The CIE 501 Class locomotives were built in 1955 by Walker Brothers of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

for use on the narrow gauge () lines on the West Clare section of the

CIÉ Córas Iompair Éireann (''Irish Transport Company''), or CIÉ, is a statutory corporation of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for most public transport within the republic and jointly with its Nor ...

. They were small diesel mechanical locomotives, with a

0-4-0+0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, the is an articulated locomotive of the Garratt type. The wheel arrangement is effectively two locomotives operating back-to-back or face-to-face, wit ...

wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and ...

. Controlled from a central cab, the locomotives had two Gardner engines of , one under each end casing, driving through a fluid coupling and Wilson gear box the inner axle of the opposite bogie, through a spiral-bevel-reverse and reduction gear box. Unusually the locomotives were driven from a seat mounted sideways to the direction of travel giving a clear field of vision both ways by a mere turn of the head. The locomotives were fitted with vacuum brakes, emergency braking coming from a "deadman's" pedal, one at the driving position and two others, one mounted on each side of the cab. When used on freight services their maximum speed was , but with an overdrive fitted, released by a key, this was raised to for passenger trains.

History

They were originally numbered C31-C33 in the West Clare steam locomotive series, but were subsequently renumbered into the diesel locomotive series as F501-F503. They were withdrawn in 1961 when the West Clare lines were closed and stored at Inchicore Works for seven years. The

Isle of Man Railway The Isle of Man Railway (IMR) ( gv, Raad Yiarn Vannin) is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin on the Isle of Man. The line is narrow gauge and long. It is the remainder of what was a mu ...

made an offer for the locomotives which was rejected by CIÉ, who subsequently made less money by selling them for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered m ...

in 1968.

Model

The Walker 501 Class has been made as a 00n3 scale 12mm gauge brass kit by Worsley Works Models

References

External links

http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk
- official website {{Ireland Diesel Locomotives Iarnród Éireann locomotives Diesel locomotives of Ireland 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1954 Scrapped locomotives