least one example of every type of diesel locomoti ...

and is currently awaiting restoration at Carrick-on-Suir. In 2010 a secondhand engine was purchased to replace the seized engine currently fitted.

Model

The 601 Class has been made as a

4 mm scale 4 mm scale is the most popular model railway scale used in the United Kingdom. The term refers to the use of 4 millimeters on the model equating to a distance of 1 foot (305 mm) on the prototype (1:76.2). It is also used for military mo ...

brass kit by

Worsley Works Worsley Works, is a manufacturer of kits for model railway carriages and locomotives, owned and run from Worsley, near Manchester, England UK, by Allen Doherty. Worsley Works is well known in the finescale modelling world, especially in less-pop ...

. Steve Johnson's site also has details on kitbashing a model.

References

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External links

Irish Traction Group webpage for preserved G601
{{Ireland Diesel Locomotives Iarnród Éireann locomotives Deutz locomotives B locomotives 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Diesel locomotives of Ireland Railway locomotives introduced in 1956 Shunting locomotives