Inside the cab and the engine room of former CIE locomotive A39 (039)

I was delighted and thrilled to be allowed into the cab of former CIE (Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann) A class / 001 class locomotive number A39 (039) during a trip to the Downpatrick and County Down Railway. The locomotive was withdrawn in March of 1995, but thankfully has been preserved by the Irish Traction Group (ITG) who are trying to preserve at least one working example of every class of diesel locomotive to have been operated by CIE. A39 is currently on loan to the Downpatrick & County Down Railway for a period of two years.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• CIE
• Irish
• Rail
• Iarnród
• Éireann
• locomotive
• class
• 001
• 039
• A39
• Metropolitan
• Vickers
• General
• Motors
• engine
• Traction
• Group
• Downpatrick
• Railway
• Museum

[CharlesEngelmann]

How did the control layout in the cabs of Irish diesels come about?

Seems like they all (except 121s) have dual controls in each cab, with brakes operated by fore-aft levers towards the centre of the cab and throttle on the outer side.

Standard Brit layout is driver on left of cab, rotary throttle on right hand, rotary brakes on left hand. Were they just trying to be different?

It can't be an Americanism because the loco in this vid predates the US purchases.

Any ideas?

[mythicalireland]

@CharlesEngelmann I'm not an expert on the A class but they were manufactured by Metropolitan Vickers in Manchester, UK. So not sure that they were "trying to be different" as such. The original Crossley engines were unreliable and later switched out with new General Motors units.

[Trainspotter8094]

When is a39 out on the line

[mythicalireland]

@Trainspotter8094 It does stock movements most days. Downpatrick railway is on Facebook. They're very nice. Send them an email or a message asking when you can see it in action. They're very welcoming to diesel enthusiasts.

[IrishRail123]

lovely stuff.... wish i had a chance to be in a39

[mythicalireland]

@IrishRail123 Well I could make a suggestion. Ring them and ask to go up and see it and while you're there, talk nice. They're a fantastic bunch of people. All railway enthusiasts, every one of them.

[nathanandrews100]

Nice one i would love a cab ride on a39

[nirtrainman]

Nice one i would love a cab ride on a39

[EWS60008]

Excellent footage. I hope Murphy Models will consider making a Metropolitan Vickers A39 in OO gauge. I am very fond of Irish Railways and I will have to visit Downpatrick Railway when I am next in Ireland. How far from Dublin is Downpatrick?

Thanks

Ash.

[tpvalley]

@CharlesEngelmann

Metropolitan vickers made these I believe with crossley engines, they have same controller as class 28 metro vic by looks of it.only the metro vics had a wheel for the power handle as far as Im aware.

class 33 and 73 have duel controls in UK.

[CharlesEngelmann]

Thanks, mythical, it just seems weird to buy UK-sourced locos and have a completely different control layout to the usual UK cab. The 071s, 141s and 181s continued the same format as the MetVick A class shown here.

I can understand that dual controls might be a good idea given the large proportion of single line working in Ireland so the driver might want to be able to look out of either side, but presumably Met Vick had to go out of their way to design and manufacture non-standard controls?

[uiscegorm]

Nice video!

[dilwich123]

What a beuty :)