Irish Rail has two of it 201 class General Motors diesel painted in a simple livery; silver with a broad black stripe (plus yellow semi-circle upfront). These have been coined ‘raccoons.’

Although 231 had been working the Mark 4 sets on the Dublin-Cork run for several weeks, I was still momentarily puzzled when I spotted the down Cork approaching Mallow back in February 2018.

‘What’s this?’ I thought, expecting something green.

‘Ah! 231, of course.’

I always like it when I get something unexpected, yet if I had known this was approaching, I’d probably have positioned myself on the far platform.

Photos exposed digitally using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm zoom.

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