103 'Merlin' NIR Blue, with Red Chevrons - DCC Sound Coach Type_BFK 9681 was one of the

9681 was one of the last pannier tanks to be built

CIE details

which was transferred to Reading from the Scottish Region

Pre-TOPS livery

although these were fortunately both fixed at Kingmoor before the locomotive entered traffic a few weeks later

103 'Merlin' NIR Blue, with Red Chevrons - DCC Sound Coach Type_BFK 9681 was one of theHaving undertaken a programme of station refurbishment, improved its ticketing arrangements and introduced new on track plant and shunting locomotives, in 1969 the still embryonic Northern Ireland Railways set out to improve the Dublin Belfast Enterprise service, by replacing the existing diesel railcar sets with a locomotive hauled service. Intended to reduce the time for the 180 km journey to just two hours, the NIR Class 101 (DL) locomotives were