CIÉ 001 Class

The Córas Iompair Éireann 001 Class locomotive was manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester. The 001 Class locomotive was the backbone of mainline passenger and freight train services on the Irish railway network for forty years from 1955 until the mid-1990s when they were replaced by the new 201 Class.

Engines

Crossley

Initially they were fitted with eight-cylinder two-stroke, port-controlled Crossley engines. These were a loop scavenge type, which utilised a patented principle that recycled the normally wasted exhaust-pressure pulse to boost charge air in the cylinder. They produced Template:Convert at 625 rpm and could do Template:Convert. The original sandboxes, which were used to improve traction with the rail, were removed after a few years.

Their Crossley engines proved to be notoriously unreliable from the start. Amongst a plethora of problems were:

• Unbalanced engines resulting in vibration-induced fuel pipe and water pipe fractures
• Cylinder defects
• Excessive water temperature causing shutdowns

There were also problems with generator and motor flashovers.

Similar problems were also encountered on the Crossley-engined Western Australian Government Railways X Class and British Rail Class 28 locomotives.

EMD

These problems were tackled between 1968 and 1971 through the progressive re-engining of the entire class with a Template:Convert 12-cylinder EMD 645E engine (a similar process was implemented for the original 201 Class). However, this power output stressed the ability of the original cooling and transmission systems and the engine output was reduced to Template:Convert for improved reliability. When built, these locomotives were originally numbered A1 to A60, and as locomotives were re-engined, they had the suffix 'R' added to their number. From 1972, the prefix letters were dropped and the locomotives were renumbered 001 to 060.

Accidents and incidents

• On 5 December 1963, locomotive A17 was hauling a passenger train from Westland Row to Westport when it broke down at Mullingar, County Westmeath. Locomotive A42 was sent to its assistance, but collided with the stationary train at a speed of Template:Convert. Both locomotives were damaged, 16 people were injured.<ref name=Mullingar >{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• On 23 October 1973, 008 suffered bomb damage at Meigh.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
• On 20 December 1978, 010 collided with three NIR vehicles at Lisburn.<ref name=":0" />
• On 21 April 1979, 046 suffered bomb damage at Killeen Bridge (near Newtowncloghoge).<ref name=":0" />
• On 23 July 1979, 004 was hijacked, derailed and burnt out at Goraghwood.<ref name=":0" />
• On 12 March 1983, 032 sustained damage after running away in Cork Yard.<ref name=":0" />
• On 2 June 1988, 040 sustained damage in a shunting accident at Heuston station.<ref name=":0" />

Preservation

Four A class locomotives survived into preservation, the details of which are outlined in the table below:

Number	Owner	Location	Operational	Livery
A3R	Irish Traction Group	Moyasta	No	Black and Tan (Low bands)
A15	West Clare Railway	Moyasta	No	Unlined green
A39R	Irish Traction Group	Downpatrick	Yes	Black and Tan (High bands)
A55	Castlerea Railway Museum	Castlerea	No	Lined green

• A-Class015.JPG

  A15

• A39r, Downpatrick.JPG

  A39_R

Model

The A Class is available as a 4mm scale (OO) ready-to-run (RTR) model from Irish Railway Models. Announced in October 2018, it was released in October 2021. In the past it has been made as a 00 gauge kit by Silver Fox Models.<ref >{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Eiretrains - Irish Locomotives
• Irish Traction Group webpage for preserved 001 Class No.A3r
• Irish Traction Group webpage for preserved 001 Class No.A39
• Hells Kitchen Museum, Home of preserved 001 Class No.A55

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