The Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) 2600 Class were

Associated Equipment Company Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was a British vehicle manufacturer that built buses, motorcoaches and trucks from 1912 until 1979. The name Associated Equipment Company was hardly ever used; instead it traded under the AEC and ACLO brands. ...

(AEC)–engined

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 ...

s (normally termed railcars in Ireland) that operated InterCity and suburban services on the CIÉ system between 1952 and 1975. Many were later converted for push–pull operation with diesel locomotives, finally being withdrawn when displaced by the electric

Dublin Area Rapid Transit The Dublin Area Rapid Transit system (stylised as DART) is an electrified commuter rail railway network serving the coastline and city of Dublin, Ireland. The service makes up the core of Dublin's suburban railway network, stretching from Grey ...

service in the mid-1980s.

Background

The first single-unit diesel railcars in Ireland were introduced on the narrow-gauge

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

and Clogher Valley railways in the early 1930s. The Great Northern Railway and

Northern Counties Committee The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge () but later acquired a number of narrow gauge lines. It had its origins in the Belfast and Ballymena Railway that opened to ...

followed shortly thereafter. However, early railcar trains did not exceed two cars in length. Early in 1948, the GNR(I) ordered a fleet of 20 railcars, capable of operating in pairs with one or two intermediate trailer cars, from AEC. Introduced in 1950 and 1951, these vehicles drew on AEC's experience with the Great Western Railway's pre-war railcars. The cars combined AEC diesel engines (two per car, each of ) with bodywork by

Park Royal Vehicles Park Royal Vehicles was one of Britain's leading coachbuilders and bus manufacturers, based at Park Royal, Abbey Road, in west London. With origins dating back to 1889, the company also had a Leeds-based subsidiary, Charles H. Roe. Labour p ...

. CIÉ had been interested in railcars since its inception in 1945, but an initial plan for a four-car diesel-electric unit was cancelled. However, the success of the GNR(I) cars and the 1948 Milne Report's recommendations in favour of railcars (but not diesel locomotives) encouraged the company to place a large-scale order with AEC in September 1950. (Note also that 10 of the 20 GNR(I) AEC cars were inherited by CIÉ on the Great Northern's dissolution in 1958, along with 10 of 24 later cars built by the Great Northern Railway Board on

British United Traction British United Traction (BUT) was a manufacturer of railway equipment and trolleybuses. It was established in 1946 as a joint venture between AEC and Leyland. History British United Traction was established in 1946 when AEC and Leyland am ...

(BUT) underframes; the remainder went to the

Ulster Transport Authority The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland from 1948 until 1966. Formation and consolidation The UTA was formed by the Transport Act 1948, which merged the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIRTB ...

—see also UTA AEC.)

The CIÉ fleet

Initial order

In 1951, CIÉ ordered a series of 60 cars similar to the GNR(I) examples, again combining AEC engines and Park Royal bodywork. These vehicles were almost identical to the GNR(I) units but incorporated improvements derived from experience with the latter; most notably, up to four power cars, rather than two, could operate in multiple. They were delivered between March 1952 and September 1954 and numbered in the series 2600–2659.

Bulleid cars

Six additional cars (2660–2665) were ordered in August 1954. Delivered in 1956, they were mechanically identical to the earlier vehicles—although the engines were now designated as BUT, rather than AEC, products. However, the cars' bodywork was constructed at CIÉ's Inchicore Works to a distinctive design by the company's

Chief Mechanical Engineer Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...

Oliver Bulleid Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 September 1882 – 25 April 1970) was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway ( ...

. (It may be noted that CIÉ had faced political pressure to build the bodywork of the original cars itself, rather than importing complete vehicles.) Although the cars' length and width were identical to those of their predecessors, they were distinguished by flat sides and a high, flat front end. Even-numbered cars had the standard composite (two-class) seating arrangement, whereas odd-numbered ones had a single-class layout. The Bulleid cars had a short career in their original form, soon being rebuilt as powered intermediates (see below).

