CIE Steam

Although not my specialist area, I do have a small number of steam locomotives. One is the Bachmann Woolwich Mogul of Class K2 and the other a kit under construction of the J15.

As is well documented elsewhere, after WW1, the Woolwich Arsenal was kept busy building a number of steam locomotives to a design by Maunsell. The Southern Railway had a number of these as their Class N. What is not too well known is that two Irish companies also bought some. The Great Southern and Western Railway and Midland Great Western Railway bought a number of these 2-6-0 tender engines in kit form. Only the MGWR managed to assemble one and have it working before grouping, the rest were assembled by the Great Southern Railways and fell into two classes, K2 and K2A, the K2A's having a larger wheel diameter. The most obvious difference is between the N Class and K2 is the smoke deflectors, the K2 does not have them.

With the release of the Bachmann N Class, it seemed obvious that sooner or later, an Irish version would appear. It did in late 1999 as a limited edition run for Murphy's Models in CIÉ lined green livery. So what's it like ? Obviously the model is to 16.5mm gauge rather than 21mm gauge, but as an RTR model, not too bad, but there are a number of errors and omissions. Starting at the tender, the rear ladders up the side of the tender have been omitted. There is an additional cut out at the front of the tender side panelling, this has not been reproduced. On to the locomotive and we find the cab side token catchers, which they carried for quite a few years, have not been fitted. On to the front and we find Bachmann curiously provide some front steps, these were not fitted to the K2. The snifter valves either side of the chimney are not present. A set of waterslide transfers containing alternative cab and smokebox door numbers has thoughtfully been provided. The smokebox door has a different pattern of opening mechanism that the SR N Class and this has not been reproduced on the model. The green livery is not too far wrong and the Flying Snail logo has been reproduced fairly well on the tender side. Really the model is a straight repaint of an N Class without the smoke deflectors and perhaps it would be asking too much for Bachmann to have made the necessary alterations for such a limited run. However, it doesn't look too bad and it is nice to see an Irish RTR model.

The J15's, or 101 Class, were perhaps the most numerous class of steam locomotive on Irish railways. It is therefore only natural that one should have a model of these maids of all work. Looking similar to a LNWR DX locomotive, these 0-6-0 tender engines lasted a century and were the last type of steam engine to run on CIÉ at the end of steam in 1963. An etched brass kit was available from Studio Scale Models, containing everything but motor, wheels and gears. The kit is designed to be built in either OO, EM or 21mm P4. I have chosen to build this locomotive in 21mm P4. However, I haven't progressed too far yet and will post additional details as work progresses.