The Córas Iompair Éireann 181 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 1966 by

General Motors Electro-Motive Division Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...

(EMD) and numbered B181 to B192. These locomotives were virtually identical to the earlier 141 Class locomotives, but fitted with the more powerful

645 __NOTOC__ Year 645 ( DCXLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 645 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

engine and thermostatically controlled engine cooling fan and inlet shutters. Delivery took place in 1966, with introduction into service happening a short time later. They were fitted with an EMD 8-645E engine of 1100 hp, weighed , and had a maximum design speed of which was restricted to in service. Number 186 was later fitted with an EMD 8-567CR engine of , as used in the 141 Class locomotives.

Withdraw and preservation

All of the 181 class have been withdrawn, the first being 191 in 1991 after a runaway incident at Clonsilla; it was later scrapped in 1998. The last was 190 in November 2009 and 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 ...

. In their final days they were only used on permanent way trains or as pilots.

Accidents and incidents

*On Tuesday 13 August 1974, locomotive B192 was hauling a passenger train when it was involved in a head-on collision with locomotive B176, which was also hauling a passenger train, at . Fifteen people were injured.

Model

Murphy Models commissioned Bachmann to produce an '00' gauge model of these locomotives. This model first was released in December 2007. It has been supplied in all four main liveries worn by the class.

References

External links

Eiretrains - Irish Locomotives

CIE 185 loco

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cie 181 Class Iarnród Éireann locomotives Electro-Motive Division locomotives Bo-Bo locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1966 Diesel-electric locomotives of Ireland