Trailer cars

Various carriages were fitted or retrofitted with jumper cables to allow their operation in a railcar train. There were at least 88 trailers in total, including pre-1950s stock (one example dating from 1902), 1950s CIÉ vehicles, other 1950s stock from Park Royal Vehicles (manufacturer of the railcars' own bodywork) and 1960s Cravens vehicles. Examples included three composite (i.e. two-class) vehicles specially modified to work as through Cork–Belfast coaches on the

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

, and 14

buffet car A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where food and beverages can be bought at a counter and consumed.driving trailers, described below; additionally, ordinary trailers were sometimes marshalled at the tail of a train, particularly in the 2600s' early days. Two special Park Royal trailer vehicles for service on the isolated Waterford and Tramore Railway were built in 1955. These vehicles, like the railcars they worked with, had high-density seating arrangements. One of them was, additionally, fitted out as a driving trailer, with a guard's compartment at the non-cab end and a large area set aside for prams. Two further driving trailers, known as "mules," were converted from 1953-built hauled stock but were used only briefly, working as part of the Westport portion of a Dublin–Galway/Westport train.

Description

The 2600 Class were effectively identical to the GNR(I) cars in overall configuration, having a full-width driver's cab at one end, a gangway at the other, and underfloor engines. Their bodywork was conventional for CIÉ stock of the time, consisting of steel panels on timber framing. The underframe was of steel channel construction.

Mechanical

The 2600s shared the engines and transmission of their GNR(I) predecessors, having two , 9.6-litre, six-cylinder, four-stroke engines driving the inner axles of the two bogies via

fluid flywheel A fluid coupling or hydraulic coupling is a hydrodynamic or 'hydrokinetic' device used to transmit rotating mechanical power.

s and

Self-Changing Gears Self-Changing Gears was a British company, set up and owned equally by Walter Gordon Wilson and John Davenport Siddeley, to develop and exploit the Wilson or pre-selector gearbox. Self-Changing Gears designed, built and licensed transmissions for ...

five-speed

preselector gearbox A preselector gearbox is a type of manual transmission mostly used on passenger cars and racing cars in the 1930s, in buses from 1940-1960 and in armoured vehicles from the 1930s to the 1970s. The defining characteristic of a preselector gearbox ...

es, with

cardan shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power (physics), power and torque and rotation, usually ...

s driving forward/reverse gearboxes on the ends of the axles.

Multiple working On the UK rail network, multiple working is where two or more traction units (locomotives, diesel multiple-units or electric multiple-units) are coupled together in such a way that they are all under the control of one driver ( multiple-unit ...

was via 24-core jumper cables. The cars were fitted with two parallel

vacuum brake The vacuum brake is a braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Vacuum br ...

systems—a conventional system and a second high-vacuum, quick-release system, based on reservoirs in which a vacuum was continually maintained, for use on services with frequent stops. Steam heating was originally fitted; even-numbered cars had a

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

in the guard's compartment, capable of supplying steam for up to four cars. Cars used on suburban services were subsequently fitted with a bus-type heating system that used the engines' cooling water.

Seating layout

Almost all the cars were delivered with a two-class layout. A 12-seat first class saloon was located at the cab end of the car, a glazed partition behind the cab permitting forward (or rearward) views through the windscreen. A 32-seat second class (known as third class until 1956) saloon was positioned towards the gangway end, and there was also a guard's compartment and, in cars 2600–2647, a toilet. Cars 2648–2657 were intended for suburban use and devoid of toilets, permitting an extra four second class seats; apart from a lack of tables, they were otherwise identical to cars intended for longer-distance service. However, odd-numbered cars in this series subsequently had their guard's compartments removed to provide additional seating. Exceptionally, two cars (2658–2659) for use on the Waterford and Tramore Railway were delivered with high-density, single-class (although still divided into two saloons) layouts without toilets; the guard's compartment was also omitted from one car. Special trailer cars (see above) with similar high-density layouts operated with them. Most other cars were refitted with high-density, single-class layouts in the 1960s and early 1970s; these layouts seated between 70 and 91, depending on whether the toilet, guard's compartment or both were retained. Railcar at Laytown, Co

Career as railcars

When originally delivered, the railcars were employed on mainline express trains, including crack workings such as a three-hour nonstop service between Dublin and Cork. Eight-car formations were commonly deployed on these duties, sometimes splitting en route to serve (for example) Tralee and Cork or Galway and Westport. By 1954, they were also operating on longer secondary and branch routes, such as Cork–Bantry. However, the arrival of diesel locomotives from 1955 onwards displaced the mainline 2600s to secondary workings. Moreover, the fact that CIÉ operated its railcars in four-car (two power cars, two trailers) or eight-car (four power cars, four trailers) sets, whereas the Great Northern—and, in general, its successor in Northern Ireland, the

