Irish Railway Models to Release Cement Bubble in Iconic Orange Livery
Irish Railway Models today announces that it will release its highly detailed cement bubble wagon in the iconic CIÉ orange and grey livery in time for Christmas 2017.
The announcement was made at the beginning of the South Dublin Model Railway Show at Blackrock, Dublin and is the fourth project that Irish Railway Models has announced to date.
Introduced in seven batches between 1964 and 1972, a total of 150 of these two-axle wagons were built by Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) to convey bulk loads of cement from Irish Cement’s plants at Drogheda in County Louth, Castlemungret in County Limerick and Platin in County Meath to distribution points throughout the CIÉ/Irish Rail and Northern Ireland Railways’ networks. Despite being introduced at different stages, the fleet carried numbers in an unbroken sequence ranging from 25050 to 25199. Affectionately known as ‘bubbles’ due to their distinctive profile, most of the fleet remained in service right up until the cessation of cement traffic by rail in 2009.
All 150 bubbles received the distinctive orange and grey livery in the early 1970s, replacing the earlier slate grey, with the last two batches of bubbles constructed receiving the orange livery from new. It was superseded by the ivory and black livery in the late 1970s, although both liveries could be observed running together into the early 1980s.
The Irish Railway Models release consists of two packs of three bubbles, all with unique running numbers. They are available to order at the show or online for €125.00. A special introductory price of €225 for two packs and €425 for four packs is also available at the show and online for the duration of the 2017 October Bank Holiday exhibition. A colour sample has been received from our factory in China, but is incorrect and will be amended for production. Prices after this weekend will revert to €125.00 per pack.
Delivery is slated for December 2017, with production commencing after the current run of Ivory bubbles is completed.
To order your bubbles, please visit www.irishrailwaymodels.com/shop