69 Tails the Sandite as it crosses the Lagan Viaduct 01-11-2013
Moira station as 94 returns from Portadown with the Bangor leg of the daytime sandite 25-10-2013
69 at the rear of the Daytime sandite through Cultra on the Portadown - Bangor leg 01-11-13
Seen from a passing steam special 94 is parked up at York Road Depot
Another view of the formation with 97 closest to the camera on 13-10-13
69 passes its replacement at Lisburn 01-11-13
People often ask what the full formation on the train is, well at the front there is 69.......
........followed by 97.......
.............then the trailer 752 which carries the sandite equipment..........
......... with 94 at the rear.
This series of images was taken as the train passed through Lurgan on 29th October 2013
We would like to Thanks Morgan Young for the use of his photos and please take the time to visit his Flickr site
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Northern Ireland Railways
80 Class Sandite Units
Sine the 80 Class units were taken out of service a few years ago a couple have lived on as Sandite Units.
Sandite is a sticky substance which is applied to the top of the rail in Autumn and Winter which sets hard which stops the trains slipping on wet or slimy rails.
The trains used to do this is converted from old passenger stock which makes the 80 Class perfect for the job.
The formation for the Sandites normally consist of four vehicles three of them are motor cars for traction and the fourth is a trailer which has been modified to house the sandite equipment.
We have been fortunate enough for Morgan Young a photographer based in Northern Ireland to allow us to use the photos hes been taking of the sandites in service in the area.
Seen on March 15th 2012 in Portadown siding is 94 still in the "Red Bull" livery, the third vehicle in the formation has recently been repainted into the departmental yellow livery.
Portadown Sidings sees spare power car 69 sat along side 94
By the time the 2013 started 69 had received a repaint along with the remaining sandite vehicles.
The train is seen heading out of Moira en route to Lisburn on October 25th 2013
The reason the vehicle numbers are of different sizes is because the staff at York made a mistake and rectified it before it entered traffic.