—used its near-identical vehicles in two-car (both power cars) or three-car (two power cars, one trailer) sets, meant that the 2600s had a poor power-to-weight ratio. One solution initially employed at busy times was to operate certain trains in a so-called "6+2" formation, comprising a power car, four intermediate trailers (usually including a dining car) and a second power car—thus giving passenger access throughout all six cars—followed by two extra power cars which were normally locked and inaccessible to passengers. From 1961, this arrangement was superseded by the use of powered intermediate cars, discussed below. By 1969, although suburban workings on "the relatively flat sections around Dublin" were formed of two power cars and two trailers, the remaining mainline workings used two-car sets. Additionally, obtaining spare parts proved troublesome as the railcars aged. As early as 1968, the AEC engines were considered obsolete, and spares were "virtually impossible" to obtain, forcing CIÉ to cannibalise some of the 2600s to keep the remainder running. In 1969, the only mainline services remaining railcar-operated were one round trip per day on each of the Sligo–Dublin and Dublin–Rosslare routes. The last mainline working was on the Dublin–Rosslare route in April 1970. By 1971, conversions of the cars to push–pull stock had begun. Early in 1972, it was reported that only a small railcar fleet would be retained in operational condition, pending the introduction of the push–pull trains. In late 1974, eight cars were reportedly being kept operational to address a shortage of locomotives "by reason of damage by accidents and bomb incidents." The last five railcars were withdrawn on 20 September 1975. Ten of the 2600 Class, along with 19 of the AEC and BUT cars inherited from the Great Northern, were broken up rather than converted to push–pull stock.

Powered intermediates and other modifications

Cars 2614, 2617 and 2656 from the original fleet were rebuilt following severe collision or fire damage. Cars 2614 and 2617 were returned to service in 1960 with new bodies whose sides resembled the Bulleid cars' but whose ends were similar to those of the original batch. These cars were further rebuilt in 1961, this time along with 2656 and all the Bulleid cars, into "powered intermediates" with engines but not cabs, which were renumbered into the 2660 series. Odd-numbered powered intermediates seated 60, while even-numbered cars had 52 seats and a guard's compartment. The cars were substituted for trailer vehicles in certain trains, improving the trains' power-to-weight ratio. Other cars underwent changes in the seating layout, discussed above, as they were reassigned from long-distance to suburban service.

Career as push–pull stock

Push-pull train at Howth Junction station

In 1971, with the process of modifying railcars for suburban operations still underway, work began on the first conversions to push–pull stock for service with the then recently re-engined 201 Class locomotives. The conversion was intended to address both the cars' poor power-to-weight ratio and the increasing difficulties in obtaining spare parts for their engines. The first test runs were made on the Dublin–Cork line in mid-February 1972. Trials on the Dublin suburban lines commenced in June 1972, and sets began entering service in February 1973. Operation on the Cork–Cobh line was also considered at one point.

Car types and train formations

Push-pull train (interior), Drogheda (geograph 2857948)

There were four types of push–pull vehicle: * Driving trailers, also known as "control cars" and numbered in the 61xx series, retained an operative cab and were marshalled at the end of the train remote from the locomotive. The cab retained most of the original (diesel-mechanical) railcar controls, which were modified to control the (diesel-electric) locomotive; for instance, the gear selector became the eight-notch power control. The guard's compartment contained a boiler for train heating and a diesel generator set to supply lights and boiler auxiliaries; because the generator blocked one of the compartment's doors, the guard normally travelled in the corresponding compartment of the connector car. * Connector cars, numbered in the 62xx series, were marshalled with their cabs (which were converted to vestibules, the windscreens being blanked off) next to the locomotive, to which they were connected with special control couplings. The purpose of the connector cars was to "convert the signals from the former railcar controls on the control car into a form which can be received and acted upon by the control equipment on the loco." The cars also contained guard's compartments, which retained their heating boilers; however, as noted above, only the boiler in the driving trailer was normally used, whereas the location of the generator set in that car forced the guard to travel in the (normally unheated) compartment in the connector car. * Intermediate cars of the most common type, numbered in the 63xx series, were semi-permanently coupled in pairs at their (again inoperative) cab ends and marshalled in the middle of a set, their gangwayed ends being coupled to those of the control and connector cars to form a four-car consist. * Other, less numerous intermediates, confusingly interspersed with the other type within the 63xx series, were converted from railcar powered intermediates and, thus, had a gangway at each end and no cab. These vehicles could be marshalled between a driving trailer or connector car and an intermediate of the first type to give a five-car set. All cars' toilets were removed. There were originally nine five-car and three four-car sets. The first sets to enter service had the locomotive at the north end, but later ones were marshalled with the locomotive at the south end; the earlier sets were then turned on the triangle at

