Irish angle: End of an era as last DEMU vehicle scrapped

THE final BREL-built (80)80 Class DEMU vehicle to be on NIR’s books, No. 8097, was removed by road from Belfast York Road on June 8, by metal recycling contractor Thomas Hamill & Sons and taken to its premises at Ahoghill, near Ballymena, for disposal. The vehicle was cut in two before its final journey.

No. 8097, latterly a Sandite application vehicle, had been stored at York Road since November 2017 when it and the three other DEMU vehicles of the Sandite train plus a spare trailer were sidelined following the introduction of the Windhoff-built MPV No. 99 70 9428 011-9.

The scrapping of No. 8097 brought to an end the era of the DEMU ‘Thumpers’ on the railway network of Northern Ireland – an era that started in July 1966 when the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) introduced the first of its 70 Class trains.

Read more in the August issue of RE – on sale now!

Railway Reads

From the history of steam through to 21st century rail transport news, we have titles that cater for all rail enthusiasts. Covering diesels, modelling, steam and modern railways, check out our range of magazines and fantastic subscription offers.

---

---

---

About the Author

Let off some steam...