Coaching stock of Ireland

When formed in 1945, CIÉ inherited from its constituents a motley collection of coaching stock from various manufacturers, in equally variegated conditions of repair.

Following the introduction of the new Class 201 locomotives, the jointly operated Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast was upgraded in September 1997 with new coaching stock from French train makers De Dietrich Ferroviaire (now Alstom DDF).

All coaches are air conditioned, have powered internal and external doors, tinted windows with adjustable blinds, a single wheelchair accessible toilet with baby changing facilities and electronic information displays.

The first refurbished set, consisting of DVT 9002 and Locomotive 206, operated a trial service from York Road Depot in Belfast to Dublin Connolly and back, on 15 October 2015.

In 2012, following extensive refurbishment, and modification to make them compatible with the existing De Dietrich stock, a total of four Mark 3 generator vans entered service with Enterprise to replace the need for the provision of Head-end power by the 201 Class locomotive.

Though capable of 200 km/h (120 mph) in operation, this higher speed would require both track & signal system upgrade and the provision of a faster locomotive than the currently used 201 class.

Main features Mark 4 DVT The older CIÉ stock comprised a variety of designs, built to two distinct profiles.

The carriages built in the early 1950s had a narrower, more vertical profile with a small tumblehome similar to that used by Edgar Bredin of the Great Southern Railways for its steel panelled coaches.

This was not ideal due to the layout of the carriages and limited door openings, which resulted in longer dwell times at stations.

Some have been preserved at various locations around Ireland: In 1955 Inchicore Works[11] commenced the construction of 50 coaches from parts supplied by Park Royal Vehicles, London.

Unusually, these coaches had inward opening doors, similar to the American "Pullman" design, but this proved unpopular and somewhat confusing to the passengers and so were rebuilt conventionally.

In spring 1961, CIÉ sought tenders for the supply of 40 new Standard Class coaches, 10 to be delivered complete, the rest "part-finished" for assembly in Inchicore with technical assistance from the suppliers.

Each saloon had 64 seats, arranged in eight bays of four around a table, either side of a central gangway, with two toilets situated in the vestibule at one end.

They were fitted with a public address system, double-glazed windows and central fluorescent lighting along their length, the first coaches in Ireland to be so treated.

[16] A "Dutch" type generator van, no.3158 that would have operated with the Cravens stock, has also been preserved by the RPSI, and now runs with their Whitehead based mk2 set as No.462.

Air conditioning output power would then be halved, but all other loads including Cooking, Lighting and Battery Charging continue to be supplied.

There was also a 70 mph speed restriction imposed on the train due to the fact that three of the Control Cars were fitted with LHB bogies from an 8100 Class DART and were air-braked.

[19] In 2004, a 1979 vintage British Rail Mark 3 TRFK (Trailer Restaurant First Kitchen) coach was converted by Interfleet into a modern Snack Car for use on a Push-pull set.

The Mark 3A "Cú Na Mara" set, now withdrawn, operated exclusively on the Dublin to Galway route, and was originally the BREL International Train, a showcase project designed to secure overseas orders.

Although also re-wired for Push-Pull operation the fact that an additional coach wasn't converted to a Driving Brake Standard (planned 6501 ex 99520) prevented the set from ever running with this configuration.

The plug door design found on the CIÉ Mark 3 coaches was later used on the British Rail Class 442 long-distance commuter train.

Two Mark 3 sets were stored at Dundalk post withdrawal and it was reported that their bodies were in such a bad state that they could not be brought to Dublin to be scrapped.

To operate this service, Belmond procured eleven Mark 3 coaches from Iarnród Éireann for conversion into sleeping, restaurant and parlour cars.

Although it was never used by Irish Rail or NIR, being shipped directly over from England in 2004, it had been re-gauged to 5 ft 3 in for use as a dormitory coach for RPSI volunteers.

This was a much lighter mid-green with a thinner "eau-de-nil" (= very light green) stripe applied below windows and the flying snail emblem on some, but by no means all, vehicles.

The words "InterCity" in large white lettering was added on the lower orange-brown section accompanied by the "IR" logo.

Whether grey or brown, all CIÉ wagons (as with virtually all Irish freight stock of all companies) had ironwork, roofs, drawgear and chassis the same colour as the body – not picked out in black as occasionally seen elsewhere.

Between 1981 and 1983, to complement the arrival of the 111 Class and enhance the Enterprise service, NIR purchased 12 second-hand Mark 2s, of the B, C and F varieties, from British Rail.

The total of ten were all built as Mark 2s for British Rail, and were purchased by NIR in three batches: From 1998, NIR prefixed their numbers with "8" so as to be part of the Translink number series, which incorporates their road vehicles The table below lists the hauled passenger coaches that were in use until June 2009 plus the never used DBSO (This excludes the "De Dietrich" stock jointly owned with IÉ for operating Enterprise services between Belfast and Dublin.

The Generator Van and eight passenger vehicles were acquired by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) in 2014 with the intention of enhancing its Mark 2 fleet, though in 2022 began disposing of the set.