Metropolitan Vickers 001 A Class refurbishment

While not UK rolling stock, the MV A class locos that ran with Iarnród Éireann were built in England and the last operational example currently resides at Downpatrick and County Down Railway in Northern Ireland.

The loco did see some use after withdrawal hauling preservation railtours and had a couple of liveries, ultimately ending up in an all over black with white flashes above the cab windows. Time has taken it's toll and it's finally time to refresh the livery and take care of rust patches at the same time. Here are a couple of photos of recent work, firstly one cab after sanding down the paintwork and touching up 'defects', and a second shot of undercoat applied.

There's still one side to do before the body can be marked out and a shiny new topcoat added.

Are they the same as BR Met Vics-Co Bo s
How is the restoration going seems years since I saw it at Great Central in bits?

colchesterken said:

Are they the same as BR Met Vics-Co Bo s?

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Both the 001s/original 201s and the BR Class 28 'Bo-Cos' were built by Metropolitan-Vickers and all three loco types had Crossley prime movers (HSTV8s for the 28s and 001s and ESTV8s for the 201s) when built, but that's where the similarities end.

The 001s/201s later had EMD 12-645Es (001s)/8-645Es (201s) fitted when rebuilt, replacing the notoriously unreliable Crossley power-plants.
The idea of replacing the engines in the 28s was floated by BR, but it obviously never came to be. As we all know, D5705 is now the only one left, currently undergoing major restoration at the East Lancashire Railway.

Back on-topic, that 001 is progressing nicely. Hope to see more updates on it as the project progresses...

Was this loco at an Old Oak Common open day about fifteen years ago? Or perhaps it was a GM loco I saw then, something in Irish gauge anyway.

I'll post an update as I make more progress. It's a one man job so it'll take a while. Fortunately the loco is still in excellent running order.

@CarltonA - It was this loco's little brother C231 that you saw at Old Oak Common. It is also now at Downpatrick and was successfully started last year but requires some attention before it goes back in traffic.

Been a while since I last posted as we were giving our members an opportunity for first view of the completed loco.

Anyway, here is A39 as was, now showing as A39R.

Unfortunately the weather got too cold for the buffer beams to be completed but as soon as it warms up a bit (warm enough for paint to dry at least!) these will be freshened up to match the rest of the loco.





There are some more pictures of the completed loco here - https://www.facebook.com/IrishTractionGroup/posts/891352874287499


And some taken during the refurbishment process here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.892005854222201.1073741834.354101511345974&type=3

CarltonA said:

Was this loco at an Old Oak Common open day about fifteen years ago? Or perhaps it was a GM loco I saw then, something in Irish gauge anyway.

Click to expand...

Not my pic https://www.flickr.com/photos/rpmarks/3110899172

C231 yes. Now at Downpatrick along with A39R. 231 was moved from Moyasta, Co Clare, to Downpatrick this year, has been started successfully and operated but now requires a great deal of work to get it up to standard.

*Mods - apologies for cross-contaminating the forum, Irish locos at a Northern Irish location (oooh, the politics).