CIE 801 Class

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The "Type K", number 801 was an experimental diesel locomotive which was allocated to C.I.E. following the disbanding of the Great Northern Railway Board in 1958.

[edit] History

The single locomotive of this class was acquired by the Great Northern Railway Board in December 1954 and became their number 800. Following the dissolution of the Board in 1958 it was allocated to the C.I.E. and became their "Type K", renumbered 801.

The locomotive was built by German builders Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK), delivered free of charge for trials and unloaded at North Wall, Dublin on 14th December 1954. The locomotive closely followed German practice being fitted with a MaK diesel engine, in this case of 800 h.p., feeding power to the rails through a Voith torque converter. The locomotive shares many similarities with the Deutsche Bundesbahn class V65, it has a "D" (8-coupled) wheel arrangement and is controlled from an off-centre cab.

Following trials on both goods and passenger trains the locomotive was purchased by the GNRB for the sum of £29,500. It was withdrawn in 1976 and acquired by the Galway Scrap Metal Company as a power source for its equipment being partially scrapped around 1985. With the closure of this scrapyard in 1999 the remains of this unique loco were cut up in February of that year.