For the branch line between Gortatlea and Castleisland in Kerry County, the GSWR had two vehicles built in Inchicore in 1890, which can be described as precursors to the steam railcar. Since commercial traffic with regular passenger trains could hardly be carried out on the line, an extra light tank locomotive was combined with a passenger compartment. However, according to Locomotive Magazine, issue May 1903, the passenger compartments were not actually used for their intended purpose.

schematic drawing after the rebuild

Locomotive Magazine, November 1903

Later the locomotives were moved to the Fermoy-Mitchelstown line in Cork County, which used a very light rail profile, only 50 pounds per yard. While no heavier locomotives could be used there, the axle load of the two vehicles was low enough. Here they had to conquer gradients of 1 in 60. The passenger compartments were soon removed, allowing the locomotives to be used as conventional tank locomotives. They spent the last years of their service as shunting locomotives in the port of Cork.

To replace the Class 80 diesel-electric multiple units of the seventies, Northern Ireland Railways ordered 23 three-car diesel-mechanical multiple units from CAF in Spain in 2002. They come from the family which CAF calls the CxK and were delivered to the Irish Railways back in 2002 as Class 29000. At a total cost of £80 million, this was the largest order NIR had ever placed.

The trains, known only as C3K for short, have a six-cylinder from MAN with 460 hp per car, which drives both axles of a bogie. The first six sets are equipped with the Irish train protection system CAWS in order to be able to serve international routes. They were supplemented from 2011 by the Class 4000 from the same family by CAF and modernized from 2018.