Irish Railway Models gypsum hoppers

◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ Irish Railway Models Cié/irish Rail gypsum hoppers IRM10007-B, IRM1009-D ◆ PRICE £86.94 per triple-pack ◆ AVAILABILITY Irish Railway Models Web www.irishrailwaymodels.com

Marking Irish Railway Models’ first RTR wagons, the CIÉ 20t ballast hoppers first emerged in 2017 (see review in MR237). Based on prototypes built by and on behalf of CIÉ in the 1970s, the wagons featured twin discharge chutes and were designed for use with a ballast plough brake van, in similar fashion to BR’S various ballast hopper types.

The hoppers were not solely built for ballast work, however, with identical batches also constructed for carrying dolomite from County Kilkenny and for gypsum traffic. For the latter flow, wagon Nos. 26666-26694 were built by CIÉ in 1972 and employed on flows from Irish Gypsum’s works at Kingscourt, County Cavan, to serve Irish Cement’s factories at Drogheda, Castlemungret and Platin; this traffic continuing until 2001.

By applying appropriate markings, IRM has produced a handful of different triple-packs of gypsum-branded hoppers, each featuring individual running numbers. There’s also a welcome variety of stencilled legends, making each wagon unique. In a nice touch, the moulded loads have been airbrushed in a pale pink/cream shade, making for a fairly convincing rendition of the real material. The loads can also be removed to reveal a fully rendered hopper interior. These wagons have been in stock for a while now and, at the time of writing, there weren’t too many packs left. As with other IRM wagon packs, bulk discounts are available, so grab a few while you can. (GD)