Limerick Junction Limerick Junction ( ga, Gabhal Luimnigh) is the interchange railway station for trains originating in , , , , and stations. The station opened on 3 July 1848. The station was highly noted for its layout which prior to 1967 required every tr ...

to standardise the position. However, the number of available driving trailers declined due to a spate of fires (at one stage, a "spare man" travelled in each driving trailer's generator compartment to detect and extinguish fires) and the fatal collision at Gormanston in 1974. There were only six driving trailers available by 1982; conventional locomotive haulage was, thus, often substituted for push–pull operation. The push–pull sets were "not very attractive and were not very comfortable", particularly due to ride problems arising from the vehicles' reduced weight compared to the original railcars. However, they "were cheap and could be quickly produced" and survived, "deeply unloved by those travelling," until (and, in some cases beyond) electrification.

Further seating modifications

Although the railcars had already received high-density seating, overcrowding of the push–pull trains was such that the transverse seats were replaced by longitudinal ones to give more standing room. Notoriously, the seating provided was similar to contemporaneous plastic stacking chairs in dingy shades of green and orange. In 1980, the driving trailers and connector cars typically had 58 seats, the standard intermediates 70 and the former powered intermediates 66; however, there were minor variations among the individual cars. Yet another modification took place in early 1984, when some cars intended for retention after electrification received "more comfortable seating." This consisted of the then standard class high backed bench seats, seating three and two passengers respectively. The seats were upholstered in blue moquette with a vinyl headrest running along the top of the bench. Greystones train at Bray - geograph

Final withdrawal

At the end of February 1984, five months before the inauguration of

DART Dart or DART may refer to: * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts Arts, entertainment and media * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Dar ...

, only four sets remained. Most vehicles were withdrawn soon after electric services began (as they were replaced by the 8100 Class DART's); by 1985, there were only two sets of three cars each, one set used to provide a shuttle service between Bray and

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered by the Irish Sea to ...

and the other as a spare. One of these sets was withdrawn in 1986, the other surviving to pass into

Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal InterCity, Commuter, DART and fr ...

ownership in February 1987 and managing to outlast its normal motive power; the remaining 201 Class locomotives were withdrawn in 1986, and 121 Class locomotives were used thereafter. (Locomotive 121, then numbered B121, had undergone trials with push–pull stock as early as 1973.) During

Hurricane Charley Hurricane Charley was the first of four separate hurricanes to impact or strike Florida during 2004, along with Hurricane Frances, Frances, Hurricane Ivan, Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne, Jeanne, as well as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to ...

in August 1986, the shuttle train was even used to stand in for electric trains on the partially flooded main Dublin–Bray line. However, the shuttle was withdrawn in mid-September 1987, due to the poor condition of the rolling stock (the service was resumed at the end of October, using an 80 Class train hired from

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 ...

Reuse of number series

Both the number series originally carried by the railcars and that used for the push–pull conversions have been reused. Iarnród Éireann's first order of diesel multiple units, from

Tokyu Car Corporation Tokyu may refer to: * Tokyu Group, a group of companies centered on Tokyu Corporation ** Tokyu Corporation, a Japanese railway company, the largest member and parent company of the group ** Tokyu Car Corporation, a former Japanese railway vehicle m ...

of Japan, received numbers in the 26xx series when delivered in 1994. Previously, the 61xx and 63xx series had been used, respectively, for driving and intermediate push–pull cars based on the

British Rail Mark 3 The British Rail Mark 3 is a type of passenger carriage developed in response to growing competition from airlines and the car in the 1970s. A variant of the Mark 3 became the rolling stock for the High Speed Train (HST). Originally conceive ...

design.

Disposal and preservation

Almost all the push–pull vehicles were scrapped at Mullingar or Dundalk. One, driving trailer 6111 (the former railcar 2624), was set aside for possible preservation. It remained at Inchicore in a derelict condition until 7 February 2015, when it was purchased by and '
moved
'' to 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, diesel ra ...

. It is now undergoing restoration.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cie 2600 Class Iarnród Éireann multiple units Park Royal Vehicles multiple units