January 2025 marks an important anniversary in the history of Irish transport, for it is now 75 years since CIÉ’s first mainline diesel locomotive was completed in Dublin’s Inchicore Works. This was C2a class locomotive 1100, a Bo-Bo locomotive powered by a Sulzer unit. The ‘C2a’ classification and running number speaks to the loco being introduced prior to the mainstream diesel era on CIÉ, with the Sulzers and the shunters being classified and numbered in what was essentially the steam locomotive sequence which CIÉ inherited from the Great Southern Railways. The order for the Sulzer locos had actually been placed in 1946, just a year after CIÉ’s formation; steel shortages have been attributed as a reason for their prolonged construction period. Following initial trials, the new engine entered traffic in April 1950, and was joined by a sister locomotive, No.1101, in October 1951. Broadly similar, the locos were not 100% identical for 1101 had a different bogie design, in the hopes of improving ride quality. They were fitted with multiple working and are known to have worked as a pair on trials, but such use was certainly not common. They also had spanner steam heating boilers fitted in the early days, prior to the widespread adoption of steam heating vans by CIÉ, as the majority of trains were otherwise steam-hauled at the time of their introduction.
Ireland's First Mainline Diesel Locomotive?
While certainly the first mainline diesel locomotive on CIÉ, and indeed, the Irish Republic, 1100 was not the first on the island of Ireland; in 1937 the Belfast & County Down Railway had introduced a 1A+A1 diesel locomotive, No.28, built by Harland & Wolff. CIÉ had produced a small class of Mirelees-engined diesel shunters, Nos.1000-1004, at Inchicore over the course of 1947-1948 but these were not ‘mainline’ per se, despite some trial work.
Trials and Changes
The pair were largely restricted to the Dublin-Cork mainline, including the ‘branch’ from Islandbridge to North Wall and Amiens Street, over which they were known to work the Dublin-Cork portion of the extended ‘Enterprise’ working. They are also known to have worked to Limerick over the Nenagh branch. However, the diesels do not appear to have posed much of a threat to the steam fleet, with the 800 class locomotives still working top link services until the introduction of the A class Metrovick diesels in 1955. Indeed, the pioneering diesels themselves found themselves somewhat demoted to goods work after this, although passenger workings were not unknown. Their heating boilers were removed steam heating vans entered service across the system.
In 1956 the pair received engine modifications which uprated them from 915hp to 960hp, to match those in the newer B101 class Sulzer A1A locos. In 1957, they were renumbered and reclassified; 1100 and 1101 became B113 and B114 respectively, in line with the later B101 Sulzer A1A locos, Nos.B101-B112.
The Twilight Years of the Sulzers
The introduction of newer diesels gradually relegated these locos to goods work, and by the mid-1970s both locomotives had fallen out of use, with B113 lasting just into 1975 before withdrawal that January; B114 had not run since 1971. Braking issues tended to plague the pair too, with some hair-raising incidents recorded on goods work. Modifications were carried out but were ultimately shortlived before withdrawal (in fact B114 never returned to service after the mods). However, there was no haste to scrap the locos, and the pair would languish outside at Inchicore for a good two decades without much change. That being said, they weren’t entirely unproductive during this period, being used, along with several of B101 class, to form a ‘sound barrier’ alongside the mainline at Inchicore, in an attempt to give the residents of Ballyfermot's Landen Road a semblance of peace and quiet.
Preservation Beckons
Both locomotives were the subject of a number of preservation attempts in the 1980s, notably by the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society at Mallow, Co Cork, and Westrail of Tuam, Co Galway, however unfortunately neither proposal came to fruition. With the condition of the locomotives deteriorating, B114 was finally scrapped in Inchicore in 1995. B113, however, was luckier and was selected for cosmetic refurbishment for display at the Inchicore 150 Open Day which took place in the works in May 1996. It was also displayed at a smaller-scale event in 1999. It would remain largely out of the public eye for another decade, residing at the Cork end of the works complex alongside other historic vehicles such as AEC railcar 6111. It underwent another repaint during the summer of 2009 for a staff family day at Inchicore that August. In May 2011 it was moved by road to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's site at Whitehead, Northern Ireland, prior to being moved by rail to its new home at the Ulster Transport Museum, Cultra, in January 2012. Located near Cultra station on the Belfast-Bangor railway line, it can be seen in all its glory in their gallery today and is well worth a visit.
Very much trailblazers rather than a class that had much of an impact toward mainstream dieselisation in Ireland, the C2a/B113 class were nonetheless an important development in the history of Irish transport and the 75th anniversary of their introduction is an occasion worth marking. Considering few of Britain's prototype mainline diesel locomotives survived into preservation, we should count ourselves lucky that this pioneering Irish diesel did.
For more information on these early machines and their technical aspects, we thoroughly recommend the Derby Sulzers website, who have an excellent article here.
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