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.

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 896 kW (1200 hp) at 625 rpm and could do 120km/h (75 mph). The original sandboxes, which were utilised 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 and water pipe fractures
• Cylinder defects
• Generator and motor flash-overs
• Excessive water temperature causing shutdowns

These problems were tackled between 1968 and 1971 through the progressive re-engining of the entire class with a 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 & transmission systems and the engine output was reduced to 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.

Preservation

The first locomotive to be withdrawn was 008 following bomb damage in 1973. The last withdrawal was in 1995; four locomotives of this class have since been preserved as follows:

• 003: Irish Traction Group, Inchicore Jan'06 News-sheet
• 015: Iarnród Éireann
• 039: Irish Traction Group, Inchicore
• 055: Hell's Kitchen public house, Castlerea, County Roscommon

Model

The A Class has been made as a 00 gauge kit by Silver Fox Models

External links

• Irish Railway Technology and Information -reporting on all aspects of irish railways
• 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