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Irish Rail classes 2600/2700/2800

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1993matias

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Hello

Please forgive me for unloading a truckload of questions on you all, but the collective knowledge of this forum seems great! Hopefully you will be able to shed light on some of these mysteries

Irish Rail has three classes of small diesel railcars, 2600, 2700/2750, and 2800. 2600 and 2800 are both Japanese and look quite similar to me, but were delivered in two different production runs. 2700 on the other hand has nothing to do with 2600/2800. Now, question time:
2600: Delivered in 1993-94 with orange and black livery, when were they repainted in the lime, blue and white livery? 2004-ish? After that, they were all repainted in the grey and green livery around 2014, correct? They seem all to have retained the gangway until today.
Are there any noticeable differences between left and right sides?

2700: Delivered in 1997-98 with orange and black livery, when were they repainted in the lime, blue and white livery? 2004-ish? After refurbishment they lost their gangway (around 2010?) but kept the colour scheme, correct? According to wiki they were all withdrawn in 2012, but when did they get the grey and green livery? Did they repaint them while in storage? Was there ever a grey and green with gangway? (And of personal interest, why did they store the trains after only 15 years?)
2750: Same as above :)
Are there any noticeable differences between left and right sides?

2800: Delivered in 2000 with orange and black livery, when were they repainted in the lime, blue and white livery? 2004-ish? When did they lose the gangway? Were they repainted in the grey and green colour scheme at the same time, or was that not connected to the loss of the gangway?
Are there any noticeable differences between left and right sides?
What are the external differences between classes 2600 and 2800? To me they seem very alike. Are the differences maybe more technical than anything else?

2600/2700 hybrid: Per wiki the accident happened in 2000 (?), were they both "married" sporting the orange and black livery back then? Or did the "marriage" happen later on? There are not many pictures from early 2000s of Irish DMUs.

General information: What is the length of the consists? When driving forwards, what headlight configuration is used - two white lights? NIR seems to only use one, hence my confusion.
When the doors are open there seems to be an orange light halfway down the car to indicate this. Has the light always been there? Or was it added later on?
Do you know of the correct colour codes (Pantone, RAL, HEX, RGB, whatever) of the different Irish Rail liveries throughout the years?


The reason behind all these questions is that I am trying to draw modern Irish Rail stock in some kind of pixel art, I guess you could call it. Not very detailed, but I still want it to be correct.
 
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hexagon789

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Now, question time:
2600: Delivered in 1993-94 with orange and black livery, when were they repainted in the lime, blue and white livery? 2004-ish? After that, they were all repainted in the grey and green livery around 2014, correct?
2003 for original 'commuter livery' and repaints into the grey livery were complete by summer 2013 AFAIAA.




2800: Delivered in 2000 with orange and black livery, when were they repainted in the lime, blue and white livery? 2004-ish? When did they lose the gangway? Were they repainted in the grey and green colour scheme at the same time, or was that not connected to the loss of the gangway?
Again from 2003 for the 'Commuter' livery, however the 2800 survived in orange/black the longest - the final set was not repainted until late in 2005.


What are the external differences between classes 2600 and 2800? To me they seem very alike. Are the differences maybe more technical than anything else?
Fairly minor, mostly related to the interiors which are slightly different particularly between the 2600 and 2700.

The 2600 are heavier, are 70mph max and their engine runs at 2,000rpm max. In the 2700, 2750 and 2800 the top speed is 75mph and the engine runs at 2,100rpm max.

All use a three-stage Niigata transmission with an initial torque converter stage followed by two direct drive stages.


General information: What is the length of the consists? When driving forwards, what headlight configuration is used - two white lights? NIR seems to only use one, hence my confusion.
Maximum is five 2-car units (10 cars) in service, which is very rare I believe, and up to eight units in emergency. I have seen an 8-car 2700/2750 formation formed of two 2700s and both 2750s in formation making five individual units.


2700: Delivered in 1997-98 with orange and black livery, when were they repainted in the lime, blue and white livery? 2004-ish? After refurbishment they lost their gangway (around 2010?) but kept the colour scheme, correct? According to wiki they were all withdrawn in 2012, but when did they get the grey and green livery? Did they repaint them while in storage? Was there ever a grey and green with gangway? (And of personal interest, why did they store the trains after only 15 years?)
2750: Same as above :)
The 2700s were repainted into commuter green in 2004, they were commonly used as 4 or 6-car sets on Dublin-Rosslare InterCity workings where they replaced the 071+Mk2D formations in 2003.

The grey livery dates from 2010 which is also when the gangways were plated over I believe.

They were withdrawn simply because there was no use for them - the economic downturn, completion of the entry to service of the ICRs (26000s) and closure of the Rosslare-Waterford line (which freed up one 2600 set) rendered them surplus to requirements.

There were proposals twice to re-instate them but neither was successful.


2600/2700 hybrid: Per wiki the accident happened in 2000 (?), were they both "married" sporting the orange and black livery back then? Or did the "marriage" happen later on? There are not many pictures from early 2000s of Irish DMUs.
The hybrid formation was due to car 2716 being damaged and then coupled to 2609 after repair. The 2600s were ordered with one spare car for maintenance purposes. This was combined into a hybrid set with 2716 to give an additional operational 2-car unit.

The 2600 and 2700 fleets were designed as being fully fluid - sets were not fixed and any operational vehicles could be used to form a set, ideally one toilet and one non-toilet vehicle but combinations of two of each have occurred in the past for short periods.
 

1993matias

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Thank you for your answers, they're quite helpful

Fairly minor, mostly related to the interiors which are slightly different particularly between the 2600 and 2700.

The 2600 are heavier, are 70mph max and their engine runs at 2,000rpm max. In the 2700, 2750 and 2800 the top speed is 75mph and the engine runs at 2,100rpm max.

All use a three-stage Niigata transmission with an initial torque converter stage followed by two direct drive stages.

So from a distance, the 2600 and 2800 look similar? There is a noticeable difference between those two and the 2700 (windows, doors)


[2700:]
The grey livery dates from 2010 which is also when the gangways were plated over I believe.
I've seen pictures online with the Commuter livery but no gangway, but to me that just seems odd - why refurbish but not repaint?

The hybrid formation was due to car 2716 being damaged and then coupled to 2609 after repair. The 2600s were ordered with one spare car for maintenance purposes. This was combined into a hybrid set with 2716 to give an additional operational 2-car unit.
Do you know when they were married? And if it was before or after they lost the orange colours?
 

jamesontheroad

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I've seen pictures online with the Commuter livery but no gangway, but to me that just seems odd - why refurbish but not repaint?

I think the two jobs were undertaken in different places, and ended up being scheduled separately.
 
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