The 450 Class is a type of
diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
(DMU) passenger train formerly used by
Northern Ireland Railways
NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) ( ga, Iarnród Thuaisceart Éireann); and for a brief period Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent ...
. They were affectionately nicknamed 'Thumpers' and 'Castles' (also known as the Castle Class) by rail enthusiasts.
History
![Hilden railway station in 2004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Hilden_railway_station_in_2004.jpg)
In the mid-1980s, Northern Ireland Railways was in the process of upgrading its rolling stock. Having already purchased three
new locomotives, it then proceeded to purchase replacements for its
70 Class diesel multiple units. A total of nine three car trains were constructed by
British Rail Engineering Limited
British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail. Established in 1970, the maintenance arm was split as British Rail Maintenance Limited in 1987, and the design and building of trains was pr ...
between 1985 and 1987 intended to supplement the existing
80 Class DMUs then in service. The trains were constructed using underframes of existing
Mark 1
Mark 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 45 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts conta ...
coaching stock, altered to and new
Mark 3
Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with scribes and a meeting of Jesus with h ...
bodyshells. Because of this, they bore a strong resemblance to the
British Rail Class 150
The British Rail Class 150 ''Sprinter'' is a class of diesel multiple unit passenger trains; they were developed and constructed by BREL York between 1984 and 1987 for use on regional services across the UK. The type is a second-generation de ...
,
British Rail Class 210
The British Rail Class 210 was a type of diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) passenger train designed and constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited's Derby Litchurch Lane Works.
The Class 210 was developed during the early 1980s to be a ...
,
British Rail Class 317
The British Rail Class 317 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited in two batches, 48 sets being produced in 1981–82 and 24 sets in 1985–87. They were the first of several classes o ...
,
British Rail Class 318
The British Rail Class 318 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train, which operates in west central Scotland. The units were introduced on 29 September 1986 as part of the electrification of the Ayrshire Coast Line between and /Ardr ...
and
British Rail Class 455
The British Rail Class 455 is an electric multiple unit passenger train built by BREL between 1982 and 1985. It is operated on suburban services in Greater London and Surrey by South Western Railway, as well as formerly by Southern.
Descript ...
, as they use Mark 3 bodyshells. These were combined with refurbished power units and traction motors from the withdrawn 70 Class units (there were only eight 70 Class units available to be salvaged, so the equipment for the ninth train came from a withdrawn Class 80 train, powercar 88 that was damaged at a collision at Hilden).
The power cars of the 450 Class units were named after various Northern Irish castles. They entered service in a cream, orange, and red livery.
On Thursday 9 March 1995, a 450 Class train was used to form a royal train when Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the
Dargan Bridge, composed of two cars from 455 coupled to two cars from 459.
The 450 Class operated on the same principle as the prototype
Class 210 DMUs on the
British network, in that they consisted of a single power car containing the traction and generating equipment (numbered 45x), an intermediate trailer car (numbered 79x) and a driving trailer (numbered 78x) as permanently formed 3 car sets. An additional "8" was added to the start of all the cars so that they could be used by
Translink's computer system.
In 2005, the entire fleet underwent an extensive refurbishment to bring them up to a similar standard to the newly introduced
3000 Class units, enabling them to remain in service for at least another 5 to 7 years. This took them up to the point where they became "life-expired."
In 2011, the entire 450 Class fleet, together with the remaining
80 Class units, was listed by NI Railways for disposal.
Rail Vehicles for Disposal
– Translink
Current status
The entire 450 Class fleet was withdrawn from service in 2012, following the arrival of enough 4000 Class units to displace the 450 units serving the Larne Line and Portrush branch. Eight out of the nine units have been cut up for scrap. The sole remaining example has been purchased for preservation by the Downpatrick and County Down Railway
The Downpatrick and County Down Railway (DCDR) is a five-foot, three-inch (1,600 mm) gauge heritage railway in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is operated by volunteers and runs passenger trains using steam and diesel locomotives, diese ...
.
Operations
Originally they operated on suburban services on the Larne and Bangor Lines, occasionally serving the Newry Line as well, with occasional appearances on the Derry line.
With the arrival of the Class 3000 trains in 2004, the 450s still had to be retained, as the 3000s were only a like-for-like replacement of the old Class 80 units. By the year of their withdrawal, the 450 Class units had mostly been relegated to weekday services on the Larne Line and the Portrush Line shuttle, however at weekends there were enough Class 3000 trains to operate these services.
The gradual entry into service of the Class 4000 trains in 2012 saw the 450 Class units each displaced by a new Class 4000 unit as one became available, until they were all finally withdrawn.
Fleet details
In preservation
One example of the class has been preserved, by the Downpatrick and County Down Railway
The Downpatrick and County Down Railway (DCDR) is a five-foot, three-inch (1,600 mm) gauge heritage railway in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is operated by volunteers and runs passenger trains using steam and diesel locomotives, diese ...
. Unit 458 ''Antrim Castle'' was moved by road from York Road Depot, Belfast, over the weekend of 27–28 September 2014. During a two-day operation, the set was split into Driving Trailer, Intermediate and Power Car at Belfast and then, one-by-one, the carriages were taken by lorry to Downpatrick where they were reassembled. The Driving Trailer arrived on 27 September 2014, with the Intermediate and Power Car arriving the following day. The complete 458 successfully ran under its own power on 11 October 2014, and one week later on 18 October 2014, made a surprise appearance at 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 ...
's Diesel Gala—the first time the unit had carried passengers since withdrawal by NIR in 2012.
The DCDR stated that it planned to convert 458 into a standby buffet train. This was completed in summer 2018, with the railcar usually being stationed at Inch Abbey station during the summer months.
In Autumn 2021, 458 was used in the filming of S3 E3 of the Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
comedy Derry Girls
''Derry Girls'' is a British teen sitcom created and written by Lisa McGee that premiered on 4 January 2018 on Channel 4. The channel's most successful comedy since ''Father Ted'', the series was inspired by McGee's own experiences growing up ...
, with DCDR standing in for the Belfast–Derry and Coleraine–Portrush lines. The episode aired on 26 April 2022.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:NIR 0450 Class
0450
Diesel electric multiple units
BREL products